News of Croatia

[Dylan]

Current Sounds of Croatia format to stay for upcoming editions.


Zagreb, Croatia - The Croatian broadcaster has just confirmed that if Sounds of Croatia is held in the future (of course it would be) then the current format, 4 artists with 2 songs each and a final with the 4 artists' best songs, will stay in place. It has proven a success, as Croatians feel that having four artists is easier to handle for HRT and also that it's not too difficult for Europe to cast their opinion in the national selection.
11 countries voted in the first battle, which is more than what HRT expected and is glad to see there is interest in the Croatian national selection.




HRT is ready for anything?
We won't know the semi final results until after the grand final results, but HRT stated that they are ready to tackle anything that comes to them. While we initially stated in our confirmation, that results don't matter, HRT wants to make it clear that even if Croatia falls into the PQR, Sounds of Croatia will continue and Croatian participation will also continue.

[Dylan]

North Vision Song Contest #12 was a success in Croatia

HRT has revealed that North Vision Song Contest #12 was one of the most successful editions ever in Croatia, with an estimated 235,000 tuning into the semi final and a staggering 870,000 for the final. Croatia didn't even qualify and this healthy looking viewing figure shows interest in the country and public opinion is positive.

Even if Antonija did bring us to the P.Q.R, Antonija had things to say upon her arrival home: ''North Vision was an experience like no other! Sitting in the green room with the Macedonian delegation last night was a real treat. I am disappointed in my placing but that does not mean I'm done with North Vision just yet. Good luck to the next Croatian representative in Israel!'' Antonija is likely to make her return back in the future, but not soon anyways.

With the split results revealed, HRT is looking forward to the 13th edition of the contest.

[Dylan]

Catch up and talk with... Colonia!

SPOILER: Click to show

thx rekc for inspiration btw

The hype for North Vision Song Contest #13 is growing, and more and more countries are announcing their songs. The PQR is currently happening and will most likely end on Tuesday, where we will know the one and only qualifier to the semi finals. As nerve-wrecking as it is, HRT wishes good luck to Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey and of course to Colonia themselves.

We decided to go to Ljubljana to interview the group and see how they've been following North Vision Song Contest and how they feel with the experience.

HoD: Good evening Colonia! How has Ljubljana and the whole competition so far been treating you?
-Indira comes to speak-

Indira: Well, it is an amazing experience so far. The atmosphere of the competition is relaxing, but at the same time competitive. 

HoD: As we probably know, you have tried to represent Croatia on two occasions and got it on your second try.

Indira: Yes that is correct; this time we weren't even expecting to represent Croatia! It was more or less a last decision for HRT to meet public demand and include us in the selection, and I'm glad they did so.

HoD: So as you also know this is the Pre-qualification round. Croatia ended here because of ending 20th in the semi final last time. What do you honestly feel on the PQR, and what is your wish?

Indira: The PQR can be tough and complicated most times. This time it's really complicated, as there's only ONE qualifier and hopefully that'll be us. No matter what it's not going to change our opinion on the competition - we'd be open for another participation. The obvious wish is for us to qualify Croatia to the semi final and from there go to the grand final, and who knows what will happen then? 

HoD: How has it been though, waiting for the result?
Indira: As you can imagine, it's tough, but have hope. 

HoD: Going off the topic of PQR, and onto the actual competition, do you guys have any favourites? *brings forth Boris and Tomislav* Indira, you start.

Indira: Well, I'm really undecided. Latvia is one certainly, Macedonia is another. Recently I must say that Iceland, Norway, Sweden have made their way into my top 25.. 

Boris: Cannot decide; if I could give just one answer it'd be too complicated. However I will say Luxembourg and Romania.

Tomislav: Croatia obvs. Just kidding, but if being serious I would say Italy. Though that being said it's quite an interesting lineup so far. 

HoD: And tomorrow you are tipped to land on the #1 spot in Croatia. What do you think? 
Indira: Sounds amazing! I'd be shocked if we beat off ''Uhodi'' which is the current #1 in Croatia.

HoD: Well that was great; congratulations for being chosen by HRT and hopefully you'll go the best - but if not, you're still one of Croatia's most known and famous groups.

[Dylan]

SOUNDS OF CROATIA LAST BATTLES ARE CANCELLED

Today, the HoD of Croatia announced that the battles for the last three artists in Sounds of Croatia will not be held. This is because the lack of time to complete them, as the deadline for entries will be on the 14th of May 2015, which means that the battles will not be completed on time and the grand final will be rushed.

HRT has decided to;

-Remove one artist from the selection.
-Start the grand final from today.
-For the other two artists (Bojan, Petra); HRT will choose their songs that will fight in the final.

Sorry for the inconvenience! We still hope that you will vote in the grand final of Sounds of Croatia and help pick the Croatian act. 

SPOILER: Click to show

Reality:

I did realise that the deadline is not so far away, and I wanted to leave some time for the grand final and results presentation. If I continued the battles, I would have to rush the grand final. And my pace at this national selection has been slow and thus made it complicated. If I forgot anymore I'd have to internally select which I don't want to do this time, as I want to allow YOU to help me pick the act.

[Dylan]

Internal Selection for #15!

Today, HRT revealed that they will be opting for an internal selection for North Vision Song Contest #15. HRT did say that while Sounds of Croatia is a success, they would like to halt the selection for an edition and try the internal method once more. 

Croatia has internally selected their act in #1-8 respectively. The selections brought them a range of results, but the most recent selection brought Croatia to last place in the semi final (Antonija Sola was internally selected). HRT hopes that their next act will do better than the previous internally selected acts (the highest placing was 19th in the final in #5 for an internal act).

It was further said that Sounds of Croatia #5 will return for the 16th edition, and will have the same system. It's unknown however if there will be battles, but we'll tell you more about that later.

The act has not been chosen yet, but HRT is currently in the process of choosing. The act will be submitted to the NBU. Over the next few weeks, HRT will give hints to who the act would be, like female/male, type, language etc. We were inspired by AMRTV, GPB and AzTV to try it. 


Thank you!

[Dylan]

Act to be revealed next week!

HRT (Hrvatska Radio Televizija) has confirmed that the Croatian act will be revealed next week along with her song, due to the announcements coming to an end. We have already learned that the singer will be a female solo artist who'll sing a ballad with Balkan influences in Croatian. However now we are almost near the end of the journey and she's ready to be revealed. The date will probably Thursday or Friday. 


Meanwhile in Croatia, fans are gathering in Zagreb to watch the show live from 18:00 CET. HRT states that #14 is likely to break all records in Croatia, beating off last edition's viewing figures which were the strongest ever. We wish best of luck to every delegation and #Unify in Astana tonight!

[Dylan]

Las Balkanieras to present the Croatian votes!

HRT confirmed today that the girl group "Las Balkanieras" will present the Croatian votes for the grand final of the 16th edition of North Vision Song Contest.

The group, who have previously tried to represent Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia before have stated that they wanted to give the results of Croatia on the night. HRT confirmed that this was true, and that they look forward to seeing them present the votes.

Croatia to decide tomorrow

HRT will decide whether or not Croatia will be participating in North Vision Song Contest #17 tomorrow evening after the first semi final results. While a confirmation is near-certain, HRT still wants to await the results before making a formal decision.

If so, HRT will also reveal the mechanism of selecting their act for the 17th edition. Rumours recently suggest that Croatia will continue the national selection format, Sounds of Croatia, which would mean it's 6th edition. But then again, Croatia could select internally like in #1-8 and #12 and #15. If the NS was chosen, it's unknown if it will be a 11 song format or 5 song format like in most editions of the selection.

All of the above will be revealed tomorrow evening after the results. Until then, we wish best of luck to all SF1 participants and Luminize in Jerusalem.

[Dylan]

Sounds of Croatia #6 - Format Released

This evening, HRT decided to release the format of the upcoming Sounds of Croatia selection, which would be it's 6th installment overall. 

The broadcaster announced that only 4 songs would compete. This downscale was discussed about for many weeks in Zagreb, and it was finally decided that only 4 would participate to prevent financial problems. 

The HoD released a statement confirming the news:
"As a result of financial difficulties from planning our other national selections in the recent editions, and especially #16, we have decided to cut the selection in half. It will be like that of #13,#14 however there will be no battles. We've been tackling the situation by reducing other stages in the selection, and it seems like it has worked."

All songs will be in Croatian. This is to further promote the language to the contest.

No split voting will be used, i.e Jury or Televote. All votes will be from international juries.

In addition, HRT invites the newly appointed HoD's of Israel, Iceland, Albania and Montenegro to vote under their countries that they would have in #18. If Tunisia gets a new delegation, then that HoD can vote too. 


As for the 7th edition of the selection, HRT has not stated anything yet. Despite it being in the future, the country has been monitoring their spending towards the competition, creating a suitable budget to sustain a certain participation.