WEBVTT

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Previously on the Novympia channel:

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- You're freaking me out.
- We're women in STEM, we'll figure it out

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We're not women in STEM,
we don't even know what it means.

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And coming up:

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It's a good hook.

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Oh

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I find you very rude.

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(laughter)

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The Novympia channel is made possible
by our gorgeous patrons,

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who get access to 
the most unappealing crap you'll find

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anywhere on the whole internet.

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Cue the snafu!

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Ah, g'day.

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Yes, hello, bloody hell, yes.

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Welcome to another
Novympia Eurovision reaction video.

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My name is Nova.

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Yeah, and I'm Olympia.

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Today we are dressed like chicks.

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Yeah.

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Sometimes that happens 'round here.

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Sometimes. Sorry 'bout it.

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Mmm meant to tell you about that.

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Today we are reacting 
to Australia's entry for Eurovision 2024.

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"Oh my god!"

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Why are they even in it, 
they're not even in Europe

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(laughs)

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Joking, I'm joking

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I would just like to say that 
Olympia is actually not Australian.

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"So you're a liar. 
Not only are you fake, you're a liar.

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There you go. Ba-boom."

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I'm not Australian, no.

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That is a lie.

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Ah, yes, no I am.

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And also, how lovely 
to react to my home nation today.

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She's a liar.

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Yes.

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And a fraudster.

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Also, just very very quickly,

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because I know good goddamn well 
there will be comments:

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Australia, yes they're not in Europe.

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They were invited to take part 
in Eurovision in 2015

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as a bit of a milestone celebration

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'cause they'd broadcast Eurovision 
for years and years and years.

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And then they were just like, 
well we're already in it,

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we might as well stay in it.

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There are several countries in Eurovision 
not in Europe, but they are in the EBU.

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The requirement is that you are a member 
of the European Broadcasting Union,

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and Australia now are.

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So they're in it, 
and I love that they're in it,

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and we're not gonna talk about it 
any more.

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Now, who is representing Australia 
for 2024, Nova?

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Are they called Electric Fields?

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So, Electric Fields are a duo.

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It's electronic music and I know that 
the one artist is called Zaachariaha.

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Forgive me, I can't remember 
the name of the other one.

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What I do know is that Electric Fields 
participated in Australia's national final

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which they haven't had now 
for a couple of years,

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but they did have one 
called Australia Decides.

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It was really good.

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And they entered into, 
I want to say it was 2019

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with a song called "2000 And Whatever".

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So we are aware of Electric Fields, 
and in particular

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the vocalist Zaachariaha,

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who is an Indigenous artist, 
nonbinary artist, has a killer voice.

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The charisma that exudes 
when they're onstage

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A really infectious stage presence.

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And the vocal is insane.

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So, we have heard the song 
they're submitting this year.

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We have, I'm also glad 
that we're not doing a blind reaction.

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I know a lot of you guys 
prefer a blind reaction,

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but sometimes I think it is best 
for us to listen to a song a few times,

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do a little bit of research, 
and just sit with it.

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Because my initial reaction to this 
probably wouldn't have been

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as positive or a strong 
as the feelings I have for it now.

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Yes, and I mean, some of the songs 
we have reacted to blindly,

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some we've sat 
and milled over for a while,

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so there's gonna be a whole, you know-

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throughout the whole playlist 
of reaction videos for this year,

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there's a bit of a mixed bag in there.

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But we thought 
"2000 And Whatever" was sick,

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I think that would've been 
an excellent entry for Australia.

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Yeah, I liked that.

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Let's watch this one if you're ready to.

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Yeah.

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And we'll talk about how we feel 
that this is gonna go for them.

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So the song is called "One Milkali", 
which translates to 'one blood'.

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I will say, straight off the bat, 
that this is a "music video",

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if you can call it that.

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This is a lyric video, let's be real.

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So interestingly, the Eurovision channel 
called it "official video".

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On their channel, 
it's called a lyric video.

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Is it? Okay, interesting.

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Because - but I've said this, though.

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Hang on a second, 
let's just pause it before.

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I've said this before, though,

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Eurovision has a way of defining 
how it uploads its videos,

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either as "Official Music Video" 
or "National Final Performance".

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They're very binary like that,

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they don't come up 
with anything in between.

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So they've called this 
"Official Music Video",

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it's not a music video!

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Like, it literally isn't, 
'cause they're just sitting there

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with the lyrics - it's a lyric video.

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Okay, okay.

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So this doesn't give away anything, 
really, does it?

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Okay.

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Okay so we've got--

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This is the bit where I feel like 
we've got like, it starts to get going.

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There's literally a digeridoo in this, 
which is- I'm obsessed with that,

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I love that element

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So it's very easy listening

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(singing) Milkalila, milkali

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When I first saw this, 
I was a bit disappointed,

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Because again, we're provided 
with this visual which looks

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incredibly low-budget and very simple,

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and I was a bit disappointed with that.

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I also didn't initially react very well 
to the song, but now I think it's a vibe.

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Yeah, I'm not in love with like, 
a message song.

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They tend to be sometimes 
very kind of like, I don't know,

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feed the world, or save the Earth, 
or we're all one voice, or whatever.

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They tend to be sometimes, 
a little bit like, an eyeroll.

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So the idea is like, we are one blood, 
we are one kind of like, human,

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and therefore 
we should celebrate our differences

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rather than be divisive about it.

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So, it's a very straightforward message.

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They don't tend to do-

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I don't think they tend 
to do very well at Eurovision though,

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I feel like that's something 
that people are gonna resist about it.

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I don't like the lyrics.

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Some of the lyrics are a little... 
perhaps a bit clunky.

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I don't even know if it's clunky,

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I just... maybe it's just me 
being a miserable sod,

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but it's kind of a bit too happy for me, 
and I want a bit more of an edge to it.

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And maybe the edge is that 
this is a queer couple

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and that's kind of lost on us, 
being queer

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I don't know if they are a couple, 
I don't know if we can say that

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They just went in for a kiss, 
they just kissed each other

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So? I kiss Char all the time, 
what's your point?

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(laughs)

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The thing is, okay-

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The thing that disappoints me- 
or, it's not even disappointing,

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but knowing the performance that 
Zaachariaha gives consistently onstage,

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and the vocal,

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it's difficult to know exactly 
quite how impressive

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and how much of a show this is gonna be, 
just based on the studio recording.

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It's not very much to go off, is it?

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It's not much to go off,

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and I think a lot of people 
have written this off,

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but would be foolish to.

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Because I think this is going to be- 
I mean, the production on this is lovely.

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It's not, like, 
the most fresh-sounding thing.

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There are a few elements 
that make it a bit dated in my opinion.

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It's very retro, I would say

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It sounds a little bit... I don't know, 
there's a few kind of like house elements,

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or things that are a bit... 
not necessarily too fresh.

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I hate that that was the way 
the song was introduced.

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You'd rather nothing?

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I would really have preferred 
a live performance,

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and I find it odd that 
they couldn't have scrambled together

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to put a live performance together.

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Even if it was then 
dubbed with the studio cut,

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like, I think that would've been
more pleasing to look at.

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I think this automatically 
makes people go like, no budget, er...

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It does feel a bit weird.

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I don't know.

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Perhaps they're just biding their time 
and when it's gonna be done live,

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it is gonna be a show

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Hopefully.

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Because if you go 
and watch "2000 And Whatever"-

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I mean, I can't undersell 
how impressive Zaachariaha's vocal is.

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I much preferred that song, I have to say.

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And their style of performing 
is just very, very impressive,

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and it gets- it's like 
a party starting kind of like,

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I don't know.

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It just like, turns everything into like, 
an arena - almost - feeling.

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'cause it is just like, 
very, very impactful.

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I like the point of view, 
I like that these are queer artists,

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Zaachariaha's a nonbinary artist, 
I like the Indigenous elements to this,

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the digeridoo is sick, 
the intention is strong,

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and the performance is strong.

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I think it will be.

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We've got some 
Indigenous language as well.

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The language - I love that,
especially from Australia.

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I don't believe we've had that 
from Australia before.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, 
but I don't think we have.

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I'm not sure.

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So I love everything about that.

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I just wonder if the message angle 
about it is a little- some of the lyrics,

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yeah, they are a little bit trite.

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Again, it might just be me being 
super cynical and being miserable,

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but I do almost do a bit
of an eyeroll at some of this.

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Just because I feel like 
it's so positive,

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and it's so happy and feel-good.

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And that's fantastic,

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and a lot of people need 
and want this kind of music,

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but for me, I would just like 
a bit of an edge somewhere.

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And I feel like I'm almost getting that 
in the production.

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Some of the the production I really like 
has elements that I'm like,

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ooh, that's a nice little twist,

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but ultimately, 
it's just a bit too feel-good.

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It almost borders on cliché to me, 
and that's where I personally resist it.

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It's- I think this is one 
of the bigger question marks of the season

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in the sense that 
we really just don't know

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how this is gonna play out on the stage.

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The other thing is, yeah, 
in terms of what we're being given

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with this studio cut--

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We've got no idea.

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It's nice, I mean, 
we thought it was lovely,

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we will listen to it, 
but is it going to translate to the stage

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in the way that we all kind of want it to 
and hope that it will?

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It's a little bit of a question mark, 
'cause again,

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the video's not really giving 
anything either.

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I've seen a lot of comparisons 
to Belgium last year with Gustaph.

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I actually really responded well to that

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I feel like people described that 
as a surprise qualify.

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I hated that song (laughs)

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I was not surprised to see that qualify, 
I liked the song,

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and it was staged really well
and performed really well,

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but that to me was more of a dance track

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I was- I had that kind of access to it, 
that it was a dance track.

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This - you can dance to it.

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It's more mellow.

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But it's, yes, it's a bit more mid-tempo.

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It's more mellow, I don't think 
it's gonna lean that dancey at all.

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If this had a faster tempo to it, 
maybe that would draw me in a bit,

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I don't know, again, 
I can only speak

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
on my own personal opinions 
and feelings with this.

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It's just there's something about this

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
that doesn't quite resonate 
with me completely.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Yes, I think that it has 
every respectable quality to it

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
where it should qualify,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and might well qualify 
based on the performance alone,

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which I'm guessing - a lot of this 
is obviously guesswork,

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but is it actually going to... 
it's hard to say at this point.

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Don't know. Just don't know.

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Who is it up against?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Um- (strained mumbling)

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So, I don't know.

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It is kind of mid-tempo, 
it is kind of mellow.

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It is going up against Finland's, 
which is obviously very like (low gasp)

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(scream)

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Um, it's going up against Slovenia 
and Portugal.

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Ah, there's a quality to them that... ugh.

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I don't think there's anything like, 
directly comparable to this.

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It's in the second half 
of the first ceremony,

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so it's like a nice slot, but...

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Are people gonna pick up 
the phone for this?

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I think it really is dependent 
on the live performance.

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Are they going to?

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It's so dependent on the live.

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Which again, I've said all along, 
is probably gonna be sensational and--

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I also think, though, 
that a good live performance

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
is not gonna be good enough, 
it has to be staged well.

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Staging has become so integral 
to Eurovision, especially this year

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where the standard is so high.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I think a lot of great acts 
and great performances

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are going to be set apart 
by how they're staged.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Yeah, it's very very hard to know.