Nina lives her dream on stage for Croatia

Nina glad to finally be at Eurovision

Backstage, prior to the rehearsal we spoke to Nina and asked her how it felt to finally be at the Eurovision Song Contest after a number of attempts in the past. She replied "It feels great to be at Eurovision for the first time, it's like a dream came true. I just finished the in ear and microphone rehearsal. We have great people here, they are true professionals we are working with."

Nina also explained how she came to choose the song Nebo to be the Croatian entry saying "I don't know really, it was in my heart, when I recorded it, it just felt right, it is a personal story within the lyrics, and I felt completely comfortable with it. I was always going to perform the song in English, but at the last minute we changed to Croatian as I feel I can express the story better this way in my own language."

Smooth rehearsal

The rehearsal went smoothly, and Nina's stage experience shone through. The backdrop has a blue sky with clouds exploding. Nina is wearing a black dress and is joined on stage by three female backing singers and two male dancers.

As the last chorus approaches, the male dancers lift a long white cloth and position it behind Nina and the three backing singers, which works effectively on screen as the wind machine blows the sheet.

Nina's biggest wish came true

At the Croatian press conference Nina opened by saying "This is something extremely new for me in my career. I was singing since 9 years old, and before my 40th birthday my biggest wish was to go to the Eurovision Song Contest, and as it will be on 4th July, I just made it in time!."

Nina was asked about her entry Carobno Jutro with which she finished in second place in the Croatian national selection of 2003, She commented "Yes, I was in second place with that song, but actually it turned out to be a blessing as it was voted record of the year in 2003 in Croatia." Nina then performed Carobno Jutro with guitar accompaniment for the press.

Nina told the press of the influence of Dino Dvornik in her early career, saying "He was a special guy, sadly he is not with us any longer. He was one of the greatest musicians in Croatia and I am very happy to have worked with him."

Nina pays tribute to Toše Proeski

The press conference moderator suggested to Nina that the popularity of her music across the former Yugoslavia still united people of all nation, even in the war torn years of the early 1990's, Nina was flattered by this statement and added "It's a great feeling when people love you and your music, no matter who they are and where they live. Music has a unique power to unite people. I think that the artist who did the most to unite all of the ex Yugoslavian countries however was Toše Proeski, his music still lives on and people still love him to this day."

Nina closed the press conference by giving a rendition of her 2012 entry Nebo, which was warmly received by the assembled press.