The national final season is now only a few weeks away. With that, Croatian Head of Delegation, Tomislav Štengl has proposed changes to the country’s national final – Dora 2023. The winner of the national final will represent Croatia at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool.
What are the proposed Dora 2023 changes?
Croatian Eurovision outlet eurosong.hr has reported that fans will hear the Dora 2023 songs earlier than in previous years. In 2022, the songs were released in early February. Applications for Dora 2023 are still open, and are due to close on November 20th. Štengl also said the following about when we can expect to hear the Dora 2023 songs:
“We’re going to try and make the same story with the songs to get published earlier, in fact, I even think a lot earlier. That’s why we put in the rules that the performers have to make videos, and if they are not able to make the right video, then the lyrics video”
Tomislav Štengl about when fans will hear the Dora 2023 songs
Tomislav Štengl also spoke about the possible introduction of semi-finals to next year’s competition. Instead of just a final, the show would span over three nights. Tomislav commented on how his proposed format for Dora 2023 would work.
“The intention is to go to more evenings, to pass in this selection more songs, therefore, a maximum of 28, so we would go to two semifinals and a final.”
Tomislav Štengl on the Dora 2023 format
Croatia’s Eurovision Journey
Croatia has been a part of the Eurovision family since 1961, as part of Yugoslavia. Ten Croatian artists went on to represent Yugoslavia in the Contest – the most famous of which being Riva, who gave Yugoslavia its only win in 1989. The 1990 Contest was held in Zagreb as a tribute to their Croatian heritage.
Croatia debuted in the Contest as an independent nation in 1993 with the band Put and their song “Don’t Ever Cry”. Since then, Croatia has gone on to score as high as 4th place in 1996 and 1999. Last year, Mia Dimšić won Dora 2022 to represent Croatia at the Contest in Turin with her song “Guilty Pleasure”. However, at the close of voting, Mia failed to qualify for the final, finishing in 11th place with a total of 75 points.
What do you make of the proposed changes? Will you be watching Dora 2023? Who would you like to see take part in the selection? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we prepare for Eurovision 2023!
News Source: eurosong.hr
Photo Credit: EBU/Corinne Cumming
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