Croatia were up after a very long break, and Mia was having problems with her in-ear monitors. Her right one wasn’t working and her left one was playing the music “in a different key” – which explains why during the first run-through, she was looking unhappy and was consistently half a beat behind the music track.
Second time round, this was better but again it,s all terribly darkly shot and Mia was less than happy again. Her backing track was seemingly beats behind in her ear *again* (but you couldn’t tell as much this time) … and the tape with the backing vocals were in English rather than in Croatian “as we arranged in the viewing room“.
All in all Mia was not at all happy with this.
With regards to that language choice, what the hell was the delegation thinking putting a final chorus and the whole outro in Croatian. It’s almost like someone at HRT or Mia herself said “Shit, we’ve got to have some local”. It really takes this down from where it was at DORA. That performance was simple and she appeared far more at ease. Here, there are superfluous dancers flitting across the screen and, worryingly in front of Mia.
By the time of the third runthrough the Croatian language backing tape kicked in, but the damage had already been done for me.
She has a lot of issues to iron out here. Some are Mia’s, some are RAI’s.
#Croatia Mia did very well with that. The sound was all over the shop. Interpretive dance is always a bit of a dud though but well done Mia for getting through with terrible backing track issues and still sounding okay. #Eurovision
— For Better For Wurst (@Forbetterwurst) May 4, 2022
#Croatia is in trouble. More technical issues means this might improve, but the staging is an ill thought out mess. Interpretive dancers in beige wander around Mia distractingly. Shame as she sings well and song works fine in studio. #Eurovision
— EntertainmentOdds (@EntertainOdds) May 4, 2022
Oh dear oh dear #Croatia. This is a bit amateurish. A flimsy voice, lots of walking about, a superfluous guitar – I fear accidental last with this one, bless her. #Eurovision
— EurovisionApocalypse (@ESCApocalypse) May 4, 2022
🇭🇷 Croatia have inexplicably decided to add Croatian backing vocals in the final chorus. This might have been okay if the main vocal was in Croatian too, but it just feels disjointed and out of place #Eurovision
— Patrick Flynn (@patrickjfl) May 4, 2022