February 14, 2021 - Albina Grčić is the winner of this year's Dora, the Croatian selection for Eurovision, and will represent Croatia in the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest!

Jutarnji List reports that with the song "Tick-Tock" written by Branimir Mihaljević, Albina Grčić will represent Croatia in May at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. The 22-year-old Split native and student of English language, literature, and history at the Faculty of Philosophy was both the jury and audience favorite in Opatija on Saturday night.

"I am not yet aware that I have won the Dora. All of this seems like a dream, and it is a beautiful dream in which I have invested a lot of effort and love. Thank you to my entire team, who have been a great support to me over the past months, from rehearsing to performing at Dora. I am happy that people recognized us. The competition was great, and if we had sent anyone else to Rotterdam, we would not have failed," she said after the victory.

Grčić was also remembered by the public as a finalist of last year's HRT show "The Voice." But unlike the heavy retro ballads that Albina sang during the popular TV spectacle, she presented herself in Opatija on Saturday in an entirely new, danceable, and much more modern light.

"My song ‘Tick-Tock’ is vastly different from what I’ve presented so far; I would say the genre has stayed the same, but the rhythm has changed a lot. This song is also my challenge and something I haven't had a chance to try before. One of my favorite verses is ‘You think you’re fancy but play the game my way...’. ‘Tick-Tock’ is a powerful song that represents my identity in my future career. In my opinion, she is exactly what I can imagine on the 2021 Eurovision stage. I think we have everything, and it is up to me to use it and present it to the Eurovision audience," added Albina, who celebrated the victory with a glass of champagne and showed that bookmakers should never be blindly trusted.

Namely, in recent weeks, they have ruthlessly favored second-placed Nina Kraljić, who performed in Opatija with the song "Rijeka" and the Alconost of the Balkans project.

The Croatian jury was led by Daniela Trbović, Barbara Kolar, Jelena Lešić, and Doris Pinčić, and the evening in Opatija was enhanced by Vesna Pisarović, a musician who performed twice at the Eurovision Song Contest - in 2002 in Tallinn with the song "Absolutely Safe" and won 11th place, and two years later as the author of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian song "In the disco", which placed ninth.

The winner of Dora was decided by the sum of the votes of the audience and the jury. 

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

February 7, 2021 - HRT brought ASHBO together on Zvijezde Pjevaju and almost two years later, they are taking the stage again at this year’s Dora competition, to be held in Opatija on February 13.   

This will be Ashley, the songwriter’s, first time competing in Dora and  Bojan’s third time.  The lyrics were inspired by Ashley’s travels around the world and the idea that we are all more similar than different, no matter race, religion, status, or culture.  “The last year has been tough on everyone and we all need more love, and most importantly to share the love,” she said.  She will wear Larie by Marina Matić, a gown that will surely make a statement.   

ASHBO has been preparing their performance for months and says it will be a spectacle, something that has never been seen before on Dora.  “We always go full out on everything we do together, so you can expect a  really good show,” Bojan said.    They hope that people will be inspired to #ShareTheLove around the world.   

The music was composed by Ivan Škunca who also wrote and composed  Bojan and Ashley’s first duet, Zadnja Stanica.  Škunca translated the lyrics of “Share the Love” into Croatian.  ASHBO plans to release their official music video and the song in Croatia on Valentine’s Day, February  14, the day of love.   ASHBO is proud to be sponsored by some of their favorite brands including Ilocki Podrumi, Zlatarna Gjoni, City of  Cakovec, Villa Astra, airbreath® and Nova Rent a Car.   

Bojan Jambrošić started his singing career in 2009. Since then he has  recorded 3 albums, Bolji od ljubavi (2009.), Zapisano u zvijezdama  (2013.) and his most recent, “Kajkavski biseri” was performed with  Tamburaški orkestar and received a Porin award.  He also has a very successful acting career where he has starred as the main role in 8  musicals and one operetta. He was nominated for “Nagrada Hrvatskog glumišta” for best male role in a musical. With this song, they want to share the positive message of togetherness, tolerance, and love.  

Ashley Colburn is a Croatian-American travel journalist born and raised in California, who decided to move to Croatia 5 years ago, basing herself in Istria. Her first Emmy was for "WOW Croatia" which was viewed by millions around the globe. Ashley continues to promote every corner of  Croatia and believes it is the most beautiful country.  After Zvijezde  Pjevaju, ASHBO recorded their first duet together, "Zadnja Stanica" and filmed a video all around Croatia.  In 2020, Ashley released Croatia's  first English country song that was composed by her mom and was  produced in Nashville called, "Feels Like Home."  Since traveling was  tough in 2020, Ashley grew to love songwriting, which led to her  writing "Share the Love."  

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

October 10, 2020 - As Jutarnji list unofficially finds out, the selection for the Croatian Eurovision Song Contest "Dora" will be held on February 13, 2021, and the competition for new songs starts soon.

Croatian Radio Television (HRT) has decided that Croatia will choose its representative for Eurosong 2021 through the "Dora" competition and that this year's winner Damir Kedžo will not represent Croatia next year.

Recall that after the Eurosong 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was postponed to next year due to the coronavirus pandemic, HRT decided in June to continue its tradition and that Dora will be held next year as planned, in February 2021, and accordingly Croatia will be represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 by the one who wins then.

In an official statement for the media, HRT thanked Damir Kedžo for the excellent cooperation after the victory at Dora 2020, as well as the authors of the song “Divlji vjetre“ (“Wild wind“) Ante Pecotić and Bojan Šalamon Shalla.

This year's winner of Dora, Damir Kedžo, announced:

“This whole Dora 2020 experience was full circle. From happiness to sadness, from victory to the cancellation of Eurovision due to Covid-19, to the cancellation of me as a representative for Rotterdam 2021. Thank you to everyone, my band, the girls who shared the stage with me in Opatija, as well as this virtual one while we were singing 'Divlji vjetre' to people across Europe and the world online.

Thank you all for your support now that we know that HRT has decided to have a new competition and that we are not directly represented in Rotterdam 2021. It is not easy to endure this 'rollercoaster' of emotions and changes, so thank you all once again and I can't wait to go through everything that the future will bring us," said Kedžo, who has not yet decided with his team whether he will appear as a competitor again on Dora 2021.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily. 

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.