“Željo Moja” by Doris Dragović (1986)

In every successful career there is one magic moment when combination of good luck, right collaborators, carefully selected material (or pure accident) clicks with public interest and suddenly all the years of apprentice pay off with big time - most of the time audience is not even aware that stars actually worked for a quite bit previously and have earned their overnight acclaim. In hindsight, I wonder did Doris Dragović recognised this is her moment or was invitation from singer-songwriter Zrinko Tutić to perform his song on pre-selection for Eurovision song festival just another gig? Dragović was not exactly unknown debutant - she was well-known as singer in the band “More” and was ready to move further into solo waters, but as it turned out, that particular moment when she appeared in simple white dress (I still vividly remember it, some 30 years later) and sung “Željo Moja”  she became national darling and there was not looking back, in fact massive success of that song completely overshadowed everything that happened before. 

It would be too simplistic to say Dragović just joined the well-oiled hit factory that served cutter-cookie radio fodder - as we all know, in music business there is no guarantee that project will be successful and although both Zrinko Tutić and producer Mato Došen steadily worked in business since early 1970s (list of people they collaborated is basically who’s who in Croatian pop music) nobody could for certain predict this will catapult young singer into stratosphere. She didn’t win Eurovision but for once, our representative performer was not worldwide embarrassment placed in the bottom of the contest - her song and supermodel looks captivated TV audiences around continent with solid voting results and back home Dragović was welcomed as heroine.

“Željo Moja” of course is highlight of this album that finally presents Dragović as a full-blown solo artist. Its slightly different from music she performed with “More” and it is not accident - with the band she sung breezy, winsome soft-funk and now, following instructions from masters of big sales and commercial pop, everything is about  feel-good, easily memorable choruses and multi-tracked backing vocals (carefully assembled session band seems to have start its life just around this time and it became producers trademark). Her old colleague from previous band - still performing as Milo Vasić but later much better known as Jasmin Stavros - makes cameo appearance duetting in “U Tebe Se Neću Zaljubiti” and “Leti, Leti, Lastavice” is a rousing, celebratory little joy of song but even the rest of the album seems like carefully planned showcase for the young singer who got the best possible professional treatment from certified songwriters like Marina Tucaković and Aleksandar Sanja Ilić (even our ex-Eurovision own Daniel Popović wrote one song). If there is one thing to criticise, its that subsequent releases from this team eventually started to sound alike and individual voices tend to kind of blend in without distinction - after a while, every artist got wrapped in exactly same cellophane - but it must be taken in account that this was just a beginning of immensely successful collaboration and resulting music was widely loved and accepted at the time. From now on, Dragović will continue from strength to strength but I believe she will never forget this particular moment.