When Dora 2024 was announced, I had no expectations of what kind of songs would compete for the Croatian winner. The only thing I was hoping for was a song among the competitors that could enter the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. At the beginning of January, we found out that the singer Zsa Zsa had given up the competition and that the first reserve named Baby Lasagna was entering the competition in her place.
Croatian radio started broadcasting songs that lasted almost 3 hours. Rim Tim Tagi Dim was released as the last song, and then there was shock and disbelief. No one could believe that such a good song was a backup, the whole of Europe was delighted with the phenomenal song. From the moment I heard it, I knew that this was it, now we have a song that can compete for a victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, maybe for the first time since 1999.
Uniquely, Baby Lasagna brought a song about a serious problem in Croatia, the mass emigration of the young population in search of a better life. The sound captivates from the first second, there is no slow entry into the song, but straight into the head. The song is a perfect combination of modern metal sound with a bit of folklore element. Special, different, unique, a song that you immediately fall in love with.
No need to write about comparisons with Käärijä, Baby Lasagna is unique, if that bothers anyone, that’s their problem. The outsider, the reserve has become the second biggest favorite to win according to the bookies. If we ignore the reasons why Ukraine is the first favorite, then we can say that Baby Lasagna is a real candidate to win Eurovision. How much support he has is also shown by his incredible victory in televote at Dora 2024, 247 points ahead of the runner-up.
I could write a whole book about Baby Lasagna and what it means to Croatia and what it means to the Eurovision community. Finally, we have a candidate from a country that has never won but finally can. He only deserves to win. I hope that the expert jury across Europe will recognize the quality of a good song and respect the opinion of the audience. It is the audience that creates Eurovision legends, the jury only spoils the fun. If the support continues to grow, Baby will blow up the televotes, and if he’s lucky, he’ll take that top spot.
Baby Lasagna for Croatia’s victory at Eurovision. My rating for the song Rim Tim Tagi Dim is 10/10.