“When I told my team I'd be sending this song to Izmepisma, you'd needed to be there to see those looks of horror on their faces. They thought I was going mad! I received songs like 'Breaking Free,' production-wise and lyric-wise separately, almost all the time. However, there was something about the way 'Breaking Free' spoke to me and the fact that it's both a dance track and an inspirational song in one package. As someone who's been in this music industry for so long, has become almost synonymous with a movement concentrated on love ballads, this song... It did speak to me in that part of me where I felt like I could'nt move forward with my career or my sense of artistry. I found myself in it, and I hope to spread that message of hope, of being able to move forward the way you want, with this song.” - Lea Sabolic
The almost seeming conventionality of the entry hid the normative breaking nature of it when it came to the kinds of entries that Izmedu often sent to contests like WorldVision and the World Hit Festival. The artist,
Lea Sabolic, was someone that Izmeduan fans thought would never even touch either contests, partly due to the very complicated relationship she has with Izmeduan music critics and tastemakers writ large and to very tragic events that rocked her personal life in her more personal years. There was also the fact that the song broke Izmeduan convention by, for the first time in quite some time, where the singer did not have any part in crafting the song either through its music production or its songwriting credits. If one were to look through the music credits most often present in WorldVision, 'L. Sabolic' does not appear at all. It is a small detail, but it is significant in a country where being a singer-songwriter is largely the norm, and where being purely a singer is often an uncertain path. In fact, the song itself also broke convention by looking as if it were written 'by committee.' Most Izmeduan entries to WorldVision or the World Hit Festival (and the kinds of entries that often won Izmepisma) would often have the artist solely produce and write the songs, in occasion bringing in a co-writer or co-producer. 'Breaking Free' had extensive credits that were expected in Izmedu's more general pop scene, but not for competitions like WorldVision.
The ability to be able to 'own' a song was something taken for granted by Izmeduan singers. How can someone do that with a song that was presented to them as a package to sing?
Part of this is due to Lea Sabolic's status as a venerated singer herself. She is a veteran singer with a career of over 40 years in the business, having found much of her popularity in the post-Izmeduan revolution years. This status as a venerated singer is itself a bizarre and largely an exception to Izmeduan music, as Lea's success came primarily from her voice and her voice alone. In terms of both emotive-ness and raw technical prowess, Lea's vocal ability to this day still remains unmatched amongst those who are currently active in the Izmeduan music industry. And in fact, it was that voice was what led her down to the path of success that she was currently in. Part of her longevity in the business is the fact that she's been singing and making records (per the Sabolic's family help, of course) at the ripe age of 11 years old. Her vocal abilities began to manifest around the time she would hit puberty, which was where her voice truly began to exhibit the kind of power, prowess, technical movements, but most importantly, the dramatic emotions that would be associated with her brand throughout the years to come.
She would meet her husband through the Sabolic's family aggressive marketing of her young voice (her husband of course, would eventually become her future manager). Lea was initially introduced as a young ingenue who sang ballads in Izmedu's mother tongue, Izmeduan. She had an innocence to her aura that belied the soulful, yet perfectly clear voice that emanated quite a lot of power. However, the development of her practically not singing her own material would take root here. Her early attempts at songwriting were reflected in her most earliest recordings, but these would soon change as Lea's fame rocketed to higher levels through her adolescence, as well as constant jostling of both development and record deals (or package deals, which Lea would take the latter when she became of age in Izmedu at 18). The songs she sang were not hers, the words she sang didn't really come from her, but her voice was the vehicle for those words regardless. The constant vocal training allowed her voice to become an instrument of its own believability, even if Lea the singer sometimes felt scared that she was singing lyrics that were too far ahead of her own life experiences.
Back then however, as a younger singer, these kinds of worries about her artistry never really came to fruit. She was mostly known still to a much more local audience within the city of Vodiznad that quite literally watched her as she grew up from a young child singer that could've well been eligible for the Junior World Hit Festival to a young adult. It was when she made the journey to adulthood and subsequently, changed her singing language from Izmeduan to English was when her work began to endure the greater scrutiny that led Lea to really question whether or not it really was right to continually sing songs she has never written herself, especially since Izmeduan music at its core binds both singing and songwriting as inseparable arts, in which it is necessary for an Izmeduan in the industry to have the capacity to do both. To specialize in simply just one is a rarity (historically, Lea is the rare exception of a runaway singing success). Thus, when Lea would release her first set of records in the English language...
Her rise to the top of the popularity chain in the Izmeduan charts coincided with the beginning of the lukewarm reactions to her material, especially from Izmeduan music critics. At first, she didn't quite mind, as Izmeduan pop by its very nature will almost always incite mixed critical and audience reactions from listeners. The reaction was nothing new, but as Lea's success began to grow and grow and as her records keep selling by the literal truckload... The critical reaction went from lukewarm to one of almost constant bashing if the critical language wasn't so professionally written. Lea was loathe to try and remember the specific wording on the music she produced in her 20s and 30s, but safe to say... She could probably bet that she certainly made it on some worst of lists for those respective years. While she was largely insulated from having a rather large public following, it certainly wasn't if the larger public were completely lapping up the material either.
Lea Sabolic's music was sometimes a part of 'bile fascination' for music fans to listen to. For Lea, she sort of saw the point upon reflection of the way she approached music-making. For her, it was almost as if the studio was a conveyor belt. She was fed songs, she sang them the best way she could, she tried to make the best technical use of her voice, and she didn't have much of a care in which the eventual albums would be accepted. She did just enough work to make sure that she was able to embed herself into the songs and deliver a believable rendition of the songs that were given to her by modicum of songwriters. The results, while mixed, would often get the job, and Lea thought she was doing an okay job with the proceedings of her career and with the trajectory of where it was going. It wasn't until she was older where she realized just how... almost robotic she felt? She began to ponder how her music must've felt to someone who was expecting a deep emotional connection, only to find... a perfectly competent but not entirely satisfying song that stayed at a base lyrical level.
Now, older and hopefully a touch more wise, she now knew why (at her peak) she didn't quite get a lot of kudos. For as long as she knew for most of her 20s and 30s, she spent almost two decades producing non-stop albums, singing, touring, and doing everything possible to promote her music to as wide of an audience as possible. She knew her albums well enough, sure, and while she was proud of the music that she produced as part of her career, at the same time... It was sometimes hard to distinguish between different eras, albums, and campaigns, as if they were quite literally one big one over such a long timespan. Lea Sabolic had quite literally reached critical mass. It was in her late 30s, when illness befell her husband, was where Lea would take a break from the music industry and where touring, album releases, and promotions were far more sporadic. Instead, releases from here were now staggered, and an album once a year or every two years was no longer now guaranteed.
The recent event that led almost directly to the entry was the death of her husband. Lea's husband was a topic she didn't quite like to speak about in public too much, preferring instead to keep the nature of their relationship just between themselves. Even with the Izmeduan media having quite the track record of being able to attain great cover stories, the close relationship between Lea and her husband was one she was able to keep under the wings outside of the general knowledge that he was her manager. It was through him was how Lea was able to keep affording the connections, the success, and the capacity to become further exposed to more and more singers and songwriters that would help build Lea's network throughout the music industry. Her husband was the one with the moxie to help Lea soldier through the rougher spots of her career, including very much the period of her stratospheric success where her music did not find favor with a lot of critics.
The loss of her husband was profound. She may not have agreed to his decisions all the time, but Lea was also a fan of stability, safety, and being able to have a full family. She had one child with him, but the loss of him was almost too much to bear at one point. It really wasn't until Lea received a few songs with Breaking Free's message was where Lea realized how she needed to move on from her husband's passing. The sporadic releases and the fact that she was now at a lower profile helped aid her mental health. The success no longer felt like it was choking her into retreating into a studio, she felt emboldened to take a risk, and to not fear that risk failing. Lea knew that she was lucky enough to be in a position where she literally did not have a lot to lose. She owed it to herself to take that risk though, and one of those risks was to finally break out of that shell of hers in the first English-language release she would have without her husband's managing in tow. One of those risks was of course, 'Breaking Free,' itself. The song itself came to her by way of a connection she fostered with one of Izmedu's production scenes, in which the two composers/producers of the song were working on a demo that had test vocals for 'breaking free.' Lea, liking the lyrics and the production she heard, made a note to send out some 'feelers' staking an interest in the eventual track. This led to those same producers wanting to send the track, once it was done, to Lea herself. Since Lea had just released an album full of mostly softer ballads in the Izmeduan language just earlier, the turn towards dance-pop was almost a complete 180 from the soundscape that many were expecting her to take in her next release in the English language.
Breaking Free was both her and not her. Lea did her fair share of some dance tracks, but they were much, much longer ago when the standards of production weren't quite the same as now. WorldVision was thought to be out of reach for her, especially since WV has often tended to go for younger names or more daring projects. Lea, for the longest time, was seen as someone who really and truly had no business in the WorldVision Song Contest. That is, until she sent 'Breaking Free' to Izmepisma and had the fortune of winning it. Winning the national final itself was a surprise she never thought would ever happen, especially for an artist like her that was thought to have been long past her prime. Yet, in some sense, it was perhaps fitting that her time in the limelight would be represented with a music show that she herself witnessed the creation of. She found a new audience within the country to which to expose her music to, but this time, with her own pace, her own prerogative, and in a style that she knows she has full control of. To her, taking a risk like Izmepisma and WorldVision was quite alright for her no matter the outcome, as long as she knew that each effort came from her. The very fear of feeling she needed to seek critical approval would gradually lessen. For her, the victory was in the 'being here' in the Achaean Republic.
The song may not have been truly hers as far as credits. However, Lea was feeling embodied with the words. A connection that she hoped would translate to the stage in Rosario.
Lea took a deep breath and walked to the stage...
Stage lights billowed down to the center of El Soleao at the advent of the Izmeduan industry, bolstered by a crowd cheer that was timed to the flashing lights. The arena was now bathed in a complete darkness as Lea was situated at one of the sides of the stage. The unique setup necessitated some thinking as per the staging team, considering the song relied upon the traditional stage set up of having the LED in the back. However, the stage being in the shape of the river was in fact a groundswell of many possibilities for the song. Lea took a deep breath as she felt the in-ear mark the beginning of the song, the muffled strains of the song's electronic production now seeping through El Soleao. The arena was bathed in a soothing hues of blue, darkened at first. The camera sweeped through the river-like stage almost cinematically, slowly moving through the twists and turns as the lights pulsed to the music. The floor would have ethereal patterns on it, acting as sort of a 'rail' for the slowly moving camera as it led itself to Lea's position at the very edges of one of the stage's sides. In some sense, the camera was 'flowing' through the stage, eventually finding Lea at the eight second mark. She was stood, looking down, the screens behind her showing a gray pattern that looked almost faintly like it was rooting her to that spot. The spotlight would shine on her, looking a bit worn down, exhausted, but there was a will to keep fighting on in her eyes. She took a deep breath, knowing that it was time for her to sing...
There's somethin heavy in my heart
Like chains holding me down
Feel like I got nowhere to go
Trapped and lost all alone
She sang these lines with a mixture of both conviction and softness, deliberately making sure to conceal the true power of her voice. In this first verse, she used the dramatic overaffectations to her advantage, each and every arm movement, nigh-exaggerated expressions, adding to the graphics displayed behind her. The gray patterns, once the camera angled itself to a precise angle, looked as if they were bearing down on her shoulders, a great weight upon her that was reflected within the lyrics itself. The movements she made during the song were first and tentative attempts to shake off this burden, with the camera sometimes fading between this view of her and a dramatic zoom-in (from her arm) to the wider world of the stage, with the rest of El Soleao representing the wider world of possibility that was lying in wait for her. However, the burden of the chains bearing down on her from the graphics (part from the screens behind her from her position with minor bits of augmented reality) was what stopped her initially. She would take a step forward at the end of the first verse, but she was stopped in her tracks, with one last shot brief shot of her in the darkness with the graphics behind her that nearly looked as if the song was about to take a much darker turn than intended, however...
I take one step forward
Never looking back now
I'll keep pushing onwards
Away from my past
This hook, while brief, now saw the narrative movement forwards. Each movement she made was timed to the graphics almost precisely, with one shoulder budge backwards that was aiding in the process of dissolving and perhaps even breaking the chains behind her. The gray graphics would gradually disappear, only doing so the more she moved. As appropriate, she took one more step forwards again, this time, her feet now touching the liminal space between the platform she stood on and the very center of the stage where she was yearning for the possibilities of freedom and new experiences. The more she sang these lines, the more Lea's eyes would lit up with the hope of new possibilities, an inner strength that was beginning to manifest with each movement she made. In tandem with her actions on the stage, El Soleao's lighting system would also begin to see some use, with the light configuration changing from darker hues of blue to much more lighter ones. A new palette of colors would begin to manifest throughout the arena, darker hues making way for gradually brighter ones. However, there was a visible struggle still, a conflicted expression of contemplation and hope in Lea's eyes as she finished off this bridge. The camera would linger in front of her in preparation for the next part of the song, the chorus...
Baby I'm breaking free
To find my own freedom
Baby I'm breaking free
To find my own freedom
The instrumentation took a turn for this part of the song. While this was indeed the song's chorus, the production made it clear that was simply a build to the eventual pay off. There was a clear sense that the song was still holding back, from the way Lea was still only taking tentative steps towards the center of the stage and from how she was still holding back her vocals, going off to her almost siren-like falsetto. A slight reverb effect was added to her vocals, aiding the camera in its attempt to try and find a happy medium between making sure that the audience at home was still connecting to Lea's singing closely, while making El Soleao's stage and interior look like epic new worlds still waiting to be explored and discovered. The camera shots would alternate between a close focus on Lea and a sweeping shot of the interior once more, making sure that the the stage floor (especially on the center parts) was lit up to look almost like flowing water patterns that would change color with the beats and the changing light scheme of the arena. There was a clear build up to the true chorus of the song, one that saw both camera views nearly blur to each other as Lea gained a greater confidence in walking to the stage. The statement that she was singing would slowly but surely become more true the more she sang it... Turning it from a mantra to a statement of resolve. At the final line, the camera would zoom into her as the lights would cease flashing and the graphics weighing her down returned back as part of augmented reality. Thus, when the chorus of the song hit...
Baby I'm freaking free
(To find my own freedom)
Baby I'm breaking free
(To find my own freedom)
For the chorus, Lea was truly 'breaking free.' With one dramatic arm swipe and a strategic steadying of her body movements to make sure she was in a prime vocal position to utilize the full extent of her voice, she belted out the song's primary chorus line and put as much power behind as she could. As she dramatically swiped her free arm and held it, the augmented reality behind her dramatically broke in a snap, causing El Soleao to roar into life. The dance break and her vocals worked in tandem with one another, the production itself causing the arena to practically break into a rave. Thus, the strobe lights were brought out for the occasion, while the river-like stage almost flowed like a river. The color palette shifted across as many lights colors as possible, with Lea carefully walking down the stage in the free moments where she wasn't utilizing her voice. However, even so, she wanted the crowd to feel the almost stratospheric energy she was feeling. She looked towards the audience as she belted each iteration of 'baby I'm breaking free,' wanting them to jump up and down during this dance break. The chorus would then end, the camera closing in on Lea who now had a much more revitalized look and expression.
Letting go of what brings me down
A weight lifted off me
For once I no longer feel the fear
Of having to hide myself
I'll keep pushing onwards
Never looking back now
For this second verse and the truncated hook, Lea would strut down the stage with confidence. The stage effects around her calmed down, and the camera effects weren't quite as frenetic as earlier. However, the stage didn't return back to its earlier darkness, with Lea looking towards the center of the stage with a newfound resolve and a swiftness of movement versus the much more labored first verse. Each step she took almost felt effortless, with the camera finding her 'flowing' alongside the watery graphics that were practically perpetual on the floor. In some sense, it looked as if Lea was walking on rather artificial and colorful water, the camera angle sometimes presenting the illusion that she was visibly affecting the graphics themselves as she walked. Each step she took as she sang these lines exuded an almost innocent confidence and bravado, almost as if she was born again. She treated the river-like stage almost as a runway, especially as she would accentuate her leg movements and her singing both in lockstep with one another. Her vocals were also a touch more powerful for these verses as well, and she certainly wasn't afraid of letting a few affectations and slight belts out as well. For the very brief that constituted the last two lines of these blocks of lyrics, she did a slight wink to the camera as she sang 'never looking back now' arching her vocals upwards, utilizing a powerful belt instead of letting the song simmer through a softer register. At the end of these combined lines, she would finally reach center of the stage, just in time for the chorus...
Baby I'm breaking free
To find my own freedom
Baby I'm breaking free
To find my own freedom
Once more, the song would repeat the pattern of building up to the dance break instead of launching straight into it. Lea would repeat the same routine earlier, except this time, she now looked far more confident and more energetic doing so, instead of fighting a force within her that was threatening to bring her down. This time, she wanted to engage the audience even more, as she would occasionally sing right at the edge of El Soleao's stage and hype the audience up. The camera, accounting that Lea's emotional arc was closer to its conclusion and realization, would also spend most of this chorus surveying the stage, flowing between Lea, the audience, and the rest of the stage cinematically as the song flowed through its build-up. The strobe lights would pulse to the production once more, the build-up to the dance break beginning in earnest in the middle of these lines. At the last line, the camera would settle itself on Lea once more, with her stepping back towards the center as the song's dance break was imminent...
Baby I'm breaking free
(To find my own freedom)
Baby I'm breaking free
(To find my own freedom)
With the song's second dance break, Lea and the stage were quite literally firing on all possible cylinders to make sure that this would be an unforgettable moment on stage. Lea let out her trademark vocal belting, creating a clean, yet powerful vocal as she would let her voice soar to its most powerful resonance at 'breaking free.' However, the staging that was planned was holding back from earlier as well. On top of Lea's belting and careful camera positioning, the water-mirrored walkways were now deployed during the dance break. While this did impede the view at those at home, cameras that were safely located on the stage would help augment the background that Lea was singing against. In nearly a flash, she was first singing against the strobing lights of the arena and now she was singing against a water-aided technicolor background. The graphics that were overlaid on the water-mirrored walkways (which were aided by the strobe lights) were almost parallels to the graphics that were displayed on the floor. However, the graphics on the water-mirrored walkways were displayed in a much greater variety of colors, looking as if Lea was singing against a portal. The way she sang and angled herself made it appear that Lea was moving forward the portal, flying freely, and towards a new world of possibility. These graphics would remain, but in a much calmer fashion as the chorus ended...
I dance to my own beat, to my own rhythm
They can't take that from me
My newfound spirit
My newfound spirit
The camera would rotate around her as she sang this bridge. Around her, the graphics on the water-mirrored walkways would reflect the lyrics she sang, with the flows pulsing to the beat and the rhythm, the graphics looking quite like an aesthetic equalizer before Lea's (and the audience at home's) very eyes. Lea's vocals flowed with a sense of fulfillment, knowing that her journey is now much closer to its conclusion than before. Once more, a reverb and echo effect was lightly added, ensuring that her voice would help echo throughout the arena while taking great care not to overdo it. She would look up to El Soleao's ceilings, her eyes harboring that trademark innocence from earlier. Each time she would sing these lines, the water-mirrored walkways that provided the backdrop from the earlier chorus would slowly dissipate as the arena was now coated in darkness. The camera would pause as it was now in front of Lea, preparing for the hook of the song once more. The bridge would end, but the song wasn't over yet...
I take one step forward
Never looking back now
I'll keep pushing onwards
Away from my past
The arena was coated in darkness for this last reprisal of the song's hook. Her vocals, while resonating with much more strength, was almost a contrast for the nearly fragile staging, looking as if she were for a moment singing a ballad. She would track the camera with her own eyes as it would make a short survey of the stage, fading to a position just slightly upwards of her. The floor screens were active, dulled to make sure that the contrast in the darkness wasn't too extreme. As the camera would move towards closer to her once more, the renewed feelings and demeanor on her were now more evident as this was now a moment just between her, the audience, and the viewers at home. Instead of these being lines that sang to invoke the inner strength within her, she now sang as if she were recounting a story. The lines resonated with an ever greater truth now, the weight of experience behind her eyes, and now the feeling of someone who truly felt free to take on what they wanted to. She walked closer to the camera and in consequence, much closer to the audience. She looked up at the final line, preemptively preparing for the final chorus...
Baby I'm freaking free
(To find my own freedom)
Baby I'm breaking free
(To find my own freedom)
Yeah I'm breaking free, I'm breaking free, I'm breaking free now
I'm breaking free now baby, yeah, yeah
Yeah I'm breaking free, I'm breaking free, I'm breaking free now
I'm breaking free now baby, yeah, yeah
For the final reprise of the chorus, it was all about exuding as much energy on the stage as possible. Lea let everything out on the table from her vocals, to her movements, and to the energy she wanted the crowd to feel. The strobe effects were set to their highest with the augmented reality even effects even getting their time in the spotlight. On the floors, the 'river' effects were strobing at their most intense, pulsing to the beat and reflecting the lights that were continually changing color. For Lea, she was at her most jubilant at this part of the song, now having truly broken free and having found the freedom she was seeking. All of the energy of being in a country she has never been to before, of doing many firsts in Achaea, of meeting the people around here was now being reflected upon the lyrics. Now, the very chorus that she sang as first as a statement of resolve was now a cry of joy, a proud statement proclaiming the new phase of the life she was beginning to stake out for herself without the shadow of the past hanging over her head. The colors remained bright, her movements carried with them the exhilaration she felt. Each time she belted out these lines, especially at around the latter half (where the chorus would deviate slightly) felt like a triumph. Her vocals remained resonant, with Lea using some techniques she learned to maintain her voice throughout the strenuous period of constant belting. She may have remained transfixed on some parts of the stage, but the way she moved her arms and body was signaling to the audience to move along with her. The camera would alternate with views between her and the audience on the arena itself, the atmosphere in the arena almost electric. However, the song was now nearing its conclusion...
Baby I'm breaking free...
(To find my own freedom)
My newfound spirit...
My newfound spirit...
The song's outro was a calm one, with Lea ceasing her movements and taking on a confident pose, looking towards the green room. She would sing these lines with an almost ethereal tone of voice, singing the very last line of the song twice before letting it echo throughout the arena. The El Soleao, for the final strains of this entry, was now coated in the colors of the morning sun. The palette was now a warm yellow-orange, suggesting that Lea had finished her song right as it became dawn. With a strategic camera and staging placement, she would place herself in front of one light, the shadow of her face staring into it. The camera was situated right behind her head as the song ended, zooming slowly past her face and towards the light once the production faded.
She held a hand to her mouth as the entry finished. The excitement, the adrenaline, and the feeling all caught up to her as she tried to process the crowd cheer that was happening right at this moment. She briefly held the microphone to her mouth.
“Thank you all so much!,” she shouted, shaking and nearly in tears from the performance.
The next entry from Pambudia was imminent, so Lea knew she needed to leave the stage quickly lest she finds herself forcefully be put somewhere backstage or in the green room. She savored this feeling of being finished, of the excitement. It was a strange in-between, knowing she still had all of the results left waiting later on in the night. In many ways, performing itself was the victory, and to have a chance to be here when years ago, something like WorldVision was almost off-limits to someone like her was a poetic victory in and of itself. Just like the lyrics of the song, perhaps Lea too has broken free of her past. She couldn't do much introspecting, knowing that soon she would be with her delegation and enjoying the rest of her night.
No matter what happened, she swore to never forget these feelings.