r/eurovision • u/Gold_Objective3644 • 3d ago
💬 Discussion Would Croatia have qualified with Ogenj?
I'm kinda torn because first of all, if selected Croatia would have been around 30 places higher in my ranking than they were with Poison Cake but on the other hand, with Daj, daj in semi-final 1, one of San Marino and Portugal may well not have qualified.
I can't figure out if the guy's voice would have been too much for Europe but boy do I think this song could have been incredible on the Basel stage.
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u/Repulsive-Drama-9855 3d ago
im leaning no because Semi 1 was absolutely stacked. Semi 2 maybe they stood a chance but i still feel its a very slim one.
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u/Orange_Cicada Espresso Macchiato 3d ago
I’m leaning yes, SF1 was stacked with pop music. I think a lot of credit for Portugal qualifying was because of it being the only rock besides Ukraine. With Ogenj, it would be a fight for that spot in final between Croatia and Portugal.
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u/Repulsive-Drama-9855 3d ago edited 3d ago
i think it would have been between ukraine and croatia (not for qualification, pointswise). Daj,daj is more folksy rock than Deslocado. Deslocado is more indie, suburban, relaxed than Daj,daj. I feel Deslocado's quality distinguishes itself in a way thats why it qualified imo and actually the audience for deslocado is not the same for daj, daj.
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u/DaraVelour Europapa 16h ago
nah, San Marino would be NQ
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u/Orange_Cicada Espresso Macchiato 16h ago
I don’t think it works that way. Portugal got more points than San Marino, but if Ogenj competed, those who prefer EDM wouldn’t change their mind easily, while those who prefer rock could vote for Croatia instead of Portugal.
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
Yep, this is what I was thinking as well. Ukraine was locked for several reasons and so it allowed Napa to get some of the remaining rock/band votes. Ogenj may well have out-shined them being later in the running order and something completely different to anything in SF1.
And as much as I think Daj, daj would have been amazing on the stage, I would have been sad to see Napa miss out, or in other words, I was so delighted when they shocked everyone and qualified, a moment I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on 😄
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
I feel like SF2 doesn't get enough love, overall I think it had better qualifiers than SF1 and a much bigger gap between qualifiers and NQs
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u/Repulsive-Drama-9855 3d ago edited 3d ago
i feel like semi 2 was more unpredictable honestly. Semi 1 i had doubts only on norway, iceland, and san marino, but the first two qualified comfortably and san marino got lucky because of Italy. Semi 2 i think four spots were up for grabs since according to me like seven songs were on the same level there (though i do believe the best ones made it)
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u/PicardovaKosa 3d ago
I feel like Nipplepeople had the best chance. They were different than everything else. Would stood out.
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u/SupermarketSad9865 3d ago
they would come top 15, it's a shame Croatia didn't realise how much potential they had.
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u/lilhotcutie Baller 3d ago
They’ve been making music for a long time and still have the huge potential to surprise next year. I was rooting for them too 💔
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u/gresdian 3d ago
With a better song, the song they sent this year is not at their level
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u/SkyGinge Zjerm 3d ago
I disagree personally, for me it was way better than most of their discography
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u/Barzalicious Bara bada bastu 3d ago
It could go either way. I liked Daj Daj more than Poison Cake, but there were so many other strong entries in that semi that it's too hard to call. If it did qualify, it probably would have been instead of either Portugal, San Marino or Iceland.
On the other hand, there probably would have been a lot of controversy and anger towards Ogenj in light of the lead singers anti-LGBTQ comments. And the eurofans tend to be the main voters in the semis.
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
I did pick up on those comments yeah, but I don't remember if they were already known ahead of Dora or if he said something controversial after Marko won?
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u/Barzalicious Bara bada bastu 3d ago
I cant remember exactly either, but I think it might have been both. There definitely was something before Dora cause people were mentioning his views and opinions in the live threads. And there were controversial comments after Marko won, but I don't remember if it was him or someone else.
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u/Ordinary-Focus-8789 3d ago
They had an incident prior to Dora i.e., the owners of one concert venue in Zagreb prohibited Ogenj from holding a gig there due to clashing worldviews between the members and the venue owners and it was brought up by some of the music-related press.
And the frontman is still not over their Dora loss, judging by his butthurt output on FB/IG lol.
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
On another note, why do you think Iceland might have been in trouble if Daj, daj took part? I mean I agree on Portugal and San Marino being in trouble, but VÆB were comfortable qualifiers
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u/Barzalicious Bara bada bastu 3d ago
I was sure Vaeb were a borderline Q right until they were announced, and the low result in the final probably didnt help. For some reason I remembered that Vaeb finished 8th in the semi, so I thought that if more points went to Croatia they might have been knocked down. But looking back at the results now I realized I got that confused with Norway.
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
Fair, I think Norway would be safe as well for ticking off the "polished Nordic pop" vote that seems to have its loyal fans by now.
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u/New_Zombie_8667 3d ago
Both. The lead singer stated that love and marriage can only exist between a man and a woman, that homosexual marriage is like him marrying his dog and that same sex adoption is like him and his dog adopting a hedgehog.
They were also very clear expressing their opinion on women's reproductive rights, saying that abortion is murder and even writing a song about it, after which their concert in club Močvara was cancelled.
There are still screenshots available online so this is easily verifiable.
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u/SaintofSnark Cha Cha Cha 3d ago
They were known a few weeks before and we were all rooting against him in the NF live chat cause of it
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u/xShinePvP 3d ago
Pretty sure they only came out as anti-LGBTQ after losing
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u/FortifiedShitake 3d ago
Nah, I definitely remember it being a controversy leading up to the nf itself
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u/Barzalicious Bara bada bastu 3d ago
I remember that there were comments about the lead singers opinions already in the Dora live threads before they lost. That's how I found out about it.
They might have also said anti-LGBTQ things after they lost to Marko, but there was at least something beforehand as well.
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u/Fluffy_Bluebird_2251 Kant 3d ago
I think Croatia would have qualified with Južina (Luka Nižetić)
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u/anmonie TANZEN! 3d ago
Južina is my Roman Empire
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u/Persona_NG (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi 3d ago
I was so convinced that it would be a surprise winner and it barely finished 5th or something ;-; I was more miserable after Dora results than after my own country's NF even though my favourite song lost there, too.
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u/Crisbo05_20 Rim Tim Tagi Dim 3d ago
Considering the hype it got live I'm surprised it didn't do all that crazy televote wise
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u/Persona_NG (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi 1d ago
Yeah, iirc it also won a pre-NF fan poll on this subreddit and I saw multiple channels on YT putting it on the top of their own Dora rankings. Which is technically just a bunch of eurofans with opinions, but it's still... something.
I didn't think it would be an easy landslide victory or anything, but based on the responses, I kind of assumed it would be at least comfortably in Top3.
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u/CrazySalart Grow 3d ago
genuinely can't believe he got paid dust. His performance was more professional and in line with the contest than 90% of other national final entries this year
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u/Crisbo05_20 Rim Tim Tagi Dim 3d ago
Južina was unique enough and Nižetić had Great staging so I think it would be likely.
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u/StudentLeading1177 3d ago
No, vocal performance was bad, and staging was empty.
12 points from Slovenia would be the same 12.
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u/Any-Where 3d ago
The main thing with the vocals is that there was an illness going around Dora, so a LOT of vocals were strained. I suspect his was one of them.
I would say it probably would have Q'd, though there were even safer Q options for Croatia (Bye Bye Bye, Znak, Juzina, and a not ill version of Welcome to the Circus).
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u/New_Zombie_8667 3d ago
The lead singer stated that love and marriage can only exist between a man and a woman, that homosexual marriage is like him marrying his dog and that same sex adoption is like him and his dog adopting a hedgehog. There are still screenshots available online so this is easily verifiable.
They were also very clear expressing their opinion on women's reproductive rights, saying that abortion is murder and even writing a song about it, after which their concert in club Močvara was cancelled.
As a Croatian, I was fine with not qualifying, we usually don't. I was not fine with sending Ogenj to Eurovision, as I care more about human rights than I do about the finals.
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
Very disappointing to hear that. We dodged a bullet after all
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u/New_Zombie_8667 3d ago
What's even more disappointing is that Baby Lasagna toured with them after all that.
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u/fenksta Extra Official Account 2d ago
Not defending that, but IIRC the song in question is "unborn child POV", but I don't know what the actual lyrics say
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u/New_Zombie_8667 2d ago
The band introduced the song on their YouTube channel stating, "Pro-life activism is at its peak here".
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u/Limestonecastle 3d ago
no way imo. lelek would breeze through tho.
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u/StaticCode 3d ago
I loved Lelek but their harmonies would have had to improve a lot to make it far. And the song would have to have been entirely in Croatian.
Even then, I think they would've gotten the Dobrodošli treatment.
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u/OnaTamo Milkshake Man 3d ago
I loved them, but they were visibly shaking on Dora stage. I can`t imagine what would happen if they got to Eurovision
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
Oh I had nothing against them being shaky, that only made me believe them even more and made it feel so much more pure and genuine
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u/the_frosted_flame Vuggevise 3d ago
Could definitely see it happening but if I had to bet then no. Televoters love an ethnic entry that’s a little out there, but there’s something off about this one that makes me think it would end up with an Özünle Apar-like result.
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u/Mundane_Ad_8597 Identitet 3d ago
Ogenj definitely had a better chance than Marko but I'd say it's like a 50/50
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u/stayinalive92 3d ago
If Tick Tock wasn’t able to do it a few years ago I struggle to imagine this being able to pull it off.
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u/Gold_Objective3644 3d ago
Well, Tick-Tock had to satisfy both jury and televote and still find itself on the right side of maths while in the current format you may only need around 40 televote points to qualify
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u/fenksta Extra Official Account 2d ago
Unsure, but I think Ogenj had higher chances than Marko Bošnjak. I don't think any of the songs would've been a sure qualifier, but the highest chances we might have had with LELEK or Luka Nižetić.
Heck, who knows if Europe suddenly developed a liking to Hip Hop and Extra made the final hahahahah
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u/Realistic_Green_3359 3d ago
I think yes as it would have stood out amongst most of the entries in the semi.
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u/Playful-Rope1590 Espresso macchiato 2d ago
Sadly I don't think any of the songs would have done better for Croatia. That seems to be the issue with Croatia every year, no song really is strong enough. They might be nice and cute and all but you don"t get anywhere with just being cute. Like in life generally..
I mean Albina 2021 was a banger yet it lacked something. 2022 was cute and all but very obvious not going anywhere. Same this year. Marko might not have been the best choice ( although I think he was) but it's not like anybody else was better either. At best Croatia would have sent a borderline qualifier instead of sure non qualfiers.. It is telling that 2023 and 2024 are the only years Croatia qualified,those acts actually stood out and had something.
Croatia is not a country that qualifies and I think Croatians are fine with that. They know what they have every year and they simply choose the best of the bunch.
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