We got the opportunity to talk to one of the big favorites of Dora 2024, Baby Lasagna, who will present himself with the song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”.
Hello Marko, thank you for accepting our invitation to talk to us and present yourself to our readers at ESCUnited. Welcome! Firstly, I must ask you how you came up with your stage name – Baby Lasagna? It’s unique and as far as I could see, many people like it.
One day I was walking by the seaside, but it wasn’t as romantic as it sounds. I was looking for a store to buy water so I could drink my aspirin because I had a raging headache. Anyway, as I was looking for a store words popped into my head- “Baby Lasagna”. I thought it sounded funny and unexpected so I went with it, and I’m glad I did haha.
As we know, Zsa Zsa withdrew from Dora selection which allowed you to step in. What was your first reaction when you got the news from HRT that you’d now be on the show?
To be honest, I didn’t react at first, I hang up the phone and continued to eat my pasta as if nothing had happened. People around me were shocked but I wasn’t – I don’t know why. With that being said, just a few minutes after I started to shake, and stage fright kicked in already hahaha. I started to question if I was cut out for it. But here I am. I’m still not sure about the last thing but that’s okay haha- time will tell.
What motivated you to submit an entry this year to the competition?
The short answer is my friend Dino did. I didn’t think anything would come out of it. I checked out the application form and saw that it wasn’t so complicated and I just did it and forgot about it. You can trust me on that- it’s a fact that the first list came out and I found out about it two or three days later haha. I thought that this is gonna be just one of the application forms that you send out and never get a response back – like when I send my resume on different job applications haha.
You have some experience with the national selection, as you participated in 2019 as a guitarist for Manntra right? What were some of the biggest takeaways from that experience, and how have they impacted your preparation process for this year?
At the time I was a cocky kid who thought that metal bands like Manntra were above Dora. I was an extremely arrogant metalhead and that’s why I went through the whole experience sulking and complaining. And when you’re too proud and arrogant you don’t enjoy what’s in front of you, you don’t even learn – you don’t absorb it. So I didn’t learn much and I wasn’t wise enough to absorb the experience that was offered to me.
How would you describe your musical style and sound to our readers? Are there any artists that influence your music?
I’m not really sure how to describe it. I think that’s up to the listener if they think that it needs to be categorised. As you can hear from my music so far, I like to play with different styles and genres. I combined rap, metal, hardstyle, techno, rock and so on and so forth. My music influences go from Rammtesin and Electric Callboy over Harry Styles to Ludwig van Beethoven.
What was the songwriting process like for Rim Tim Tagi Dim, and what message do you hope it will convey to the viewing audience? What is the meaning of the title?
It was very naive and childish one could say. Music was written very fast. I was very excited and just jumping from one part to another until I had a finished product. Lyrics, on the other hand, were inspired by my friends leaving our country in search of a better life. Youth leaving Balkan countries is a long-standing problem and I don’t want to get into the politics of it, but I felt the need to discuss it from the emotional side, and I did it this way. In this case, the title is the name of the folklore dance that comes from the village where the song’s hero is from.
Not to put any pressure on you, but the initial reaction from the fans of your song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” is almost nothing but positive. Did you expect such a great reception of your song and how does that make you feel ahead of the live performance on Dora?
Yeah, I did not expect that at all. To be honest, when it all started I deleted my Instagram app because I thought that people are gonna hate me so much – I thought this was gonna be a hate fiasco haha. At first, it had put a lot of pressure on me but now I feel relaxed knowing that my team and I are putting 100% of what we got into all of this, and that’s all that we can do really. Everything else is out of our hands, thus we won’t worry about it.
Our readers are interested in your live performance. We know you can’t tell us much, but what can you tease about the staging plans, what can we expect?
You can expect it to be crowded. You can expect it to be very hot (or warm). You can expect a folklore and gothic feel. It will be funny and bizarre.
Croatia hasn’t been in the top 10 of Eurovision since 2001. In case you win Dora and go to Eurovision as a Croatian representative, do you think the top 10 is reachable for you?
I believe in my song, and I believe that Rim Tim Tagi Dim can reach even higher than the top 10.
In conclusion, do you have a final message you’d like to share with the readers of ESCUnited?
I just want to say that I love you for what you did for me and my career. I feel blessed to see the international support which adds extra sweetness to the whole cake hehe.
Thank you so much Baby Lasagna and we wish you the best of luck in Dora 2024!
If #YOU want to support Baby Lasagna’s pathway to Eurovision 2024 make sure you tune in to the Dora second semi-final show on February 23rd and vote!
