Baby Lasagna's first steps: What the Croatian sensation did next

At the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, Baby Lasagna gave Croatia its best ever result at the Contest. And, by a comfortable margin, his country's highest ever score, too. 

With Rim Tim Tagi Dim, Marko Purišić (or Marko Purrrrišić, to some) rocked the Eurovision stage with unprecedented panache, finishing in 2nd place. The song scored 547 points in total, winning the Grand Final televote in the process.

Some leave their mark on the Eurovision Song Contest. Baby Lasagna left a giant neon paw-print. 

But having missed you all, mostly the cat, having missed his hay, having missed his bed, but most of all having missed his dance, after two weeks in Malmö, Baby Lasagna was very much ready to prance. And he's since been out there enjoying plenty more firsts, feats and feline-themed frivolity. 

In order to prance, however, a performer first needs a stage. Well, Baby Lasagna has been booking bucket-loads of them over the past few months.

The Meow Back tour of spring 2025 is going to be taking in 26 shows across two months in 18 countries; Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Hungary, Czechia, Switzerland, Spain, France, Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom and Greece.

Ahead of the Meow Back tour next year, the Croatian sensation also has some live dates pencilled in for the rest of 2024. And after a summer of playing festivals such as Sea Star, Exit and Špancirfest, Baby Lasagna isn't leaving much time for "a round of decompress"; he's got forthcoming club dates and festivals lined up in Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Austria, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and, of course, his native Croatia.

The first run of shows that Baby Lasagna announced after his success at the Eurovision Song Contest in May were three gigs that will take place in Croatia's capital Zagreb, on 12, 13 and 14 September. The news was hotly anticipated and the reaction was speedy; the events all sold out in less than a day. 

To keep up to date on his show schedule, you can find all Baby Lasagna tour dates and deets over on his official website. And if you can't wait until he comes to your country to catch him live, you can follow the Tour Vlog series that he's started on his YouTube channel.

Baby Lasagna didn't have to wait long before performing his very first live show post-Eurovision. And less than 24 hours after he had showcased Rim Tim Tagi Dim at the Grand Final, Marko was being given a hero's welcome at his very own homecoming gig.

Broadcaster HRT had organised the event at Ban Jelačić Square in Zagreb, televising it live to the nation (and on their YouTube channel, where you can still watch it). Over 10,000 supporters showed up - much to Marko's surprise; he told the host that he had expected to see around just 20 fans greeting him at the airport. Our humble king. 

Once home, Baby Lasagna got to see that the support for his music from around Europe hadn't been limited to just the Eurovision Song Contest. Rim Tim Tagi Dim was already a number 1 smash in Croatia, and now it was starting to hit the charts in many other countries, too.

Croatia's runner-up rock anthem became a Top 10 hit in Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, while securing Top 20 chart success in Switzerland, Austria, Iceland and Luxembourg. In the United Kingdom it impacted the Top 40 at number 36. And it also hit the Billboard Global 200 chart in the US, at number 139. On Spotify, the song shot into the Top 5 of the Global Viral chart. 

To date, the song has been played almost 50 million times on Spotify alone, where he is maintaining over a million monthly listeners 16 weeks after the Contest.

On YouTube, views of the official music video for the song currently stand at 17 million, while the plays of his two performances at the Eurovision Song Contest total 45 million. 

All of these hit-list happenings made one major player in the music industry sit up and take notice. And that old adage of "Girl, call Universal, you're about to be a star" came to pass for Baby Lasagne, with (literally) Universal Music snapping him up and signing a record deal with him.

It wasn't long before new music was on the horizon for him, and the much-anticipated follow-up to his Eurovision banger landed at the end of June, in the form of And I. 

The retro-hued love song came with an accompanying music video that allowed Baby Lasagna to live out his ultimate Mad Men fantasy; a glossy, stylish, '60s-themed affair in which fans got to see a whole other side to the Balkan bop merchant.

And more music is already on its way. New single Biggie Boom Boom arrives on Friday 30 August, with the artist sharing a touching note about the song to fans ahead of its release:

"Tomorrow a song comes out, a song that created Baby Lasagna. 'Biggie Boom Boom' was written on 31st of March 2023 and I felt like it could be something more, more than just one song - a project. Therefore I feel like I need to share this with you, to share how special this is for me. 

The craziest part is that somebody is here to listen to it - you guys. A year ago I was recording, producing and publishing my music but it was barely getting few hundred views, and now there’s an army of you here, actually ready to listen to it, and I just can’t express how humbling that is. How life changing and heartwarming this is."

If standalone singles aren't enough to satiate your appetite for Baby Lasagna bangers, fret not; a debut album has been announced. 

Demons & Mosquitoes will be the name of the artist's first LP, and he's already been performing songs from it at his live shows this summer.

As well as recording his own music this summer, Baby Lasagna has also been lending his voice to other pop-culture icons. And honestly, it was really only a matter of time before the cat-loving Lasagna came face to face with the lasagna-loving cat...

If you were fortunate enough to catch a screening of the Croatian dub of The Garfield Movie in cinemas throughout May and June, then you'll have heard a familiar voice playing the part of Maurice. And your boy Marko wasn't the only Eurovision runner-up to sink their teeth into the meaty role... Käärijä voiced the same character in the Finnish dub of the film!

Would you believe (you would totally believe this) that The Garfield Movie isn't Baby Lasagna's only collaboration with cartoon cats this summer? He's now not only a songwriter, performer and "a big boy now"; he's also an esteemed author, thanks to the release of his book Baby Lasagna i Mačak Stipe - Veliko Prijateljstvo.

That translates as Baby Lasagna and Stipe the Cat - A Great Friendship. We know this, because demand for the picture book has been so high, that he's printed editions in both English and German, as well as a new print of the Croatian original. 

The book, through the eyes of the one-eyed cat Stipe, tells the story of a hit song that captivated Europe, and teaches readers about the importance of support, perseverance and togetherness. 

It's been quite the journey for Baby Lasagna since May, and we're already seated for the next chapter (and perhaps even the next book!). 

For now though, ciao mamma ciao!

You can listen to all 37 songs of Eurovision 2024 via your favourite streaming service or watch the music videos on our YouTube channel.

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