A Nation on Stage: Why Croatia Fell Short

In the previous post, we discussed the national identity of Croatia and the aspects that shaped it to how it came to be today such as the Roman Catholic church and its history as part of the former Yugoslavia. To refresh, national identity is the defining factor of a nation that allows the people of that nation to differentiate themselves from others. What was also discussed in the previous post was the concept of “othering.” A significant other, or “othering” can either be a subgroup within a state or an external political unit that has direct influence over a state. Some internal others within a state could be immigrant communities within a state or an ethnic minority that threatens the cultural or ethnic purity of the state. An external Other could be a rivaling nation that could rival a state’s territory or a dominant nation or ethnic group of a multinational state (Triandafyllidou, 1998). 

In Eurovision, we know that every country gets one contestant entry into each year, so as the sole representative of one’s country, the position is charged with heavy expectation to represent the country, like international events like the Olympics or Miss Universe. Despite the pressure, such events are perfect opportunities to display a country’s national identity and a country can do so in countless ways in both positively and, whether they do so intentionally or not, negatively. Countries can highlight key aspects of their national identity through various music styles, costumes, or languages sung to name a few. However, there are often instances where national identity can be misconceived due to misrepresentation from a minority group, or culturally appropriating another nation’s national identity by taking aspects of it and passing it off as their own. For example, in Ukraine’s performer Ruslana’s 2004 performance “Wild Dances,” she draws from aspects from the Hutsul culture, but “the representations performed there appear to represent the nation as a whole” having “a claim to authenticity” (Baker, 2008). Point being, national identity can be confusing when presented on an international stage because of the aspects performed and how the audience perceives it. These are only a few ways nations present themselves in Eurovision and how their own national identity allows them to differentiate themselves from other countries, and how sometimes those efforts ultimately fall short. 

Tick Tock not Tik Tok 

Croatia’s 2021 Eurovision entry “Tick Tock,” by Albina, is a dance-pop song that is upbeat and explosive from a quite flashy performance and a very catchy chorus. And no, it is spelled T-I-C-K T-O-C-K not T-I-K T-O-K, referring to the sound a clock makes, not the trending social media app. Sporadic strobe lights and extremely sparkly outfits on the performers paired with Albina’s natural stage presence capabilities and “showcases the natural power within her phenomenally compelling vocals” (Jess, 2021). Albina is a Croatian artist who found her start through entering several of Croatia’s iterations of hit singing shows such as X-Factor and The Voice, in which she placed 3rd. From there she has signed with Universal Music Croatia and has released several singles since including “Tick Tock” (ndr., 2021). Albina also performed with 4 male backup dancers and assisted her synchronized choreography and even carrying her across the stage at one point. “Tick Tock” won Dora 2021; the Croatian song contest that determines their Eurovision entry and placed 11th in the semifinal of the actual Eurovision contest. Now let us examine the actual components of “Tick Tock.” 

Lyrics 

The content of “Tick Tock” is a song about love, more specifically, a song involving someone moving past a former lover. Major themes of individuality and leaving someone are present in the song as the pre-chorus to the song sings “if you pull me down, then I’ll come around and rise to come show you who I am” (Grcic, 2021). While it is unclear what relationship this song alludes to, a possible interpretation could be the separation from Croatia from Ex-Yugoslavia and a declaration of independence of the country. Alternatively, a love song coming from Croatia would not be uncommon as one, love is an important ideal as I mentioned in the previous post as an important aspect of Croatian national identity, and two, love is a common trope that is sung about in many Eurovision songs. Also, the song goes on to say, “I found myself and I’m finally free from your bad loving and restraint,” yet again to emphasize the themes of independence.  

To continue, the lyrics “tick tock” that denote the title appear frequently throughout the song and gives the song its quick tempo and beat in attempts to mimic the “tick tock” noise a clock makes.  Additionally, in the live performance, the end chorus has large words flash on the screens behind the performers some of which are the words “tick tock”. Usually, the term “tick tock” is used when time is running out which refers to, in this song, the person singing to the other person saying they are running out of time to win them back. While there is a message of trying to get the other person to chase them, there is clearly a mutual feeling of desire from the person who is saying this because otherwise there would be no need to say these things. 

The last chorus in the song is sung in Croatian saying, “tick tock, vrijeme sumi, gdjie si vise” which translates to “time is running out, where are you,” and the next line saying, in translated English, “I'm biting my lip barely, I'm breathing alone” (Grcic, 2020) In both lines, there is a much clearer purpose within the lines that the speaker still has feelings, otherwise there would be no need to flaunt to the other person that they are independent and do not need the other person anymore. Overall, this is a solid example of a song after getting out of a relationship, perhaps alluding to Croatia’s past with its old Yugoslavian era, but where the parallel ends here as there are the clear exhibits of Croatia not wanting anything to do with Ex-Yugoslavia anymore. Croatians were mainly in contention with the Serbians as the two largest people groups of Ex-Yugoslavia but “The Croatian ideology was absolutely incompatible with a Yugoslav identity, however” in the main differences being language and religion, and even eras of hostility towards one another where extremists of one nation would persecute the other (Hayden 1995). It is evident these lyrics were not written with this in mind and does not really play anywhere near to any aspects of Croatian national identity, perhaps why viewers and jury members of Eurovision felt the song did not belong. 

Novelty 

Novelty in a song performance is something that makes a song stand out from the rest which may be for better or for worse. In Eurovision, this could be techniques such as an unusual vocal quality or technique such as an exceptionally large vocal range, a presentational gimmick such as a use of a green screen, the song topic not being about love or heartbreak, or musical innovation such as extremely unique instrumentation. Novelty could either make an act extremely memorable or come off as tacky and actually receive fewer votes if it is perceived as trying to be too novel. An example of successful novelty is Switzerland’s 2021 performance in which singer Gjon’s Tears displays his impressive vocal range in dramatic fashion and placed 1st in semifinals and 3rd in the finals. Despite many examples of successful uses of novelty in Eurovision, “Tick Tock” fell short and lacked the novelty it needed to propel itself to a higher final placement. As mentioned above, the main message of Tick Tock, while open to interpretation, falls under the category of a song about love or heartbreak, which is what most songs fall into the category of. While that does not mean the song is not instantly worse because of that, it certainly does not make the song stand out against the numerous other songs that are about love or heartbreak. In addition, the staging and visuals of the performance fell into many stereotypes of Eurovision or rather lacked anything that would have made it memorable. One main trope that was encapsulated by “Tick Tock” was a lead female performer with an all-male supporting cast. Albina was surrounded by four male backup dancers and for most of her performance (EBU, 2021). Another couple of examples of this trope is Israel with the same type of cast, one female lead and male backup dancers and Belgium with a female singer and a full male band. Moreover, all the performers on stage were Caucasian, which is yet again another stereotype. While diversity is something that many countries have improved on in the 2000s and 2010s, Croatia chose a singer with a pale complexion and blond hair and even background dancers who all appeared to be white. However, this is not entirely Croatia’s fault as Croatia is 99.3% pure Croatian so a person of color would honestly be extremely hard to find (Bradbury, 2018). The whole performance, while producing a catchy tune, felt like it lacked the novelty that it needed to become a top song in Eurovision. 

Conclusion 

Overall, Croatia fails to display their national identity through this song, and while they made a catchy dance-pop song, the song failed to succeed in ESC because it had little to no aspects that caused it to stand out, therefore didn’t make it to later rounds. In a podcast by two Australians who review each song in Eurovision said about Croatia’s performance, “I’m not sure it’s got that stand out quality that some of the others” referring to other female performed entries, “do” (Aussievision, 2021).  

 

Word count: 1619 

 

 

 

 

References 

(2021). NRK TV. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://tv.nrk.no/serie/eurovision-song-contest/2021/MUHU25004321/avspiller.  

Aussievision. (2021). Croatia - Eurovision 2021 rank and review. Spotify. Retrieved February 24, 2022, from https://open.spotify.com/episode/2lEpbepzuXk5CIzbO1GH0x?uid=18f13834c134e26b4132&uri=spotify%3Aepisode%3A2lEpbepzuXk5CIzbO1GH0x.  

Author Robert Hayden. (1995, June 1). Serbian and Croatian nationalism and the wars in Yugoslavia. Cultural Survival. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/serbian-and-croatian-nationalism-and-wars-yugoslavia  

Baker, C. (2008). Wild Dances and Dying Wolves: Simulation, Essentialization, and National Identity at the Eurovision Song Contest. Popular Communication, 6(3), 173–189. https://doi-org.proxy.seattleu.edu/10.1080/15405700802198113 

Bradbury, P. (2018, July 22). 99.3%: Croatia, the most racially pure Caucasian country ... Total Croatia News. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/29956-99-3-croatia-the-most-racially-pure-caucasian-country-in-the-world  

Jess. (2021, March 19). Review: Albina Showcases Passion-filled vocals on "Tick-tock"! Fierce & Fabulous Revolution. Retrieved February 24, 2022, from https://fiercefabulousrevolution.com/2021/03/19/review-albina-showcases-passion-filled-vocals-on-tick-tock/  

Ndr. (n.d.). ESC 2021: Albina Sang "Tick-tock" für kroatien. ESC 2021: Albina sang "Tick-Tock" für Kroatien. Retrieved February 24, 2022, from https://www.eurovision.de/teilnehmer/ESC-2021-Albina-sang-Tick-Tock-fuer-Kroatien,kroatien628.html 

Croatia's National Identity

 Nathan Yu 

22WQ UCOR 1400 Eurovision 

Jan 27, 2022 

 

Identity is something every person, thing, and place seeks. Since people could begin to write, philosophers, scholars, and even just everyday people would write about their journey to “discover oneself.” Nowadays, any institution you can think of has some sort of way of telling you that one of the goals everyone should have been to “know thyself,” or some variation of that. Everyone has defining features of themselves that makes that person them. That could be the way you dress, an accent you have, a sports team you really like, or a signature laugh that anyone could recognize. This idea can also be applied to a place. Places, whether that be a friend’s house that has a distinctive red door that you can always recognize, a restaurant having a unique slogan such as “I’m lovin’ it,” or a country being represented by a rectangular flag of red and white stripes or an idea of a freedom that defines the whole foundation of that country. According to Public Affairs Quarterly, the abstract defines national identity two ways: “a strict one that regards national identity as based on a belief in common ancestry or ethnicity and a loose one that views nationality as a malleable term without fixed properties” (Dabhour, 2002). From this definition, I will be focusing the country of Croatia and the history, ideas, and significant others that further shape its identity and how Croatia’s national self can be seen in Croatia’s Eurovision performances. 

 

The Other and how it shapes Croatia 

A lens that is vital to exploring the national identity of Croatia is through the concept of “Othering” as discussed in Triandafyllidou’s article, “National identity and the ‘Other’.” A significant other can either be a subgroup within a state or an external political unit that has direct influence over a state. Some internal others within a state could be immigrant communities within a state or an ethnic minority that threatens the cultural or ethnic purity of the state. An external Other could be a rivaling nation that could rival a state’s territory or a dominant nation or ethnic group of a multinational state (Triandafyllidou, 1998). For most of Croatia’s history, Croatia has been primarily shaped by external Others, and has made the people of Croatia cling to their national identity even more so than without the external Others present.  

 

Croatian Catholicism and its Significant Others 

 

A central aspect of Croatia is the Roman Catholic Church. From the early 7th to 9th century, the Croats settled in what is present day Croatia, but belonged to the Roman Empire at the time. In the following years, “Pope John IV sent legates,” also known as clergy members, “to Croatia to ransom Christian captives held by the Croats and to obtain for Rome relics of the Christian martyrs” (Shelton, 2022). Shelton argues this event to be a key event in allowing Roman Catholicism to protrude into Croatian culture. From Triandafyllidou’s article, Rome would be a nation territorially close to the in-group which is Croatia for us. While Croatia never had any significant struggles against Rome that would classify Rome as a “dominant nation or ethnic group of a multinational state” that required Croatia to feel the need to break away from Rome. Instead, Croatia embraced this form of Christianity on top on their own faith “which had long been Christian” (Shelton, 2022). Since the first inundation of Roman Catholicism, Croatians have always held their identity with their faith as especially important. The church’s right would be something in recent years, the majority of Croatia identifies with the Roman Catholic faith with about 86.3% of the population identifying with the denomination (CIA, 2022). 

 

Croatia was part of former Yugoslavia during the 1900s alongside its now neighboring countries such as Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro and it continues to influence Croatia’s interactions with other countries today. To begin, former Yugoslavia in the 1940s is an external Other to Croatia, acting as a dominant nation of a multinational state. While Croatia forms Yugoslavia with Serbia and Slovenia in 1918, there would soon be a clear conflict between Croatia’s Roman Catholic background and Yugoslavia’s favoritism to Serbian Orthodoxy (Shelton, 2022). When Yugoslavia was taken over by communist leaders in 1945, suddenly Croatia faced greater religious oppression. The church’s power was being depleted as “Catholic schools closed, their buildings confiscated, while all religious instruction in state schools ceased,” under communist Josip Broz Tito who attempted to break the Church’s power in Croatia. Against an aggressive external Other, Croatia persisted and clung to their Roman Catholic identity. Croatia would achieve its independence in 1991 on June 25 and in 1996 were reinstated the Croatian Church’s right to teach by the Vatican. Still today, Croatia struggles with external Others in the form of neighboring countries. It has several border disputes with Serbia and Montenegro which is only logical as all these countries are ex-Yugoslavia and were once united. For example, Montenegro and Croatia still have disputes over the Prevlaka peninsula, near Dubrovnik. These interactions with Croatia’s external Others are a big part of their national identity. 

 

Though 86.3% of Croatia’s population identifies as Roman Catholic, do 100% of the 86% all avidly practice the faith? According to Dan Ebener, who taught in Croatia for 6 years, describes Catholicism as “more of a ‘nationality’ than a religion” (Ebener, 2014). It was less about the practice of faith and more about the identification associated with the particular faith. Croatia is still considered a secular state although a large majority of the population is “Roman Catholic.” However, this does not mean Croatians are against Catholicism as “many Croatians accept the authority of the priesthood and the Roman Catholic Church, which is led by the pope,” but aren’t as “strict in practicing their faith through regular church attendance” (Cultural Atlas, 2022). This is helpful in explaining life in Croatia, as Roman Catholicism is a defining part of their identity rather than something that is practiced. Values from Roman Catholicism bleeds into the values of individuals of Croatia such as peace and love. An idea of belonging is one worth mentioning as belonging is not only every human desire as some level, but it drives national identity, however over recent years, “attitudes about belonging have evolved” and become increasingly less important for many countries (Silver, 2021). This could be applied to Croatia’s religiousness as it has become such an integral part of their society and become less important to the individuals as the country has progressed.  

 

3 Minute Croatia 

 

In Eurovision, Croatia displays a keen sense of national identity through their recent performances. In the past two years, an overarching theme of love can be seen in both performances, and while I have not investigated many of their other performances, I can assume that love is a prevalent theme in many of them. In “Tick-Tock” by Albina, Croatia’s 2021 Eurovision entry, discusses breaking free from a toxic relationship saying, “I’m breaking free from your bad loving and restraint” (Percy 2021), and in Damir Kedzo’s 2020 performance for Croatia, “Divlji Vjetre,” talks about loving someone even when things do not go well. In Eurovision, it is important that songs are representative of the country performing it and, in both songs, they have a chorus, or in Kedzo’s case the entire song, sung in Croatian and highlights themes that are central to Croatian national identity that holds ideals such as love as important to what it means to be Croatian.  

 

From Croatia’s early roots in Roman Catholicism to its history as part of former Yugoslavia all are defining factors that contribute to what makes Croatian national identity and can be seen in displays of national identity such as Eurovision. It is evident through the many characteristics of Croatia’s national identity that the history of a country is often what defines a country later into their history into the present day. 

 

References 

CIA. (n.d.). Croatia. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/croatia/ 

 

Dahbour, O. (2002). National Identity: An Argument for the Strict Definition. Public Affairs Quarterly, 16(1), 17–37. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40441311 

 

Encyclopedia.com. (2022, January 27). ." new catholic encyclopedia. . encyclopedia.com. 24 Jan. 2022 . Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/croatia-catholic-church 

 

Percy, L., Percy, L., Muldoon, P., Vautrey, J., Fuster, L., Adams, W. L., Feliks, N., Team, W., Amr, Romanov, Banana, A., Marina, GrantK, … Gallagher, R. (2021, March 8). Albina's "Tick-tock" lyrics speak of Breaking Free and moving on from toxic relationships. wiwibloggs. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://wiwibloggs.com/2021/02/21/lyrics-tick-tock-albina-croatia-eurovision-2021/261912/ 

 

Pier. (n.d.). Croatian culture. Cultural Atlas. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/croatian-culture/croatian-culture-religion 

 

says, K. M., (2014, August 16). Being Catholic in Croatia is more nationality than religion. The Catholic Messenger. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from http://www.catholicmessenger.net/2014/07/being-catholic-in-croatia-is-more-nationality-than-religion/ 

 

Silver, L., Fagan, M., Connaughton, A., & Mordecai, M. (2021, May 5). Views of national identity in U.S., UK, France and Germany. Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/05/05/1-national-identity/ 

 

Word Count: 1315