Have you seen the Croatian National Selection 2023 winning performance? Is it going to be successful? Stay with me to the very end of this article and watch the video to find out if this entry’s going to win.

Hello, Guys!

This is your EurovisionaryVoice calling! I present my reactions/comments here.

This time I’m going to show you my honest comment on the song “Mama ŠČ!” by Let 3 (that is Flight 3 in English).

The song was chosen by a combination of the jury and public voting. Let 3 won in both categories and thus they’re the winners of Dora 2023.

Let’s focus on the first snippet.

A very strong rock beginning both as for the music and lighting (I’d go for some darker colours in the beginning though) – but from the very first moment you can discover it’s a kind of funny/freaky approach – male artists dressed like soldiers wearing skirts. All this grabs your attention and makes you want to see more.

So again we’ve got the ‘mama’ figure (last year it was indirectly presented in Kalush Orchestra’s song) who ‘bought a tractor’. Hmm, … . It’s getting even more intriguing now. ?

The song is presented in their native language so has got this Slav soul in a way.

As for the outfits yeah – definietely everything seems to be exaggerated.

Let 3 formed in 1987 is a modern rock band from Rijeka in Croatia which particularly is known for their “original approach to rock music and their obscene live performances. Their songs often contain provocative and vulgar lyrics.” (Wikipedia). Well, it all explains a lot now – this is exactly what we observe here on stage.

And this band is popular in former Yougoslavian countries and that can get them a lot of points from the public.

As for the vocals I’d say the way the song is created doesn’t seem to require much from the vocalist in the major part of the song but still the vocals seem to be decent, quite strong and rock like.

Well, this bridge appears to be very original developing in the direction of a musical and some of the sounds remind me of one of Queen’s songs.

Then, there’s this crocodile psychopath with this call to war. Some hand moves remind me of the ones we can see on TV in programmes about the World War II in Europe and this characteristic vocalist’s moustache. And this salute at the end.

The lyrics seem to be particularly important here although seem to be crude in the beginning. And open to interpretation. Some comments on YouTube itself claim that Belarus is a type of a tractor vehicle produced in Belarus, so you can interpret it as if Mother Russia bought Belarus. Letters ŠČ some explain as the symbol of the Russian letter ‘Z’ because if you add the ordinal number of the letter “Š=25” and the letter “Č=4” you get the result 29, and the 29th letter of the alphabet is the letter “Z”. That’s intriguing.  What do you think of these interpretations?

And that part about the psychopath with rocket with those symbols of radioactive material being lifted by a man in the dark outfit resembling the one of a priest like figure – all seems to be so meaningful. At the end almost all taking off their clothes showing that deep beneath they’re different as these clothes are female like?

Are these lyrics showing criticism of the war and its absurdity? What do you think guys? Let me know in the comments below.

All in all, I’d say this is an extremely intriguing performance with this kind of ‘freaky’ vibes and a kind of innuendo and elements of pastiche. It seems that those freaky pastiche performances have seen better days in the past but they reappear from time to time and here this seems to be a performance of this type but with a message.

We’ll see if Let 3 will get the best result for Croatia. Will their flight take them directly to the victory? To do that they would have to finish at least 3rd (as the best result for Croatia so far has been the 4th place; it was in 1996 and 1999).

In the end, I can only say: Well done, Let 3! Congratulations, Croatia! I assume this song might qualify to the final especially as this year only the viewers vote in the semi-finals. And this can be a ‘dark horse’ of this year’s Eurovision.

What do the bookmakers say about the Croatian entry? At this moment (19th February 2023) it’s in the 15th place.

Let’s hear it for Let 3 and the whole team!

And Guys! If you’ve enjoyed my article and video then please like it and remember to subscribe to my channel. Thank you so much. ?

Let me know what you think of this performance in the comments below.

Thank you for reading my article and watching my video!

I’ll be back soon.

Bye, Guys! ?

Sources:

Wikipedia;

Photo and video: YouTube