Croatia was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song "Lako je sve", written by Branimir Mihaljević, Pamela Ramljak and Neda Parmać, and performed by the group Feminnem. The Croatian participating broadcaster, (HRT), organised the national final Dora 2010 to select its entry for the contest. A total of twenty-four entries competed in the national final which consisted of two shows: a semi-final and a final. In the semi-final on 5 March 2010, eight entries qualified to compete in the final on 6 March 2010 alongside eight pre-qualified songs. In the final, "Lako je sve" performed by Feminnem was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a nine-member jury panel and a public televote. Feminnem had previously represented where they placed fourteenth with the song "Call Me".
Croatia was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 27 May 2010. Performing during the show in position 15, "Lako je sve" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Croatia placed thirteenth out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 33 points.
Background
Prior to the 2010 contest, (HRT) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Croatia seventeen times since its first entry . Its best result in the contest was fourth, achieved on two occasions: with the song "Sveta ljubav" performed by Maja Blagdan and with the song "Marija Magdalena" performed by Doris Dragović. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Croatia had thus far featured in five finals. In , Igor Cukrov featuring Andrea and the song "Lijepa Tena" managed to qualify to the final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, HRT organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its participation in the 2010 contest on 27 October 2009. Since 1993, HRT organised the national final Dora in order to select its entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, a method that was continued for its 2010 participation.
Before Eurovision Dora 2010 Dora 2010 was the eighteenth edition of the Croatian national selection Dora which selected Croatia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The competition consisted of a semi-final and a final on 5 and 6 March 2010, both taking place at the Hotel Kvarner in Opatija and hosted by Nevena Rendeli, Mila Horvat, Mirko Fodor and Duško Ćurlić with Ida Prester and Iva Šulentić hosting segments from the green room. The semi-final was broadcast on HRT 2, while the final was broadcast on HRT 1. Both shows were also broadcast via radio on HR 2 and online via the broadcaster's website hrt.hr, while the final was also streamed online via the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.
Format A total of twenty-four songs competed in Dora 2010 which consisted of two shows: a semi-final and a final. Sixteen of the songs were selected from open submissions and competed in the semi-final with public televoting selecting the top eight to proceed to the final. In the final, the eight qualifying songs in the semi-final alongside an additional eight pre-qualified songs competed and the winner was selected by votes from the public and a jury panel. Ties in the final were decided in favour of the entry that received the most points from the jury.
Competing entries On 26 November 2009, HRT opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster with the deadline on 15 December 2009. 200 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. A nine-member expert committee consisting of Elizabeth Homsi (HTV), Željen Klašterka (HTV), Aleksandar Kostadinov (HTV), Silvije Glojnarić (HRT), Robert Urlić (HR), Đurđica Ivanković (HR), Želimir Babogredac (HDS), Mišo Doležal (HDS) and Zvonimir Bučević (HGU) reviewed the received submissions and selected sixteen artists and songs for the semi-final of the competition, while the eight pre-qualifying songs for the final were written by composers invited by HRT in consultation with the Croatian Composers' Society (HDS). The composers also selected the performer for their entry. The invited composers were announced on 16 December 2009 and were:
Alfi Kabiljo Ante Pecotić Boris Đurđević Denis Dumančić Luka Zima Miro Buljan Miroslav Škoro Neno Ninčević
HRT announced the entries competing in the semi-final on 29 December 2009 and among the artists was Feminnem which represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. The pre-qualified entries competing in the final were announced on 8 January 2010. On 11 and 12 February 2010, the competing artists performed their entries live during the preview show Ususret dori broadcast on HRT 2. Artist SongSongwriter(s)Selection AliBi "Prvi pogled"Boris Đurđević, Viktor Milaković, Dino JuratovacInvited by HRT Bety Belle "Ne"Ines Prajo, Arijana KunštekOpen submission Carla Belovari "Sada osjećam to"Alan Crnković, Alen Orlić Đani Stipaničev "Nek nam bude lijepo"Alfi KabiljoInvited by HRT Doris Teur "Ti me ne zaslužuješ"Doris TeurOpen submission Dražen Žanko "Moja ljubav jedina"Dražen Žanko, Nenad Ninčević Feminnem "Lako je sve"Branimir Mihaljević, Pamela Ramljak, Neda Parmać Filip Dizdar "Sunce"Aljoša Šerić Franka Batelić "Na tvojim rukama"Miro Buljan, Boris Đurđević, Neno NinčevićInvited by HRT Franko Krajcar and Indivia "Jobrni je jobrni"Franko KrajcarOpen submission Giuliano "Moja draga"Duško Rapotec-Ute, Branko Berković, Boris Novković Klapa Iskon "Vrime za kraj"Matko Šimac Marta Kuliš "Preporođena"Luka Zima, Tomislav ErcegInvited by HRT Martina Vrbos "Ti i ja"Martina VrbosOpen submission Mijo Lešina "Tajna ljubavi"Mijo Lešina Nikola Marjanović "Ti i muzika"Lea Dekleva Rivers "Bez tebe"Tamara Obrovac, Anja Gasparini Sabrina "Golu si me skinuo"Ante PecotićInvited by HRT Swing Mamas "Trio tulipan"Stefan BravačićOpen submission Teška industrija "Nazovi stvari pravim imenom"Denis Dumančić, Fayo Tihomir Kožina "Za koga si se čuvala"Denis Dumančić, FayoInvited by HRT Valungari "Vol or ne vol"Zoran Preradović, Marko KovačićOpen submission Viva "Zadnja kap života"Nenad Ninčević, Miroslav BuljanInvited by HRT Žiga and ŽVS Druge "Blagdani"Miroslav Škoro
Shows
Semi-final The semi-final took place on 5 March 2010. The eight qualifiers for the final were determined exclusively by a public televote. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Putokazi performed as the interval act during the show.
+ Semi-final – 5 March 2010 Artist Song Televote Place 1 Feminnem "Lako je sve" 1,137 4 2 Mijo Lešina "Tajna ljubavi" 218 15 3 Valungari "Vol or ne vol" 679 6 4 Martina Vrbos "Ti i ja" 492 9 5 Bety Belle "Ne" 484 10 6 Teška industrija "Nazovi stvari pravim imenom" 405 12 7 Nikola Marjanović "Ti i muzika" 374 14 8 Klapa Iskon "Vrime za kraj" 1,253 3 9 Carla Belovari "Sada osjećam to" 576 8 10 Dražen Žanko "Moja ljubav jedina" 378 13 11 Filip Dizdar "Sunce" 458 11 12 Swing Mamas "Trio tulipan" 625 7 13 Rivers "Bez tebe" 169 16 14 Doris Teur "Ti me ne zaslužuješ" 1,410 1 15 Franko Krajcar and Indivia "Jobrni je jobrni" 1,396 2 16 Giuliano "Moja draga" 689 5
Final The final took place on 6 March 2010. The eight entries that qualified from the semi-final alongside the eight pre-qualified entries competed and the winner, "Lako je sve" performed by Feminnem, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a nine-member jury panel and a public televote. The jury that voted in the final consisted of Elizabeth Homsi (HTV), Željen Klašterka (HTV), Aleksandar Kostadinov (HTV), Silvije Glojnarić (HRT), Robert Urlić (HR), Đurđica Ivanković (HR), Želimir Babogredac (HDS), Mišo Doležal (HDS) and Zvonimir Bučević (HGU). In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the show was opened by 2009 Croatian Eurovision entrant Igor Cukrov, while 1994 Croatian Eurovision entrant Tony Cetinski performed as the interval act.
+ Final – 6 March 2010 Artist SongJuryTelevote Total Place Votes Points 1 Swing Mamas "Trio tulipan" 8872 6 14 11 2 Sabrina "Golu si me skinuo" 5481 3 8 14 3 Viva "Zadnja kap života" 4360 2 6 15 4 Marta Kuliš "Preporođena" 191 1 2 16 5 Tihomir Kožina "Za koga si se čuvala" 2932 8 10 13 6 Carla Belovari "Sada osjećam to" 10693 4 14 10 7 Klapa Iskon "Vrime za kraj" 82,967 14 22 6 8 AliBi "Prvi pogled" 31,212 9 12 12 9 Đani Stipaničev "Nek nam bude lijepo" 11886 7 18 9 10 Doris Teur "Ti me ne zaslužuješ" 122,060 11 23 4 11 Valungari "Vol or ne vol" 141,794 10 24 3 12 Franka Batelić "Na tvojim rukama" 92,063 12 21 7 13 Žiga and ŽVS Druge "Blagdani" 83,472 15 23 5 14 Giuliano "Moja draga" 13772 5 18 8 15 Franko Krajcar and Indivia "Jobrni je jobrni" 152,258 13 28 2 16 Feminnem "Lako je sve" 163,578 16 32 1 + Song Juror Total Points123456789 1 "Trio tulipan" 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 7 5 628 2 "Golu si me skinuo" 8 7 7 6 6 6 8 7 5 605 3 "Zadnja kap života" 5 6 6 6 6 7 6 6 5 534 4 "Preporođena" 4 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 2 471 5 "Za koga si se čuvala" 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 5 3 482 6 "Sada osjećam to" 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 7 7 6410 7 "Vrime za kraj" 6 7 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 628 8 "Prvi pogled" 5 5 5 6 7 6 6 5 6 513 9 "Nek nam bude lijepo" 8 8 8 7 6 7 9 7 6 6611 10 "Ti me ne zaslužuješ" 8 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 7 6712 11 "Vol or ne vol" 10 9 9 10 8 10 7 9 8 8014 12 "Na tvojim rukama" 6 8 8 9 7 7 8 5 5 639 13 "Blagdani" 8 8 7 7 7 7 6 5 7 628 14 "Moja draga" 8 8 8 9 7 8 7 8 8 7113 15 "Jobrni je jobrni" 10 9 9 10 8 10 8 9 9 8215 16 "Lako je sve" 9 9 10 10 10 10 10 8 10 8616 Preparation In late March, Feminnem filmed the music video for "Lako je sve", which was directed by Radislav Jovanov Gonzo with outfits designed by Gordana Zucić. The music video was presented on 20 March following the HRT news programme Dnevnik. Russian, Italian and English versions of the song were also recorded entitled "Ljehko vsjo", "Semplice" and "Easy to See", respectively.
Promotion Feminnem specifically promoted "Lako je sve" as the Croatian Eurovision entry on 14 March 2010 by performing during the presentation show of the 2010 Bosnian Eurovision entry, BH Eurosong Show 2010.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) were required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 7 February 2010, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Croatia was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 27 May 2010, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 23 March 2010 and Croatia was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from Cyprus and before the entry from Georgia.
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Croatia on HRT with commentary by Duško Ćurlić. The Croatian spokesperson, who announced the Croatian votes during the final, was Mila Horvat.
Semi-final
Feminnem took part in technical rehearsals on 19 and 23 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 26 and 27 May. This included the jury show on 26 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.