Just a few days after the last disqualification case before the National Final, another piece of news was released today from the Croatian broadcaster HRT. Natalie Balmix, known to Eurovision fans as she had competed in Dora last year, has been disqualified.
Her song “Život Ide Dalje” has been accepted during the open call for Dora submissions. Seven members of the committee approved her entry. However, on January 5, the song’s final version was submitted and it has been established that the song was significantly changed, more than 50% according to the source, which is against the rules.
Following the rules of the competition, instead of Natalie Balmix, the opportunity to perform at Dora 2025 is given to the replacement artist Fenksta, who will try to win Dora with the song “Extra”.
Fenksta, whose real name is Saša Stević, already said that one of his goals is to represent Croatia in the contest. He is a hip-hop musician from Umag who gets inspired by everyday situations and life experiences. He has been playing keyboards since the age of eight, and some of his musical role models include Eminem and Kool Savas. Fenksta was highly motivated to learn about music production and as a teenager, he started to pursue his passion for music.
His career started in 2008 when he was a member of a band KUGA. Four years later, he moved to the United States of America and graduated with a degree in Music Recording Technology from Northern Virginia Community College in Alexandria, Virginia.
There he developed a network of music producers and artists with whom he started collaborations and mutual projects in 2016. Fun fact!! Fenksta was included in the prestigious Undaground Choppers 6 list, where he took 82nd place on the list of the 100 fastest rappers in the world. His rapping speed was estimated to be 13 syllables per second!
Remember the last year? Baby Lasagna was one of the substitutes from the reserve list and eventually brought the historic second place to Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Rim Tim Tagi Dim.
How do #YOU comment on this situation in the Croatian national final? Are you looking forward to the fast beats and another wild card entry from Croatia? Let us know on social media (@escunited), on Discord, or at our forum.
