Previously on the Novympia channel:
- You're freaking me out. - We're women in STEM, we'll figure it out
We're not women in STEM, we don't even know what it means.
And coming up:
It's a good hook.
Oh
I find you very rude.
(laughter)
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Cue the snafu!
Ah, g'day.
Yes, hello, bloody hell, yes.
Welcome to another Novympia Eurovision reaction video.
My name is Nova.
Yeah, and I'm Olympia.
Today we are dressed like chicks.
Yeah.
Sometimes that happens 'round here.
Sometimes. Sorry 'bout it.
Mmm meant to tell you about that.
Today we are reacting to Australia's entry for Eurovision 2024.
"Oh my god!"
Why are they even in it, they're not even in Europe
(laughs)
Joking, I'm joking
I would just like to say that Olympia is actually not Australian.
"So you're a liar. Not only are you fake, you're a liar.
There you go. Ba-boom."
I'm not Australian, no.
That is a lie.
Ah, yes, no I am.
And also, how lovely to react to my home nation today.
She's a liar.
Yes.
And a fraudster.
Also, just very very quickly,
because I know good goddamn well there will be comments:
Australia, yes they're not in Europe.
They were invited to take part in Eurovision in 2015
as a bit of a milestone celebration
'cause they'd broadcast Eurovision for years and years and years.
And then they were just like, well we're already in it,
we might as well stay in it.
There are several countries in Eurovision not in Europe, but they are in the EBU.
The requirement is that you are a member of the European Broadcasting Union,
and Australia now are.
So they're in it, and I love that they're in it,
and we're not gonna talk about it any more.
Now, who is representing Australia for 2024, Nova?
Are they called Electric Fields?
So, Electric Fields are a duo.
It's electronic music and I know that the one artist is called Zaachariaha.
Forgive me, I can't remember the name of the other one.
What I do know is that Electric Fields participated in Australia's national final
which they haven't had now for a couple of years,
but they did have one called Australia Decides.
It was really good.
And they entered into, I want to say it was 2019
with a song called "2000 And Whatever".
So we are aware of Electric Fields, and in particular
the vocalist Zaachariaha,
who is an Indigenous artist, nonbinary artist, has a killer voice.
The charisma that exudes when they're onstage
A really infectious stage presence.
And the vocal is insane.
So, we have heard the song they're submitting this year.
We have, I'm also glad that we're not doing a blind reaction.
I know a lot of you guys prefer a blind reaction,
but sometimes I think it is best for us to listen to a song a few times,
do a little bit of research, and just sit with it.
Because my initial reaction to this probably wouldn't have been
as positive or a strong as the feelings I have for it now.
Yes, and I mean, some of the songs we have reacted to blindly,
some we've sat and milled over for a while,
so there's gonna be a whole, you know-
throughout the whole playlist of reaction videos for this year,
there's a bit of a mixed bag in there.
But we thought "2000 And Whatever" was sick,
I think that would've been an excellent entry for Australia.
Yeah, I liked that.
Let's watch this one if you're ready to.
Yeah.
And we'll talk about how we feel that this is gonna go for them.
So the song is called "One Milkali", which translates to 'one blood'.
I will say, straight off the bat, that this is a "music video",
if you can call it that.
This is a lyric video, let's be real.
So interestingly, the Eurovision channel called it "official video".
On their channel, it's called a lyric video.
Is it? Okay, interesting.
Because - but I've said this, though.
Hang on a second, let's just pause it before.
I've said this before, though,
Eurovision has a way of defining how it uploads its videos,
either as "Official Music Video" or "National Final Performance".
They're very binary like that,
they don't come up with anything in between.
So they've called this "Official Music Video",
it's not a music video!
Like, it literally isn't, 'cause they're just sitting there
with the lyrics - it's a lyric video.
Okay, okay.
So this doesn't give away anything, really, does it?
Okay.
Okay so we've got--
This is the bit where I feel like we've got like, it starts to get going.
There's literally a digeridoo in this, which is- I'm obsessed with that,
I love that element
So it's very easy listening
(singing) Milkalila, milkali
When I first saw this, I was a bit disappointed,
Because again, we're provided with this visual which looks
incredibly low-budget and very simple,
and I was a bit disappointed with that.
I also didn't initially react very well to the song, but now I think it's a vibe.
Yeah, I'm not in love with like, a message song.
They tend to be sometimes very kind of like, I don't know,
feed the world, or save the Earth, or we're all one voice, or whatever.
They tend to be sometimes, a little bit like, an eyeroll.
So the idea is like, we are one blood, we are one kind of like, human,
and therefore we should celebrate our differences
rather than be divisive about it.
So, it's a very straightforward message.
They don't tend to do-
I don't think they tend to do very well at Eurovision though,
I feel like that's something that people are gonna resist about it.
I don't like the lyrics.
Some of the lyrics are a little... perhaps a bit clunky.
I don't even know if it's clunky,
I just... maybe it's just me being a miserable sod,
but it's kind of a bit too happy for me, and I want a bit more of an edge to it.
And maybe the edge is that this is a queer couple
and that's kind of lost on us, being queer
I don't know if they are a couple, I don't know if we can say that
They just went in for a kiss, they just kissed each other
So? I kiss Char all the time, what's your point?
(laughs)
The thing is, okay-
The thing that disappoints me- or, it's not even disappointing,
but knowing the performance that Zaachariaha gives consistently onstage,
and the vocal,
it's difficult to know exactly quite how impressive
and how much of a show this is gonna be, just based on the studio recording.
It's not very much to go off, is it?
It's not much to go off,
and I think a lot of people have written this off,
but would be foolish to.
Because I think this is going to be- I mean, the production on this is lovely.
It's not, like, the most fresh-sounding thing.
There are a few elements that make it a bit dated in my opinion.
It's very retro, I would say
It sounds a little bit... I don't know, there's a few kind of like house elements,
or things that are a bit... not necessarily too fresh.
I hate that that was the way the song was introduced.
You'd rather nothing?
I would really have preferred a live performance,
and I find it odd that they couldn't have scrambled together
to put a live performance together.
Even if it was then dubbed with the studio cut,
like, I think that would've been more pleasing to look at.
I think this automatically makes people go like, no budget, er...
It does feel a bit weird.
I don't know.
Perhaps they're just biding their time and when it's gonna be done live,
it is gonna be a show
Hopefully.
Because if you go and watch "2000 And Whatever"-
I mean, I can't undersell how impressive Zaachariaha's vocal is.
I much preferred that song, I have to say.
And their style of performing is just very, very impressive,
and it gets- it's like a party starting kind of like,
I don't know.
It just like, turns everything into like, an arena - almost - feeling.
'cause it is just like, very, very impactful.
I like the point of view, I like that these are queer artists,
Zaachariaha's a nonbinary artist, I like the Indigenous elements to this,
the digeridoo is sick, the intention is strong,
and the performance is strong.
I think it will be.
We've got some Indigenous language as well.
The language - I love that, especially from Australia.
I don't believe we've had that from Australia before.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we have.
I'm not sure.
So I love everything about that.
I just wonder if the message angle about it is a little- some of the lyrics,
yeah, they are a little bit trite.