We had a great opportunity to ask mysterious Misha our questions, before the 1st Semi-final of the Croatian National Selection Dora 2024, which will take place on the 22nd February
ES: Who is Misha?
Misha: Misha is exactly what you see! Misha wants to put accent on music while being visually interesting and provoking.
ES: Why the mask? What is it made of?
Misha: The mask has many different levels and reasons to be there. It makes you think about your reaction to it. Some people love it, some hate it. We are interested in those who hate it because we like to provoke questions about inclusivity and tolerance. Why do you hate it? Do you feel threatened by it? What exactly bothers you and why do you care? It’s just a mask. Do you make the same discriminations in your everyday life? These are all questions people need to think about and we hope to contribute to this conversation. We think different is good. We thing weird is great! Stay weird as long as you can!
ES: Can you describe Misha Republic, who are its citizens? How can someone become a citizen of the Misha Republic?
Misha: Misha Republic is a place whose citizens are people who feel like they don’t belong, people that have been discriminated in any way at any point of their life, creatives that like to collaborate with other creatives etc. In Misha Republic emotion is the main currency and art is the only politics. It is a place where differences are celebrated and nobody feels threatened to be who they are. It sounds utopian, but actually we really are that republic when we start creating music, visuals, outfits and anything else we want to create. We only work with people we really love and become friends with. We don’t do anything just for the sake of business. We value honesty in all we do. When we disagree, we take the decision that is best for the song, not for someone’s ego. This is Misha Republic.
ES: What is the meaning of the song? Is “that day” far, what will happen when it comes?
Misha: The song talks about the fact we spend most of the time looking in a screen looking for likes or taking pictures of ourselves. The screen is the mirror and one day the mirror comes down and when you look up you realize life went on without you and is hopefully not too late. ”That day” comes in different times for different people. The sooner the better.
ES: You were dreaming of making the song that would’ve been performed all over the world in your childhood. The song has already been well received in several countries, Sweden among them. Is Eurovision the way to fulfil your dream? Is this THE song?
Misha: This is just the beginning. This song will sound even better when remixes will come out. The first remix just got out yesterday. It’s by Vanillaz. Some of the best and worldly known DJ’s from Croatia. Other will hopefully come out soon. The song will develop in time. The original version is a mix of pop and House music. It is a great base for morphing to other genres and reaching various other audiences. We hope to achieve that!
We didn’t do the song having Eurovision in mind. That’s why the sound is slightly different than most of the competing songs. When artists write songs planning to go to Eurovision, they tend to use some of the usual patterns and tricks they think people expect. ‘One Day’ was made long before we decided to go to Eurovision. We made it in English and this is the reason we came up with the idea to go to Eurovision. We want to reach a wider audience. The song is very radiophonic, it is not annoying and you can listen to it in the morning, in the gym and also in a party. You can put it on your playlist and it can stay there for a long time.
ES: What do you consider to be your advantage over the other participants? Why should the voters choose number 4 in the first semifinal on February 22?
Misha: We only think the viewers deserve to have variety. We wish everyone competing will be at their best in their style of music and then the viewers will choose based on their taste. If you like a ballad then vote for a ballad, if you like our sound then vote for us. It’s a fair game if everyone is honest and good at what they do. The rest is up to the viewers. Doing the press in the last couple of weeks, we realized Eurovision fans throughout Europe think of Croatia as the country that sends music that is a bit outdated. To be realistic, Croatia didn’t make a lasting impression on Eurovision in the last decade. Maybe that is one of the reasons. We feel this year the bar has been raised a little and we hope we have contributed to that a little bit. Maybe this is the direction that would make people change their minds about Croatia on Eurovision.
ES: Can you tell us something about the performance and the stage for the semifinal? Will you try to make the stage similar to the amazing video following the song?
Misha: Everybody liked our video right from the start. This created big expectations for the live performance. It is not easy, but in all we do we give great importance to the visual aspect as well. We will try to translate the Misha esthetic on the stage. We also want to sing everything live (including the back vocals). Not all of the acts do that. This is a bit limiting as there is a limit of 6 people on stage. Considering we have 4 back vocals, there is not much room for dancers and such. So we needed to come up with some good ideas to make it work. We took it as a challenge and we will see what viewers will think about it.
ES: You are mysterious about your participation in Dora. But, since Dora is very close, you probably already told your family about the participation. How did they react?
Misha: At the beginning absolutely nobody but people that worked on the song knew we are Misha. Not even my family and best friends knew. It was fun for me to listen to their comments about Misha not knowing it is me. Then we started telling only to people that needed to know. Eventually to the families and friends. My friends learned about it when I invited them to dinner and gave them tickets for the show. I set them down and told them everything. The reactions were absolutely priceless!
ES: What does “Everybody is just dancing” on your Instagram mean?
Misha: It is a line in the song that tells you that life is going on while you stare in the mirror. It is the main message of the song. Life is a dance, it is beautiful and always moving on. You can either observe or participate, but you must pay attention to it before the ‘song’ is over.
ES: You have the big support of a great Croatian singer, Tony Cetinski, who represented his country at Eurovision in 1994. Did he already receive the passport for the Misha Republic? Did he reveal a secret recepy for how to win Dora to you?
Misha: He is a great supporter from the beginning. He gave us many good insights. What we have in common is honesty in what we do. Good or bad, it is honest. He is already a citizen of Misha republic because of that.
ES: Are the mirrors gonna fall on February 22? Or the masks?
Misha: What mask? LOL
Listen to Misha’s song “One day”
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