THE INDEPENDENT: BRITONISEA
Our reaction to the World Hit Festival Semi Finals!
By Kate Winslette For the first time since the 3rd World Hit Festival, the competition introduced the semi final stage. In the host city, Mousiki, two more shows were added on to the original one and the field was cut by half! Here is my account of what happened in Mousiki. Arriving at the World Hit Festival is always a wonderful thing. So many things happening in the city and everybody seems to be happy...well, kind of. Not this edition. People seemed to be more nervous - more patriotic - than the previous editions due to the introduction of the Semi Final stage. Now for those who weren't watching (and we know that the overnight viewers suggest 2 million watched each Semi Final which is far from the 23 million 100% rate), 29 nations were chucked in to the Semi-Finals while the Izmeduans - with their giddy faces - automatically qualified for the final of the competition due to take place tomorrow. Among Britonisea and Estogium in the Semi Finals were the World Hit dominator Euskirribakondara (7 time winners) alongside Normandy & Picardy (5 time winners). We also had some WorldVision favourites such as Polkopia and Todlichebujoku participating too. Some home favourites such as Mercedini, Darkmania and Togonistan also participated. Let's get really in to it shall we?
The first of the Semi Finals happened three days ago and when I type that to you, I absolutely cannot believe that those many days went past since the whole shebang started. Walking in to the Forum here in Mousiki was amazing. I was part of the 11,000 people jammed in that arena. While I wasn't travelling alone but I still managed to meet some new friends from around the Multiverse. I will come back to that, but let me just tell you who I travelled here with. I am with Jaron and Theo - two amazing journalists I absolutely adore. They both update our Entertainment YouTube Channel- including reactions/live streams of the WHF... so check it out! I also needed a fellow lady to gossip with...so...travelling also with Yvette who in charge of the twitter page! I have known Yvette for over 6 years and the two guys for 4 years so we had built up a great relationship. Entering the arena along with 3 other friends was great. The two guys went to the press centre while the two girls went right in the middle of the action.
Not too long after we entered, the contest then started. People don't seem to like the term "contest", citing that the World Hit Festival is just a festival. I can tell you right now that it feels much more like a contest than just a festival - a journalist from Todlichebujoku vehemently disagreed with me. Anyway, the Opening was a great way to just introduce the nation. To be honest, they didn't need to spend lots of money at this little thing. Not only have we had 6 World Hit Festivals by Izmedu in the past 11 editions and so we are very familiar with Izmedu, but they didn't really expect there to be a Semi Final. If you ask me, a sudden spike in nations from 11 nations to 24 was a cause for concern. The nation, for the sixth time, decided to go for a random draw...which meant that the starting entry was Lochario. Unluckily for them, they didn't qualify...But I am not sure how everyone would've reacted had they qualified anyway. If that wasn't enough, Lochario was followed by three qualifying nations (Kalosia, NATANYA and Estogium). While Kalosia and Estogium qualifying were a given, the audience didn't expect Natanya to win. I was in the audience and I swear some people mistook "Natanya" for "Normandy and Picardy" - if you look far away from the stage's LEDs, Natanya starts to look like Normandy and Picardy anyway. I'll share my reaction on Normandy and Picardy in just a second. When Estogium qualified, RVC were so elated that they issued a statement! The arena went crazy for Estogium, a nation who's World Hit Festival past wasn't something to be much desired. The fact that they qualified must've been uplifting and maybe sparks a change in Estogium's perception of the contest and maybe they'll come back even stronger for the final!
Cleaca, when they performed, made the contest seem as though it was a dream. The song from Llalta, which was...a tad meh (it wasn't bad, the song was just a bit - well not great)...had left the minds of people and we were treated to this goody of an entry. Cleaca had send this guy...TJ...JJ...LT who sang about his lost love in Cosneolta. It really captured the hearts of many people out there and stood out as a favourite when it was performed. The next nation to perform was Fromulya, an entry that was forgotten by many to say the least. Looking back on it, I think that Llalta will come back to the contest stronger because they know how to send in a good entry [WorldVision 65]. Fromulya went past quite quickly before one of tonight's big favourites took to the stage in the form of Normandy and Picardy.
At the end of the night, Normandy and Picardy failed to qualify for the competition when they had a perfectly good song. At the end of the song, people gave this a great round of applause, including all of us from Britonisea (the guys told us they were genuinely please). NNN released an angry statement within minutes of the official results coming through. According to NNN, "other countries send what is ultimately dross and do better." Well, while their song was good, I don't think that any of the qualifying songs were dross. This
fit of anger received responses from three different broadcasters, SterGo 100, DaTV and RVC from Estogium all condemning the actions by the "unfit and too unprofessional" broadcaster. By the end of the evening, Ivan Sandic (the current overseer) had sorted the situation out, with NNN paying a fee and NTV taking over the broadcasting rights for the nation. Most of this happened behind the scenes and shouldn't affect the contest in the long run.
There were five non-qualifiers (including Fromulya and N&P) on the stage with the next nations to be Rusmailica, Lactatia - who sent quite a fun entry despite there being a level of vulgarity to it. In what was a beautiful song about a dark topic such a suicide, we thought that Darkmania was a nation who was 100% going to qualify. The Independent team were definitely sadened by the fact that the fellow Novapax nation didn't qualify. Ending the night was Adab and Euskirribakondara, the former who made a good first impression at the last contest. Both of these nations qualifying didn't surprise any of us - especially Euskirribakondara's qualification.
Semi Final one was great. I couldn't wait for the second one two days later, but I was absolutely terrified that Britonisea was going to be apart of it. Two nights later, the team returned to the Forum in Mousiki. Estogium had qualified, it was time for Britonisea to follow.
Similarly to the first Semi Final, the Opening Act was good for a Semi Final. It was good to just have a bit of music to set the scene for what was to be a bloodbath messy Semi Final. There were so many big names in this Semi Final such as Polkopia, Togonistan, Mercedini, Todlichebujoku and ourselves. There were great songs coming from Ethane, Antahbrantahstan and Raffiah too, which made those who are used to winning things quiver in their boots. Petra, the host of the World Hit Festival, didn't have much to say when opening this show. Perhaps she was exhausted at the fact that she was hosting this competition all by herself, not exactly agreeing to doing three shows at first. Either way, she swiftly directed the attention to Skanden, the first nation of the night which made me question the random running order was a great idea.
Skanden's entry was nothing to remember, which made (for me) the first song of the night come from Togonistan. It was absolutely magnificent, this entry. It was full of drama - and that's something we all need from time to time. The song did leave some members of the audience
decompiled when they realised that this could be a contender to at least qualify for the Grand Final. Alas, for Togonistan, it wasn't meant to be. We suggest that its all Cleaca's fault! Polkopia followed that entry and well, it's Polkopia....They're going to get a huge round of applause and a standing ovation whatever they send. The song for me was alright, but I was hoping more was to come from the evening - and by golly! - it certainly does get juicier. But not exactly straight after Polkopia. South Batoko's entry was quite interesting...it was...hmm silent. Anyway, after South Batoko was Mercedini. The crowd absolutely went wild for Mercedini, but then again, I was in front of a group of Mercedinians, so the audience's reaction might have been louder than it actually was. When they qualified, 3rd, it was so loud that I didn't really hear the next few qualifiers.
After that was another qualifying entry from Christarnea. The only song, other than Britonisea's, in the Britonish Top 100 was certainly a fan favourite from the Britonish contingent in the Forum. They actually qualified second, which was great for the Britonish fans, but still left them worried for Britonisea's qualification chances. Britonisea's song came straight after Christarnea's, meaning that Britonish fans didn't quieten down for even just a second for the length of two postcards and two songs. Britonisea's entry was very climatic as she was lifted in to the air. She actually flew over where I was standing and thought that it was very dramatic - if not...too dramatic. Regardless, it worked and Britonisea qualified for the final, which meant that they had to chance to keep up their good record.
Three is a magic number, but a cursed one for Todlichebujoku as they couldn't become the fourth qualifier in a row. Todlichebujoku following Axis did seem to unsettle people, as they thought that it would overshadow the nation as it was a fun song. For the nation that had won the World Hit Festival once before, it was sad to see them go with an entry that was pretty good. Then again, most of the entries that evening were pretty good. Todlichebujoku was then followed by another qualifier, which was probably one of the reasons for the nation's demise at the World Hit Festival. Ethane had a very mystical entry which started off really innocently, but soon evolved into something much more. It felt like everyone in the Forum was in one of those dingy (good dingy) night clubs getting high (on having fun).
The rest of the songs performed, such as Antahbrantahstan and Saintrabina (who both qualified), with Artsakhestan, Puerto Candelaria and Raffiah (controversially) not qualifying. It was a shock to see the last two, kind of. But you know what, that's the name of the game and we were so happy when Antahbrantahstan qualified. The interval was of Izmedu's Grand Final performance and you know what? It's pretty good! I wasn't sure about it when the song started, but it was a great ballady-ethnicy song. Izmedu is sure to do well with that entry.
The Semi Finals were fun and we hope that Fabio McAlpine, who will step down as the Britonish Head of Delegation for the World Hit Festival Overseer role in place for Guy Autriche, will focus on making it possible we have a Semi Final every edition of the contest! It makes the contest more complex, but to be honest, this isn't the WorldVision Song Contest with 33 nations in one Grand Final. The Semi Finals means that we will be highly energetic in the Finals without getting tired that there are a bazillion songs left. Also, we're expecting a huge winning total for the final. 30 nations voting on 15 entries? We're in for a fun night!