Dora 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇭🇷🕸️📊
After getting its best ever result as an independent nation in 2024 Croatia has a lot to live up to in Basel. It looks like many familiar faces are looking to strike, with 21/28 of the songs having connections. Let's take a look (a thread 🧵)
Ananda - "Lies Lay Cold"
One of three songs in the lineup written by Ananda, with her also being the performing artist here. The song was cowritten by Jonas Ekdahl and Andreas Björkman, who have previously worked together on songs for Bernarda and Queens of Roses
EoT - "Bye, Bye, Bye"
In 2019 Maja and Boris played in the band Manntra, along with none other than Marko 'Baby Lasagna' Purišić, reaching 4th place. Can they follow in their former bandmates footsteps in this new constellation?
Irma - "Enigma"
Our second collab between Ananda and Andreas. Andreas has a history with Dora, writing succesful songs like "Redemption" (5th place), "Ocean of Love" (6th place), "Here for Love" (4th place) and "In the Darkness" (7th place). Can he add another top 10?
Ivxn - "Monopol"
Our last song from the Andreas Björkman/Ananda/Jonas Ekdahl team. Let's see if Ananda ended up choosing the right song for herself, or gave away her best
Jelena Radan - "Salut!"
Jelena Radan is back after 16 years, having failed to qualify on her first two attempts. We see the writers from her original entries, with an exciting addition - Matej Zec of Let 3 fame. Will his presence be able to inject some chaos into the mix?
Lara feat. LSQ - "Mama"
Miroslav and Lea have both had moderate succes in Dora, with Lea providing one of the three songs for the Dora 2011 duels, and Miroslav reaching 9th place with Feminnem in 2007. Is this their big break?
Luka Nižetić - "Južina"
A Dora veteran, Luka is back for his 5th attempt. He previously achieved his best result in 2019, placing 3rd with "Brutalero". Is he bound for another top 3 finish?
Magazin - "AaAaA"
An inescapable name in Croatian music, Magazin is back to Dora, this time with 2019 fan favourite Lorena Bućan as its singer for the first time. Can the group finally fly the Croatian flag at Eurovision again, 30 years after their 6th place in Dublin?
Marin Jurić Čivro - "Gorjelo je"
Marin is back five years after his 2020 attempt, where he placed 15th. Will the presence of Vatra frontman Ivan Dečak in the credits help him get a better result?
Marko Bošnjak - "Poison Cake"
Marko took silver in Dora 2022, with the dramatic "Moli za nas". Now he's back, hoping to take the final step up the podium. Helping him is Emma Gale, who was also behind early Supernova 2025 fan favourite "Monster"
Marko Škugor - "Šta da Boga molim ja"
One of 3 songs by Hrvoje this edition. In 2021 he placed 5th with Filip Rudan's "Blind" and last year he made it to 11th with Lara Demarin's "Ne vjerujem ti". This entry is song by Marko Škugor, a member of Klapa s Mora from Eurovision 2013
Marko Tolja - "Through the Dark"
Marko Tolja makes his third attempt, placing 12th in 2007 and failing to make the final in 2007. Helping him improve his record is Dora 2022 winner Mia Dimšić and Ivan Popeskič, who helped Nuška Drašček reach 8th at EMA 2009
Martha May - "Running to the Light"
In 2023 Martha made her debut with "Distance", reaching 12th. Now she's back, with the help of Matteo Despares, who wrote MESC 2024 fan favourite "Mara" for Denise Mercieca
Matt Shaft - "Welcome to the Circus"
Matt and Laura are both debuting at Dora 2025, and have helped write each others songs. Who will place the best?
Natalie Balmix - "Život ide dalje"
Last year Natalie and Darko participated with "Dijamanti", placing 10th but gaining fans. Will the legendary Macedonian composer behind 15 Eurovision entries and the young Croatian singer achieve a stronger result this time?
Natally - "Dom si srcu mom"
Another Hrvoje Domazet song, this time written along with Alka Vuica and Marija Mirković. The most notable of their previous entries is "Hajde da ludujemo", the fan favourite Yugoslav entry from 1990, which Alka was behind
Petar Brkljačić - "Kraj"
Our third and final song from Hrvoje Domazet this edition
Teenah - "Aurora"
A collab between NF frequents Ylva and Linda Persson, as well as Charlie Mason (Rise Like a Phoenix - Conchita Wurst), John Matthews (Teenage Life - Daz Sampson) and Siniša Reljić (My Friend - Jacques Houdek)
BONUS: llyricum - "Tananai"
One of two backup entries with connections, "Tananai" was written by Andrej Babić, the man behind iconic entries from Croatia, Portugal, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Aleksandar Valenčić, his "Love Symphony" cowriter
BONUS: Patricia Gasparini - "Karma"
Last connected song, Patricia placed 18th in Dora 2023
The remaining 7 songs do not seem to have any connections
Filomena - "Strong"
Lelek - "The Soul of My Soul"
Nipplepeople - "Znak"
Ogenj - "Daj, daj"
Supersonic Trio - "Animal"
Fenksta - "Extra"
Swingers - "Ful kul"
And that's all! Hope you enjoyed reading this thread, and found it informative. If you did, make sure to follow me so you don't miss out on similar deep dives I will be making for all other national finals this season. Until then, take care!
SANREMO 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇮🇹🕸️📊
Always a highlight of the Eurovision year, Sanremo is back for the 75th time. And as always, the songs feature many familiar faces from Sanremo past and present. Let's take a closer look at all the connections (a thread 🧵) #sanremo25
Sarah Toscano - Amarcord
"Amarcord" was written with the help of regular writers Federica Abbate and Jacopo Ettorre who previously collabed on "Due" and "Fino a qui", as well as a team of less frequent writers who worked on "No grazie" and "Furore"
Serena Brancale - Anema e core
Another Abbate/Ettorre song, this time with Nicola Lazzerin in the mix. Nicola is making a big debut in this years contest, being behind 4 of the original 30 songs. Serena herself competed in the Newcomers section back in 2015
POLSKIE KWALIFIKACJE 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇵🇱🕸️📊
After a brief experiment with internal selection Poland is back to giving us national finals. In the lineup we find multiple entrants and songwriters from the past. Let's take a closer look at all the connections (a thread 🧵)
Chrust - Tempo
"Tempo" was written with the help of Krzysztof Falkowski, who was behind Maciej Musiałowski's entry in last year's internal selection, finishing 9th, receiving Kasia Moś highest points
Daria Marx - Let It Burn
Daria made the superfinal back in 2022 with her hit song "Paranoia". Now she's back, this time with the help of veteran writer Peter Boström and DMGP 2025 entrant Maria Broberg. The two also collaborated on Xannova Xan's song for this year's Greek final
VIDBIR 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇺🇦🕸️📊
As always, #Vidbir is a highlight of the Eurovision season. This year, five out of the ten entries have connection to other entries in the Eurovision world. Let's take a closer look at all the connections (a thread 🧵)
A quick note:
As I source my database from different sources, different translitterations have to be harmonized for me to make these connections. Due to that some connections may have been missed. Please let me know if non-Ukrainian transliterations have been used in the plots!
Molodi - My Sea
The Mariupol group is making their Vidbir debut with the help of one of last year's winning songwriters, Anton Chilibi. On top of his "Teresa & Maria" involvement, Anton also wrote Carpetman's "Endless Fight"
EUROSONG 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇧🇪🕸️📊
Tonight is the night, where we'll once again witness a Belgian selection, after last years internal process. What really sets #Eurosong apart, is the fact the 5/8 were written by the same person! Let's take a closer look (a thread 🧵)
Leez - Perfectly Imperfect
Perfectly Imperfect was written by Will Knox, who was involved with Eurovision 2019 winner "Arcade", in addition to a few NF entries. Also in the mix is Loek van der Grinten, who helped write Netherlands 2023 entry "Burning Daylight"
Le Manou - Fille à papa
One of five songs written by Willem Vanderstichele, who is truly making an impactful debut in the Eurovision world
ETHNIKÓS TELIKÓS 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇬🇷🕸️📊
After many years of internal selections the Greek selection is finally back to our screens! Among the participants we see a few connections to former entries, both recent and older. Let's take a look (a thread 🧵) #EthnikosTelikos
Klavdia - Asteromata
One of the two big favourites, Asteromata was written by the writing team Arcade, who were also involved with Stefania's 2020 and 2021 entries. Will they be able to add another Eurovision participation to their resumé?
Constantinos Christoforou and Kostas Karafotis - Paradeisos
Constantinos is no stranger to Eurovision, having represented his native Cyprus three times (1996/2002/2005). Will he be able to at a Greek participation to his list? Rodoula was involved with two Cypriot entries as well
MALTA EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2025 SONGWRITER DEEP DIVE 🇲🇹🕸️📊
Another year, another MESC. Like previous years, the song list is filled with connections to previous entries, with not a single song being disconnected. Let's take a closer look! (a thread 🧵)
Adria Twins - Qalb ma' Qalb
A collaboration between regular Maltese writers Sebastian Pritchard-James (Loop) and Joe Julian Farrugia (We Are More) and Swedish writer Melanie Wehbe (Move/Sand/Love Is Forever)
Dario Bezzina ft. Joseph Il-Muni - Għażliet
Dario's fifth attempt, and the second with the help of mega-writer Phillip Vella (7th wonder/Desire/Breathlessly/etc.). Could this be Phillip's 7th Eurovision entry?