After a general lack of news from Croatia, followed by a strong rumor that Colonia would be competing to represent the nation in Eurovision this year, we got word yesterday that veteran singer Nina Badrić had been internally selected by broadcaster HRT.  The traditional national final format has been scrapped for the year in favor of a two-night event in early March.  Night One will be a retrospective of DORAs past, and Night Two will focus on Nina and her song for Baku.  After some strong showings in the mid-to-late ’90s, Croatia’s Eurovision fortunes have waned somewhat in recent years…will Nina bring them back to the Top Ten for the first time since 2001?

Since the release of her debut in 1995, Badrić has recorded seven studio albums, a compilation, and a live album, with a number of successful singles in regional charts.  She is also no stranger to DORA; she has competed four times in the past.  She came in 7th place with her debut attempt, “Ostavljam te“, in 1993.  The next year, she came in 10th place with “Godine nestvarne“, and followed that with an 18th-place finish in 1995 with “Odlaziš zauvijek“.  She came back to the competition in 2003, and came in second that year with “Čarobno jutro”:

Her last album, “NeBo”, came out in late 2011.  Here is her most recent single, “Dat će nam Bog”

An interesting point of trivia: Nina recently worked with 2012’s performer for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Maya Sar, on the charity single “Moj je život moja pjesma“.  Also featured on the song was Karolina Gočeva, who represented (FYR) Macedonia in ESC 2002 and 2007.

What do you think of Croatia’s pick for Baku?  Let us know in the comments!