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Croatia is going to get "Crazy" in Lisbon

13 February 2018 at 11:49 CET
Franka Batelić will represent Croatia at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest Srećko Rundić
HRT, the Croatian national broadcaster announced that Franka Batelić will fly to Lisbon next May and will represent Croatia at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Crazy'.

The broadcaster held an internal selection to determine their country's representative. The song is composed by Branimir Mihaljević, who also was responsible for the music of Croatia's 2010 entry, Lako je sve by Femminem. The lyrics were written by Franka Batelić. The song will be presented today in the radio programme Drugi dio dana. There Franka will talk about her participation and the song together with HRT's Music Editor Zlatko Turkalj Turki.   

About Franka 

Franka Batelić was born 1992 in Rijeka, Croatia. She rose to fame in her native country when she won in 2007 the season of Showtime, a TV show similar to Pop Idol. She also competed in the Croatian Eurovision national selection Dora in 2009 and 2010, but without success. In December 2009, Franka won Ples sa zvijezdama, the Croatian version of Dancing with the Stars with her dance partner Ištvan Varga. In 2011 she was featured in the songs On Fire and Run, with who she had also success outside of Croatia. After a break from music she came back at the end of 2017 and released her song S tobom what became a commercial success in Croatia.   

Franka is very excited about going to lisbon:

"When I was two years old, I was standing in front of our tv set, holding a remote control instead of a microphone, singing the lyrics of Tony Cetinski's, Nek' ti bude ljubav sva from the Eurovision 1994. That girl never stopped dreaming. And now the dream is coming true! I will present Croatian Radio and Television and the Republic of Croatia to Eurovision. I would like to thank the Croatian Radio Television for their invitation and expressed confidence. My team and I are aware of the responsibilities that this presentation brings, we are ready for the challenge and we will do our very best to represent Croatia in the best possible way in Portugal in May."    


Franka Batelić will preform her song Crazy in second half of the First Semi-Final on 8th of May at the Altice Arena in Lisbon.   

"We believe that we shall continue Croatia's success during Eurovision. After Nina Kraljić who was voted through to the finals in Eurovision 2016, and Jacques Houdek's excellent Performance last year, we believe that Franko Batelić will achieve our main goal - placement in the final evening and represent us in the best possible way in Lisbon." Said: Tomislav Štengl - Head of Delegation of Croatia.   


Croatia in Eurovision 

Croatia made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 and has participated 23 times since then. Last year the country was represented by Jacques Houdek with the song My Friend, who finished 12th in the final in Kiev.  

The 1990 Eurovision Song Contest was held in Zagreb following Yugoslavia's win in 1989.