NationStates

Saturday Evening.

While half the country was barely starting up again due to the massive and ongoing coronavirus outbreak that placed the nation to a standstill, the people on the other side of the country––the one where both Juana Díaz and Urbania is set––are looking out to celebrate the Junior World Hit Festival they fought, argued, begged, prayed, partied, hoped, and celebrated forth. For businessmen and marketers, this was an economic boom that would generate millions of corcinos in revenue after a few months in the red because of that pesky coronavirus. For the adults, this was a time to entertain their children as they attempted to relieve the boredom of the now-cancelled Good Friday activities. For tourist, it would be an interesting preview of “rural" Achaean life, whatever that meant. For those watching on YouTube and AS1.tv, the streams were about to begin. And many were surprised that so many people were packed into the Arena Yamaha in such a perilous time.

The countdown began in Spanish, with both locals and tourists––and above all children––joining in.

Diez…nueve…ocho…siete…seis…cinco…cuatro…tres…dos…uno…

The theme song started playing on TV screens, as would be expected from an official World Hit Festival event.

A drone view takes impressive images of the Achaean countryside: its lush mountains, its verdant scenery, its animals roaming free. On one table, an elderly woman wearing a bata and pink sneakers is placing a candle to a small shrine on the side of the paved road, making the sign of the cross with her grandson. In another scene, a group of men are drinking and playing a heated game of dominoes in a nearby bar. They are drinking and taunting each other as a server gives them a succulent piece of chicharrón for them to eat. A small kid is also besides her, and he sneakily grabs a piece of chicharrón for him as well. They are all talking Spanish, albeit it can’t be understandable because of the mic’s distance and the zoom of cars passing by.

Another camera shows a small casa de campo on a small hacienda with chirping birds, squealing pigs rolling around in the dirt, and clucking chickens on the background. On the side, an old man is snoring on the rocking chair with a small cup of coffee at his side, one his wife milled from the beans she picked up from the coffee beans on her backyard. We are then taken to a small kitchen where the grandma is making pasteles in the kitchen. Another picture shows the living room with a small antenna black-and-white TV turned on a mid-morning telenovela. Besides the bathroom on a sharp corner, there is a small bedroom with a young boy sleeping under a cross.



The kid wakes up and puts on a shirt and shoes. He dashes out of his room and into his grandma’s arms as he asks her for a blessing. After it, he darts outside, slowly waking up his grandfather sleeping in the rocking chair. In the next scenes, the young child is seen giving food and petting the chickens in the nesting coop, giving food to the pigs while pinching his fingers through his nose, playing catch with a doberman watching over the valley, helping his mother pick the coffee beens so she can mill, going up to a tree to collect a fe breadfruit, and doing a cannonball in a small quebrada near the family’s hacienda. Rural Achaean life is one of hard work, but filled with simple pleasures that can’t be found anywhere else. The freshness of the water, the mountain breeze, the scrumptious food..There is something special about the Achaean campo that the world can enjoy again.

The young boy is riding a potro through the edges of the road as a stray car or two zoom past by and wave at him. A drone images shows the winding road where the boy is traveling with the potro. Houses can be seen through thee heart-stopping roads, each of them with kids joining adults in doing old-fashioned activities. A small girl was learning how to make mundillo with her grandmother, a bobbin lace used to create complex designs, typically using white thread. In another house, two children were playing a traditional game called gallito, where kids would make little holes and tie string to the carob bean and whack the beans one at a time until they break. Still in another house down the road, another group of kids was playing with marbles and bright-colored trompos that would be spun with threaded chords and then thrown into a circle in the ground for keeps or destruction. As the boy and his potro passed by, the kids waved back at hi and kept enjoying their little games. For the first time in a while, they were not inside, stuck on their phones. They were having fun on the outside, taking the sun’s rays and breathing some much-needed fresh air.

In the boy’s lap, he carried a small knapsack that had a small icon of the Three Kings––Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltasar, as they are known in Latin folklore—, slowly opening it up while riding the potro to reveal a wooden figurine with the image of the Three Kings.

In the next scenes, he finally reaches the border between Urbania and Juana Díaz, where a cathedral could be seen in the valley below the mountains. There, more kids are playing basketball, baseball, soccer, and tennis, enjoying the tropical sun and having fun with each other. A few sights between the cities are shown: the town squares, the churches, the eateries, the laughter of dominoes and the arguments that ensue, and the overall sense of warmth and familiarity that small cities can bring.

On a fork near entering the city, a small caravan of horses pass by with three men dressed in colorful and ornate vestments, wearing different crowns on their heads. They are carrying precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh––three ingredients in short supply these days, more so in its pure form––and also riding towards the cathedral. As the boy passes by them, he waves off his pava or thatched straw hat at the men. They take off their crowns with their white gloves and wave back, with one of them nodding in acknowledgment. Both the boy and the men walk towards the sunset, as a wide pan of the camera shows how children are playing, singing, dancing, and waving their hands at each other.





Back to the arena, the LED “houses" are immediately transformed into earth colors: red, brown, and green. Flowers show on the sides of the houses with flowers, sugar cane, coffee plants, breadfruits and coconut trees. From the entrances, children pop up dressed as https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_hlDVwSVeRY/hqdefault.jpg]jíbaros or campesinos[/url] of the Achaean countryside. They are dancing side-by-side, the boys on the camera’s left and the girls on the camera’s right, swaying themselves by the music. The barefoot boys grab their (wooden) machetes with the right hand, and the girls lift their skirts to the rhythm with their left, their other hands grabbed towards each other on an affectionate display.

Suddenly, some of the children branch off from dancing and do other things on stage, like playing hide-and-seek on the top of the houses (albeit carefully, given that they have sight-unseen rails covering the perimeters of the stage to avoid any dangers or pitfalls), hitting the beans with gallitos, playing marbles, and even jumping below a LED “waterfall” that appeared on the left side. Still a group of children picked up instruments and established themselves on the right side of the houses with a güiro, a maraca, a cuatro and a cajón with a hole on the side of the wooden box for percussion.

Another camera features the entrance of Ana Luisa and Gabrielita Sánchez, prominent members of the Sánchez family of trovadores and performers of Achaean mountain music. Since 1978, the homegrown family has inspired numerous musical techniques and classical staples dedicated to revitalize the Achaean mountain music genre that is typically prominent to listen to on the holidays. They are both wearing white blouses and white skirts, Ana Luisa with a red flower in her head and Gabrielita wearing a hat.

Ven conmigo a la montaña
a darle agua a las vacas
y al guaraguao dos melones
juguemos en la colina
donde el fango se hace tiza
tan límpida y pura brisa
deja el dolor al olvido
El gallo canta en la grama
la carreta se hace diana
expulsando mis dolores
mis pies puestos en el piso
ven, cúbreme, tengo frío
vivo cerca del bohío
y me lleno de pasiones

Ven hacía mí
ven para mí
quiero tus sueños
ven y hazlos míos
Ven hacía mí
ven para mí
quiero tus sueños
ven y hazlos míos
Ven hacia mí al bohío
A ver las flores al filo

Ven hacia mí, ven hasta el tino
dame un poco de tu fuerza
que yo si la necesito
Ven hacia mí, ven hasta el tino
la sangre corre en mis venas
y me enciende de a poquito
Ven hacia mí, ven hasta el tino
las flore en mi regazo
florecen con tal alivio
Ven hacia mí, ven hasta el tino
con mi bohío en la mano
dejaré tanto de alivio

Tune: Quique Domenech-Seis Chorreao (En Vivo)

After the first cultural performance, it was time to begin the flag parade with the music of twelve-year-old musical prodigy Arturo Llorens, who once played the national anthem to the King and Queen of Spain in Latin American diplomatic heads of government meeting. He is well known for playing piano, saxophone, trombone, and the triangle.

He walks along the stage with a cuatro and starts playing it in the middle as the LED “houses" change colors to represent the flags of the participating nations and the children pick up the pace and dance faster.

Each of tonight’s performers are accompanied by a young girl wearing a typical jíbara dress and carrying the flag of the representing nation. Besides them, the young performers keep dancing.

“Damas y Caballeros… Niños y Niñas…Welcome to the Seventh Junior World Hit Festival! ¡Bienvenidos al Séptimo Junior World Hit Festival! Please welcome your host, Génesis Del Río!”

As the dancers and the flag-wavers leave, the night’s presenter, Génesis del Rio appears in a dazzling white dress embroidered with an intricate mundillo lace pattern on the side, somewhat reminiscent of a high-fashion wedding dress. She is wearing an updo hairstyle with a red flower on her left side, and red flower-shaped, tassled earrings that contrast with her white clothes. The audience applauds, and the children whoop and holler.

Génesis del Río: Good evening, Multiverse! ¡Buenas noches, Multiverso!

(The audience applauds.)

Génesis del Río: Welcome to Achaea! ¡Bienvenidos a la República Acayana! And welcome everybody to the 7th World Hit Festival right here, in the cities of Juana Díaz and Urbania! We are very glad for all of you to be here in this beautiful region for the very first time, as we take the Multiverse’s children into an all-star competition in both the City of the Eternal Spring and the City of the Three Kings. Please give a round of applause to all the nations competing tonight, you are all winners!

(The audience applauds and cheers for their favorite country.)

Génesis del Río: Like I said before, everybody is a winner, but tonight one will take home the coveted Junior World Hit Festival trophy as did Viktoriya Mashininya from Polkopia last edition. Spačiba to Polkopia for their amazing performance, and we will see her again later tonight. (The audience applauds for Polkopia, despite not competing in this year’s competition.) That being said, who will win? Well, the choice is yours!



Génesis del Río (voiceover):50% of the votes are open to national juries composed of children and music experts, while you get to pick up to five of your favorite songs at http://www.worldhitfestival.tv/junior right until the very last 15 minutes after the performing song. And yes, you can choose for your own country only once.

Génesis del Río: Now, are you ready? ¿Estamos listos? (The audience applauds as Del Rio clasps her hands.) Well, buena suerte a todos, let music reign in this beautiful night, and let the show begin!

Following a desire by some elements of the Spanish-speaking community in Skanden to participate in the Junior World Hit Festival, Skanden hereby makes its debut in the competition, with the Spanish-speaking branch of Skandens Television being put in charge of the participation.

SKT—E (Skandens Television — Español) announced that Carmena Corales had been selected to represent the nation with the song "Esta noche". The song has been compared by some fans to Ragažë, the Kalosian entry to the World Hit Festival 36 which came 2nd.

In Juana Diáz, Carmena has been drawn to perform first. Of course, it's quite nervous being the first to perform, but she thinks she can kill it.

Carmena is joined on stage with two backing singers, named Maria Jose and Valentina. They were wearing pretty casual clothes. As the song begins, the stage is dark save for a spotlight on Carmena. The camera zooms in on her.

Esta noche tu sonreíste
En la lluvia llorando
Optimista, esperabas
Que llegara la luna

Two more spotlights shine, on Maria Jose and Valentina respectively, who are also backing singers.

La mariposa te mira
En una flor
Como un sueño hermoso
Las estrellas veo

They take a few steps forward to the beat.

Me dijiste que soy tu amiga
Y el silencio compartimos

During this instrumental break, they now do a routine that somewhat looks like a ballet meets modern dance routine. This continues throughout the song.

Esta noche tu sonreíste
En la lluvia llorando
Optimista, esperabas
Que llegara la luna

La mariposa te mira
En una flor
Como un sueño hermoso
Las estrellas veo

Me dijiste que soy tu amiga
Y el silencio compartimos

They do another dance routine. It's quite admirable, actually; it's clear they got dance skills. The dance style also has a bit of salsa into it.

Me dijiste que soy tu amiga
Y el silencio compartimos

Now they go into a different dance routine in the same style and just repeat it as the song comes to an end.

Esta noche esperabas
Que llegara la luna
Como un sueño hermoso
Compartimos el silencio

Esta noche esperabas
Que llegara la luna

As the song comes to an end, the girls stop, and the camera focuses on Carmena as she delivers the final lines.

Como un sueño hermoso
Compartimos el silencio

And that's it — the song of the night is over and the 7th Junior World Hit Festival is now underway. Carmena blows a kiss to the audience before the girls come together and bow. Carmena says "Muchas gracias Acaya!" before they leave the stage. Will the next act be able to live up to the standards set by Carmena and her girls?

Estogium's first participation was at the 2nd Junior World Hit Festival which was a non-competitive event. Though despite that, Estogium has managed to participate in every edition of the Junior World Hit Festival since, coming 9th, 6th, 8th and then 12th. While Estogium has never finished in the bottom 2, the results have been rather poor, with Estogium always being the worst performing Junior World Hit Festival nation of the ABEN nations that participate. They would like to change this for this upcoming participation in Achaean Republic and they believe that "Starry Sky" is their ticket to victory. Estogium and RVC would like to make the top three at the upcoming World Hit Festival and so have focused a lot on making sure that Estogium's sixth appearance at the World Hit Festival is one to not forget. Hope was chosen as Estogium's representative internally after she submitted interest in becoming the representative for Estogium. In the country, RVC asked for children who were 12 years and upwards due to their opinion that children under the age of 12 were "too young" to sing on the stage and so aimed this at Secondary/Academy students - with that stage of life starting at age 11/12. With that being said, they went on the older end of the spectrum with YEWQAE student, Hope, who believes that she can study and represent her country at the same time. RVC made sure that she was a student who could afford to be so distracted, with her grades being consistently A and above. Her progress is being monitored throughout her experience at the JWHF. She cannot wait to go to Achaean Republic to come and do what she has wanted to do for a long time - represent her country.

---

Estogium was out to win the World Hit Festival and thought that "Starry Sky" could go a long way. Hope Azzopardi made her way to the Junior World Hit Festival stage, smiling bubbly during the postcard from the nation. She thought that this would be her chance to shine on the stage and she was ready for the challenge. Hope wore what seemed to be a singular outfit which formed part of a top and a skirt with starry images on it. Including this, she wore a mini jacket which had sparkles all over it too which looked nice especially when the staging was much darker at the start of the show. On the screens behind her, there were little white dots to resemble stars in the night sky as the lightings were hues of dark blue and purple, colours that we would associate with the human fantasy of the universe. There would be use of on-screen graphics that would aid the performance to make it more interesting for viewers. The Estogian delegation was taking this very seriously, with them wholeheartedly behind their Junior World Hit Festival act for the first time in, what they call, forever. As it was time for Hope to wow the audience with her performance, she stood on a large block that was placed in the middle of the stage. Around the block were strobe lights that would be used during the performance. The audience came in with a huge roar as Estogium's name was shown throughout the whole of the arena.



At the start of the song, the camera slowly made advancements on Hope as she faced the starry LED screen behind her. She was looking up at the LED as though she was looking out at the stars. She didn't interact with the camera at this point, rather focusing her attention on the screen. As the camera moved closer to her, it wasn't as clear, with it out of focus for the first part of the chorus. We could also see fog building up beneath her as we cut back and forth from one camera to the next, with the second camera appearing to be a lot more jittery than the camera we started on initially. Hope sung quietly, almost whispering into the microphone - a soft, sweet and youthful tone to her voice. She didn't want to strain her voice so early in the song either. Hope was also nervous, this would be the last time she would perform the song in front of this audience - unless she won the Junior World Hit Festival - which she believed in her heart that she could do. As we moved on to the pre-chorus, Hope turned around with a smile plastered on her face...



As she turned around, a further away shot moved outwards from her with the slow movement of the shot making the scenery look scenic and beautiful. As we saw this, we could see the strobe effects twinkling around her as with the fog billowing towards the audience watching the Junior World Hit Festival stage in front of her. She was happy, you could tell that in her face as she moved closer and closer towards the chorus. As she continued singing the pre-chorus, starry effects were shown on screen as though it was coming from Hope Azzopardi herself. She put her hand to her face as she ended singing the verse with "emotions I can't keep in". There was then a further away shot, showing the whole of the arena as we moved outwards as we went into the first chorus of the song. The strobes that were placed around the box lowered (like Sanna 2014) over the audience in the arena as the screen behind her became more interactive. Hope turned to the side and held out her hand with another came shot placing capturing this moment.



As the camera went closer to her, from the position that we were in, it looked as though Hope was holding the star in her hand. She sang to this star as the fog continued to billow beneath her. She happily bopped along to the music as the lights behind her picked up in intensity. The audience started to also cheer for her, building her confidence as she started to add trills to her voice, really getting into the song and adding her own flair to the song. She looked increasingly comfortable on the stage as we went into the first chorus of the song. As we heard the strong drumbeats at the end of the chorus, there were four strong shots from different sections of the chorus before she "threw the star" out towards the camera, with on-screen graphics having a star coming right towards the lens of the camera. She flicked her hair to the side as the screen was drowned in the white that came from the approaching star...



As the screens went white, it was then time for the dance break, Hope started moving along with the lights that were around her on the box. For example, as the lights turned to the left, she would move to the left and likewise if the lights went right. She danced from either side with a bit of groove as the camerawork did most of the work, zooming from one side of the arena to the other side. During this part, the on-screen graphics were still being used, with the stars coming at those watching at home. There were quick zooms of Hope and quick shots of members of the audience, especially from ABEN nations who somehow managed to get to Achaean Republic, who was in the audience holding Aloquirbic flags in the audience. It was now time for the verse and as we moved from the chorus into the verse, the camera panned upwards before losing focus. The lights in the arena dimmed as we moved to a spotlight setting as stars formed around her body. Due to the angles, the delegation made it look as though the stars formed directly over her body.



During this part of the song, all of the stars disburse from where they were initially, quickly moving away from over the whole span of the screens behind her. Hope smiled gracefully as the camera slowly moved out towards her over the audience. She started to hold the microphone further away from her voice, singing out to the heavens as we moved to another pre-chorus. The lights in the arena did similar things as, with the lights appearing around her and over the audience.



As we move onto to this section into the song, there was the use of pyrotechnics which worked well with the background as we had a golden shower fall from behind Hope as she jumped up and down on the podium. There were shots from close and far showing us how happy Hope was on the stage. The audience danced along as there was another shot of all of the audience members from behind Hope. She held her hand out as she sang the last sections of the song.



At the end of the song, she held her pose strongly before the audience came in with a massive cheer. She was told to hold her pose for about five seconds after singing the last note which would also be a large one for her. She held the pose as the audience cheered with there being a far away shot, showing all of the people cheering in the audience. She laughed as she broke the pose before holding the microphone back up to her lips, "Thank you all! Vote for Estogium everyone!" She screamed into the microphone before she hopped off the podium and ran off the stage as stage personnel moved onto the third song of the evening.

Estegoa100 had been doing quite well lately, both in the regular World Hit Festival and the spinoff Junior World Hit Festival. Having achieved podium positions in the most recent editions of both, the broadcaster was looking to continue its streak of success and for that, it pulled a promising artist from the JWHF6 selection, Lauluküselü: Yausnikset. Ainaarsi Pekkanen had in fact tied for first place and only lost to Sisu Hákkánen after a tiebreak. Sisu later went on to achieve a bronze placing in Junior World Hit Festival 6, Tödlichebujoku's best ever placing in that contest and an accomplishment well celebrated by Tödlichebujoki fans of the contest. When the Estegoa100 WHF board asked Ainaarsi to return as an internal selection, the budding star gladly accepted, and the proposed single was a hit with the board, swiftly being entered into the broadcaster's plans.

Ainaarsi Pekkanen was born in Suureai, but as his family moved around the nation often as part of the armed services, he never truly grew up in a single location. However, when asked in an interview with the magazine Kümmenen Parasta, he revealed that he felt the most connection with Seltsaameboči, a very down-to-earth agricultural city with a regionally famous (and occasionally humorized) friendliness, describing it as "a place where you could just hang out in a field and do whatever you want, but still go back for city life, you know, and it was big enough where artists would actually stop by and perform on tours." Naturally, in recognition of the city's special place in his heart, Ainaarsi has been noted to include it in his first tour, and is expected to continue stopping by on future tours.

The stage gleams blue for a split second. Ambient lighting fades on, blinking to the beat, revealing a layer of mist over the stage floor, and a number of stones arranged in a circular formation on the stage. Ainaarsi stands in the middle in a jacket, looking up toward a soft white spotlight, before turning to the audience and making some semi-robotic dances to the beat, a sort of carefree expression on his face

Kuulen üön áániá
Šepertat kuun áániá
Yuostaan, yuoksetaan šventedvin maahan
Olem táállá keskiüön rukouksessa

He drops a quick smirk, then spins around, making a praying gesture, his jacket now unzipped. Ainaarsi's dancing is now more pronounced and groovy, as spotlights swing down and blink around him to the beat

Rukoile
Rukoile

The lighting dims back down, and Ainaarsi begins to walk around the stone circle, tilting his head back as he sings, raising the microphone up. Occasionally he turns toward the audience, his eyes warm and inviting. A teen dancer appears from behind him, dressed in similar but more modest attire, and they execute a dance together amongst the stones

Katso táhtiá taivaassam
Katso táhtiá silmissám
Poika, tunnen, tunnen pühán loitsun
Uudelleen náüttelem alku

Another dancer joins so that there are two dancers behind Ainaarsi, flanking him in a way, as he steps toward the front of the stage, and they mirror his choreography, a number of spotlights flashing around them like a marquee. Ainaarsi grins toward the camera as he slides to the left and the right while dancing

Rukoile
Rukoile

Spotlights now surround him in a radial fashion as the two dancers splay themselves around him in a slow dance. Ainaarsi closes his eyes, looking upwards, both hands on the microphone, moving his body just slightly as he focuses on his vocals

Voidan sut, rakkaani
Voidat rakkaudella
Peensivat meidát tánáán
Peensim müös heitá!

He arcs back with all his energy focused on his voice, before breaking into synchronized dance with his dancers, all within the stone circle, some small puffs of mist getting kicked up into the air as they do so, well illuminated by the array of spotlights moving around them

Rukoile kanssani!
Yumalat vaativat stá
Rukoile
Aivan kuten isám
Rukoile
Peense mua perintöllasi!!

The camera view sweeps in on a diagonal path across the stage as the dancing slows and the dancers whirl around Ainaarsi, who has paused his dancing and stretches an arm out to gesture at the surrounding stage

Nüt annam takaisin, maaperáán ya maahan
Rukoile
Rukoile

Ainaarsi and his dancers line up along the edge of the stage and gesture toward the audience, the dancers clapping as he waves an arm out, side to side

La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Rukoile
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
Rukoile
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

The lights dim back down to a few spotlights shining on Ainaarsi from various angles. The dancers disappear as all attention is on Ainaarsi, who's kneeling down by the audience members, eyes closed

Voidan sut, rakkaani
Voidat rakkaudella
Peensivat meidát tánáán
Peensim müös heitá!

Ainaarsi whips around behind him as the lights flash and flicker back into high energy strength, revealing the first dancer now in a whole new outfit, quite similar to Ainaarsi's but in a different set of colors, and surrounded by a golden glow as if remade with divine energy. The two dance together in and around the circle of stones, which now also glow gold

Rukoile kanssani!
Yumalat vaativat stá
Rukoile
Aivan kuten isám
Rukoile
Peense mua perintöllasi!!

The two stand with backs against one another in the center of the circle as Ainaarsi sings the last line, all ambient lighting except for the stage floor and spotlights cutting out to create a more intimate atmosphere, as they sink down to the stage floor together

Nüt annam takaisin, maaperáán ya maahan
Rukoile

Ainaarsi and the dancer pivot quickly to face one another, assuming matching prayer positions with heads bowed toward one another. The frontal spotlighting cuts out, leaving only the stage floor and a spotlight shining from the back to illuminate the two, as the camera captures their silhouettes from the front

"Kiitos, thank you Achaea!" Ainaarsi shouts as he waves out to the crowd, before exiting the stage with his dancer, excitedly slapping one another on the back to celebrate their work in the performance.

Tina Kostelac knew what the word pressure meant as someone who was earmarked as a singing and poetic prodigy from a young age.

Much as the world around her continued to shift in ever-worrying ways, so too did her creativity and trajectory from arts student to the now sensational child singer that people were taking notice of. Tina was afraid of the fame she was beginning to build by virtue of being selected to represent Izmedu in the 7th Junior World Hit Festival in Juana Díaz and Urbania, Achaean Republic. She felt the fear of having too many eyes on her work and on her writing at such a young age. She just wanted to get through school and hope for a more stable adulthood, especially since her home life is marked with strife, in-fights over her public image, and a custody battle that was being hidden from the press. She had been overwhelmed with so much between the world and her home that she honestly wasn’t sure what to feel when she was in the green room in the Auditorio Yamaha. She was nervous, yes, for the performance. But she was just as nervous to go back home regardless of the result. Tina, in that moment just before her country’s name was announced to be up, had that moment of existential angst that many Izmeduan entrants, both junior and senior, before her were more than familiar with. She wanted to walk away from the arena and be ab-sent, even if she knew that wasn’t feasibly possible.

Security would catch her even before she could step one foot out from the arena.

Tina Kostelac was a 12-year old Izmeduan girl born in the city of Vodiznad. She was born to a middle-class, seemingly stable family at a young age. She had all the markings of a feasibly regular childhood in a country where the economic situation threatened to unravel at any waking moment. However, Tina’s perchance for music and song didn’t manifest until she was at least 8 years old. Though Tina’s parents found that she responded well to music and to being read (fitting, since Tina’s father was a university professor of literature in the University of Vodiznad) to, neither parent figured that she would carry any sort of prodigal talent and would grow up with a modest, if quirky life, to being the child to two parents whose livelihoods always carried a sense of precarity. When she did turn 8 however, she began to gradually display a talent for songwriting and poetry that was far beyond what her peers could realistically manage in Izmeduan primary education. Tina would discover that how she perceived the world and how she wrote about the world was far different from what she expected it to be. This arrived at the form of doing an assignment in primary school.

She would be tasked to write a poem in the Izmeduan language to get a sense of the grammar. The poetic forms were given to the students to make the assignment as streamlined as possible, but the whole focus of the assignment was to ensure that students had a grasp of Izmeduan grammar. It also did double in in-troducing the ways in which figures of speech, metaphor, and figurative language worked in Izmeduan and the rather wild subtleties and sometimes headscratching moments language could occur. Of course, students were free to make their own forms as they see fit, so long as they would write a poem that demonstrated the critical aspects of Izmeduan grammar. Tina vividly remembered wanting to write to her own form, and so she scribbled down a few lines that had come to her naturally. These lines were inspired by the poems that her father would read to her provided work in faculty life hadn’t exhausted him to the point where he had to go straight to bed. Either way, Tina had submitted the assignment, and thought that what she wrote was simply typical. As it turns out, it wasn’t.

Tina’s existential meditation on nature was quite unlike any other poem turned in by Tina’s class; and it certainly wasn’t the kind of poem that her teacher didn’t expect. This was the first sign of Tina having the kind of raw talent that would mark as a prodigy, she had a way with words that the teacher did not see coming, only expecting to find these kinds of constructs with published Izmeduan poets and songwriters. This caused at least administrative attention to be placed on Tina. It was clear that at least teaching basic Izmeduan wasn’t going to be enough, considering she already demonstrated a creative side that basic composition could not cover. However, it was also around this time that Tina’s home life began to devolve. An uncertain situation with the University of Vodiznad had meant that funding cuts were happening to the university. As it turns out, her father was one of the casualties of faculty furloughs, which be-gan to devastate the assumed stability that Tina was getting too comfortable. Tina had no idea what to do with the multitude of decisions around her.

She needed stability, but she also wanted something more. She didn’t quite know what the latter was, but she began to feel that desire when writing poetry for the first time; when writing that specific assignment. The attention placed to her early capacities for writing had put Tina in a position where she could make a fairly reasonable transfer to one of Vodiznad’s local art primary schools (which were not nearly as com-petitive or cutthroat as say, Mousiki’s). She decided to, but this didn’t go without its hitches or its conflicts. Her father’s loss of his job had began to throw wrenches into the once living marriage between her mother and father. Or at least, that’s how she interpreted it. Tina would only see the divorce proceedings, the custody fights (a protracted one that was still on-going to this day), and her father and mother slowly growing distant. She didn’t have enough information to work with; and she was too much of a loss of how to react. The only thing she could do was hope for was her parents, if they could, would still provide food on the table, and for her to keep writing.

With this background, how did “Ptisere” develop? As Tina kept mostly to herself; she would spent most of her days either writing at home or trying to stay for as long as possible. As she grew older, Tina would mostly sequester herself away from her parents. Though she had her fun at the arts school, her introversion and shy nature made it difficult to make friends. Thus, a lot of time and energy was spent reading, writing, and researching. She wrote and researched on whatever topics caught her interest. The biggest theme that could arguably define most of her poetry and singing (a latter talent she found through her arts school) was nature. The resources that her arts school offered her allowed Tina to make the transition from being just a poet to a songwriter. She began to sing about the fantasy of the Izmeduan pastoral, the coastline, and as well as the precarity of the natural world. She was especially interested in how birds could be metaphorized and what their place was in this world.

The project that would become her JWHF entry started off as a poem, turned into a song, and would undergo numerous revisions and changes. She would initially work on the Ptisere project as a kind of cap-stone project in the latter half of her primary school education before going off into secondary education. She began the project by exploring her fascination with birds, as well as trying to explore how far she could take a metaphor. Though she was used to writing poetry, writing to a song was a markedly different experience for her. Though the cadences in poetic rhythm were somewhat applicable to songwriting, her experience as a singer was not nearly as prodigious as her talent in songwriting. She had a voice that could be trained and refined, but it was clear that there was a chasm between her poetry and song. Thus, the song kept getting revised and revised again, to the point where Tina felt as if it were her teachers and fellow students who truly wrote the song instead of Tina herself.

And she couldn’t explain her fascination with birds in the song itself. How do you explain the fascination with the liminal? Of being in flight? Of feeling you live only in patterns? Perhaps the metaphor of the birds was simply a cover for what Tina was feeling; an existential angst both in worldly and personal terms. By the time Tina felt ‘done’ with the Ptisere project, her parents were still wrestling with what to do with custody. There were two wildly clashing visions of what Tina’s life should be and Tina didn’t know which parent to believe. She didn’t want to ally herself with her father out of default, considering the two were close. She knew her mother made valid points about trying to make it in both the literary and musical scenes, seeing as anything being anything creative in Izmedu led to a life of perpetual precarity. Tina didn’t know what to think or what she wanted. She only wanted to sing and write, to keep going, even if circumstances kept telling her that her life could disappear before she knew it. She was a bird in flight, but with no direction except an instinct to keep going.

Most Izmeduan narrative to an international song contest involved luck, but Tina deliberately pushed to get herself to the Junior World Hit Festival. Her submission was her idea and her materials, with the help of an instructor in her arts school, were only a rough demo and a rather long, essay-length sketch of what the idea could be. Tina was insistent on the JWHF, not wanting the fame, but the experience of recording the song, going through the songwriting process again, and as a way to spark the creativity she wanted to keep cultivating. While yes, timing did a play a part (seeing as the submissions opened before Tina would need to shift to secondary education), she ultimately drove herself to the Junior World Hit Festival.

Her selection was when the national attention she began. The parts of a singer-songwriter and poet’s career she didn’t was precisely the fame. As RTI selected her, she would elect to keep everything as hushed as possible. She wanted to focus on the process; willing to work with whoever the channel had with them and what the JWHF delegation could make possible. Thankfully, it was enough to assemble an entry that was able to be sent Juana Díaz and Urbania. Here she was now… after all that work, all of the times she spent in the studio (for as legally as she feasibly could), the flexibility of her dad’s willingness to put up with Tina’s newfound schedule, the stress of not knowing how custody would work out, and now re-hearsing for the entry.

She couldn’t escape now. She didn’t want all of that work to go to waste.

Tina took a deep breath… The whole point of it was the process.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be here.

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You didn’t run away… You’re here. Just focus on that.

Stage lights billowed down to the center of the Auditorio Yamaha, a crowd cheer lingering for the Izmeduan entry as the lights flashed a brilliant white. Tina was situated in front of the houses on the stage, her eyes closed as she tried to process the fact that she was performing in front of this many people. This was the one minus of not doing a lot of promo; rehearsals didn’t get quite close to performing for the real thing. However, she focused on what would make her calm… The music would be due to start soon. It was being in the studio, it was writing the song, and seeing Mladen produce the song. The song had come to life because of the team that RTI had assembled. Now, it was her job ot make the song come alive for the viewers at home. She could feel the in-ear indicate that it was time, she needed to open her eyes. The entry would begin in earnest then. The camera views were sweeping and dramatic, as was the soft start the song. A low drum bang would course through the Auditorio Yamaha as an eerie palette of white and blue lights would begin to slowly pulse through the venue. The instrumental was brief, giving only a faint indication of what the song was going to be. These low bangs would coincide with the cameras changing views. At first, it would be far away from the stage for just a few seconds, only being illuminated by the pulsing lights. The next bang would then switch to a silhouetted view of Tina herself, looking downwards to the floor. The instrumentation remained low and solemn and would remain so as the first verse would begin in earnest. A flash of light would then illuminate Tina, with her looking towards the camera with a wistful, yearning expression.

Dišem l’aria, stojim tišina
Što vidim je baš débol, ukradeni svit
Biala, bojim se nestat će brzo
Ju sam jedna divojka još trazim odvogom

Her voice was smooth and calm, yet her hands would tremble slightly. She was able to catch the camera well, even if her movements did look a little bit raw and untrained. Tina’s earnestness rang through with the way she was delivering the song, removing any pretensions of any sort of planned movements or emotions. She was careful not to reveal too much, making sure to keep her vocals steady as she remained locked in place. Throughout this first verse, the camera and the stage would emphasize that she was the only singer on stage. She would not step into any of the houses, with the screens there primarily acting as visual cues for the song. Those houses would display abstract images of the world, showing off wide and vast landscapes that the song’s primary animal motif, birds, would fly over. However, these images were slow-moving, befitting the way the first verse would move. These images were similarly vast, showing off a world that was still untouched from civilization, and a world that as the song described, was fragile. The camera would manipulate its views to make it appear as if Tina were standing on that world alone; the lone that voice that would carry the world’s word. However, Tina’s expressions made it clear that she couldn’t carry the burden of representing the world. Her expression was pained at the final line, as if she were speaking a truth that she had to acknowledge. She would reach one hand forward as a subtle cry for help in the lead up to the chorus.

Jamo vidim
Što piadimo
Da naše nade i želje
El desmun nije ovdje
Le ptisere
Nikad neće letjeti
Moramo nigovati
El život uvik imamo

The soft, solemn instrumentation from the first verse would lead to a dramatic chorus. The lights would flash a brilliant array of blue, dark blues, and white. Tina let go of any semblance of grace as she went all in for the vocals, belting the first half of the chorus as she passionately could. She was playing, almost pleading to the camera for any help. This befit the darker color palette that was now being applied as she sang the chorus. There was a pain to her voice, an acknowledgement of the world’s inevitable end that Tina was only just now accepting. She wanted for anyone to help rescue and save what could still be saved. During the dramatic first half of the chorus, the houses behind Tina would also show quite the apocalyptic scene behind her. The landscapes around her would shift toward that more apocalyptic and dramatic mood, no longer showing calm and tranquil. Around Tina, a montage of storms raging, fire burning, and flocks of birds being swept away from nature were being shown. These sequences were the focus of the first half of the chorus. For the second half, the main motif of the song was now invoked, with Tina turning around to finally interact with the houses that the Achaean hosts have set up on the stage. As the birds on the screen were struggling to make it through what nature is putting them through, Tina would reach her hands out to the screen. Her eyes and expressions were helpless as she could only remark and commentate on what was happening through the screen. Even as the world in front of her eyes was being destroyed, there were still traces of the world that could be saved. There was still some-thing to cherish and hold onto, even if it seemed like everything was due to collapse into nothingness. Tina held that hope as she quickly pushed through the second half of the chorus, trying to sing to her words with a faint hope in her eyes. She would turn back to the audience at the end of this chorus, stepping for-ward just slightly as the lights in the Auditorio Yamaha would flash a bright white once more, indicating a renewal.

I manji dani, posuđeno vrime
Dementimo uzeti zdravo za gotovo
Biala, bojim se nestat
Probuditi se-u svitu nolju moro je

However, that renewal didn’t decrease the sense of urgency brought on by the previous for chorus. For at least the first two lines, Tina would have a more forceful and assertive way of looking and singing. This was a marked contrast from the first verse, where it was somewhat clear that she was holding back some of the emotions she wanted to express. There was a greater sense of heft and experience to her voice, as if she was taking what she felt from the chorus and attempting to move forward with what remains. There was a sense of desperation to her delivery, her movements also similarly forceful, and she made sure to insert some moments of power. Tina felt more free to adlib and extend some syllables. However, this kind of intensity would only last for about half the second verse. The second half of this verse would then see the lights shut down as the music softened. She would repeat a modified version of the third line from the third verse; with the camera taking even closer shots of her. The houses behind her would also darken their screens in reflection of the lyrics. Instead of the second verse ending with a strong bang, there was an indication that instead, Tina would end the verse softly. The camera would zoom in as the Auditorio Yamaha darkened to the point where the only visible light source was that faint spotlight on Tina herself. She would end this verse singing that last line almost as a whisper, with the microphone almost straining to pick up what she was singing. If the song could be physicalized, it was almost a parabola. After a dra-matic peak in the middle, the song was now approaching once more the way it began.

Jamo vidim
Što piadimo

With the camera remaining close to Tina, the song seemed to suggest that it was sticking to that kind of curve as well as the conceit of ending where the song began. Behind Tina, a slow-motion image of a bird struggling to fly began to display. Tina would turn around, the camera following her closely as she would reach up for the LED panels showing that image. Her vocals were soft and ethereal, befitting the almost ghostly image that was being displayed in front of her eyes. Tina would slowly approach the house that prominently displayed that bird, nearly getting close to the LED panel itself before looking downwards. The camera would take a sideways view of her face, looking down as she finished off these two lines. Before long, the song would roar back to life, its final minute now here.

Jamo vidim
Što piadimo
Da naše nade i želje
El desmun nije ovdje
Le ptisere
Nikad neće letjeti
Moramo nigovati
El život uvik imamo

The final chorus would begin with an adlibbed vocalization from Tina, one that would lead directly into the Audtorio Yamaha shine with a bright array of lights. The LED panels on the houses would then begin to display similar images to the first chorus once more, but instead, the world was emptier. There wasn’t much left of the world on the screens that could be destroyed. Instead, Tina would be singing inside an empty world of nothingness, and she was one of the last remnants left to keep its memory alive. This was reflected in the way Tina would keep trying to defy and be vigorous, even when the panels were showing that the world she once believed in was no more. The music would keep soaring, her vocals would keep intensifying, and she remained defiant in her belief about what was to come. The camera would alternate between wide and close views during this chorus, but Tina would relent her passion or energy for hope, even if that hope may have been in vain. At the second half of the chorus, Tina would alternate between singing to the audience and turning her attention to the houses behind her. Even though the world may have descended into chaos, that didn’t stop the passage of time or even the faint of a hope that there is a world that can move on. Faint traces of sunlight can be seen from the dark images that were being dis-played on the LED panels. These traces of sunlight began to intensify more and more as Tina kept singing the chorus to its end. However, the end of the chorus itself was not the end of the song. There were still a couple of more lines to get through.

Le ptisere
They will fly on
We will fly

The final set of lines would Tina would continue on that small speck of hope. Though the song’s intensity didn’t lessen from the chorus, this marked the upwards turn in the narrative trajectory that would happen right at the end. As Tina passionately sang these lines, behind her, the sunrise on the LED panels would begin to leak over to the last-minute color palette that was beginning to manifest in the venue itself. White, blue, and yellow lights would begin to dance around as the sunrise was now more and more apparent. The song would literally end at dawn. At the final line of the song, Tina would stand back and belt out that line, putting in as much conviction and energy into her delivery as possible. Behind her, the screens would show a small flock of birds flying overhead. These birds may not be flying in any particular direction, but they were flying on regardless, hopeful to find the next place to settle.

Tina felt like she could’ve collapsed after that performance. She was relieved to have finally gotten over the one thing she and her team have been preparing for what seemed to be a long time now. She took a deep breath to make sure she didn’t start crying in the middle of the stage out of sheer relief and from the emotions she felt from the performance.

“Hvala,” she said shakily.

Results were going to be another matter, but she tried to put that out of her mind as she walked back to the green room. She just needed to take deep breaths and take things as they come. This was the way she made it through the past 4 years of her life ever since she discovered she could write poetry. Even if this night turned into a victory or a profound loss, Tina knew that there needed to be a way to forge forward.

She had to find that way and keep writing, much the same way she hoped the birds would keep flying in an age where the world was falling apart. For writing and singing were the things she knew what to do.

And she would keep going, no matter what happens.

After participating in the Junior World Hit Festival for the second time at the 5th edition of the Festival, Aloquirbe returns to the Festival with Vivi and Johanna who will sing their song "Number One" in a bid to win the contest. Due to BVC (Brityunik Vefecosoin Cairkovoin) having ownership of the participation of Britonisea and Aloquirbe, Aloquirbe never really gets a chance to participate in its own right except for the JWHF5 and JWHF7 where BVC withdrew due to staff changes. When Aloquirbe last participated, in Togonistan, the nation came 4th place after being a favourite expected to compete for the win. While Aloquirbe didn't get it, the country was very proud of Jared Zayne for achieving one of Aloquirbe's best results at an international song competition.

At the start of the song, the crowd roared as Aloquirbe's very own Vivi and Johanna stood together. The pair were wearing fancy outfits, multicoloured, with Vivi wearing clothing that had prominent sashes of pink and then Johanna wearing slapshes of yellow. Johanna was the one who started singing. The camera moved towards the pair.



The camera moved around them as the pair turned to the side to catch their cue. Vivi started singing this part coming up here. The colours in the back were vibrant like their costumes. They were interacting with the camera and the audience, singing to the camera when they were singing and to the audience when they weren't - but they weren't touching anyone due to a certain virus outbreak.



Vivi and Johanna looked at each other as the camera swirled around them. They both started singing towards each other as they moved onto the next part of the song. Younger singer, Vivi, was the one who lead this part of the song.



As we move to this part of the song, we saw that dancers came rushing on to the stage - all the same age as them. As they came on the stage, both Vivi and Johanna danced with one another, moving from side to side. There was an aerial shot of all of them dancing together in unison.



As they sang the lyrics, "We are number one" the pair threw their hands up into the sky, with a camera shot being in position ready for them to do this. The stage then darkened as we moved into the next part of the song, which was much less lively than the bits before.



The camera that was in front of them starting spinning on its axis, twirling as it advanced forwards towards the stage from further away. The lights flickered as the dancers, Vivi and Johanna stood close to one another.



They all then danced around as the stage lit up in different colours, a sight to behold from far away.



At the end of the song, the pair stood back to back with one another. The audience came in with a big roar as they shouted "Thank you everyone!" as we moved onto the next act.

Natsuko is standing on stage with a lot of backing singers behind her.

[box]Love me daddy every day
He gives me food and place to stay
Even though I'm just a babe
I won't ever run away


There is light.

Oh, love me daddy
Oh, love me daddy
Oh, love me daddy
I love him all the time

Someone plays the flute

Give me candy, give me sweets
Daddy knows what I should eat
Not what I want for my self
Daddy gives me pineapple

Pretty lights happen

Oh, love me daddy
Oh, love me daddy
Oh, love me daddy
I love him all the time

Red flower petals rain down from above

Oh, love me daddy
Oh, love me daddy
Oh, love me daddy
I love him all the time

It's just Natsuko now

I love him all the time

She runs off the stage.

[Placeholder.]

The song starts with the stage in complete darkness, the camera moves into the middle “house” in which Juliya is stood on a rotating platform, stood like a figurine in a music box. She sings the beginning of the verse, not moving a muscle. Later on in the verse, once the pounding bass starts, the camera, with each hit of said bass, quickly zooms out more and more, with spotlights from the opposite side of the camera also shining down in time with the music.

Ich habe ein Geheimnis,
Nur ein kleines Geständnis,
Meine herz brennt,
Und es ist kaputt!
Und ich denk, ich denk, ich denk,
Aber ich komme immer noch nicht weg!

For the chorus, the camera cuts to another view of the middle house, in which Juliya and two backing dancers start the chorus’ dance routine which walking towards the camera (which moves with them) out on top of the right-hand-side house. The dance routine for Juliya is as follows: For the second part of the chorus she does slightly more complex, general dance moves, as do the dancers.

Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”,
Ist nur “Blick”, Es ist nur “Hei!”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”,
And I already want to cry.
Ist nur “Was?” und dann “Oh tja!”,
Ist nur “Wohl nein, Wohl ja”
Ist nur “Eins, Zwei, hahaha”
And I am falling for it, ah!

Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
“Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, nie!”,
No, it can’t, Entschuldigen Sie!
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
“Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, nie!”,
No, it can’t, Entschuldigen Sie!

For this section, the camera is zoomed out and the words Eins, Zwei, Drei appear on the sides of the 3 houses in time with the lyrics with changing neon colours in the backgrounds

Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”.

For the follow chours, it the camera follows Juliya walking up one of the stairs onto the roof of the middle house, with her dancers being on the two either side, once again the camera zooms out for the bass.

Alles davon gehts zu schnell,
Immer mit der Ruhe,
Soll ich es versuchen,
Lass mich verlieben!?
Und ich denk, ich denk, ich denk,
Aber ich komme immer noch nicht weg!

The staging for the chorus is the same, but instead this time the girls are static, and the camera just pans around the house from different angles.

Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”,
Ist nur “Blick”, Es ist nur “Hei!”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”,
And I already want to cry.
Ist nur “Was?” und dann “Oh tja!”,
Ist nur “Wohl nein, Wohl ja”
Ist nur “Eins, Zwei, hahaha”
And I am falling for it, ah!

Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
“Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, nie!”,
No, it can’t, Entschuldigen Sie!
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
“Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, nie!”,
No, it can’t, Entschuldigen Sie!

For the bridge, Juliya sits on the now darkened floor of the middle house and sings directly into the camera. During the bridge she gets up and the camera begins to zoom back out.

I need to pick myself up,
And finally decide,
Do I let this go,
Or will I just confide?

Once again, the staging is much the same however for the beginning part, the camera stays focused just on Juliya, however from different angles for each line.

Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”,
Ist nur “Blick”, Es ist nur “Hei!”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Drei”,
And I already want to cry.
Ist nur “Was?” und dann “Oh tja!”,
Ist nur “Wohl nein, Wohl ja”
Ist nur “Eins, Zwei, hahaha”
And I am falling for it, ah!

Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
“Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, nie!”,
No, it can’t, Entschuldigen Sie!
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
“Eins, Zwei, Wie?”,
Es ist nur “Eins, Zwei, nie!”,
No, it can’t, Entschuldigen Sie!

For the final melody, Juliya is once against joined by her dancers as they strike a pose and a burst of spark pyrotechnics fires from behind them. The girls laugh with Juliya managing to get out a "Danke! Thank you, Achaea!" before the show moves onto the next performance.

Llalta's success in JWHF, though brief, was a titanic moment for the small island nation. Llalta's only participation was in Tushlark, Togonistan, where Olyvia Kingsington and her heart-wrenching ballad "My World" placed 2nd, with 30 points. With as some described as "magical" staging, she managed to wow the audience with her touching story, enough to place top 2 alongside winner Izmedu. This gave Llalta unfaltering confidence, and further carried their short streak of top 3. Furthermore, in more recent years, Llalta has pulled many personal victories, including one 1st place Kyvivre. Moreover, Esther finally qualifying from semi-finals in the most recent edition of WHF, in WHF50, ending up 8th in the final, an improvement from Llalta's debut, 17th out of 30. Moreover, the LBN has been working extremely hard to gain another victory, shortlisting a queue of songs in which to send to WHF. However, this brings us to JWHF 7. After one edition break from the contest, the LBN is back. Llalta is known for their melancholic and slow ballads, shown in Llalta's previous JWHF entry, which was a moving anthem about depression as such. However, this time, the island nation is looking to subvert and send something new, yet keep to the Llaltese brand, folky and timeless, cute and innocent.

In an effort to find Llalta's next superstar, the primary school in St. Christopher held a singing competition. In 1 gruelling round of singing, eventually, the small town 7-year-old, Nancy Grace, was picked. With the help of WHF heavyweight, Esther Winterbourne, and WV superstar Pingu, the three began work on the JWHF entry. Being young and innocent, Nancy picked the theme of 'family' to sing about, something which she was very passionate about. Thus, she wrote the lyrics, in which Esther, Nancy and Pingu all helped to create music to accompany her melody. Originally the song took a more ballad-like tone, to which Nancy put her foot down, apparently falling asleep on the first listen. However, inspired by Llaltese folk songs, they added more bagpipes and an almost marching rhythm, lifting the song up. Furthermore, backing singers were added (her classmates) to add a more communal feel. Within 2 months, the song was finally finished, it's first public performance/showing, being in the school assembly, to which the song had very positive feedback, from all ages, even teachers and parents. Moreover, she performed the song to 3,000 people, in Llalta's annual Festival of Spring, where it was met with thunderous applause, especially considering the audience size. Though quite a proportion less mature than other entries, there are hopes that charm, performance, fun and joy will make up for it!

The song, "To The Bestest Mummy & Daddy Ever!", lyrics by Nancy Grace and music by Pingu, Esther Winterbourne and Nancy Grace, is a fun and innocent song about a little girl's love for her family. Fun and sweet, it is in the style of many Llaltese children's songs, with a thumping rhythm and an instrumental consisting of many traditional instruments such as the bagpipes. The lyrics detail how much Nancy loves her family and all the fun things they do together, and how they light up her world. As previously mentioned, the song is much less mature than most JWHF entries, even for a Junior contest, but is filled with the childhood charm that so many forget. Nancy described the song as, "I weally weally weally weally wike it! It's uhhh..... weally fun and weally good! Uh........."

Nancy Grace is a 7-year-old student, born in St. Christopher, who loves the stage, even at her young age. Born on the 19th March 2013, she is said to be "one of the liveliest students in the class, and always willing to help out her peers!" according to teachers and is "the heart of the class!" She loves animals, her family, drawing, and playing on the beach. Her favourite subjects at school are Art, English and Science, and she says that when she's older she either wants to be a singer or an astronaut. Her parents, Lila Grace and Aiden Grace, the subject of the song, are both supportive of her, no matter what she does and said, "She's a force to be reckoned with haha! I just hope she behaves well on the international stage!! Haha...."

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The postcard ends, the crowd cheering loudly for the small island nation's second appearance in JWHF. The arena fades to black as the faint silhouettes of the elaborate set pieces and costumes preset on the stage can be seen just about. Suddenly, as the song begins in its melodic flourish, many lights billow outwards welcomingly in streaks of yellow, blue, pink and white, filling the arena with colour. As the music builds up to the very first chorus, the camera moves swiftly up the wooden houses on the stage, paper mache sculptures of various animals, such as sheep, it's wool in the sweetest shade of pink with little stars embedded in it's hide, and cats of fictional tales. Furthermore, random paper mache objects can be seen too, such as a beaming sun and a huge rainbow rose. These paper mache props are held up by various Llaltese children upon sticks, who wave them slowly to the rhythm, moving to the side as the camera moves through them. Much like a forest of colour passing to let the camera explore further in its adventurous tangle. At last, hidden behind another paper mache volcano, is Nancy Grace, who energetically jumps out from behind in childhood joy. She sticks her tongue out playfully. Her blonde hair is done up in pigtails, and she wears a cute summery dress filled with applique flowers of various bright colours. She is adorned with a single daisy in her hair, each petal a different colour, matching her dress. As she begins to sing, confetti and small stars of a multitude of colour burst out of the volcano, giving the song a grand opening. Surprisingly, despite this being her first public singing, not to mention how many people were in the audience, her singing did not falter or waver, exuding confidence as she sang the words proudly. With each word, she squeezed a smile, joyful and obviously loving of her parents. A flock of paper mache seagulls bob past held up by sticks further held by giggling children. As the chorus ends, she gestures to the camera before hugging herself, almost reenacting the lyrics. The lights throughout are soft yet bold, swirling with colours of childhood joy, the LED screen behind depicting a pastel drawing of Llalta adorned with dozens of creatures and buildings only a child could imagine. The general idea behind the LED screen is it being like that of a choppy child's animation, each line different each frame, yet bursting with charm and colour. The blue seas waving as it contains a dragon with the body of a goldfish and wings of an angel, and upon Llalta's peak lay a castle with random towers and spires constantly changing as if a machine.

Mummy, Mummy, Mummy oh how I love you so
You're the bestest mummy, the bestest that I know!
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy oh you mean so much to me
I love my family, and they love me!

The camera follows Nancy as she hops down from the top house she originally sang along and jogged excitedly to her next location as if going on a journey. She turns back briefly and gestures for the camera to follow her, inviting the viewer on her little odyssey, like a child's secret. As the next verse begins, Nancy stands in front of the LED screen, which displays a blue sky, still of the chalky style as from the beginning. A dozen children flock to the screen too, holding paper mache clouds in pairs, bobbing them up and down accidental or not. The look confused yet happy, laughing as they whisper to each other, thinking the camera won't see their playful gossip. Nancy begins singing, and more kids run to her with paper mache birds and bees, almost Seuss like. Their paper mache animals fly around, circling Nancy before disappearing as quickly as they came. However, as the LED screen changes to a drawing of the beach, replacements arrive, however without the paper mache sculptures. This time they hold beach supplies such as parasols and windbreakers, shovels and beach balls which they throw around to each other happily. Whether their small minds realised they were on TV or not, we will never know. As she sings the words "Smile with the sun", a paper mache sun comes slowly down from the ceiling, all the children pausing their beach activities to wave to it, smiling as they do. On the next line, the sun floats back up and a child in a large tree costume waddles sideways onto the stage, visibly uncomfortable. However, Nancy runs up to the tree child and hugs them passionately, her vocals wavering as she puts her all into that hug. The child and Nancy almost topple over but is quickly saved as a child helps Nancy on her way to the floor. However, the tree child was not so lucky, toppling offstage in a hushed gasp. The beach children run and leap away, Nancy skipping behind as she sings, the camera following her. A couple of paper mache cats and dogs wave past beside her, following her, and Nancy bows to them as they bow back. After, Nancy twirls in ecstasy, before turning to the camera and singing her final line, winking. The other paper mache animals circle her, the children spinning and leaping as they take their places behind Nancy. There is such an atmosphere of childhood imagination and fun, giving a smile to even those who haven't before.

Sing with the birds
Dance with the bees
Play with my family
Along the beach!
Smile with the sun
Hug with the trees
Love every cat and dog
Wherever I be!

The paper mache animals dance away, and cute smiling stars hang from the ceiling, the lights dimming to represent night time. The arena is bathed in a deep navy light. On the second line, a paper mache moon with a smiling motherly face is brought onstage by a cute kid dressed in star-patterned pyjamas. Nancy's energy, though still high, is calmer to match the slower melody, like a lullaby. Nancy bobs her head from side to side to the rhythm, before waving to the stars around her, her signature smile plastered on her face. On the next line, however, a soft white light pulses to the rhythm, and Nancy becomes more energetic and filled with determination, and her voice becomes stronger. She places her hand upon her heart forcefully before reaching out to the audience, a loving smile showing how much she cares about her family spread across her face, and her eyes glimmer with determination. The stars are lifted to the ceiling of the arena, and children wearing traditional Llaltese outfits, kilts made from blades of the dried grass of the sunniest gold. A ring of multicoloured flowers adorned upon their heads, crowns of Llalta. They run and ring around Nancy, before running off again, replaced with kids holding up paper mache stars of all colours of the rainbow. These kids wave the stars from side to side, the spotlights sometimes piercing the paper and creating a luminous enchanting glow. On the final lines, a wave of children dressed in the traditional Llaltese carnival clothes rushes to Nancy and lifts her up, where she softly touches a bright pink star which paints Nancy's face in a soft pink light. The camera zooms in on this soft yet hopeful moment, representing how her family let her reach her dreams before she is dropped for the last line, where she and all the other children jump excitedly in the air, high school musical-esque. She smiles and points to the camera, at perhaps her family, and creates a heart with her hands. Her confidence is childlike, blind to the fears of adult life. She giggles endearingly after she says the final lines, having as much fun as the Achaean crowd watching.

The sun is setting
The moon shines
And I wave to the starlight
But even when the night comes
My heart is filled with your love
I love you to the stars and back
Because you're my family!

The lights burst into a flurry of gold, pink, red and blue as the chorus begins. Nancy begins skipping around the stage, her troop of Llaltese carnival kids having picked up various paper mache sculptures upon their sticks, bouncing and dancing along as Nancy sings the chorus, her heart and soul into every word. The camera follows her and her crowd on their merry march, lights dazzling and glimmering as they go. Nancy approaches the wooden house at the front and is lifted by some children following her onto the top of the house where she sits with her legs dangling off the edge, kicking her feet. Many more children join her, sitting along the front, bopping their heads side to side along with the march-like beat. She and her friends on the roof of the house have a quick laugh together, other children still not realising how big of a show they were in, messing around and having a fun old time. On the second line, the camera takes a shot from beneath the house, where Nancy peeks her head between her legs looking to the camera. Various fun and wild paper mache monsters dance beneath the gloomy roof of the house, a vivid purple light glimmering at them, each colourful monster including various body parts of glow in the dark adding a fun extra detail for the younger viewers. She perkily pops her head back up, and behind her are various paper mache animals, such as a dragon breathing a wisp of smoke, and some creature obviously of a child's imagination. With the head of a bird and the body and legs of a lion, and the tail of a horse, it was of various colours such as magenta and green, cyan and crimson. The various mythical animals flew around each other, playing or fighting, the children holding their sticks having fun battering their paper mache creatures together. On the third line, she stands up from the stage, the camera taking a close up, and spread her arms out as wide as she could. She continued to sing, her voice of the most youthful dreams imaginable, and on the last line she cutely hugged the girl next to her, who immediately hugged her back, an "awww" being audible from the audience.

Mummy, Mummy, Mummy I laugh 'till my cheeks are red!
You help me from the monsters, monsters beneath the bed!
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy oh how you make me free!
I love my family, and they love me!

The lights change to the most emerald greens and ocean blue, bathing the arena in a calm aura. Many poles are set up in the centre of the roof of each house, many colourful ribbons surrounding the centre: a maypole. The children all frolicked around the poles, holding a ribbon each, performing a traditional Llaltese maypole dance. They leap and skip, entangling their ribbons around each other, before untangling like watching the ribbons of an aurora. They had a smile plastered on their faces, shouting and cheering each other on like in actual Llaltese festival conditions. Their dried grass skirts also reflected the ribbons of the maypole, twirling and spinning around the children beautifully, matching the bagpipe driven instrumental of the song. A child stands on the top house, playing the bagpipes, lit up by a single golden spotlight like a ray of the morning sun. He plays, rosy cheeks from being out of breath, due to him trying as hard as his lungs will let him. Some kids stand on the side and throw colourful confetti in the skies like the petals falling. Llalta's true community spirit is shown most notably in this section, replicating the festival fun of Llalta and how they hold tradition and community sacrosanct. In one part the kids dance arm in arm with each other, spinning and twirling before swapping partner with the next. Some in the audience begin dancing along too, showing how infectious a bit of Llaltese fun can be. Flags are dropped as parents and children begin dancing together.

However it ends, and more colourful lights billow outwards showing a change in section. The camera focusses to Nancy who is on one of the lower houses running on the spot with many children dressed as sheep, some having the time of their life and some bemused beyond belief. They run on the spot before leaping off the roof as paper mache hares beginning hopping around, Nancy pretending to be a hare and hopping around with the sculptures. She looks thoroughly entertained as she frolics and plays with the hares. On the next line, the hares are replaced by dreamy clouds floating around, two kids running around with bright blue ribbons attached to a stick, twirling them proudly around like the wind. A boy lifts Nancy up, the camera taking a shot to look as if she is truly flying through the sky, her smile of wonder and awe like no other. Her eyes shimmered in the light, every etch of happiness upon her face captured at that moment. She then pulls a parachute from her dress and throws it in the air, creating a cool effect to look as if she were parachuting from the sky, down to the earth once more. Some kids help pull this effect off by waving and flapping the parachute, the wind as turbulent as ever. Her voice throughout all these fancy staging moments never wavers with insecurity, her words sang as boldly as her smile. Nancy was truly having fun and it showed. On the next line of the verse, the camera zooms into her face, where two kids put roses upon her cheeks from out of the camera shot, before pulling them out. In the next camera shot, however, Nancy is surrounded by her friends, and they all throw red balloons in the shape of a heart in the air, cheering as they do. Some land in the audience, whom of which are fighting for the few that landed there. Nancy and the children all then quickly make a ring, holding hands and skipping and jumping around, their circle barely intact, only for them all to fall on the last line on their bums. As a result, a wave of laughter from the kids to ensue with only one crying. The LED screen shows some more colourful crayon drawings of mythical creatures and of family members drawn by the kids onstage.

Run with the sheep
Hop with the hares
Fly through the bright blue sky
In Daddy's arms!
Red rosy cheeks
My heart skips a beat
Let's all hold hands tonight
Dance 'till we sleep!

The arena once again is flooded in a deep navy colour, the LEDs changing to depict the twinkling stars. Paper mache stars and the motherly moon are also brought back on stage to provide a sweet and beautiful backdrop to Nancy's pre-chorus. The kids around her, still on the floor, sit cross-legged as they bob their heads from side to side to the beat. Nancy, however, stands up and sings the next section sweetly her former energy less apparent now. She then waves her arm in an arc, before placing her hands on her heart. On the third line, she addresses her friends around her, who pull a pillow and some blankets from somewhere and begin to sleep on stage to Nancy's sweet lullaby. However, they are soon woken up by the pulse of dim white lights to the rhythm that shines upon them, to which they throw their blankets in the air and their pillows, before attempting to catch them again as they stand up from their short rest. Nancy steps forwards amidst the chaos, still lovingly singing her ode to her parents. The children scatter as the pre-chorus begins to end, and the camera zooms in on Nancy who hugs the two friends next to her, who provided the backup singing. On the second last line, she points to a star and the camera follows. On the last line, however, she points forward to the camera with a huge smile, and jumps in a moment of excitement in the air, bumping her head on a paper mache star in the process. However, too enveloped in happiness to care, she laughs it off with her friends.

The sun is setting
The moon shines
And mummy tells me "goodnight!"
But even when the dark comes
My heart is filled with your love
I love you to the stars and back
Because you're my family!

The final chorus brings a flurry of colour to the arena, as lights billow outwards dramatically and star confetti begins drifting from the ceiling. Nancy sings the hardest she's ever sung before, her cheeks red with effort. All the paper mache animals begin parading on the stage, in a ring around the houses on stage. The kids on the roofs of the houses, on the other hand, begin dancing upon the maypoles and clutching onto the ribbons as they skip in a circle. Some kids are waving ribbons or blankets around, some chasing each other, their ribbons streaming behind them like a comet trail. Nancy meanwhile keeps singing, her two best friends beside her providing backing vocals and moral support. They interact with each other, laughing and smiling as they sing. On the second line, Nancy hugs both her friends on the side, hugging as enthusiastically back. The chemistry between the three is obvious to see. The LED screen is a short animation drawn by Nancy including how much she loves her family, showing her in a rocket to the cosmos with her parents, showing how far she loves them. The audience, enthralled, also begins to dance once again to the infectiously happy melody. Flags waving and balloons being thrown about by audience members. The bagpipe playing kid is not forgotten also, a spotlight upon him as he continues to overplay his instrument, each breath deeper than the last. Overall, there is a happy and extremely compassionate atmosphere in the arena, Nancy singing with all her heart, well at least all her 7-year-old heart can sing. Each child's contribution to this song being represented as each child's eyes glimmer with the joyous youth many of us regret. As the chorus nears to close, however, Nancy hops off the roof and onto the stage, the parade of children suddenly halted. Nancy high fives and hugs a few of them, proud of all they've done, or just happy to see them. Nancy grabs a flag, which has the words "To The Bestest Mummy & Daddy Ever!" scrawled upon it in red alongside a smiley face and a hand-drawn picture of Nancy and her family in a sea of multicoloured flowers upon its fabric. The sun and clouds that border the drawing have cute smiles also, a show of her love to her parents.

Mummy, Mummy, Mummy oh how I love you so
You're the bestest mummy, the bestest that I know!
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy oh you mean so much to me
I love my family, and they love me!

As the song draws to a close, she leads a parade of her fellow friends, all equipped with ribbons or paper mache animals almost as big as they are, along through the audience. Running and smiling, Nancy leads the charge, the camera right in front of her as she goes. Her army too, chases behind her, waving ribbons, flags and animals. Eventually, the camera lands on her parents, unknowingly sat in the audience so very proud of their daughter, her mum even in tears hugging her father as they watch. Her mum and dad look exactly like her, her determined eyes of her dad and her angelic soft face from her mum. However, they look a little shocked to see the parade of children coming their way. Her mum brushes her sky blue eyes so pure and watches shocked. Their piece of cardboard has "GO <3 NANCY!!" with a photo of her upon it, by the feet as they were fixated on the performance. Finally, Nancy ends up with her parents in the audience, to the dismay of the people sat around them, and she leaps onto her mum's lap who embraces her so tightly, Nancy lost her breath for a brief moment. However, her parents both crying of happiness hugged her, Nancy hugging back. Her parade gathers around her and her family for the final shot, a moving image of Nancy and her family embracing surrounded by the love and support of the other Llaltese kids who were onstage. The song ends with sparks flying from the empty stage and the camera fixated on Nancy, who finally removes herself from the embrace and says, "FANK YOUUUU!" before going back to hugging her parents, proud as can be.

She loves her parents, and they love her...

Daniela Asís Rivera knew she wanted to be a singer. She was the star performer at her local parish church in Quirasa near the Altador Valley in Suárez del Norte. She was also encouraged by her loving parents––her father, a firefighter; her mother, a housewife and part-time gardener––to pursue her dreams. This is the same encouragement that led her to compete in The Voice Kids Acaya in its first season in AS2, where she aced the blind auditions with a stirring rendition of Pastora Soler’s Quédate Conmigo that brought even the toughest critic to tears. She also breezed through the auditions and the live performances, building up a national fanbase beyond anything her imagination conceived, and also caught the eye of many talent agencies willing to sign her on board.

…Until the final, that is. She reprised her stirring performance of Quédate Conmigo, as well as singing Whitney Houston’s Somebody to Love and Nancy Ajram’s Ehsas Jdeed, in honor of her mother’s partial Lebanese roots. She shot to the top of trending topics on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Many people did side bets gunning hoping for her victory. However, she reached second by a fraction of a percent to a well-known young singer who was already signed up to a famous Achaean record label.

However, while the original winner of The Voice Kids Acaya earned the typical record contracts and whatever, AS1 approached Asís, as well as few other hopefuls, to record and perform a song for the Achaean Republic as it was hosting the Junior World Hit Festival in Juana Díaz and Urbania. She readily accepted, having never traveled west of Corola. And with Carla Pabón having reached fourth place in last year’s competition in Besen, she even took herself to the challenge of getting a victory for the country in home soil.

As the song begins, Daniela appears barefoot, dressed in full white. She has a white headband with a white blouse and a long white frilly skirt that is reminiscent of what a teenager would wear at the beach. The LED screens behind her transform into a starry night with a bright waxing crescent. She is seen playing with her skirt and dancing around a trash can with a fire for warmth. Surrounding her, four performers are playing their drums as they are all barefoot and dressed in white. Some of them are playing while they stomp their feet to the rhythm of the music.

La luna me llama
La ofrenda de la ocasión
bailo en la arena
siento de mis pies calor
Me verás bailar
con mis pies así
me llana la luna
como la ofrenda de la ocasión, oh, oh, oh

In another camera, Daniela is seen subtly adjusting her mic as she claps and goes down the stairs. In one set of the chorus, she places her hands in her left ear. She does the same with the right. The stairs, like the floor transform into a mixture of sand and water, of seashells and starfish with the reflection of the waxing crescent overlooking the night.

Ea, ea, ea, ea, ea, comme ça, oh
Ea, ea, ea, ea, ea, comme ça, oh
Un, dos, tres, báilame bien
y quizás me hagas feliz
Ea, ea, ea, ea, ea, comme ça, oh
(Comme ça, oh)

In the chorus, the four drummers become quickly transform into dancers and try to follow Daniela’s steps. They are shimmying and moving their bodies as if they were mixing hip-hop moves with bomba, the traditional Afro-Caribbean rhythm whose movements are eclectic and attempt to convey a challenge between dancer and drummer. Daniela flips, spins, does the paseo and does a quick flirt with the dancers. She needs to portray the happiness and celebration of Achaean youth, more so on home turf. While she sings and dances, another glance from the cameras shows an engaged audience, more so the Achaean children, tweens and teens that are waving their Fueguero flags and cheering on for Daniela.

El cuarto menguante
Hoy voy a celebrar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
El cuarto menguante
Vamos a disfrutar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
De todo un poco como el cristal
Comemos y juntos a parrandear
El cuarto menguante
Es para todos, es para todos gozar

For the second part of the song, the camera focuses on the dancers who have once again returned to drumming and following the beat of the music. Daniela approaches them to the side even as she looks at the camera, partially lifting up her long frilly skirt and challenging one of the drummers in front of her to back down on the beat. Atop of her, a bird’s eye camera shows how the LED floor is transformed into a watery reflection of a starry night with the drummers forming the shape of the waxing crescent and Daniela as a major star.

El tambor llegó
la fiesta ya comenzó
todos quieren jugar
te entrego mi corazón
y muy bien será
verte así feliz
cuando el tambor llegó
como la fiesta ya comenzó, oh, oh oh

Ea, ea, ea, ea, ea, comme ça, oh
Ea, ea, ea, ea, ea, comme ça, oh
Un, dos, tres, báilame bien
y quizás me hagas feliz
Ea, ea, ea, ea, ea, comme ça, oh
(Comme ça, oh)

Once again, Daniela adjusts her mic, claps and goes down the stairs. In one set of the chorus, she places her hands in her left ear. She does the same with the right. The stairs, like the floor transform into a mixture of sand and water, of seashells and starfish with the reflection of the waxing crescent overlooking the night. She needs to engage the public (and the voters) to have fun with the song and the performance. She needs to show them how to dance under the waxing crescent.

El cuarto menguante
Hoy voy a celebrar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
El cuarto menguante
Vamos a disfrutar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
De todo un poco como el cristal
Comemos y juntos a parrandear
El cuarto menguante
Es para todos, es para todos gozar

A wide camera angle shows Daniela and the drummers-turned-dancers show off their bomba moves mixed with hip-hop and the crowd’s warm and welcoming attitude. It fills Daniela and her friends with confidence as they keep moving. The public loves fun. The public loves movement. But the public also loves emotion, catchiness, and a slight flair for the dramatic. And Daniela, teenager as she is, knows how to live, breathe, and create drama with her hand gestures and skirt movements.

Dance with me, tonight, baby
Let’s move all your feet with me
The moon is playing, you see
The night is crazy, the night is crazy
Dance with me, tonight, baby
Let’s move all your feet with me
The moon is playing, you see
The night is crazy, the night is crazy

Now is the time for Daniela to perform the part in English. It took her a few singing classes and several failed English lessons for her to sing this part flawlessly. Not that she ever did bad in English—the worst she did on was a D in past tense. But she was always afraid of speaking it in public. Now, she needs to shake off those nerves away and just sing her heart out––always minding her tenses, of course.

El cuarto menguante
Hoy voy a celebrar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
El cuarto menguante
Vamos a disfrutar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
De todo un poco como el cristal
Comemos y juntos a parrandear
El cuarto menguante
Es para todos, es para todos gozar

Last but not least, Daniela and her dancers must bridge her performance and take it away. After a very quick high note, the dancers quickly grab the heavy drums and stand on them, carefully dancing so as not to fall off the drum and badly injure themselves. She circles the dancers with her frilly skirt as if she were coyly flirting with the young dancers atop of the barrels. She does this while keeping a face to the revolving camera and another to the crowd, quickly glancing and motivating the people to enjoy their music.

El cuarto menguante
Hoy voy a celebrar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
El cuarto menguante
Vamos a disfrutar (oh, oh, oh, oh)
De todo un poco como el cristal
Comemos y juntos a parrandear
El cuarto menguante
Es para todos, es para todos gozar

Fireworks erupt from the arena at the final sound of the music. The crowd is cheering, and Daniela and her dancers have raised their arms and are waving at the crowd tirelessly. Daniela screams to the flag-waving home crowd, “Thank you! ¡Gracias! ¡Thank you so much!” The dancers rush to hug each other, and hope to bring a good result to Achaea once again––and who knows? Maybe they can perform their song once again.

Intro: Galleria & Chanel]
Uh
Get down let’s do it
Uh-huh, uh-huh
Uh-huh, come on
And 5, 6, 7, with the vocals!

[Galleria, Aqua, and Dorinda]
Ooo-ooo

[Chanel]
Oo-woah

[Galleria, Aqua, and Dorinda]
Ooo-ooo

[Chanel]
Hey

[Aqua and Dorinda]
Oo-ooo

[Galleria]
Alright, Taina work it girl!

[Chanel]
M-mm (O-oh) yeah


[Verse 1: Taina & Ari]
Come on get down
It’s time to show
What youre about
Lets go right now
The dancefloor aint fa it’sr just a mile

Dont stop, just go
It’s something that you cant control (yeah)
Get lost (c'mon)... to the song
It’s too easy, come on lets go

[Chorus: The Cheetah Girls]
Dance now
Show your moves and
Stand out
Know who you are
Stand proud!
Get up and stand
Stand out just be yourself, know what i mean
Dance now
Just take your chances!
Stand out
Just feel the soul
Stand proud!
We’re one forever
Dance now, stand out, rule the world

[Interlude: Aqua, Dorinda, Chanel, & Galleria]

Yeah-yeah, oh-mmm

Show 'em what we're workin' with! Ha ha!

All yea, all right!

We got it!

Come, let 'em know!

[Verse 3: Aqua]
To win your fame

[All]
Pay attention

[Aqua]
Be bout your game
But be you

[All]
If you can

[Aqua]
Just make the world say your name

[Galleria]
Just know

[Dorinda, Aqua, and Chanel]
Who you are

[Galleria]
Just try

[Dorinda, Aqua, and Chanel]
To fight real hard

[Galleria]
And they’ll know

[Dorinda, Aqua, and Chanel]
Who you are

[Galleria]
The world will get you up real hard

[Chorus: The Cheetah Girls]
Dance now
Show your moves and
Stand out
Know who you are
Stand proud!
Get up and stand
Stand out just be yourself, know what i mean
Dance now
Just take your chances!
Stand out
Just feel the soul
Stand proud!
We’re one forever
Dance now, stand out, rule the world


[Bridge: Galleria]
Just show the world the best you can

[Aqua]
Just live your dreams out there

[Dorinda]
It takes effort just to live in

[Channel]
5, 6, 7, 8...
Again... (again)... again
Ohh, yea!

[Interlude: Aqua]
Ooo, Ari!

[Galleria]
Fadera, go on girl!

[Channel]
Tania, do your thing!

[Dorinda]
That's right, Mailyn!

[The Cheetah Girls & (Chanel)]
Stand out dance now just run the town (oh-oh-oh) Stand out
Stand out
Stand
(Uh-uh, whoo!)
Stand out dance now just run the town

Ooo-ooo-ooo, yea!

[Chorus: The Cheetah Girls]
Dance now
Show your moves and
Stand out
Know who you are
Stand proud!
Get up and stand
Stand out just be yourself, know what i mean
Dance now
Just take your chances!
Stand out
Just feel the soul
Stand proud!
We’re one forever
Dance now, stand out, rule the world


[Dance Break: The Cheetah Girls]
(Uh, c'mon, c'mon. Woo!)
Get down to the sound
Take the chance
(uh-huh get down to the sound)
Get down to the sound
The girls in the house, get down to the sound (mm-hmm)
Uh, get down for me now (Oooo)
The girls in the house blow the sound for me now?
(yeah-hey)
Tania, Aril, Fadera
(Come on, sing it with me!)
Tania in the house, won’t you get down to the sound?
(Woo!)

[Chorus: The Cheetah Girls]
[Chorus: The Cheetah Girls]
Dance now
Show your moves and
Stand out
Know who you are
Stand proud!
Get up and stand
Stand out just be yourself, know what i mean
Dance now
Just take your chances!
Stand out
Just feel the soul
Stand proud!
We’re one forever
Dance now, stand out, rule the world[/quote]