Croatia Wins First Eurovision Semi-Final in Liverpool with ‘Anti-Putin’ Song

The first semi-final of the Eurovision 2023 music contest was held in the Liverpool Arena, next to the River Mersey, on May 9. It featured performers from 15 countries with the audience determining which one was the winner who, along with nine other participants, would advance to Saturday’s final.

The audience’s favorite turned out to be the group 'Let 3' from Croatia, who performed the song "Mama ŠČ!". It contains the following lines:

"Mom bought a tractor, mom fell in love with a moron," and in the chorus — "This little psychopath. Sneaky little psychopath. Crocodile is a psychopath. Mom, I'm going to fight."

As you would expect with any good art, viewers interpreted the song and its anti-war targets differently. Some saw the soloist's glued-on moustache as being a parody of the Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko. Others felt the song was aimed at Vladimir Putin, since one of the participants brought dummy nuclear warheads to the stage.

Earlier, during the qualifying round of the music competition in Croatia, the group made it clear that the song's anti-war message wasn’t aimed at one war, but all wars everywhere. They believe that as artists, it's their responsibility to highlight and comment on the terrible realities of war.

The song focuses on those [politicians] who treat the planet as their playground and ignore the consequences of their actions. One band member stated: "The song is about those characters who consider the planet their toy and those at lower levels who think they can do whatever they want."

When asked if Putin was the "psychopath" mentioned in the song, the band member Prlya replied that he was indeed the target today. However, he added that if the song was written ten years ago, it would have been someone else, and ten years from now, it would probably be someone else again. 

The group acknowledged that an anti-war theme might not necessarily help them win the competition, but they believe that Eurovision has given them a platform to promote peace, which is a message that should resonate with everyone.

The complete list of the ten finalists from this first semi-final are:

• Croatia: Let 3 "Mama ŠČ!"

• Moldova: Pasha Parfenii "Soarele si luna"

• Switzerland: Remo Forrer "Watergun"

• Finland: Käärijä "Cha Cha Cha"

• Czech Republic: Vesna "My Sister's Crown"

• Israel: Noah Kirel "Unicorn"

• Portugal: Mimicat "Ai coração"

• Sweden: Loreen "Tattoo"

• Serbia: Luke Black "Samo mi se spava"

• Norway: Alessandra Mele "Queen of Kings"