From winning a professional music award „Status” for the best young vocal instrumentalist to having several solo concerts and guest appearances in Munich, Germany, Maja is now taking part in the Croatian national selection for Eurovision 2023 with the song “I Still Live”. We had a chance to chat a bit with Maja about her participation in the contest, you can check out our interview below.
Dora 2023 will take place this Saturday and the winner will be selected 50% by the jury and 50 by the public.

Hello Maja Grgić and thank you for taking you time for ESCBubble! First of all, how was your reaction when you heard you will be at Dora 2023?
When I first got the news that I am in fact going to Dora competition, I was overwhelmed. I got a call that morning from a friend that was congratulating me, and I had no idea since I was woken up by his call, so you can imagine how I reacted when I saw that my name was on competitors list.

What made you decide to enter Dora and what are your expectations from the contest?
The song “I still live” was written just a few days before Dora competition by Teo Martinović, the pianist and me. When my partner, Niko heard the song he immediately saw potential in that song. It was actually his idea to send the song on Dora, and after encouraging me multiple times he finally made me send it. I looking forward into promoting my hard work and I am hoping for the best.

Your song is called “I Still Live”, what can you tell us about it, what’s the message behind it?
The songs name “I still live” is directly connected to the message of the song, and that is life after death and immortality of the soul. I wrote that song as an encouragement to myself and anyone that lost somebody important in their life. Everybody seeks comfort in someone, and I hope my song will do the same for everybody that needs it.

How will the staging be at Dora 2023? What can we expect from your performance?
Since the stage on Dora can welcome only 6 people, there will be three dancers, a cellist, of course Teo, who plays piano, and me. The performance is concepted in a way that the whole team is preforming the song, or as we like to call it, “the theatre in a song”. I want the audience to not only hear the song, but to see it. So, without my team the song is not complete.

Which of the other contestants are you excited to see on Dora this year? And who do you consider to be your biggest competitor?
I am very excited to hear from all competitors this year! I am not thinking about who is my biggest competitor, but rather to see the ideas and innovations they are bringing to the stage this year. Dora has been very close to my heart, since I was a part of jury last year.

Do you follow Eurovision and do you have a favorite song from the contest?
I remember watching my first Eurovision in 1989. when croatian band “Riva” won the contest and it stuck with me ever since.

And any other plans for 2023? Can we expect new music from Maja Grgić?
Right now I am working on new music, and I am currently recording two albums; one that is in croatian and other that is in english language. Every song from these two albums are written by me and Teo. One of my main goals is to get recognised further than Croatia, and I am looking for publishers that may be interested in my music, so this competition will hopefully help me reach my goals.

In the end, I want to thank you for your time and please, if you have a message for your fans and our readers here on ESCBubble?
If you believe in yourself, life will give you endless opportunities. Always believe in yourself. Always be yourself.

You can listen to Maja Grgić’s entry in Dora 2023 right here:

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