Revealing our TIE for #1 of our top 10 songs this year: Croatia!

C’s number 1 (U’s number 2) is Croatia. Through their national selection Dora, Croatia chose Baby Lasagna’s “Rim Tim Tagi Dim.” Baby Lasagna will be performing 7th in the first semifinal.

It’s hard to believe that Baby Lasagna wasn’t even originally going to compete in the Croatian national competition, and it’s only because a different contestant dropped out that he was given the chance to perform “Rim Tim Tagi Dim.” Baby Lasagna won in a landslide victory, even though he was up against last year’s infamous Croatian band, Let 3 (who returned with an even more deranged song and stage than last year’s Mama ŠČ – crazy, we know). 

When we heard that someone named Baby Lasagna was predicted to represent Croatia at Eurovision with a song called “Rim Tim Tagi Dim,” we were instantly on board. It immediately gave us the confidence that this artist already understands and appreciates how wacky and weird Eurovision can be. We were not disappointed. Their national performance at Dora blew us away: the lace doilies on the instruments, the backup dancers’ fancy footwork, the sleeves! It’s an absolute head-banging party.

One of the reasons this song has stuck with us is that it is not actually as superfluous and silly as it seems. It surprisingly blends its frenetic beat with traditional Croatian culture, costume, and dance. And in fact, the song tells the story of moving away from home and how anxiety-ridden that transition can be – much more depth than you would think of a song that starts out with, “Ay, I’m a big boy now / I’m ready to leave, ciao, mama, ciao … I’m going away and I sold my cow.” 

We know you may not be expecting the song titled “Rim Tim Tagi Tim” to have the most iconic lyric of this year’s contest, but nothing can beat “Meow cat / Please meow back.” In fact all the lyrics are great and you should just watch the impeccable lyric video.

Additionally, we would like to mention the abundance of cats associated with this song. Not only did one of Baby Lasagna’s cats allegedly inspire this song, there are cats in the lyrics, cats in the music video, cats on the merch, and giant cats on the LED background. And we aren’t sure how, but there’s even a children’s book!

The cats on the merch are designed after Baby Lasagna’s real cats named Gertruda, Branka, and Stipe.

And you may have noticed, we love a good crowd-participation song, too. Even before Baby Lasagna’s Eurovision Party performances made it a thing, U&C were sitting in their living room going, “Whoa-ohh” at the end of every phrase of the chorus. It’s a song that invites interaction – you just gotta stomp your feet, bob your head, sing along with its repetitive chorus, and try your hand at the iconic dance move: 

As we’ve mentioned before, this is a year of nonsensical lyrics like, “Ram-di-dam-dam-da” and “Dam-diggi-da.” But “Rim tim tagi dim” is clearly our winner. We loved Baby Lasagna’s national final performance, and we are excited to see the ways it will be polished for the Eurovision stage in Malmö. Everything about “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” has us rooting for Croatia. Hopefully Baby Lasagna will bring Croatia their first ever victory at the Eurovision Song Contest!

Now that you know our official ranking of all the Eurovision 2024 songs, all that remains is the contest! Stay tuned for some info on where to watch and how to vote, and you can check back here to find out who will be performing in the grand final!