Marina Radonic counted her lucky stars when she was waiting in the wings in Ylfa, Talvezout. She was part of that uncomfortably close top 3 figuration in the national final for the 68th WorldVision Song Contest, in which she was caught in a tightly packed triad that was herself, Dejan Mlakar, and eventual WorldVision entrant TINA in a battle to who would represent Izmedu. This was reflected not only in just the jury scores, but their respective televotes as well. All in all, someone within the top 3 had to give, and Marina was the one to have to take the 3rd place home. The 70th WorldVision Song Contest was her second chance contest in many respects. The second time was the charm. After beating the fan favorite, Mi smo sve, by one point as well as Izmepisma fielding international submissions; Marina overcame the odds to become the Izmeduan entrant to the 70th WorldVision Song Contest.
Yet, when taking a look at Marina's background, she had the markings of someone who was destined for a mid-table finish in her NF or to be floated around as a possible name for RTI to never contact. Marina herself was a singer hailing from Vodiznad, preferring to keep to live gigs and session singing instead of actively recording albums. As a professional singer in her mid-30s, she made a comfortable living doing the aforementioned two for her career. She would often sign on for other artists as either a backup singer or often ink a deal to become a background singer for multiple albums. Either way, Marina often saw her career as one where she desired to sing as much as possible, but take on positions within the industry that didn't require quite the spotlight on her. For much of her career before engaging in Izmepisma, this kind of method worked. She became a well-respected if a middle of the road figure.
However, it was her line of work as a background singer was what sparked the formation of her career into possible stardom, and certainly foremost as a WorldVision contender. The first sparks of a possible contest song came from Marina taking on a world tour for past World Hit Festival contestant, Gordan Glavas (who sang for Izmedu in the 33rd World Hit Festival). While the tour itself went off without a hitch, it did result Gordan noticing the hidden talent that Marina held while not being restricted to matching the notes of a more renowned song. It was almost an anecdote from a dramatized biography of any singer's career. Marina vividly remembered practicing her basic fundamental notes and singing a line from an Izmeduan vocal standard. It just so happened that during such a normally solitary moment, Gordan himself was practicing an instrument and paused to hear Marina, especially as she trilled and went through her vocal practices.
Marina herself was rather hesitant and downplayed her talent. However, Gordan was having none of it, and privately proposed a demo recording session to Marina after the tour was over. Marina, seeing as she didn't have any engagements after the tour, agreed to have something to look forward to. At the time, Marina thought it to be weird and a touch too sudden that someone with Gordan's stature would be offering such an opportunity to her. The tour came and went, and Marina found herself meeting with Gordan in the studio. She agreed to sing some of these 'demos' that Gordan wanted her to sing, of which one of them would be the very song she would bring to Izmepisma.
Gordan, who had been trying to find suitable singers for his demos based on more positive writing experiences, had struck gold when Marina immediately matched with the demo for “La initintra.” For Marina, she rather liked the songs she was singing and felt a deep engagement with them in a way she couldn't find with just background singing. However, with that engagement also came an anxiety. This was, of course, going against the very parameters of the career she tried to stake out. She didn't want any unnecessary fame or attention from turning into a solo artist, and at first vehemently denied for being 'the voice' for “La initintra.” However, when Gordan offered her a proposition to either think about it or just outright deny the opportunity, Marina suddenly found herself utilizing the option to think about her involvement instead of an immediate refusal.
That was where Marina knew she actually wanted to be a part of the project. After some thought, she realized that there really wasn't going to be any opportunity quite like she had. Here she was, a singer in her mid-30s bucking the trend of Izmeduan female singers needing to be young to make it big. Besides, she was relying on the Izmeduan fame machine to throw her name into the annals of obscurity. She figured, if she could take this song places but release no records after, or just turn into a small-time singer that sang material like it, that would be a decent compromise from her past station. And besides... Marina knew she could afford the extra renown.
So, she took on Gordan's project and decided to follow the plan of submitting the song for Izmepisma. She took the initial 3rd place in stride, thinking it to be a fitting end for her time in the spotlight. When invited for a second go around? Well, she only went and won the national final. It was a close one, but she did it.
It was time... Marina figured if now was the time to make an impact, it was now.
Lights billowed down to the center of the Laugardalshöll's stage at the advent of the Izmeduan entry. With the addition of an orchestra, as well as the song's instrumentation befitting of it, RTI would then elect the entry to be played live. A piano and Marina herself were situated on top of one of the stage's stairwells. The entry would begin with a simple piano, a white spotlight shining on Marina and the piano. The camera would fade to a close up, with the establishing shot being Marina's elegant visage situated against the instrument. She held one hand on the piano itself, her face craned upwards and her posture seeming almost iconic and befitting of the song's tune. She held a graceful, if very fixed pose, against the piano. The gradually brightening lights would reveal Marina to be wearing an elegantly-designed dress for the occasion. As soon as she heard her cue, she began to sing...
Za canta dana čekam te
Neprekidno pišem
I šaljem maji pozdrav nekom sebnom
Možda primit ćete melu poruku
Za maj život, sam ispunjen
Vidila sam el biali svit
Doživio sam el subliman
Još tamo je nešto praplar tu
For the long first verse, Marina carried the song with an emotional yet restrained voice. She gazed at the camera with a cloying and fragile grace, addressing the viewers at home like the recipient of the song. She would gently sway to the song as she then gazed longingly at the piano player, her eyes smoldering with a wistful romance. The camera, throughout both halves of the verse, would fade between varying views of the stage. For the moments that needed it, the camera was more at home catching Marina's expressive singing. However, some shots faded to a wider view of the stage itself. The LED panels, as Marina sang, would display a real-time lyric video where the lyrics were being 'written' in ink as Marina sang them. Subtle ink splots can be seen crossing the LED panels, but it was the lyrics in Izmeduan that would dominate the proceedings with what was going behind Marina herself. As the verse approached its end, the camera would re-shift its focus towards a closer view of Marina herself, a wistful smile on her face as she sang the lead-up towards the chorus...
Maja draga pišem vama, ovi fum
La initintra suši se i prazan
Maji riči ne uspiju razumjeti
Ova ljubaur
Toliko pokušavam pronaći svrhi
U tim porumima-figuracija
Unutra jednostavnost shvaćam jamo
Sam tvaja
The chorus almost started with a swooning atmosphere, carried by the orchestra on the stage. Marina crooned and nearly belted out the lyrics as she swayed with the subtly increasing pace and dramatics of the music. The lights intensified, coalescing down onto the stage into a bright white while maintaining a simplicity in the staging itself. The intricacies came from what was being displayed on the screen, in which the ink splots began to become a touch more intense yet were never intrusive enough to disrupt the words on the screen. The camera's alternating close and wide views made a dual focus on Marina's singing and the screen. Marina's expression of yearning was arched upwards, stepping forwards from the piano as she sang with a dramatic gait, closing her eyes when she sang 'ova ljubaur.' The screens behind her would then begin to write the lyrics in other different languages, especially from languages of current and past WorldVision nations (with an emphasis on representing currently competing contestants' national languages). Throughout the chorus, the song would develop and build further. In one half a focus on the orchestral elements of the song, with additional support from drums in the second half. Each line was written in one language, with only the ending lines (ova ljubaur and sam tvoja) remaining in Izmeduan on the screens. At the end of the verse, the camera returned to Marina. Her expression was dreamy and her eyes were closed as she sang 'sam tvoja,' doing so with a smile as the song transitioned out of the chorus and into the next verse.
La-elegancija je doira
Maji riči biži di me
Još mi um misli maštom i čudo
Ne mogu pisati, ne mogu izraziti
Maji pisanji ne uspiva
Mui maji sentićaji
Oni su vični u momu cru
Čak i ako ne uspivam
The second verse now had the additional benefit of the song's gradual build towards a grander sound. The drums that developed earlier would now make their presence even more visible, being complemented with the orchestra in the background. The second verse itself also represented a further progression in the song and its narrative, with Marina visibly walking away from the piano and on the steps downwards. Marina took her time as she walked, making sure to carefully cradle her dress upwards as she expertly kept pace with the song's vocals and kept track of the camera. This moment had a specifically cinematic bent for viewers at home, with a camera taking a side angle of Marina's body as she walked down the stairs. She landed at the catwalk by the second half of the verse, with the camera maintaining its singular angle on her as she made a confident stride towards the center of the stage. Her face was one of determination, befitting the instrumentation and the earnestness behind Gordan's written words. As Marina closed the verse, she reached the very center of the stage with a hopeful and loving look in her eyes, clutching microphone with a joyous look towards the ceiling.
Maja draga pišem vama, ovi fum
La initintra suši se i prazan
Maji riči ne uspiju razumjeti
Ova ljubaur
Toliko pokušavam pronaći svrhi
U tim porumima-figuracija
Unutra jednostavnost shvaćam jamo
Sam tvaja
Marina's delivery of this chorus was far more intense, but she never let the vocals go too overboard or too powerful. She sang with an almost innocent joy and happiness, complicating such emotions with that touch of yearning in her eyes as she let the song's words and emotions speak through her solitary performance. With her lone positioning on the stage, the camera didn't quite have to do as much work to do a dual focus on Marina and what was happening in the LED screens themselves, creating an easier flow in the presentation. Marina swooned and belted each line, maintaining a consistency between both halves of the verse as she was supported by hidden background singers in some lines. The same gimmick of 'writing' the lines on the screen was maintained from the last chorus, continuing throughout the previous verse and especially being prominent in this chorus. A different set of languages was used as it was slowly being revealed that the written lyrics were now on a stationary. The white that would comprise much of the background would slowly manifest into paper, creating a virtual surface in which the words being written on. The camera would maintain close and wide views as much as possible, ending on a close view of Marina's face at 'sam tvaja.'
Maje poruko dolazi do kraja
El ponoćno ulje prestane ardarati
Vrime je prihvatiti
Sentirej i ufanje
The bridge saw a turn from the increasing dramatics of the song towards a paring back. The drums were gone and only a relatively sparse instrumentation can be heard. For the first two lines, Marina closes her eyes and an expression of acceptance and resignation seems to appear. She would then slowly turn around towards the LED screens themselves, with the lyrics still be written (albeit in a much slower pace now). As the instrumentation swelled just that bit more, with the orchestra getting their brief spotlight in the song. It was at the middle of the second line that she was finally facing the screens, and it was at the second half of this bridge that the song began to further develop once more. As she sang, she used her free hands to make motions of writing and scribbling, with the camera cleverly imposing a direct image of the LED screen on the viewer as Marina 'wrote.' After that moment, the screen would darken and the song would take a brief pause, only the spotlight on Marina remaining as she slowly turned around.
Maja draga pišem vama, ovi fum
La initintra suši se i prazan
Maji riči ne uspiju razumjeti
Ova ljubaur
Toliko pokušavam pronaći svrhi
U tim porumima-figuracija
Unutra jednostavnost shvaćam jamo
Sam tvaja
The full instrumentation and staging returned, this time with full gusto. This song climaxed with a consistently dramatic and yet glorious coalescing of all the elements that built up to this final chorus. Marina's vocals were more than enough for the task, as she belted out each lyric with as much emotion and force as she could, her vocals soaring towards a powerful and more dynamic register than the straight out belting she reserved in building for the song. Her very body language indicated the joy she felt from singing. Additionally, an array of bright white and gold lights would descend upon the stage, slowly dancing and lapping around the stage. This gave the Laugardalshöll's interior the necessary joyous atmosphere befitting the song. She was moving her hands around and her movements were just a touch more looser. The instrumentation itself reflected this, with the orchestra playing at a much more dominant level than they have been, and Gordan's own touches were added to the song as well. Occasional plucks of electric guitar would augment the song's now grand atmosphere.
Ah nema više riči napisati
La initintra suši se i prazan
Unutra je ljubaur nalazim maja vira
Da veni kući
One more set of lyrics were added to the final chorus of the song. Marina's vocals were most resonant throughout these lines, with her singing to the fans. She walked towards the audience, lovingly gazing at them and when appropriate, would reach out for just a moment (during the second and third lines) to reach for the hands of of the lucky ones at the front seats. Marina then returned to the center of the stage for the final line of this chorus, the lights gradually darkening to a lone spotlight on Marina herself.
Za canta dana čekam te
Neprekidno pišem
The song ended the way it began, a soft piano buttressing Marina's vocals. The camera did one last close up on her face, with her ending the song with a wistful yet wide smile. As soon as she sang the last note, the lights would darken. A wild crowd cheer would then commence at the end of the Izmeduan entry.
“Hvala!” Marina said to the crowd, walking back to the green room.
