Croatia is a strong contender in 2019’s Fire/Desire Cup, rhyming “having a dream, as beautiful as it is extreme” and “not as crazy as it may seem”. There’s an almost as pleasing heart/start/part/art coming straight after in verse two, but all this is as nothing compared to Roko’s sartorial choice. Yup, he really is wearing enormous great feathered angel’s wings and a white leather biker’s jacket.
It’s the most preposterous thing until you realise that the songwriter behind it all is Jacques Houdek, the walloping great chump who took to the stage in Kyiv and sang a duet with himself, illustrating each part with a vertically split outfit and pivoting (not quite always on cue) to the camera to deliver his alternating lines.
It’s schmaltz overload and is so redolent of musical theatre, it wouldn’t be out of place in Zagreb’s municipal playhouse (on amateur night).
I want to just decry it completely, but what is Eurovision without at least a couple of moments of overblown nonsense?
I’d not have it anywhere near the final, but if Houdek can qualify with ‘My Friend’, I’d be a fool to write this off. Keep an eye out on the night for the backing singers, or indeed whatever delights Croatia may thrust into the performance; given another opportunity to sneak onto a Eurovision stage, I have fancy that Jacques will be unable to turn it down…
Monty’s score: 2 points