The first semi-final of Croatian national selection for Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Dora is set to take place tonight. A total of twelve acts are competing for a chance to be one of the eight who will advance to the final of the show which is set for Sunday, 2nd of March.

One of those acts is the band nipplepeople from Zagreb which was formed as a duo back in 2008. They are known for hiding their identities behind the masks, the style of music they play falls into synthwave and downtempo music. We had a nice chat about their entry for Dora 2025, the music they create, inspiration, Eurovision, their hit cover “Frka” and much more.

Hello nipplepeople, congrats for being chosen to compete at Dora 2025, given the fact that you are quite famous band with unique style what inspired you to take part at the contest?
An impulsive idea we’ve been longing for for a while. We’re mostly driven by uncertainty. I think that’s why we signed up. We wanted a bit of unknown adrenaline, fun discomfort, and sweet fear. Nipplepeople are generally quite shy – in their 15 years of existence, the band never gave an interview and their identities are unknown. By applying to Dora, they knew they’d have to step into the media spotlight, no matter how different that is from their usual work.  We called it a kind of coming out of the closet, even if it’s just with one foot. So we’re coming to Dora as a team. We’re no longer a duo but a trio – two musicians and myself, Marko, a longtime friend, the band’s Eurovision whisperer, and now a sort of spokesperson. I’ll try to guess what’s on the band members’ minds and bring it closer to the public.

Can you tell us a bit about Znak; how did it came to life and what does the song mean for you?
Like most of songs, ZNAK came about spontaneously and quickly. The birth was a whole different and more complicated story. ZNAK takes us through a tale of the passage of time and the inevitable changes that come with endings. It has a faster rhythm, yet still feels nostalgic. It balances between past memories and present loss, reflecting on the moments that have vanished, the loves that have passed. But, if my intuition isn’t wrong, and if I haven’t misunderstood everything, I think ZNAK is mostly about the band’s breakup.

You are known for a specific visual style and performance with masks on, can you reveal us a bit what kind of a performance we could expect for Dora 2025?
We’d be happiest if the viewers of Dora, watching from their screens, felt like they were in the audience at our concert. So, it won’t differ much from what our audience is used to. With our performance, we’ll take you on a journey into the enchanting world of nipplepeople, where music merges with fashion and visual experience. Costumes and fashion expression play a key role in creating that atmosphere, and that’s the responsibility of Lidija Lovrić and Nikola Barbir, who have been turning nipplepeople’s sound into costumes for many years. The visual experience in Opatija will be in the hands of the band’s longtime collaborator and artistic director, Anita Celić Cella, along with new members of the visual team – Martina Peranović (the creator of the lyric video for ZNAK) and Hrvoje Radnić (who designs oscilloscope visualizations, which the band has recently started using in their concerts)

Who do you see as your biggest competitor at Dora 2025?
The competition is truly rich, diverse, and it’s a great thing that this year’s Dora doesn’t have just one or two favorites – the contest will be really exciting. Performances will play a key role, so we’ll also find out who we would most like to see, aside from ourselves of course, on the stage in Basel. And until we see them, we find ourselves mostly singing EoT’s Bye, Bye, Bye.

You released “Frka” which was originally sung by Zdenka Kovačiček in 1984, that has later on became one of your biggest hits how did you get the idea to do that particular song and have you performed the song together with her?
We hung out with Zdenka and performed together a few times. But we actually met her before “our” Frka, when she sang as a guest at a concert of the band Dementronomes. Back then, we only had a brief chat and mentioned that we were covering “Frka.” I don’t think either she or we expected to meet again, let alone the tsunami that Frka brought to all of us.

Do you follow Eurovision Song Contest regularly. Do you have any favourites from Dora or ESC?
Every year, a couple of songs end on our playlists. Some of our favorites include Go_A – SHUM, Konstrakta – In corpore sano, Mahmood – Soldi, Loic – Rhythm Iniside. When we feel like being more romantic, we play Marco Mengoni – Due Vite, or zalagašper – sebi. And these days we’re all about Ich komme!

What would be your dream collaboration? Which artist would you like to perform with?
A few weeks ago, we received a YouTube badge (which we didn’t even know existed) saying we’re in the top 0.25% of listeners of the band Underworld worldwide. We had no idea what to do with that information, so here we are, sharing it in response to this question. It seems to me that we never actively seek collaborations, but somehow, those collaborations, or attempts at them, just happen spontaneously. So, let’s wait and see who we’ll click with on this journey through Dora.

What do you do when you are not creating music and singing? Any hobbies?
These days we’re all about fitness training and an adequate diet. Preparations for Dora require all of these. You can follow that journey through a series of short videos on our social media. And before all these Dora duties were in action, we mostly spent our days biting our toenails. That’s kind of our thing.

Is there something what you never told anyone else but you could reveal to us about nipplepeople?
We use butt pads in our costumes 😉

What are your plans after Dora 2025?
We are currently fully dedicated to Dora and we’ve temporarily set aside further plans. However, there is one thing in preparation: the release of a short documentary film with the aim of sharing the beautiful energy from our two recent big concerts in Zagreb and Belgrade with a wider audience.

Thank you so much for your time nipplepeople. We wish you the best of luck at Dora 2025. Do you want to share something else or you maybe have a message for readers of escbubble?
Thank you escbubble! Well, we hope you’ll enjoy this Eurovision season, watch Dora, and of course support your favorite acts! And we kinda hope that’s us ❤️

You can check out nipplepeople’s entry for Dora 2025, ZNAK below:

You can follow nipplepeople on social media as well as stream their music on the links below
Instagram: @nipplepeopleofficial                              Spotify: nipplepeople
YouTube: nipplepeople                                                 Facebook: nipplepeople

In the case ZNAK is your favourite to qualify from the first semi final of Dora 2025 don’t forget to vote for it in our poll below: