Croatia 2026: Lelek with ‘Andromeda’
Back to the backlog and a very convincing National Final winner in Lelek who swept to victory in Dora:
Bit of a hard one to write this review because TL/DR this is the song out of all this year I believe will achieve the most consistent middling result and if I had to bet on one entry to come 14th like my life depended on it Croatia is the pick. That’s a fine result for Croatia who are establishing themselves as the form country from the former Yugoslavia. They are also establishing themselves as one of the better countries at staging in my opinion which you’d have got long odds on a few years ago with Baby Lasagna’s 2024 glow up into 200+ jury points arena pleaser and even last year in their NQ doing a good job of elevating things live and bringing a strong use of colour.
‘Andromeda’ already has a strong visual identity and I expect this to look one of the better entries in Vienna with stronger camerawork and more time dedicated to it.
I just wish there was a bit more going on musically here with this a bit dull and a long sit through. This reaches for epic but doesn't quite get there. There's a call to vote but it’s quite limited in scope and I don't think this will translate so well out of the region or to anyone who doesn't already go in for this sort of thing. The goal in a way would be to replicate Latvia from last year with this female, ethnic ensemble which came right in the middle of the pack.
Croatia are in the first half of their semi final which is the only negative as they have some pretty good company with Serbia and Montenegro both present and this is probably one of the more jury friendly entries here. Should qualify pretty comfortably and do well but not spectacular with both sides of the vote in the final.
Personal Rating: 10/20
Televote Potential: 12/20
Jury Potential: 13/20
Staging Potential: 19/20
Track Record: 12/20
Overall Rating: 66/100
Early Prediction: Semi One 5th-8th, 12th-16th in the Final.
Volatility Factor: 2/5, I really don’t see this deviating much between 100-150pts total in the final.