Croatia: Franka with “Crazy” to Lisbon

This year at the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) and Croatia will be represented by Franka, a young, vocally educated musician with a powerful voice, who will perform the song Crazy. The composer of the music is Branimir Mihaljević, and the lyrics are by Franka. Franka will talk about her first impressions with HRT’s music editor and host Zlatko Turkalj Turki in his show Drugi dio dana (Second Part of the Day) on the Second Programme of the Croatian Radio (HRT – HR 2) today, 13th February, starting at 14.00.

So far Franka has made twelve recordings on her own and was a guest vocal on three other songs. Her song S tobom (With You), written after a four-year intermission, has shown how hungry the audience is for pop music. Her song is topping the charts and is also extremely popular on YouTube, where it has had over two million views so far. This young musician has been singing since she was three years old. With her song Ruža u kamenu (Rose in Stone) she was the winner of the viewers’ choice at the Croatian Radio Festival (HRF) in 2008. This song also bested other 27 songs, winning the hearts of the members of the General Organisation of Eurovision Fans (Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l’Eurovision – OGAE), an umbrella association of around forty Eurovision fan clubs in Europe.

In 2009 she took part in HRT’s Dora competition for the Eurovision Song Contest with Pjesma za kraj (One Final Song), and the Croatian Eurovision fans chose her for the second time to represent Croatia at the music contest of the OGAE Song Contest. Singing Na tvojim rukama (In Your Arms), she took part in HRT’s 18th competition for the Eurovision Song Contest called Dora. In 2011 she came out with two songs in English, On Fire and Run, achieving success outside Croatia as well. She was nominated in the category of the best newcomer of the year for music awards Zlatna Koogla and Porin and won the fourth season of HRT’s popular show Dancing With Stars. Her other important achievements include Beyoncé’s concert in Arena Zagreb in 2013, when Franka was chosen to open for Beyoncé, as well as her participation in the Russian-Ukrainian-American production of the The Great Gatsby ballet in 2017, where she was the only solo vocalist. Also, she sang the demo version of the song I Believe, which would be later more known as Celebrate, the song that represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.

– When I was two, holding a remote control instead of a mike, I was standing in front of our TV set, blundering through Tony Cetinski‘s Nek ti bude ljubav sva when he represented Croatia at the Eurovision 1994. I gushed to my mother and father, saying: ,Aka do the same, do the same!‘ That little girl inside me never stopped dreaming and now that dream is coming true! I will represent Croatia on Eurovision. I would like to thank the Croatian Radiotelevision for inviting me and trusting me. My team and I are aware of the responsibility that this contest requires and we are ready to take on this challenge. We will do our utmost to represent Croatia in the best possible light in Portugal in May – said Franka for HRT.

– We trust that we shall continue Croatia’s successful Eurovision appearances. After Nina Kraljić who was voted through to the finals in Eurovision 2016, and Jacques Houdek‘s excellent performance last year, we trust that Franka will achieve our primary goal and qualify for the finals, which would be the best possible way to represent us in Lisbon – emphasised Tomislav Štengl, leader of HRT’s Eurovision Song Contest Team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gFTxLG2A_I

The song Crazy will be released on 26th of February in the show Drugi dio dana. We remind you that on 29th of January Croatia was drawn in the second half of the first semi-finals, which will be held on 8th of May.