Croatia: Mia Dimšić perfects the recipe for a Eurovision night in

It’s easy to pick up on and appreciate the merits of the melody-driven song, and Mia herself is very proud of it. But it wasn’t until she started playing it to other people that she realised she might be onto a potential big-hitter with mass appeal.

I really just wrote it very quickly in my room, along with another few songs for what I intended to be my first international album. But I knew it was something special when a lot of people started to single it out from the others.

📺 Watch: Mia Dimšić – Guilty Pleasure (Official Music Video)

It was this positive response that gave Mia the idea to enter the song into Croatian song contest Dora, which also serves as the country’s format for selecting its entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. It won, of course, and the young musician from Osijek now finds herself at rehearsals for the 2022 Contest, where she’s overjoyed to be representing her country.

The question now is whether she’ll alter the stage production that won her Dora 2022, now that she’s seen the grand scale set-up of the PalaOlimpico in Turin.

There are more people on stage with me this time; three dancers. We have different choreography now, too, and we hope that the fans will like it. On stage, the story is that we are now looking into my dream. So I’m not directly part of it; but I’m definitely immersed in it.

The three words that Mia feels best describes her performance, are 'emotional’, 'dream-like’ and 'joyful’. After first rehearsals, we can definitely add 'pink’ to that – a lush shade of pretty pink.

As she makes her first attempt at launching an international singing career, Mia is relishing the opportunity to perform in English to a wider audience for the first time. But it might not stop at recording in English – she’s already thinking of the next languages she may try her hand at performing in.

I definitely love Italian, and also Spanish – they both sound so cool. I would love to learn both of those languages in the future.

Mia performs in the First Semi Final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, and is acutely aware that it’s now been five years since Croatia last qualified out of the semis to a Eurovision final. Does she feel any pressure to take Croatia’s results in the Contest up a notch or two?

I would love to. And I think we are all ready; but of course you can never know what happens. But the important thing I said to myself before coming here is that you have to try to release all expectations. And that’s not to say that I’m not gonna be really focused and try really hard, of course. But I feel like the magic in life happens when you release all expectations. That’s when the crazy ride begins.

📺 Watch: Mia Dimšić – Slobodna (Eurovision House Party)

She’s focused on her own Eurovision journey now, with one eye glancing behind her at Croatia’s Eurovision past, but when did her own love affair with the Eurovision Song Contest begin?

One of my favourite memories was from a sleepover, when I was ten years old. It was about half my class there and we watched it together. We made pancakes, too. It was a really nice evening. And that’s a really good combo – pancakes and Eurovision!

Fire up that pan, mix up the perfect batter, and settle in for a night of Eurovision – Mia performs in the First Semi Final on Tuesday 10 May.

📺 Watch: All 40 Songs of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest

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