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You're freaking me out.
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we don't even know what it means!
And coming up:
It's a good hook.
(stifled burp)
(Nova) 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. - Mm, 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 then they were 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.
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.
- And they entered into... - It was real good.
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 as strong as the feelings I have for it now.
Yes, and some of the songs we have reacted to blindly,
some we've milled over for a while,
so 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.
Let's watch this one if you're ready to.
Yeah.
And we'll talk about how we feel like this is gonna go for them.
So the song is called "One Milkali", which translates to 'one blood'.
♪ ("One Milkali" by Electric Fields) ♪ I will say, straight off the bat,
that this is a "music video", if you can call it that.
This is a lyric video.
- So interestingly, - Let's be real.
the Eurovision channel called it "official video".
On their channel, it's called a lyric video.
Is it? Okay, interesting.
Hang on, let's just pause it.
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! It literally isn't.
They're just sitting there... it's a lyric video.
Okay, okay.
So this doesn't give away anything, does it?
Okay.
Okay so we've got--
This is the bit where I feel like it starts to get going.
There's literally a digeridoo in this, which, I'm obsessed with that,
I love that element.
So it's very easy listening.
(both singing) Milkali la, 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.
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.
They just went in for a kiss.
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?
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 done live,
it is gonna be a show.
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's like a party starting kind of like, I don't know.
It just turns everything into like, an arena, almost, feeling.
'cause it is just like, 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.
We've got some Indigenous language as well.
I love that, especially from Australia.
I don't believe we've had that from Australia before.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
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.
Again, it might just be me being super cynical and being miserable,
but I do almost do a bit of an eyeroll at some of this.
Just because I feel like it's so positive,
and it's so happy and feel-good.
And that's fantastic,
and a lot of people need and want this kind of music,
but for me, I would just like a bit of an edge somewhere.
I feel like I'm almost getting that in the production.
Some of the the production has elements that I'm like,
ooh, that's a nice little twist,
but ultimately, it's just a bit too feel-good.
It almost borders on cliché to me, and that's where I personally resist it.
It's- I think this is one of the bigger question marks
of the season, in the sense that we really just don't know
how this is gonna play out onstage.
The other thing is, in terms of what we've been given with this studio cut,
It's nice, I mean, we thought it was lovely,
we will listen to it,
but is it going to translate to the stage
the way that we want it to and hope that it will?
It's a question mark.
The video's not really giving anything either.
I've seen a lot of comparisons to Belgium last year with Gustaph.
I actually really responded well to that
- I feel like people described that - I hated that song (laughs)
as a surprise qualify.
I was not surprised to see that qualify.
I liked the song,
and it was staged and performed really well.
But that to me was more of a dance track.
It was- I had that kind of access to it, that it was a dance track.
- This, you can dance to it. - It's more mellow.
But yes, it's a bit more mid-tempo.
It's more mellow, I don't think it's gonna lean that dancey.
If this had a faster tempo, maybe that would draw me in,
I don't know, I can only speak
on my own personal opinions and feelings with this.
It's just there's something about this
that doesn't quite resonate with me completely.
Yes, I think that it has every respectable quality to it
where it should qualify,
and might well qualify based on the performance alone,
which I'm guessing - a lot of this is obviously guesswork.
But is it actually going to?
it's hard to say at this point. Don't know. Just don't know.
Who is it up against?
Um- (strained mumbling)
So, I don't know.
It is kind of mid-tempo, it is kind of mellow.
It is going up against Finland's, which is obviously very like
(low gasp)
(scream)
Um, it's going up against Slovenia and Portugal.
Ah, there's a quality to them that... ugh.
I don't think there's anything, directly comparable to this.
It's in the second half of the first ceremony,
a nice slot, but-
Will people pick up the phone for this?
It really is dependent on the live performance.
It's so dependent on the live.
Which again, I've said all along, is probably gonna be sensational and--
I also think, though, that a good live performance
is not gonna be good enough, it has to be staged well.
Staging has become so integral to Eurovision, especially this year
where the standard is so high.
I think a lot of great acts and great performances
are going to be set apart by how they're staged.
Yeah, it's very very hard to know.
I don't think I'd put this particularly high,
it's sort of very comfortably in the middle of the pack for me,
which I suspect will change once I see a live performance of it.
It's such a question mark, I don't know.
I have ranked this fairly low.
I've got this 30th.
(Olympia) That is low.
And that's not to say I don't like it,
but I don't think I would choose to put this on.
Again, that's just a me thing. I think this is a good song.
There's a lot to like about it,
and I'm happy that we're seeing artists like this.
But, I don't know, I prefer "2000 And Whatever".
Yeah, it's not a skip, I think that's the thing.
It's not necessarily a skip.
It's not a skip, no.
Um, I've got it 26th, but I don't know, I might have to...
Maybe it'll be slightly higher...
(Nova) And we've said before that our rankings will change
as we see rehearsal footage, as we see pre-party footage
as we get a better idea as to how these artists
are bringing these songs to Malmö.
At the moment, everything's hypothetical,
we're just going off potential.
It always is.
I think there's maybe like, five or so left for us to do,
and we have already gone past the point where it is now so difficult to know
what's gonna qualify, even with songs yet to...
or, in our timeline when we're doing this now,
I think there's only one left to be revealed.
- Armenia might be the last one. - Yes.
But Armenia, better fucking hope it's a banger, because (laughs)
It's so hard, like,
we're starting to look at our prediction for qualification,
and it is absolutely stacked.
I actually think the second semifinal might be more difficult to predict
than the first.
But yeah, it's an absolute sort of mindfuck currently.
Those videos that we're gonna do will be available
only exclusively on Patreon.
Nova, isn't that right?
Yes. Yes, yes, yes.
We've also got the Discord over there, there's my podcast, all that good stuff.
The address for that will be arriving onscreen just now.
(vocalising to the tune of "One Milkali" by Electric Fields)
♪ "Whatcha gonna do with all that ass?" ♪
It's a good hook.
(stifled burp)
(Nova) Oh.
I'm s- I'd like to apologise.
Right.
Can't confirm which end that came out of.
"My dr- my dress was probably just tight."
I also wanna say that before people ask us where these videos are,
we are now towards the end of reviewing the Eurovision entries,
and we have decided we are not covering a few countries for various reasons.
A lot of people have asked, "where's Luxembourg?"
We have touched on that in the last review,
and answered in the comments before.
There are things surrounding the Luxembourg entry
that we don't feel comfortable with covering it.
We've tried not to go into too much detail,
'cause a lot of it is speculation, and doesn't have hard evidence.
But we don't feel comfortable with that entry.
Something's not right there.
We also don't like the song, so it's been a very easy decision.
We're not touching that.
We're not gonna cover Israel, for obvious reasons.
We're not gonna cover Azerbaijan, for obvious reasons.
We've more recently decided we're not going to be reacting to Iceland.
That song we do not rate.
Nothing against Hera personally whatsoever,
- not a bad word to say about the woman. - That whole situation is so dumb.
But we do not like that song, I think that was a ridiculous song.
We believe that that became selected
through really, really suspicious nefarious means.
Don't like it. Won't be covering it.
Not doing it.
So just to put that out there, won't be covering those entries.
Uh, but there's a couple left to do, we will be doing Sweden,
we will be doing Georgia, we will be doing Armenia, I believe.
There might be- oh, and Portugal.
Portugal, yeah.
That might be it.
- Stick around, subscribe-- - Greece.
Oh and Greece, of course, how did we forget.
Stick around, feel free to subscribe if you are new here and you haven't.
Just, you know, click it.
You can if you like, I'm not gonna force you to.
(laughs)
Won't show up at your house or anything.
I will.
"Oh my god."
And we also have a Twitch, join us for game night.
Why not?
(singing) Game night.
Oh, I did a new song in the last one, and I can't remember what it is now.
(snapping fingers) Join us over on Twitch,
(singing) we're playing games.
I don't think it was that.
I should represent the UK or Australia with "Join us and we'll play some games".
I don't think that would get any points, darlin'.
Sorry.
♪ ("Legendary Creature" by Novympia begins) ♪
(Nova) And a 'Anyone for Jarrah?' to our newest patrons, Nai and Coraline.
What would you sing to represent the UK?
On the spot, now. What's the song?
(singing) I'm here, singing my song.
Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me.
(singing) Join the Patron, we'll do a shot of Patron.
♪ ("Legendary Creature" by Novympia) ♪