NationStates

Tuesday, 19 July 2022. 20:59 KST.

Preparations for the live broadcast had been happening all day. Earlier in afternoon dress rehearsals had taken place and at this point, the main focus was to make sure that the Arenë Mediteranika was connected by satellite and able to broadcast the show to viewers across the multiverse with no interruptions. Technicians and the production crew were making last minute checks to ensure that they were all set to go live. From the TV room, the person in charge of the technical production was staring somewhat nervously at the main screen, occasionally peeking at the countdown timer or scanning across all the other screens to make sure everything was okay.

"30 seconds," he said into his headpiece, which was picked up by other technical crew members. This was the moment they had all been working towards for the past several months, although the abrupt announcement of semifinals by the WorldVision Committee near-tripled their workload. After many sleepless nights and a handful of successful rehearsals, however, there is now a degree of confidence that they were able to sort everything out and put together a coherent show.

Thursday, 21 July 2022. 20:59 KST.

Although the initial nervousness of initiating the WV100 series of events had now faded away, the pressure was still on to continue the high spirits and maintain the energy that the team was able to carry for the first semifinal.

Both days. 20:59 KST.

"20 seconds." As we drew closer to 9pm, it seems that everything was set, and we just needed to wait until the top of the hour before beaming the IBA ident into television sets in millions of households, watching from many, many countries. There was a similar countdown being shown on the LED screen behind the stage, allowing the audience members to build hype and excitement. They, too, were nervous. At the 5-second mark, the screen will go dark and the counting stopped to ensure the show is put on air as seamlessly as possible.

"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2..."



And now the live feed was being beamed onto satellite receivers in all corners of the multiverse. The broadcast initiated with the newly-launched official ident of the International Broadcasting Alliance, the telecommunications union affiliated with the WorldVision Committee, the organizing body of the contest. This signal officially marks the beginning and end of an IBA production, although its adoption is currently still optional for member broadcasters.

Once the ident had elapsed, the screen faded to black for a moment before displaying...

Tuesday, 21:00 KST.

After the IBA ident run its course, we now saw the stage. The lead conductor of the event, XXXX, was already in place. He raised his baton and waved it, signaling for the RTVK Concert Orchestra to start their rendition of Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity by Gustav Holst, an excerpt of which was already heard in the ident.

Thursday, 21:00 KST.



While the RTVK Concert Orchestra, the orchestra in charge of bringing the show to life, plays Gustav Holst's 'Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity', the Ministry of Motion welcomes viewers through a dance performance. Themes include humanity, centuries of history and cultural heritage, and hopes for the future.

After a few moments of the camera being focused on the orchestra, some dancers ran onto the stage. They were from Ministry of Motion, a Palmañë-based dance troupe specializing in interpretive dance. Initially, they are seen doing various movements that reflected the spirit of the growth of civilization. Farming, hunting, pottery making. A chariot-like cart with two dancers, as if exploring the high seas.

As the playing got a little quiet, the cameras focused on the orchestra as the dancers repositioned themselves. Then, in the section of the song now known as Thaxted, the dancers were seen moving in sync, gesturing with open arms and reaching above with their hands. They were conveying uncertainty, but the calmness of their motions reflected a wise, profound hope for what was to come. The LED screens lit up, showing the starry expanse of the galaxies of the multiverse.

After Thaxted was over, the dancers went back to 'performing' choreographed human activities, much like earlier, but this time the activities were more modern in nature, suggesting the development of human civilization. Things like scientific lab research, using digital electronic devices, conveyor belt style factory work. Soon, a different cart was brought onstage, shaped like the cockpit of a rocket ship.

Soon, one by one, all the dancers walked over and sat in formation behind that cockpit, as if passengers on a plane about to take off into the skies. As the performance came to an end, they waved to the audience, who returned the greeting by applauding and cheering.



Meliora is largely more associated with the World Hit Festival — she represented Kalosia in the 30th and 60th editions and also performed as an interval act in the 52nd. However, here she is tonight to perform her take on an old Kalosian classic, 'Noji kori u Monterë' ("Our hearts in Monterra"). Tonight, she will be performing an English-language version of the song specially for the multiversal audience, with an energetic performance that is sure to keep up the cheerful mood that has been in the air all week while WorldVision has been in town.

Chorus:

Let's sing together, let's sing a song together
Love is my anthem, my true devotion
Let's dance together, let's dance away forever
Freely expressing every emotion

It's so much better when we're with one another
I wish for happiness until the end of time
It's so much better, the days and nights are better
When love is shining and I have you by my side

Saviera has been a longtime semi-regular participant at the WorldVision Song Contest. They made their WorldVision debut at WorldVision 22, when WorldVision was first held in Monterra, Kalosia. And now, here we are again in Monterra for WorldVision 100! Oh how time flies.

Saviera's WorldVision journey had started off pretty consistent, with the nation maintaining a participation streak for a few editions of WorldVision, until finally they were disqualified at WorldVision 29. Afterwards, Saviera took a break from WorldVision for 11 editions of WorldVision, before finally returning in time for WorldVision 40 in Ekoz. It turned out to be a bit of a one-off, as Saviera withdrew from WorldVision 41 but returned for WorldVision 42 and WorldVision 43. After on-and-off participating in a few editions of WorldVision in the 40s and early 50s, Saviera finally returned to consistently participating at WorldVision starting WorldVision 56. That is not to say they necessarily participated in every WorldVision edition since then, but they were present at WorldVision just often enough to be seen as a semi-regular WorldVision participant that WorldVision fans can look forward to seeing when they tune in to the WorldVision Song Contest on television.

Lately, however, Saviera's WorldVision participation had paused quite abruptly. The nation last participated at WorldVision 95 in Yvesia, and despite attempting to return to WorldVision a few times since then, this was the first such occasion in which Saviera was able to actually commit to returning to WorldVision, just in time for the WorldVision 'Centennial' edition.

With this edition of WorldVision being the biggest one yet, for the first time in WorldVision history, semifinals were introduced into the WorldVision format. Saviera was drawn not only to perform in the first semifinal of WorldVision 100, but also to perform first, thus opening the festivities of the WorldVision 100 series of productions. Of course, performing first not only at WorldVision but at any event is always a daunting task, but Saviera's WorldVision 100 act was confident that they could at least do themselves proud! Let's talk about them.

Saviera is represented at WorldVision 100 by the act Song Contest Troupe, an supergroup specifically created for WorldVision. This WorldVision act consists of Savieran performers, largely dancers and musical instrument players but also a single vocalist. The group's composition is relevant for the kind of staging they have been planning for their WorldVision performance.

Now let's talk about the WorldVision entry itself. The song that Song Contest Troupe will perform at WorldVision is titled 'WorldVision!', and is an ode to the WorldVision Song Contest. Quite fitting considering it is such a monumental edition of WorldVision. The song also consists of only one single word — 'WorldVision' — repeated a couple of times. Other than that, the song is largely instrumental. The Song Contest Troupe fill in the spaces between the lines with not only instrument solos, but also a visual performance. Let's see what they have in store for their WorldVision performance.

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For the big night at the WorldVision semifinal, the Song Contest Troupe are dressed in various outfits. Now the time had come to perform the first WorldVision entry of the night — theirs. As the music started, the WorldVision audience cheered.

The musicians of Song Contest Troupe — in a band set up — was already on the WorldVision stage and started playing their instruments. The lead singer of Song Contest Troupe was standing there in the middle of the WorldVision stage wearing a denim jacket and aviator sunglasses, grooving along to the music together with the WorldVision crowd. Actually, the WorldVision crowd clapped along to the music, creating a wonderful atmosphere at the WorldVision Song Contest, felt not only by people in the WorldVision venue but also those watching the WorldVision Song Contest remotely, be it in their homes, in pubs, or at WorldVision viewing parties.

At this point, the dancers of Song Contest Troupe came in. There were 10 of them on the WorldVision stage. They were wearing various clothes, many of them reminiscent of those worn by different WorldVision acts throughout the ages. They did a bit of a dance that also told a story, like a throwback or homage to the history of the WorldVision Song Contest. These dancers convened as if to deliberate over a matter, and it emerged that one of them came up with an idea. One dancer then mouthed out, with the vocals being provided by the singer:



That dancer had came up with the WorldVision Song Contest. Quickly, the dancers scattered across the WorldVision stage. Now, each of them took turns performing solo, with the spotlight—and focus of viewers both in the WorldVision audience and at home—on each of them, one by one. Clearly, this mimicked the WorldVision format, in which WorldVision participants took turns performing their WorldVision entry, presenting their song to WorldVision fans and viewers across the multiverse. Once the last 'WorldVision' act had finished their solo performance, the camera cut to the vocalist who said the next line:



Now, one by one each of the 'WorldVision participants' produced giant signs with one number each from the following: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 12. There wasn't any particular order, so some dancer's numbers were bigger than the one before theirs. After each 'WorldVision participant' had shown their number, the one holding the number 12 started celebrating. That dancer had gotten 12 points and 'won' this little WorldVision Song Contest reenactment. Quickly, the other 9 dancers came over to our WorldVision winner to congratulate them. They were located near the band faction of Song Contest Troupe, it so happened, and as the song came to an end, they all faced forward at the camera all of a sudden and shouted out to millions of WorldVision viewers, the final word of this WorldVision song:



And thus the very first WorldVision entry not only of this WorldVision semifinal, but also the 100th WorldVision Song Contest, came to an end. The WorldVision audience in the venue cheered. The Song Contest Troupe celebrated, taking a bow, before walking backstage, about to make it halfway across the WorldVision hall to the green room of the WorldVision Song Contest 100, where they would eagerly wait and watch the remaining entries of this WorldVision semifinal, before finding out whether they qualified or not. And now came the time for the next WorldVision entry of the night to perform and have their moment in the spotlight.

02
StrayaRoos Barrier Islands
Clueless Kids-We Want A Trophy
There's A Hole In Your Budget

Staging Visuals
7 Children go on the stage on a step,4 at the bottom,3 at the top,and a santa photo is on the stage screen,with the WV Trophy on wires

We Want A Trophy,Dear Santa,Dear Santa

A Shittily Made Scoarboard Replaces the santa and the trophy lowers

The Trophy Will Come,Vote 02,Vote 02

Emus appear and make a scuffle with the kids,this continues for roughly 20 seconds

Inaudible Noises

then as they're being taken off the stage this line is shouted

We Want A Trophy Pretty Pleasey

:::03. FLUSIA:::

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As it would turn out, no one was actually expecting Anya Werner to make it past the semifinal round. Most betting shops across the multiverse and in Flusia didn’t exactly put her as a favorite to win it all. Even the Flusian delegation team had their doubts. So when Flusia was announced as the first ever grand final qualifier from a semifinal in Worldvision history, the national lost it’s mind.

The phrases “WAIT HOW”, “Worldvision”, and “#qualified” were the top trends on Twitter for hours, surpassing even news of the Prime Minister’s ongoing visit to Niknotup. Anya Werner was presented with a coupon for lifetime free beer by a tavern in Kirha. The news hit the front pages of multiple national and local publications, from a small newspaper in a southern village to even FRG’s News website.

Now, Anya Werner remains in Monterra, and the question has moved on from how she managed to qualify to how far she’ll eventually go.

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Anya Werner is a 20 year-old singer and amateur producer from Flusia’s second city of Wulfweri. Werner is currently signed to minor label Yank Records, doesn’t currently have a large following outside of her birth region, and wasn’t actually originally supposed to be at Worldvision, Having placed third behind Pop Punk band Da Emberi Mans and indie artist Stehl in the qualifying song contest FlusiaVision. However, one of Da Emberi Mans’ members was arrested and jailed for Felony DUI recently, with the band choosing to not go ahead with a replacement, and with Stehl set to perform at the World Hit Festival, Werner was greenlit to perform as the official entry.

Most of Werner’s music is thematically inspired by scenes of life on the streets of Wulfweri, as well as it’s classical orchestra and thriving jazz music scene. This song, Nights are Long, was, according to Werner in a recent interview, written about a performance at a fictional jazz lounge in Wulfweri’s famous Dockside District, as well as the personal problems the attendees are trying to escape. Anya Werner and the country of the Grand Duchy of Flusia are wishing for a solid start to their Worldvision history, and are excited to see where the night takes them.

---

The song begins with complete darkness from the light pillars (LED side facing back) and lighting. A smoke machine begins flooding the stage with low lying smoke. A lone spotlight shines on Anya, in front of a microphone stand donning a 1940s style black dress and accompanied by a jazz orchestra that sits behind her.

It’s ten o’clock, the moon is up high
And down by the docks, this smoky club lies
It’s called “Da Madár”, it’s where all the jazz stars
Get their big start
The waitresses make all of their rounds
Then suddenly
A trombone sounds

The light pillars flash white a few times, than go solid white. The lights also turn on, and shine the color white.

Drunk man plays bold like Armstrong
Soon, a Lady in Black comes along
She sings, they sing along
They don’t stop, she keeps going strong
Wouldn’t hurt to do another song
In this city nights are long

The lights go black again and are replaced by a spotlight. Anya takes the microphone and walks towards the left edge of the stage while singing her second verse. Halfway through, she crouches down to sing directly to the audience.

The patrons start to sing and shout
They spill their vodka all about
But all of them are down and out
Their dreams are dead or all worn out
They’re running fast from personal hellhounds
Then suddenly
A trombone sounds

The lights from the first chorus repeat. Anya sings while walking to the other end of the stage.

Drunk man plays bold like Armstrong
Lady in Black comes back along
She sings, they sing along
They don’t stop, she keeps going strong
Wouldn’t hurt to do another song
In this city nights are long

The pillars remain white, but the rest of the lights turn off completely. At the other end of the stage, Anya emotionally sings the bridge.

Everyone here is drunk
It’s past midnight, the time that they’ve sunk
Couldn’t break their funk
So they keep getting drunk

The pillars go black and the spotlight once again returns.

Drunk man plays bold like Armstrong
Lady in Black comes back along
She sings, they sing along
They don’t stop, she keeps going strong
Wouldn’t hurt to do another song
In this city nights are long

A lightshow comes on for the final chorus, with the light pillars going white again, the lights flashing, and spark pyrotechnics going off in a choreographed display. Anya emotionally makes her way back to the center of the stage. Just before the final line is sung, the entire stage goes dark.

Drunk man plays bold like Armstrong
Lady in Black comes back along
She sings, they sing along
They don’t stop, she keeps going strong
Wouldn’t hurt to do another song
In this city nights are long

Anya caps off her performance by saying “Thank you for an amazing debut!” to the audience.

---

In contrast to Viktoriya's performance at the Landa vy Polkopiya, the PNB allocated a hefty budget to support the Polkopian performance at Worldvision, sparing no expense when it came to outfits, visuals, special effects, and hiring the perfect team in order to deliver a truly unforgettable spectacle. The first aspect of the performance was the outfit. To begin the number, the PNB envisioned a glamorous and regal look for the stage, which of course included how the performer herself looked on stage. Viktoriya was dressed in an elaborate gold dress comprising of thousands of miniature chain links supporting each other. The gown looked similar to this, though the sleeves were far more see-through than what is shown in the reference image. Also on her dress were two stretches of fabric, each spanning from her forearms to her waist. Additionally, Viktoriya wore a hood made of the same material, and loose chain links dangled on either side of her face. Her brown hair fell down the front of her shoulders and lightly grazed against her collarbone. Her makeup consisted of a loud, dramatic wing, nearly reaching her hairline, and glitter dotted the perimeter around the eyeliner. Her lips were covered with a deep red lipstick, and the rest of her face was simply covered with varying degrees of foundation, concealer, and blush. It was clear that the eyes were to be the main focus point of her makeup. Being in such a heavy gown meant that Viktoriya needed help moving to her place on stage in time for the performance to begin, but her team had already prepared for this, and she was helped to the center of the stage with plenty of time to spare. Behind her were two muscular male dancers, each wearing a long, loose-fitting white caftan (similar to this, but white) with similarly colored undergarments underneath, however the tunic was pinned to the hem of the dancers' undergarments so that they were not visible at any point in the performance. Each dancer was positioned on either side of her to start.

When the Polkopian postcard ended and the crowd's cheers subsided, the instrumental introduction began to play. When this happened, the background LED screen reflected that of a palace's hallway with Greco-Roman architecture. There were three marble white columns displayed on either side and a deep purple-colored carpet which extended down the LED screen on the stage floor and toward the end of the stage (For reference, the background LED screen looked something like this, but more realistic). To start, the lighting was in such a way that viewers could only see Viktoriya's silhouette against the background, and the camera angle started with a frontal view of the stage. Viktoriya's back was turned away from the camera, and her arms were extended to either side in a graceful, queenlike pose. She moved her hips as the instrumentation continued, and the camera moved between the frontal view, then an overhead, aerial view, and then back to a frontal view, zooming in on Viktoriya slowly. One of the dancers slowly walked up to her and handed her a microphone before backing away. Viktoriya took the microphone, placed her free hand on her hip, and turned around to face the camera before singing the first verse.

Starting from step one
And you're all alone
Well, you've made your choice
And we're done

The camera began to circle around Viktoriya, who turned around to stare at the camera, all while maintaining an expression devoid of all emotion. She kept moving her hips side-to-side and moved her free hand around in wavy motions around her body in-sync with the beat. Meanwhile, the two dancers previously behind her used this opportunity to step closer to Viktoriya, although the camera didn't show this, as they both made sure that they were outside of the frame. By the time she finished the second verse, the camera had fully circled around her once and rapidly zoomed out before transitioning to the next view.

Wish you the best
Don't want to reminisce
We've closed this chapter in our lives
and it's time to move on

During the first part of the pre-chorus, which was sung in Polkopian, the dancers each lifted Viktoriya up so she was sitting on their shoulders, and carried her forward. As she was being lifted, Viktoriya raised her hand in the air, holding it high above her head, showing viewers that she didn't need to hold on to the dancers to stay balanced. This was the toughest part of the whole performance, as the balance she had to keep required a lot of core strength. Singing, while also straining to stay balanced, had always proved to be incredibly difficult, but she performed tonight it as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

The dancers leaned forward until they were in an almost bowing position, where Viktoriya hopped off right as she sang "Oh yeah," resulting in a soft round of cheers from the crowd in the arena. The dancers moved forward, kneeling in front of Viktoriya as she sand the second half of the pre-chorus, moved to the side to their torsos "crossed" each other in front of her, and pulled each other up so they now stood on either side of her right before the chorus began.

No kogda, noč prižel i ya odna

But when night comes and I'm all alone

Ya ne mogu pomoč, no skyčat' po poglade v glazakha

I can't help but to miss that look in your eyes

No zna, čito nado perdigat'sya

But I know I have to move on

Oh yeah,

And all my friends, they're sick and tired
Of hearing about you and I
And how we were never meant to be

As soon as the chorus began, the two dancers jumped in front of Viktoriya, who looked up at the ceiling and sang with her free hand raised in the air. She continued to move her hips and sway to the rhythm of the beat while dancing, all while the two backup dancers danced in circles around her, each of them looking directly into her eyes as they moved around her. Viktoriya, in the meantime, seemed to pay them no mind as she sang, hardly ever making eye contact with them and instead continued to look up at the ceiling and around the stage.

After the sang the chorus, the instrumental break followed, at which point she lowered her hand and hung her head back. The two dancers moved closer to her and grabbed each sleeve of her dress, holding the fabric above one of their shoulders. They each stepped forward, letting the dress fall apart to the ground, covering the floor around Viktoriya in individual chain links. It was revealed that Viktoriya had been wearing a gold bodysuit adorned with hundreds of golden crystals. The reveal caused a massive roar among crowd members, many of whom stood up and cheered on Viktoriya, who stepped forward and removed her hood before singing the next verse of the song.

Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
But I'll wish you well

Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
But I'll wish you well
I'll wish you well

Now that she had the heavy dress off of her, Viktoriya was able to move much more freely about the stage. She charged forward, bopping her free arm to one side, and then the other, while lifting one of her legs up at the same time, before stomping down on the ground as she moved forward. The dancers all did the same, before Viktoriya turned around and leaned back. The two dancers knelt on the ground to catch her and lifted Viktoriya into the air from her back, spinning her 180°, before kneeling down again, allowing Viktoriya to walk back upright in time to sing the last two lines of the verse.

They always tell you to move on
And I just have to wait 'till dawn
But the sun's been up and I'm still missing you.
I know it's in my head
But for now, I'll imagine it's you in my bed.
But he still doesn't taste like you.

During the pre-chorus, the background dancers lined up on either side of Viktoriya and together the three of them danced together. First, they extended their right arm outward, looking in the same direction, and then the background dancers extended their left arm outward. Viktoriya, although she couldn't extend that arm as she was holding the microphone, still looked in the same direction. After, they placed their hands on their knees, turned, and leaned forward. Viktoriya and the dancer behind her each rested their head on the lower back of the person in front of them. Then, Viktoriya pushed the dancer in front of her, who then jumped forward, spun in place, dropped to his knees, and leaned back so his back was against the floor and he was looking directly at Viktoriya, who was moving backward with the other background dancer, grinding against him, while they both moved back to center stage in-rhythm. As Viktoriya sang the part in English, the dancer with her spun her around so they faced each other, he pulled her close, and they leaned forward together, before he spun her 540° so that she faced away from him. The other background dancer, meanwhile, flipped over and joined the two in the center of the stage right before the chorus began.

No kogda, noč prižel i ya odna

But when night comes and I'm all alone

Ya ne mogu pomoč, no skyčat' po poglade v glazakha

I can't help but to miss that look in your eyes

No zna, čito nado perdigat'sya

But I know I have to move on

Oh yeah,

And all my friends, they're sick and tired
Of hearing about you and I
And how we were never meant to be

Huge columns of fire erupted from the perimeter of the stage immediately when the beat dropped in the chorus, resulting in another round of cheering from the crowd. Viktoriya and the two dancers snapped their right hand across their body, looked to the right, and then down, then immediately back up again. Then, the three of them moved their hips while stepping backwards, rolling their shoulders as they did so. As Viktoiya sang the first "I'll wish you well" bit, the dancers dropped down and slid on the ground behind her to Viktoriya's other side while Viktoriya leaned forward, arched her back, and stood up straight, winking at the camera. During the second part, Viktoriya whipped her hair to one side, then the other, all while stepping to that respective side. This was repeated four times before Viktoriya spun around, walked forward, and pointed to the cheering crowd while singing the last, "I'll wish you well."

Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
But I'll wish you well

Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
Na-na-na-na-na
But I'll wish you well

As Viktoriya held the note during this last bit, a golden shower of fireworks rained down from the ceiling toward the back of the stage. Viktoriya had stopped moving during this bit, closed her eyes, and concentrated on maintaining that note while the dancers spun in place, smacked the ground with their hand, and repeated the same shoulder-rolling motion they had done earlier in the performance. Viktoriya joined them in the middle of it, once she had finished that note, but stopped when it was time to hold the next note (the third line down). Once that was done, the three marched toward the very front of the stage. The dancers dropped to their knees and lifted Viktoriya in their air, perched on their shoulders, who lifted both hands in their air, palms facing the ceiling. This was the end of the performance.

But I'll wish you well...
I'll wish you well
I'll wish you well...
But I'll wish you well
I'll wish you well

The lights returned to normal and the dancers placed Viktoriya on the ground. The dancers each blew a series of kisses toward the crowd while Viktoriya gave an enthusiastic "thank you" to the crowd. The three hurried off the stage so the Kalosian production crew could prepare the stage for the Carrelian entry.

Isabeau

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The STC wanted to go all out for Carrelie's Worldvision 100 selection. As such, they decided to scrap Melodifestival entirely in favour of something bigger, more involved, and far greater. HitFest was the order of the day, with 2 semi-finals and one grand final featuring an international televote, it would surely pick the best entry for the massive nation. Discussion flared over the months it was shown as to who would qualify and eventually who would win the contentious pre-selection, and eventually consesus came that the winner would be either island nation Arland, musical juggernaut Douria or cultural blender Dovéne.

The final was unlike any other. Dovéne was an early riser in the jury voting, but was soon unseated by Douria while Arland languished near the bottom. When the metaphorical dust settled and the final televote was read out, Douria was the clear winner. The world rejoiced with Isabeau as she came up on stage to deliver her reprise...

Jacques

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Jacques was the love of her life. Never in a million years would she stop loving him, and she would want to be with him each and every day for the rest of her life. Their romance was flourishing and perfect, and Isabeau felt she would be a dunce to refuse his proposal. Soon, they were married, and soon they had welcomed a child, April. Everything was perfect, and as 2015 turned into 2016 Jacques landed a high-paying job in some big corporation. Soon enough, he was being called on business trips and the like all over the world, and while he couldn't take Isabeau or April with him he would always keep in touch.
Until that fateful Densmouth trip.

All Isabeau could do was sit and wait. Her husband wasn't returning her calls, nor responding to her texts, which gave herself and her daughter April a great amount of anxiety. She contacted the police, but they were little help for the mother and daughter. She couldn't even eat, wandering aimlessly through her Pont-Sainte-Hélène house, just waiting. But eventually, she was contacted.

Jacques was dead. She didn't even get to say goodbye.

Isabeau spent the next few days crying. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into a month. She tried to stay strong for April, but sometimes she just couldn't. She was a helpless girl in a world stacked against her so violently, and she needed a release. She tried writing, exercising, all manner of different activities, and found that everything just reminded her of him. She had almost given up when, spurred on by her now toddler daughter, she decided to try singing. She began with a near miss, but soon grew to love music. Soon enough she was rebuilding her life, brick by brick, with music. She worked with charities and volunteered in her spare time while looking after her daughter, the light of her life. And sooner enough still she had begun a Youtube channel where she would upload clips of her singing popular songs, from John Lennon's Imagine to Vian Genamman's Wo bist du, Watermann?. She still dealt with grief, the memory of Jacques still hung over her at times, but it felt more... manageable. Things were looking up for her when she penned her first song, and she soon became a rising star.

Destination Worldvision

---

Radio Dourie contacted her in late 2021. They were planning something big for Worldvision, and wanted her to be part of it. At first, she was hesitant - she wanted to stay with April, after all - but she eventually accepted the offer. Soon, she, her brother and April set off to Densmouth for the first semi-final of the HitFest competition. She blazed through the semi-final with what was later revealed to be a massive 41 points, and high marks from every jury. She was elated going into the final, and even more elated when it was revealed she had won.

She took up the mantle of Worldvision entrant with a certain glee. Immediately she set up a tour, going throughout Carrelie, Waisnor, Elejamie and Malta Comino Gozo to promote her Worldvision song and entry. She saw sights thought impossible to her before, met people she would remember forever, mingled with the stars. Soon, Ta chanson would breach the top 10 of many countries' charts, including her home where she fought with the Songfestival winner for the top spot (and eventually won after 2 weeks). As she travelled the world, she kept the memory of Jacques alive and dedicated each and every concert to his memory. After all, she'd be nowhere without him.

Performance

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Background

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Do you remember Ertzei Kishim's entry last edition? Well we do... barely. The hasty selection process which led to choosing two solo artists, smashing them together with a pre-written song, and then sending them out to perform with no promotion, ultimately yielded the result one might expect. The reality was, this was still an excellent result in the circumstances, but one could not help but feel that the whole process was rushed, and was lucky to deliver a top ten finish. As the voting continued throughout the night, one thing was sure, the viewers were "burning out" with Melike and Matt. Indeed, not a single 12 points was given to Ertzei Kishim that evening, an almost embarrassing feat. Ultimately, the 10th place finish, while largely considered deserved and acceptable, was the worst for the country since WorldVision 78. With HARESHET publicly committed to the centenary edition of the WorldVision Song Contest, they endeavoured to have a quick and slick selection process. In fact, the decision had been made in the previous edition of the contest, during the damp squibb of the last entry. Melis Bileh, Ertzei Kishim's entrant in the 98th edition was the one touted. There had been a tacit acceptance that actually, her initial result was far too low for the quality of the song, especially given the huge domestic success it had achieved. With EKRA having submitted multiple songs during her initial selection, many of which were to be featured on her upcoming EP, HARESHET once again nominated Bileh to represent the country, with the song "Krav Ba'esh". Produced by the same team behind Judas, "Fire In The Fight" is an upbeat, danceable pop-song with immediate impact, which HARESHET believes will give the country its best shot of success in what is arguably the most important edition of the content ever.



In the many pre-contest interview which Melis gave, she described how she connected to the song. "'Fight In The Fire' is really about that time when you're falling in love and are feeling a little powerless... maybe you are ignoring some red flags, maybe you are overwhelmed with the emotions you feel. And I'm here singing this song telling you, 'hey, you are that bitch, you are the shit, and you've got this'. You have to find that fight when you're in these flames". As was expected, with Melis being very in-demand in Ertzei Kishim at the moment, 'Krav Ba'esh' had commanded the top spot in the charts since its release in Ertzei Kishim, and was, at the time of writing, the country's third best selling single, after the Ertzei Kishim Gay Pride 2022 song, and of course, Judas, also by Melis. Despite this, its international reception had thus far been rather muted. This was to be expected of course given that the international popularity of many songs was boosted during the days and weeks after the contest, but other strong contenders from Llalta and MCG had managed to break into international charts around the world. Was this a concern to HARESHET, well, not really. A song largely sung in Hebrew was not going to break the charts in foreign lands over the more tame English entries. Luckily for Ertzei Kishim, a strong domestic showing usually returned good results at WorldVision, and that is exactly what Fight In The Fire was doing.

WorldVision 100 was, of course, the centenary edition of the world's favourite music competition. As a result, many broadcasters sought to make the event a special occasion - Britonisea revived its famous pre-party circuit, alongside submitting an impressive host bid which eventually lost out to that of Kalosia's, despite several endorsements from within the IBA. According to inside sources, HARESHET chiefs agonised for days as to which bid to vote for, before ultimately coming to their conclusion at the final hour, in a secret ballot only known to the committee. With Kalosia chosen as the host, discussion regarding the implementation of semifinals for the first time ever began. HARESHET, who had previously submitted a host bid which involved provision for semi finals, was largely in favour of the suggestion, pending some changes to final composition and thresholds required. In the event that semi finals did occur, Ertzei Kishim was drawn to compete in the first semi final, having not finished within the top ten in the previous edition. This was however exciting for Kishraeli WorldVision fans who wanted to see how the new format would work, and of course, get to hear Melis sing live twice. The change in schedule also lengthened the contest by a week, necessitating a change in schedule for HARESHET which would ultimately see some prime-time TV programmes changed to Shabbat slots, thereby reducing their viewing figures slightly. For HARESHET however, this was deemed a risk worth taking.

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Kalosia

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Kalosia had not hosted the contest since the 75th edition, when Tatyana Shapsugh, now one of Ertzei Kishim's most successful stars, performed her debut song "Taht Al-Tilj" (Under The Ice), eventually finishing in fourth position. Memories of performing in Kalosia had always been positive for Ertzei Kishim. Tabitha Shamaimah gained Ertzei Kishim's first ever victory in Monterra with "I Realise", and Melis was hoping that some of Tabitha's luck was with her for this edition (simply forgetting the 50th edition where Luna Shaldit achieved a very average 10th place - even though, reading back, it was such a bad girl anthem damn maybe I should re-enter it). Anyway, Monterra, as with many cities on the Mediterranean, felt very homely to the Kishraeli delegation. While most of the current HARESHET delegation were not a part of the previous hosting in Kalosia, some more senior official remembered their time in Kalosia fondly, and were happy to recommend to younger staff their favourite spots to eat, drink, and party.

Melis and her team had not been able to join some of the pre-contest events due to budgetary constraints imposed on the team thanks to HARESHET simultaneously confirming participation in the Special Edition of the WorldVision Song Contest, and thus being in Kalosia was her first time at being able to do so. Interacting with the press and fans brought back fond memories of her recent participation, and the excitement people showed towards her songs was very much appreciated. Despite this, RTVK had not created a particularly busy or bespoke press programme, and so this allowed the HARESHET delegation both more time to relax, and also more time to prepare for the upcoming performance. The stage design was interesting to say the least, namely because of the isolated outcrop in the middle of the arena. It also kind of looked like batman's mask. Thankfully, RTVK had allowed delegations to connect the outcrop with a runway so as to not make the whole thing redundant, something the HARESHET team had experimented with in their rehearsals. With the prospect of semi finals, the team were told they could make minor performance changes from the semi final to the final, so greater risks were being taken during this period. After multiple sound checks, some yo-yoing in the odds (between 4th and 5th, according to bookmakers), and experiments with the runway, lighting, and props, the team had all agreed on what their best package to put forward was.

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Performance

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Cheers arose from the crowd as the Kishraeli postcard played on backing screens, with tens of Kalosian technical staff preparing the stage for Melis and her team. Upon completion, the lighting went completely dark and a small jingle played across the arena. The crowd began to shush as the first beats of the song rang out across the arena. With these beats, bright blue spotlights, their rays piercing through to the ceiling of the arena, shot out in unison with the music. Melis was dressed in a full body suit covered in purple crystals (think this shape, but obviously as described). Her makeup echoed the theme, with dark purple lips, eyeshadow, and small purple crystals elegantly laid over parts of her face. Her hair was pulled into a slick-backed ponytail, giving the whole look a sharper finish. Melis was standing on a platform, and, as she began to sing, it also started to spin, thus spinning her in 360 degree rotations. At every second, shorter line of the verse, the spinning platform would stop, allowing her to face the crowd, and each time it would do so, a soft flourish of purple would flow through the back of the stage and its floor. Some wider shots showed this travelling across the arena too.

B'oto kheder

באותו חדר

Aval omdim b'tzdadim hafukhim

אבל עומדים בצדדים הפוכים

Ein yetziyah

אין יציאה

V'anashim khosmim et kol ha'knisot

ואנשים חוסמים את כל הכניסות

Pni alay kan

פני אליי כאן

Ein makom lehitkhabe v'ein mah lenasot

אין מקום להתחבא ואין מה לנסות

As the bridge begins, she steps off the spinning platform and forward onto the main stage. Throughout this part of the song, the stage is filled with a deep layer of fog, rising up to Melis' hips by the end of the verse. Four dancers, dressed like Melis but with facekinis on, march out and stand by her side as she gesticulates and emotes through the bridge. Multiple close up camera shots allowed Melis to playfully sing into the camera, connecting with the voting audience at home. It was also a good opportunity for her glittery makeup and diamonds on her face to glisten, creating a sense of dynamism and texture. The dancers line up, two on her left and two on her right as she begins to move into the chorus.

Tistakel li b'ainii

תסתכל לי בעיניי

Ve'sam yad balahav

ושם יד בלהב

Az takhsof li et ha'bluf

אז תחשוף לי את הבלוף

Ve'taaleh ta'himur

ותעלה את ההימור

Kshe'ha'khom oleh tzarikh otkha lehatzil oti

כשהחום עולה צריך אותך להציל אותי

O lefakhot

או לפחות

With the start of the chorus and the first beat drop, the dancers drop into the smoke and begin moving. Simultaneously, a warm orange glow, beating in time with the music, begins flourishing on the stage floor. A wide camera angle, which zooms in to the beat emphasises the entire effect. The orange glow representing of course, the fire, with the fog acting as 'faux' smoke. The dancers look like silhouettes from the wide camera angles, and their movements on the floor almost feel as if they are lurking around Melis, who widens her stance to strengthen her vocals. With the larger beat drop at the end of the chorus, the piercing spotlights begin spinning, white, blue, and orange, all across the stage. The effect is almost madness, a sensory overload for those both in the arena and at home. The song had announced its presence and the gays and f*ghags were living for it.

Tar'eh li eikh limtzo ta'krav b'esh ki

תראה לי איך למצוא את הקרב באש כי

Balahavot ani tabati

בלהבות אני טבעתי

Lo lamadti

לא למדתי

Lelo lirot me'ever ekdah m'ashen moli

ללא לראות מעבר אקדח מעשן מולי

Oy etkharet

אוי אתחרט

Tisrof oti

תשרוף אותי

Tisrof oti

תשרוף אותי

Lo lamadti

לא למדתי

Lelo lirot me'ever ekdah m'ashen moli

ללא לראות מעבר אקדח מעשן מולי

Oy etkharet

אוי אתחרט

Tisrof oti

תשרוף אותי

The next part was in English, something that Melis had become more confident with since her last participation (which was entirely in Hebrew). Without missing a beat, Melis begins marching down the runway, which HARESHET eventually decided to use, stopping halfway at which point she seductively drops to her knees, looking at the camera and touching her body. She then lays down on the runway as she sings "you already know I'm the creature that drives you insane"; an overhead camera shot focuses on Melis as she playfully flirts with the camera and twirls her hair. The shot is made even more exciting as the fans, either side of the stage are seen partying and dancing either side of her. For the next line, she gets on all fours (on her knees, kicking her feet up) with the camera focusing on her ass, which looked quite round given that she was in a tight-ass catsuit.

Waiting to feel something when you set the flame alight
Doesn’t mean it’s wrong ‘coz it feels right
You already know I’m the creature that drives you insane
Drink the elixir and touch me again

Standing up again, Melis begins marching back to the main stage, pausing, placing her hand on her hip, and looking over her shoulder every two lines. While the orange in the stage has dimmed down, a dull hue continued to pulse through the stage. Purple lights shot through the runway at this time, with the outcrop also possessing a dull orange glow, seemingly flashing brighter each time the purple lights shot into it. While Melis had been on the runway, smoke had continued to be pumped on the stage, maintaining the hip-height visual effect. Her dancers were now practically invisible, as they had stopped dancing while the camera was not on them.

So…
Let’s take it there
Sharpen the stars and shut out all the light
Struggle for air
Cut through dark like the edge of a knife
Better beware
Traverse the void at the edge of the night
Yallah

Upon making her way back onto the main stage, the camera once again does a jittery zoom in in time with the beat. Simultaneously the orange hue on the stage glows brighter and begins pulsing like before. Melis takes her position in the centre of the stage, on the spinning platform, however this time it remains still. Around her, the dancers begin moving again. Still covered by the smoke, the camera can only pick up a faint shadowy presence, almost giving the impression of hunting sharks surrounding her. Emoting to the camera, she holds the final note for slightly longer, before looking straight into the camera for a brief pause before the beat drops.

Tistakel li b'ainii

תסתכל לי בעיניי

Ve'sam yad balahav

ושם יד בלהב

Az takhsof li et ha'bluf

אז תחשוף לי את הבלוף

Ve'taaleh ta'himur

ותעלה את ההימור

Kshe'ha'khom oleh tzarikh otkha lehatzil oti

כשהחום עולה צריך אותך להציל אותי

O lefakhot

או לפחות

At this point, the camera remains on Melis' face. As the beat drops, Melis pumped her fist in the air, and the camera zoomed out from her face to reveal the whole stage in one shot. Once again, a huge light show, of now, primarily reds, oranges, and whites shot out from the strobe lights across the stage. In a shot closer to the stage, the dancers then burst out of the smoke, creating swirling mist trails across the stage and air around Melis. Their abstract movements, almost as if they are fighting for air, continued as they danced around her. Alongside this, fans at the side of the stage whipped the smoke up further, while simultaneously dissipating it into the hair, with wave after wave of thin wisps circling Melis as she sung the final chorus. While all this was occurring, the dull orange hue on the floor turned a deep red-orange, and pulsed once again along with the music. The intention was to create a huge crescendo for the final - which was certainly achieved. With the final line, Melis dropped her head, and the whole stage turned dark purple and sparkly.

Tar'eh li eikh limtzo ta'krav b'esh ki

תראה לי איך למצוא את הקרב באש כי

Balahavot ani tabati

בלהבות אני טבעתי

Lo lamadti

לא למדתי

Lelo lirot me'ever ekdah m'ashen moli

ללא לראות מעבר אקדח מעשן מולי

Oy etkharet

אוי אתחרט

Tisrof oti

תשרוף אותי

Tisrof oti

תשרוף אותי

Lo lamadti

לא למדתי

Lelo lirot me'ever ekdah m'ashen moli

ללא לראות מעבר אקדח מעשן מולי

Oy etkharet

אוי אתחרט

Tisrof oti

תשרוף אותי

Tar'eh li eikh limtzo ta'krav b'esh ki

תראה לי איך למצוא את הקרב באש כי

With the end of the performance, the crowd screamed its appreciation. For many, it was the most impressive Kishraeli staging for a while. Melis and her team were elated, but all they could do was hope that it was enough to qualify for the new implemented semi-finals. "Thank you Monterra! Thank you world!" Melis shouted into her microphone, as her dancers ran up to her to hug her, all of them elated with their own individual performances. For now, they could rest, and await the rest of the performances of the night.

07 Illdonya

Tune: The Supermen Lovers - Starlight



The last contest in Densmouth, Carrelie was a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, Achaean-Elejamian jazz singer Lucía Beltrán managed to crack the top five with the MH2 remix of her song Sin nombre, which managed to come in fifth place with 190 points; 99 of which came from the juries whereas the remaining 91 came from the televote. While it wasn’t really a favourite to win the competition the fact that it managed to finish as high as it did, only nine points behind Carrelie and three points ahead of Waisnor, was seen as a bit of an achievement. Even more so since the last time she was at the competition, all the way back in WV85, she just about snuck into the top ten with the jury before the televote kicked her down into twelfth place overall. On the other hand, much like the aforementioned contest, Lucía failed to get a single set of 12 points. The most she got as a 10 from the Alezian Union (who went on to receive their worst score with 97 points total) and from her other homeland of the Achaean Republic, although she would also receive an 8 from Yvesia as well as 7s from Filshia, These American States and Kalosia.

However, EB have also announced that WorldVision 100, alongside the upcoming Second Chance special edition, would still remain the country’s last contests “for the foreseeable future” despite the fact that a petition to keep the country in the contest ended up getting thousands of signatures. While they haven’t ruled out a possible return, they have also stated that it will possibly be a long time before the idea is even considered. Furthermore, Channel 3 has also declined to air the contest, ditto the regional TV stations. Regardless, they’ve also stated that they will still be involved with the International Broadcasting Alliance, whether it be sending more shows for them to consider airing to foreign countries or taking part in any competitions they might send. They have also stated that they might send an entry to the World Hit Festival at some point, although it remains unknown if it’ll remain on ETV Arts or if it’ll be moved over to one of the main channels.

Despite this, they also announced that the country will be represented at the 100th contest by Los Hermanos Bailarines, a band who were big in the 90s with the song No Coca Para Mi Por Favor and a small slew of follow-up hits but languished in semi-obscurity for the longest time until an expected resurgence in the mid-2010s brought them back into the spotlight. And, indeed, they had gone on a mini-promotional tour to promote their song Fama during the lead-up to the contest. First of all, they had made appearances on the Alezian talk show That’s Tea! as well as a spot on the Besenian morning show Ciao Besen, where they performed their entry on live TV simply to repay the favour after Jaza performed Heart to close out The Big Breakfast Show on Channel 3. Secondly, there was the Junterapten Pre-Party in Junterapten, Britonisea, an annual event where WorldVision entrants perform their entries, answer some questions and attend a party that would last from around 11:30pm-4am. Indeed, not only did they perform Fama there (sandwiched in between the Scotatrovan and Beepean entries) but they also answered a number of questions about their song, their band names, any previous WorldVision songs they liked and if they were going to attend the actual party itself, to name a few. For that last question, they did end up going but left at around 1am as it was getting late.

They would also perform a couple of concerts as well. The first was a sell-out performance at the Bay Theatre in Rowland, Titaniumland where they played Fama alongside other classics such as No Coca Para Mi Por Favor, Quiero Más, En Tiempos de Guerra, Efecto 2000 and El Mono. In fact, they played Fama again for their encore but with the main difference being that the audience were doing lead vocals and lead singer Omar Navarro Navarro was singing back-up. The second concert was a set at the Foundation Day concert in Saint Lucija, Malta Comino Gozo. There, their set was mostly the same as it was in Rowland but with a couple of songs taken out and a few more put in, namely Huevos Malvados getting its first ever live performance and a shortened version of their 1996 instrumental jam Muerte a Secuestradores to close out the show.



Once they had done the necessary warm-ups and performances, it was time to travel to Monterra. A city that had hosted the contest four times in the past and, indeed, is now hosting for a record-breaking fifth time. It’s also a city that’s rather infamous amongst Elejamian WorldVision fans due to an incident that happened the last time it had hosted the contest but let’s not get into that. Anyway, the band had quite a nice time while they were out and about. Most of it was spent rehearsing for their song, not only trying to get the actual singing parts right but also trying to figure out how to choreograph it but also condense down the main elements of their live shows into 3¾ minutes. There were also a couple of quick visits to a local tailor to get their outfits for the contest made, which should hopefully drum up some business for them despite the band asking for some intentionally unstylish threads to wear for their big performance. But they still managed to fit in some sight-seeing, like a tour of the Archaeopoli ruins and a quick visit to the old town. They didn’t partake in the local cuisine much, if only because lead singer Omar Navarro Navarro, guitarist Gonzalo Navarro and drummer Deni Jamuri are all vegetarians and bassist Óscar Palacios didn’t want them to feel left out. All in all, quite a fun excursion really.

During a break, the band were asked what the song was about. While they had been asked that question at the Junterapten Pre-Party, as previously mentioned, Omar answered it again but in a little bit of detail. "It's basically about a bright-eyed person with ambitions wanting to make it big but they weren't that successful, all while a voice in their head keeps trying to warn them." And, indeed, the music video expanded on this idea with Omar portraying the character from the song (even going as far as to try and look at least 30 years younger despite it not being convincing at all), who arrives in the big city from the middle of nowhere and tries to apply for a whole load of acting and theatre gigs only to keep getting rejected. There was also a scene where he was invited to join something a bit more risque but fortunately he turned it down. Eventually, at the end of the video, he's just working in a burger joint and still acting like he's going to make it big one day. The music and the lyrics might not be as humorous as their usual fare but the video and, hopefully, the stage performance would be able to make up for it.

It probably also helped that, due to their country's top five finish last time, they had automatically qualified to the finals. Yes, they didn't need to go through the rigmarole of the semi-finals, something that had been instituted for this contest not only because of how big of an occasion it was but also due to the huge amount of nations taking part; whether or not it'll remain a permanent fixture, much like the televote, remains to be seen (although I personally have my doubts). Not only did this mean that they had more of a chance of people voting for them but it also meant that they also had the opportunity to get more points. However, it wasn't exactly smooth sailing either, as it meant that the contest had now been condensed down into the strongest entries so they had more of a chance of getting points as well. And it didn't help that they were following Izmedu, whose song is considered a favourite to win but got mixed reviews from the Elejamian press, but preceding a Malta Comino Gozo who are hoping to improve on their third place finish in Densmouth. Despite these fears, Los Hermanos Bailarines remained confident. After all, if they show any fears it could hamper their performance.

And so, after a lengthy rehearsal period filled with stunt practices and either changing or removing anything that they couldn’t pull off, coupled with the odd bit of practice to keep themselves occupied while the semi-finals were going on, Los Hermanos Bailarines take the stage to represent their country for what’ll be the last time. It could be the last time for a while, it could be the last time forever. Either way, they are hoping that, after twenty five appearances and one absence (brought on by their boycotting of the 76th contest due to the aforementioned incident) since their return in WV74, they will see the contest out with a bang. Will they be able to finally get it done? Will they come close but no cigar like a small handful? Or will they crash and/or burn like the vast majority of Elejamian entrants before them? Take it away Omar, Gonzalo, Óscar and Deni…

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The postcard came to an end and the viewers at home were greeted with a shot where the fans watching made up the majority of it while the stage itself was in the distance, although the camera did slowly truck forward and tilt down so it could give it a better view. Not only could it now make out a number of flags and signs but it also showed what the stage was looking like. From the viewers’ left to right, there were two people standing next to each other with a microphone in front of them; one figure with a guitar right at the front; a figure behind a drum kit all the way at the back; someone with a keyboard in front of them and to their side, along with a frame on their other side; and another person with a different guitar. Despite the massive performance they were about to give as well as the circumstances, they all seemed to be fairly relaxed. After all, they had been performing together for a while and, to them, this was just like any other concert except they had to perform once. Maybe twice if they were lucky. Once the camera was close enough to the stage, the applause started to die down and the lights around the stage began to dim.

And then the song started. The camera then cut to a behind shot of Omar as he started to press a few notes on the keyboard in front of him. A few notes later, he picked up a mallet and hit the gong next to him. True to the band’s style, the gong immediately fell off the string and onto the ground just to remind the audience what they’re in for. Omar just looked down, threw his hands in the air in frustration and then ducked. A few seconds later, the camera then cut over to Deni who started to drum along to the beat. The camera then swayed to the right to show Óscar plucking his bass as he slowly moved backwards. As the camera moved back and snaked around the stage, he turned around so he was now walking forwards, but he kept playing his bass. And then, the master of pratfalls he is, he tripped and fell backwards, a look of fear on his face that was just visible to the camera. All of which segued into Gonzalo shuffling his shoulders while he played his guitar, which also coincided with the backing screen turning on and a picture of an Earth-coloured disco ball slowly got bigger until it filled up most of the screen. The camera then slowly raised and became an orbital shot of the stage which zoomed out, showing all of the instrumentalists playing their instruments, the backing dancers dancing in place and Omar crawling over to the mic stand at the front of the stage.

When he reached the mic stand, Omar slowly raised himself up so that he was essentially squatting. He quickly looked to his left, then to his right before finally standing up straight. He and his bandmates were all wearing the same outfit: A really tacky tuxedo consisting of a suit that was either a size too big or too small (or, in Omar’s case, the arms were a bit too long) but was unbuttoned either way, a frilled white shirt, an oversized black bow-tie and a pair of neat black dress shoes. The only difference was that each member was wearing a different coloured suit; Omar’s was black, Gonzalo’s was blue, Óscar’s was red and Deni’s was green. When it was time for him to sing, Omar grabbed the mic stand and tilted it to the left as if he was about to sweep it over. He sang into the microphone as he straightened it before he took it off the stand. While he sang into the microphone, he moved around the stage while he strutted his stuff before he came to a stop back where he started.

Heading into uncharted waters
It’s time for my big break
I can act and sing with the best of them
One day, I’ll make it

Then it was time for the pre-chorus. There were a few back-and-forth shots between Omar and his two backing singers. One of them was a blonde and the other a brunette but they were both wearing a matching red sparkly sleeveless midi dress, along with a pair of red stilettos where the heels themselves were only an inch off the ground. They were both also local to the area as well, which should hopefully give the song a bit of a boost with the local community. Anyway, during the first two lines, they pulled a few vogue-y poses as they sang, something that Omar was copying when it was his turn to sing except he wasn’t as graceful or stylish when he did it. Then, beginning at the third line, they turned around a little bit, moved their legs apart a couple of inches and then stuck their arm out so they could raise their index finger, moving their wrist as if they were telling something off. They did this again for the fifth line whereas during the fourth and sixth they just pointed at the crowd, lifted their arms up into the air and did a rainbow gesture with their hands stretched out flat. Omar, meanwhile, was just doing his thing where he danced a little bit with the mic stand and just wandered around the stage with the microphone in hand. There was also a bit where Gonzalo walked into the shot while he was playing his guitar but, just over a second later, he instantly noticed his mistake and walked backwards to try and get out of it.

(Vas) I can’t (a en-) wait for (-contrar-) my time (-te con)
(Un) I know (terri-) that I (-ble des-) will shine (-tino)
Hollywood will call my name (Te convertirás)
And I will call them back (como nosotras)
I have no idea what is next (Debes escapar)
It’ll be fun finding out (mientras puedas)

I can’t wait for my time (You are going to meet)
I know that I will shine (a terrible fate)
Hollywood will call my name (You will become)
I will be one of them (just like us)
I have no idea what is next (You must escape)
It’ll be fun finding out (while you still can)

Afterwards, there was a quick cut to Deni who drummed the next few beats with his hands instead of his sticks. There was a reason for that but we’ll get onto that in a bit. Anyway, when it was time for the chorus to start, there was a shot from the foot of the stage with the camera angled up. Indeed, when Omar sang the first line, there were a row of sparks shooting out from the pyrotechnics around the stage while the words “FAMA” burst out of the disco ball on the rear projector before fading out. Midway through the second line, the camera cut to a close-up of his face before cutting to a different shot of him singing. He then started to move around the stage while he sang, holding the microphone stand by the holder while he sang just so he could sway his other arm to and fro and in all different directions. In the meanwhile, the backing dancers were swaying their arms and their bodies as they sang and, whenever they appeared in the shot, Gonzalo, Óscar and Deni just played their instruments normally.

Fama (Fama)
Te vendo mi alma
Come de la palma
De tu mano
(Te poseerá)
Fama (Fama)
Mas alto que el Sol
Te daré el control
De mi vida
(Te poseerá)

Fame (Fame)
I’ll sell you my soul
Eat from the palm
Of your hand
(Will possess you)
Fame (Fame)
Higher than the Sun
I’ll give you control
Of my life
(Will possess you)

And then it was time for the next verse. Instead of concentrating on Omar singing the next verse, instead the camera cut to a full shot of Deni behind his drumkit. He pulled out a diagonal sandwich half from a box and started to eat it. It was just an ordinary cheese and tomato sandwich on white bread, nothing super fancy really. And he just took a normal-sized bite out of it, instead of anything big for comic relief or small just to sneak in a quick snack before going back to work. After he finished that bite, he was about to take another when he caught the camera out of the corner of his eye. He slowly turned his head to look into it before quickly holding the sandwich between his teeth before going back to “drumming” with a panicked expression on his face, his movements not syncing with the actual drums. In all fairness, he had a nasty cut on his hand around the same time which made it difficult for him to hold his sticks, meaning the band had to use a drum machine for the first time in over 30 years, although fortunately it healed long before they set off to Monterra. Either way, midway through the first line, the camera returned to a close-up shot of Omar who was standing close to the microphone and shuffling on the spot while he sang into the microphone.

It’s been three months and no auditions
No phone calls and no agents
I won’t mind being used as an extra
In a bad movie

Back to the pre-chorus now. We then cut to a Dutch angled shot of Gonzalo strumming his guitar while he moved it back and forth before he rested his hand underneath the neck and spun the guitar round in a circle. Shortly after he got back to playing it, the camera cut to a close up of Omar singing before there was another cut, this time to the backing singers pointing in front of them before balling their hand up into a fist and pulling it back to their chest. From the third line onwards, the backing dancers went back to doing the same moves they did last time they got to this point while the camera mainly centred around Omar. After a sweeping shot of him, it followed him as he dragged the microphone stand around while he sang into his mic. At one point he went back to slow dancing with it and even leaned it over so the bottom of it was all the way up in the air, although he didn’t keep that pose for very long. When it was near the end of the pre-chorus he gently placed it down back where it was at the beginning and just sang normally into it, although he did dance a little bit on the spot and the camera angled itself so that the backing singers were in the shot as well.

(Te) I can’t (has en-) wait for (-contra-) my time (-do con)
(Un) I know (terri-) that I (-ble des-) will shine (-tino)
But I’m not gonna give up (Estos personas)
My time will come one day (te corromperán)
I’m not one to lay down and die (Todavía pue-)
No matter what they all say (-des liberarte)

I can’t wait for my time (You have met)
I know that I will shine (a terrible fate)
But I’m not gonna give up (These people)
My time will come one day(will corrupt you)
I’m not one to lay down and die (you can still)
No matter what they all say (free yourself)

Omar spun around on the spot and raised an arm in the air before he grabbed onto the microphone and started to sing the chorus. Once again the camera returned to the foot of the stage and showed everything at a lower angle as the row of sparks returned to set everything off. The “FAMA” returned out of the disco ball and, as the camera raised itself, Omar leaned back as he sang before he leaned forward and shook his head. After a quick cut to behind Deni, who hit one of his drums and let the stick do a flip before carrying on with his drumming (something that he tried to do during rehearsals but he kept dropping the stick, although it wouldn’t have been too out of character for the band if it happened here), Omar then put the microphone and the stand upright as the camera came for a closer look. As it slowly zoomed in on him, he turned around and sang into it. He even held it out as if he was about to ask the viewers at home to join in, although towards the end of his last line he put it down and straightened it out while the camera zoomed out and backed away from him purely to give him a small bit of room.

Fama (Fama)
Te vendo mi alma
Come de la palma
De tu mano
(Te poseerá)
Y fama (Fama)
Mas alto que el Sol
Te daré el control
De mi vida
(Te poseerá)

Fame (Fame)
I’ll sell you my soul
Eat from the palm
Of your hand
(Will possess you)
And fame (Fame)
Higher than the Sun
I’ll give you control
Of my life
(Will possess you)

It was then time for the instrumental passage. Omar quickly rushed away from the microphone and back over to the keyboard set-up he was playing earlier. At first he appeared to be playing them normally; sure there were a couple of moments where it looked like he was hitting random keys and pulling a couple of weird faces but, overall, it wasn’t too far off from how one would normally play it. And then a few moments into it he moved his right arm out of the way and lifted his right leg up so he could play the keyboard with one of his feet. He turned to his left and repeatedly pressed a couple of keys on the keyboard with his index fingers, lifting them off when he didn’t need to play them. The camera lingered on this shot, although it did rotate a little bit clockwise and then a little bit anticlockwise, until the rest of the music cut out and it was just the drums and index-finger notes. At that point the camera cut to Deni who immediately sat himself upright as he appeared to play his kickdrum, whereas Omar was hunched over the left keyboard with both of his feet on the stage. The camera went back and forth between the two every few seconds, moving closer to Deni’s upper half and Omar’s fingers respectively until the drums came to an end. When that happened, Deni was leaning forward as well but he put himself upright again. A second later, the camera then cut to an extreme close-up of Omar’s fingers playing those notes.

When it was his turn to sing, he moved away from the keyboards and ran towards the microphone before he dropped to his knees. He was fortunate enough to get a good slide going, unlike in rehearsals when he just stopped and nearly fell over. Of course, he was a little bit pained when he got up with a facial expression that read “not one of my better ideas” but it was still worth it. The camera slowly rotated around him as pulled the microphone down towards him and sang into it. He kept singing as he pulled himself up and, indeed, he just stayed in the same spot as he sang, although at different points he leaned to one side, tilted the microphone stand to one side, spun around and a whole load of other stunts as the camera mostly centred around him. There was one brief cutaway though, as it cut over to Óscar midway through the outro for a medium, Dutch angled shot of him doing a windmill with his arm before going back to plucking his bass, though the camera quickly cut back to him in the background and Omar being the main focus. When it was time to finish the song, he swivelled the microphone stand by the bottom before putting it back upright and walking away so he was standing in front of Deni and his drum kit.

Fama (Fama)
Te vendo mi alma
Come de la palma
De tu mano
(Te poseerá)
Fama (Fama)
Mas alto que el Sol
Te daré el control
De mi vida
(Te poseerá)
Y fama (Fama)
Te vendo mi alma
Come de la palma
De tu mano
(Te poseerá)
Ay, fama (Fama)
Mas alto que el Sol
Te daré el control
De mi vida
(Te poseerá)

Fame (Fame)
I’ll sell you my soul
Eat from the palm
Of your hand
(Will possess you)
Fame (Fame)
Higher than the Sun
I’ll give you control
Of my life
(Will possess you)
And fame (Fame)
I’ll sell you my soul
Eat from the palm
Of your hand
(Will possess you)
Oh, fame (Fame)
Higher than the Sun
I’ll give you control
Of my life
(Will possess you)

We now end with a picture in picture deal. The first picture, which is faded into the background, are the backing singers performing one last “Fama te poseerá” by themselves. On the first syllable they stick one arm out in front of them, on the second they did the same with the other arm, on the third they raised them both in the air with their palms stretched out and, on the fourth, they made an X symbol with their wrists before they made another rainbow symbol like they did earlier. In the main shot, Gonzalo and Óscar made their way over to Omar and stood either side of him just to get a group shot going. Indeed, Omar knelt down and made a pose like The Thinker, Gonzalo was also kneeling down but he was holding his guitar like it was a gun that he was aiming at an angle in the air instead of at anyone in particular (showing good trigger discipline there), Óscar just put his bass next to him and he sat down at an angle and Deni got up and moved his stool back just so he could rest his feet on his kit; fortunately he didn’t put any pressure on them so there was no risk of actually breaking them. The camera would then zoom out and truck backwards, which also brought the backing singers into the main shot, until the camera was far away from the stage and in the same position and angle as it was at the beginning. At this point, the Earth-like disco ball turned golden and turned into dust as if it had been Thanos snapped, whereas the lights around the stage began to dim. As did the backing screen itself when the last speck of dust on screen disappeared.

A couple of seconds later, the audience started to applaud and cheer for the entry they had just seen. There was a cut to the crowd doing exactly that, with a couple of flags being waved around and a quick shot of a sign that appeared to read “#DAZASTOPTHEWAR” as a reference to the Fatimanian declaration of war against the Philippines, although the camera then cut to a different shot almost immediately afterwards. It then returned to the stage, where Omar, Gonzalo, Óscar and Deni stood at the front of it and gave a couple of waves and a bow. Still clutching the microphone in his hand, Omar lifted it up and spoke into it. “¡Gracias Monterra! ¡Gracias!” He said, giving one last wave before going into his usual saying when it was time to end a concert, although hopefully he was hoping that he and his band would be appearing again later that night: “¡No pares de bailar!” With that out of the way, they got one last wave in before everyone disappeared backstage. Now that their song was over, it was now time to kick back, relax and wish Glen Ferguson and Kartha Gewart the best. And maybe have a few games of dominoes to pass the time too.

---

PRELUDE TO WORLDVISION

---

“She is a phenomenal singer, a true artist, hailing from the very city we are standing in right now… please welcome to the stage, Jaza!” Backstage, the first Besenian singer to go to Worldvision in seventeen editions is about to step out onto the bi-monthly musical presentation on BAEN for the best artists in the nation. As Jaza entered the stage the audience of two thousand musical professionals and celebrities rose to their feet and clapped as they do for all the acts of the show. She walks smiling to the white piano at the left of the stage and the lights dim for her as she begins to play the opening notes of “Heart”. This is her first live performance of the song since she debuted it on BAEN Radio 1 in June and in her head the usual anxieties of performing for her spring up. Often the emotional and personal nature of her songs can lead to her evoking the memories of the song writing process and even the events that they are based on. Many people enjoy her for this very reason. At the end of the performance a rupture of applause occurs, and Jaza leaves the stage holding in her tears. “Great job, Jaz!” Her manager hugs her and they both head to the green room area where they will eventually go back to the stage to perform a group number with the rest of the acts of the night’s show.


‘A Night of Music’ is a programme that draws in around three million viewers every time it is on air and is a pop culture staple in Besen, and in some ways it probably could be attributed to the popularity of the Worldvision Song Contest at home – all of the representatives from when BAEN took over broadcasting rights had either debuted their song on the show or had a live performance. As for Jaza this is her second time making an appearance, the first being in 2020 when she had one of the most popular live videos of the year, totalling at 4 million views on her performance of ‘Yellow’ from her debut album of the same name. That album debuted at number two on the Besenian Official Music Chart (BOMC) with sales of 25,000 – 10,237 of which being physical, a great feat in the streaming era. As well as this the project was critically well received and currently is in the top 20 top Besenian albums on Metacritic, and the top of its genre. The themes of the twelve-track album range from sweet coming of age stories, romantic failures and the death of her childhood pet dog. It was at this point in her career in which she had begun to familiarise herself and become acquainted with some top television producers and top figures in the Besenian music industry. She is also a favourite of the most popular radio station in the country, BAEN Radio 1, in which she appears often and even has her own show every other Friday from 9am to 10am, although she will of course take a break from this role to appear at Worldvision. Her song ‘Little Pieces’ was one of the most played songs on the radio in 2021 and is her only number one single as of yet. The song belongs to her sophomore album ‘In Another Life’, which debuted again at number two on the album chart and is about the breakdown of her relationship with her then fiancée and television actor James Rean, and features some of her most intimate and emotionally gripping lyrics. They have a child together, her only daughter, which she has infamously kept private, with no one even knowing her name or even knowing what she looks like. It’s believed that this is one of the qualities that her audience likes most about her, she rarely indulges in celebrity culture and is one of the most ‘behaved’ public figures that Besen has.

---

THE SONG

---

In the only interview Jaza gave before the release of her second album, she revealed that she had written around sixty songs for the project, and most were going to be permanently scrapped. However, she did reveal that some of them may be kept for future works or for anything that may come up in her career that could possibly involve the use of these songs. ‘Heart’ was one of them, written alone by Jaza and produced by her long-time collaborator ERIKS who did work on both of her albums. It is centred around the beginning of the end of her relationship, the period when it’s not clear what’s going to happen and although she still feels love for him, she begins to understand that it isn’t reciprocated anymore. She wonders why he won’t be upfront and honest about his emotions and begs for him not to judge her for her words and actions as the wound is still fresh. The track was one of the first penned for her then upcoming project and it is unclear whether it was ever considered to be a part of the final track-list.

What is understood however, is that the Head of Delegation of Besen, Jane Larsa had contacted her many times throughout 2021, attempting to start a dialogue to get Jaza to Worldvision, a job that was starting to seem tricky as edition after edition rolled by and Besen still was not participating. Jane was one of the only staff members at BAEN to attempt to get the ball rolling again for the nation to make a comeback and she had only a few artists in her mind that she wanted to go ahead with, if she did really want to make it happen.

---

GETTING READY

---

BAEN contacted Jaza in late 2021 and essentially instantly, the process began to start piecing together the many elements of her participation and the nitty gritty regarding the whole delegation. ‘Heart’ was the clear front-runner in a very quick selection between possible songs for the contest. Jaza was the most vocal advocate against writing a completely new song for Worldvision, as she felt that her mind would be clouded by the pressure of getting it perfect, getting it ‘right’ – getting the winning song. So the song was decided and everyone was ready to start preparing a live stage show and a real experience for the audience in the arena and the television viewers.

Rehearsals began in January 2022 to finalise and reimagine some of the pieces of the concept that the delegation was planning. Terrance Irachiano was behind the set pieces used on stage and he also worked closely with Jaza to sort of choreograph how she would interact with them and be able to tell a story and convey the message and emotions of the track. She began to form a very sweet and special relationship together and both claim to have had a lot of fun whilst working with one another, in an interview Jaza told BAEN that he was one of the reasons that she had the confidence, the courage and the motivation to continue during the hardest parts of the process.


“I actually had a lot of doubts coming into this very new experience. Look at it this way – the biggest crowd I’ve had at one of my gigs is about 5,000, although I have chosen to keep my shows intimate and small admittedly, it’s still a lot for someone like to me to come to grips with. Still, I wanted to push myself to prove I could do it. Even just coming to the decision that I wanted to go to the contest, I got a kind of adrenaline rush… and those types of feelings only grow bigger and crazier as we get closer to the big day. My team and the delegation have worked so hard on this. We desired something big, something that would impact you even if it isn’t instant. We want something to linger with you. Of course, there’s always going to be those who don’t get it or even don’t like it but still we want to put on a good show, and present something with pride and to say – this is us trying our hardest to entertain, to show our culture, our musical identity."

Internationally Jaza appeared in Britonisea for the Jünterapten pre-party event, where fourteen other acts from the 100th contest previewed their acts and came together for one of the only opportunities pre-Worldvision for the artists to get to know each other. As well as this, she appeared in Elejamie on Channel 3’s “The Big Breakfast Show” where she performed ‘Heart’ and was interviewed by the presenters – the honour repaid when the nation’s representatives Los Hermanos Bailarines made an appearance promoting their song ‘Fama’ on BAEN1’s “Ciao Besen” morning show.

---

MONTERRA

---

Upon arrival at the airport in Monterra, Jaza immediately settled into the vibe of the city and started rehearsals for the contest. She spent very little time outside of rehearsals in fact, something that concerned and unsettled her team at first as she was already showing signs of exhaustion from a long and hard-fought for process. Nonstop she worked on new lyrics and new compositions at the same time – finding a rhythm of work that finally felt right for her. She seemed to gain a lot of inspiration from the crazy atmosphere of the contest.


As rehearsals were in full swing and the date of the live broadcast of the semi final was nearing closer, the fifty-plus acts would all run into each other all the time and all throughout the day, sometimes not even in the arena, just around the city close to it. Quietly she regretted that she hadn't been able to get to know each of them more due to being locked up in studios for hours upon hours. She found the experience that RTVK provided to be magnificent nevertheless, the spectacle of the event coming to life with each interview, rehearsal and impromptu performance. All of this was amplified as her song began slowly climbing the charts at home, peaking at #8 before the contest, one of the highest pre-Worldvision entries for a long time - the highest being OLA's "Durem (La La)", which reached #3 before then charting at the top for three consecutive weeks after the show. She hadn't cared much for the charts in the past but it felt much more satisfying in this scenario to know that the nation was getting behind her already.

---

As the stage ready audio clip sweeps through the arena, and the Besenian postcard comes to end, the lights rise quickly in blue once to the top of the stage. Two of them then quickly intertwine in circles as the first piano notes are played. They reach each other eventually in the middle of the stage to light up the big set piece of the performance. Around two hundred sparkling beads hang down from an eccentric rig at the very top of the venue, making a circle around Jaza and shining brightly as the rest of the stage is covered in black. She wears Stephane Rolland, a long-sleeved white gown that hugs her body nicely, and creates a beautiful blooming shape around her shoulders. Behind her in the dark and out of the vision of the camera for now, Rich Malichi sits by a large white piano playing along to the backing track.


She lifts the microphone to her lips to begin singing the first lines of her song. Her eyesight is fixed on the camera as it makes a slow 45° swing around her at the front of the bead arrangement, which is just about far apart enough at each line that you can see her in the middle. On the last line of the first part of the first verse, the camera cuts to the left of the stage, where the beads sparkle in blue and white - as seen above. This is the first time that the audience can be seen, holding their phone flashlights high in the left section of the seating in the arena.

---

---

Then a cut to a closeup of Jaza, her makeup is a simple black-heavy look, focusing on the eyes, dark eyeshadow being the highlight point. The camera then moves in a similar 45° motion like the very beginning, this time getting closer to the beading, and at the end just about peeking through two of the rows. As she sings 'heart' she makes a gesture to her chest and holds her hand there. Then at 'roots' the camera begins to rise up past her face and following the beads up slightly before the camera cuts to the centre again, in a wide shot.

---

---

The intensity of the instrumental rises and so does her vocal delivery, showcasing her rasp beautifully, she bends her head around as she hits the top notes. With each beat of her words, the beading is lit up in different colours in one second intervals, flashing blue, red, green, pink and then orange, before settling in a pure white colour as the pre-hook comes to an end. As she sings the final phrase the camera stays centred on her put sweeps very quickly wide and near around the middle of the arena, a cinematic shot. It holds the tension before the release of the chorus.

---

---

At the beginning of the chorus, the camera smoothly cuts to its previous position in closeup to Jaza. Very very slowly, you can see that the beads begin to turn in a 360° motion, and also are beginning to be pulled back up, rising up slightly in the view of the camera. You can hear the audience begin to cheer for the first time during the chorus, and faintly people sing along, causing Jaza to smile a bit. And then the camera for the first time shows the back of Jaza and you can finally see the full array of lights in the crowd, all in white, lighting up the front of the otherwise very dimly lit performance. As she sings "you're breaking my heart" she tilts her head down slowly and puts the mic down to her side.

---

---

She lifts her head back up and the camera switches to a slow turning shot from the left hand side, as the beading lifts at a moderately quick speed now. It rises and shines in the original white and blue colouring. Jaza moves forward and begins singing the second verse, beginning to make her way to the very edge of the front of the stage, where she will eventually walk down the catwalk to the smaller, circular stage in the middle of the arena. The camerawork halfway through shifts into a more fast paced set of shots - showcasing her face at a closeup at different angles, as she sings directly into it. Additionally, it begins to open up the perspective of the performance, showcasing the audience more and the actual stage design in the back. Still there are no LEDs used and Malichi still remains in the dark yet to be revealed.

---

---

Corresponding with Jaza walking down the thin and barely lit catwalk, the beading takes a vertical line shape in two streaks, about two feet above her. It pulses in different shades of blue as she walks. The camera follows her on a straightforward angle, the cameraman moving backwards slowly as she advances along the path. The audience on each side of her can be seen, and the sea of lights lighting up her way. In her heart, she is truly nervous but it doesn't show on the screen, all those hours of rehearsals over the months paid off, etched in her memory the exact storyboard of this performance.

---

---

She arrives finally standing in the centre of the arena on the mini stage. Around her the beading is set in a circular shape at the same height as when she walked down, now switching back to a pure white colouring. In a raspy falsetto then a hearty-chest voice, she delivers the opening lines of the chorus once again. She makes more animated movements for the first time in the performance, gesturing out to the camera which is now doing a 360 around her (she remains centred however and does not turn to follow it) capturing a wide view of the back of her gown, white like the colour of the flashlights all the way to the back of the arena. As she delivers "you've broken my heart", the camera settles back into a centre view of her and steadily moves forward until it reaches a closeup angle, but continues forward over her shoulder where Malichi is lit up in blue at the beginning position back on the main stage. He plays on the white piano, the camera focusing on him, not showing Jaza moving back to the main stage. She delivers the post-chorus of the song, whilst walking back quite quickly to the main stage. Although she isn't seen on the camera for the first time, her voice shines through, and is accompanied by Malachi's instrumental. By the end she is picked up eventually when she rests against the piano ready for the final chorus.

---

---

The piano instrumental gets to its most minimalistic point, as Jaza for the last time sings on the song, taking in the moment to make the most of her final minute on the Worldvision stage. Malachi and Jaza lock eyes in these final sixty seconds, never letting up. A single, still large spotlight covers the two of them in the same light blue shade. Nothing is in focus except for the two of them, and surprisingly very little is heard from the audience as they quiet down for the emotional peak of the track. In the final phrases of the song and the elongated "for... me...", the lighting very slowly shifts from blue to red, and Jaza is shown in a close-up still staring at Malachi. At the release, the lighting reaches its most red point and the camera cuts for the first time in this section.

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---

As the intensity builds, the camera begins to shift around a lot more, cutting and shifting, conveying the franticness of this part of the song. Jaza takes a backseat for this final moment, allowing her friend to shine. In fact, she can barely be seen on the camera, but she still stands close by the piano, standing up from leaning and shifting back into the darker side of the stage just about.

---

---

As the final note is played, the audience rises into cheers and Jaza walks forward to stand next to Malachi, they embrace each other for a moment, and she holds his hand as they advance to the front. "Thank you so much Monterra!" Jaza shouts, as Malachi nods, smiling. They begin to walk off as the graphics sweep and the postcard of the next performing nation begins to play.

11. rObLoXiAn rObLoXiA (oh no, oh no, Oh no no no no no no)

Reserved for le robloxians of robloxian robloxia.
tune: Spongebob Squarepants Theme Song

RP, Lyrics, Better Formatting, More Serious stuff, and blah coming soon.

The caravan car was quiet, surprisingly empty actually. The faint aroma of incense hung about in the cabin as Almatsi gazed emptily across it, a blur of fields and trees passing by, seen but unremembered by her as she lay there, lost in hectic thought, hurtling toward a city she'd never been to, for a dream that only she had wanted. Chimes began to ring out from the crystal by her side - her áiti, once again, after two missed calls. With a shaky breath, she answered.

"Almatsi! Are you okay?? What were you doing! Your mom and I were worried sick about you! When we call, you must answer!"

Ugh, again. Couldn't a girl get some peace and quiet? "I know, sorry, I was busy, I'm okay-"

"How busy can you be, singing in a bar or on the street corner??? Now, your mom had the initiative to research some wonderful schools and internships in Estegoa for law, engineering, and medicine. There are some excellent opportunities for you out there, though not as good as the ones back here around Urvateršippai. I can't believe you had to leave us like that but if you are going all the way out there, at least take a look at what professional career options are out there in the big city."

"Áiti, please, can yo-"

"You know how Estegoa's like. So many strangers, so many foreigners! I didn't birth you to have a daughter selling herself in the street, whether with her voice or her body, or handing out pamphlets on the corner to sell some new foreign religion, or, powers forbid, slaving away in the food industry at some horrid little shop all day and all night. No. I raised you to rise to a PROFESSIONAL and SUSTAINABLE career based on skills and not your body. You will be reaching high for the family and give back to us like we gave to you. That's only proper and right, isn't it?"

She sighed, tired of hearing the same old rant again. "Thanks for your concern, I'll take care of myself, you've raised a perfectly fine young lady and-"

"That's darn right, and I'm glad to not hear any backtalk from you. It's about time you listened to your old áiti. Did you hear about auntie Ilta's daughter Hellá? She's gotten an engineering position on the orbital longboat, and even sent dear old Ilta some vials of lunar dust! She was always talented in school just like you, and I..."

Almatsi set the crystal down on the seat next to her, and looked around. Good. The only nearby person was someone way back behind her, reclining and listening to what seemed to be some throwback Tabitha Shamaimah hit, judging by the beats and snippets that managed to drift over to her. She was so envious of his position, wishing she could finally give in to her crushing weariness and just let her worries go, drifting away with the welcoming embrace of rest and sleep.. but she had to transfer lines soon, and beyond, that, the lights and action of Estegoa. She had no time to rest.


She tried to keep her calm as an assistant made sure her outfit was fitted and fastened correctly. This could be her big break, her time in the sun, the limelight. The success she needed to launch her career onto the path she knew she could achieve, somehow. The media kept hyping her up, and even the producers acted like she was already a star, readying interviews and photoshoots which she happily obliged as they directed, and act the part they asked her to play. Internationally, she knew the mood was nowhere near the fever pitch she had been exposed to here, but still, Starfall was only in its second season and there were others to steal the spotlight, like An Na of Polkopian Worldvision fame collaborating with Tödlichebujoki duo PAKXRA, who was set to close the night. But still, she was fairly confident she could make it. And there, the hosts had finished their little opener, and it was time for her to shine, and kick off the first performance of the Pulsar heat.



The post-performance high (lol) was exhilarating, and Almatsi was certain she would be going to to perform alongside An Na, and probably Letenje in the Collision final. Sipping on a light cocktail, she leaned back in her seat in the greenroom, waving to the cameras and posing for pictures as the various other acts went on stage, and voting began. The atmosphere around her was just so lively and bubbly, as she breezed through some interviews with an air of excitement and coyness, and it felt like a whirlwind dream.. especially considering what began to happen next. The qualifiers began to be announced... Vítor Rasizade. MXB. And finally, the third qualifier. Initially, Almatsi remained confident, convinced that the producers probably just wanted to build suspense before announcing her last. But then, gazing upon the board, she snapped back to reality. With dawning horror, she realized that neither she nor An Na had yet bet announced - one of them, or perhaps both were bound to have performed their last for the event. Her cocktail glass quivered in her fingers as she processed this, with recording crystals hovering in her face as the final qualifier was called - An Na & PAKXRA. In utter shock, her glass crashed to the floor and she buried her face in her hands, wishing for all the world to have gone invisible and huddled into a locked, dark room... but instead all the while having her emotional breakdown and flood of tears being broadcast live to the nation and indeed, the world. It felt like the end.



Mirth and laughter rang through Almatsi's head for months each time she stepped out into the world outside her apartment- no one was rude enough to do it to her face, but the gales of mockery were easily visible to her in any discussion of Starfall, especially discourse etched in the crystallomatrix. And of course it wouldn't just be faceless strangers having a laugh at her expense, taken by the broadcast tale of a ditzy spoiled girl getting a taste of cold hard reality. No, her parents came calling all the more incessantly, and it took her an embarrassingly long time to finally shut out their manipulative shenanigans and cease contact, all the while also taking in her younger sister Keeve, who had just fled the oppressive confines of their old home. Somehow, Keeve was more fiery and outspoken than even Almatsi was, and their shared living arrangement was vital in giving Almatsi the strength to move on from the past, and put her genuine self into her work.

It was strikingly easy to play the waiting game, to outlast the schadenfreude in the public mind, aside from the annoyance of having to turn down the initial rush of interview requests from various media outlets. It was really only through Keeve's support, that she would finally come into her own, and work to regain the trust and support of the public. Her Starfall drama ended up helping, at the very least, in triggering name recognition among fans and record companies, and from that base her career finally began gaining traction, with critics noting the maturation of themes and conduct in comparison to their earlier impression of her persona. Perhaps, in the end, through a long detour, Starfall really was her big break.

[

07
StrayaRoos
Deratha-Spin It
AleXa-Wonderland

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Music and Lyrics:Deratha

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Deratha is a 22 Year Old Roosian Singer-Songwriter,who's first interaction with WorldVision Came 3 Years ago,when she finished 3rd in The 2nd Roovision Song Contest with 43 Points,and she's now hoping to make a mark on Worldvision 100,with her new song 'Spin It' that won with an new record Televote Percentage

---

About The Song

Spin It is the First Single from Deratha's Untitled Debut Studio Album,that is scheduled to be released later this year,it was her first dive into the world of K-Pop,and it's mildly succsessful hitting 2nd in the Roosian Charts,Behind SKYUE's Uspkanova,which has sat there for 10 weeks

Current Roosian Charts

---

Before WorldVision 100,rtvS Finally decided to go hard on promoting Spin It,with Deratha Performing at The Junterapten pre-party and Malta Comino Gozo's Foundation day concert,and a massive social media campaign to advertise it to the younger generation

---

Staging Opening Video
The Lights flash red and the audience can see the silhouettes of about 10 People,who are holding bits of fabric and leaning up and down

Deratha
Da-da-da-da-da,oooh-ooh,yeah,yeah

the lights slow down and turn to white and focus on Deratha who's in the middle of the stage

Foolin' Everyone from the Start
It Couldn't Be that Hard
Just Watchin' and Watchin
Till You Can Break their Heart
I'm At a Loss on how you can do this to us

After Every line the Dancers move the fabric,and during the final line,deratha tugs on the piece of ribbon nearest to her and the dancer holding it jumps towards her
As the first verse finishes,all of the dancers drop the fabric and most run off stage

Nope it's Not Jealousy Cause it hurts anybody
'cause I Know,I Know What this is
Foolin this team

The Red Lights begin flashing again

Poppin in my head all the time
Sayin' "I Bet you're in trouble"
Lost everything to you so i do know
You know I Know You're Just a spin doctor
It's hard to see but i know it's True
I'm not a Stupid little girl
You Know I Know You're Just a spin doctor

The Dancers who are left on the stage form a dotted formation behind deratha then break out into dance
The Camera shoots back to show all the dancers running around the stage then form a sword type formation with deratha in the middle where the lines cross

Boy,I'm Ditching You
You're The Crazy One
I'd put you on a leash
cause you and me isn''t gonna work out so
It Happens and happens in my head
and i know it's just a plea
and the shot pierces your skin then it's all over

The Dancers Duck One by One to show deratha,and then they break into groups of 3,and breakdance

Nope it's Not Jealousy Cause it hurts anybody
'cause I Know,I Know What this is
Foolin this team

the dancers move into two diagonal lines and move away from the oppesite line

Poppin in my head all the time
Sayin' "I Bet you're in trouble"
Lost everything to you so i do know
You know I Know You're Just a spin doctor
It's hard to see but i know it's True
I'm not a Stupid little girl
You Know I Know You're Just a spin doctor

The Lights flicker on and off as the group dances to the beat

Hey
La-la-la-la-la-la (Yeah-eah)
La-la-la-la-la-la (ooh-ooh)

Deratha 'falls' onto the floor and a dancer jumps over her

난 싫어
그것은 거짓 환상이 아니다.
당신이 날 원한다는 걸 알아
하지만 넌 날 미치게 해

The Fabric Returns and the dancers pull it around Deratha,then they move it up and she ducks And moves towards the orchestra pit

Poppin in my head all the time
Sayin' "I Bet you're in trouble"
Lost everything to you so i do know
You know I Know You're Just a spin doctor
It's hard to see but i know it's True
I'm not a Stupid little girl
You Know I Know You're Just a spin doctor

she falls into the orchestra pit,which has a large soft mesh block in it

You
Say,Yeah-eah-eah
Say,Yeah
Baby You Know I Know You're Just a Spin Doctor

Deratha stands up and yells out "THANK YOU!"

***WITHDRAWN***

Winner of the 59th World Hit Festival and runner-up of Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2022, Josh Morris, will represent Britonisea at the centenary edition of the WorldVision Song Contest...

The 99th WorldVision Song Contest was quite a special one for the Britonish delegation. It marked the second time since the introduction of the televote/jury separation that Britonisea won the competition, with it being 12 editions since Britonisea last won in what was the second-longest win drought for the nation. Interestingly, despite placing in the top four in the televote consecutively before the 99th WorldVision Song Contest, Britonisea wasn't able to win the televote but managed to strike gold in Carrelie with 120 points. Britonisea's Petre Lemetre was one of those stars that tried relentlessly to represent Britonisea at WorldVision, having done so on multiple occasions before but he was never successful and so its quite fitting that the one time that he was chosen to represent the country, he's won with 258 points - the highest total Britonisea has received since the introduction of the televote. The jury vote was the highest received as well since the introduction. Petre Lemetre certainly gained even more love and support from the Britonish public than he did in the past and reaffirmed Vha Mehlodhivestoile's power as a national final which paves the way to find WorldVision stars. The contest alone has contributed five WorldVision winners and if BVC decides to renew the contract ahead of 2023, BVC and BITC will make sure that the future of the contest remains bright. Britonisea's win at the WorldVision Song Contest make BITC decide that, alongside BVC Studios, they would bid to host the upcoming 100th WorldVision Song Contest - a momentous occasion that would make sense being held in the country that had won the edition before. Britonisea was, of course, one of the most successful nations during the decade - having won on eight occasions, and along with their 99th WorldVision victory, they thought that it would be a great decision to have the contest return to Britonisea for the first time in 19 editions when Boschke hosted the fantastic 81st WorldVision Song Contest. Doportedas was chosen to host the competition if the bid won, though there were certain Britonish fans who thought that this was a dangerous decision due to Doportedas having lost two host bids before. Doportedas is Britonisea's capital city and most populous city. There were some thoughts that Doportedas was "too big" to host the competition, but many people who supported the bid drew on Telm City hosting the 66th WorldVision Song Contest - a city which is larger than Britonisea by area and has a similar population. Unfortunately for Doportedas, their dreams of hosting the 100th WorldVision Song Contest was in vain, and Monterra was picked to host the competition despite the international support and endorsements that BITC and BVC had received. Doportedas' bid was the most Britonisea had ever spent on one, with the country promising a lot more than any of its previous bids too. However, it wasn't meant to be and the bid was shelved, pending review by the broadcasters and the Doportedas City Council - where they will decide whether it was a waste of money. It has been suggested that the bid could be remade and used to host another edition of the WorldVision Song Contest in order to save costs and make sure that the work that has gone into the contest is actually used, though BITC has not shown any interest in hosting the 101st WorldVision Song Contest - even if this would be the 70th anniversary since Britonisea's debut. Adding insult to injury for Britonish fans of the WorldVision Song Contest, BITC announced that it didn't plan on hosting the Second Chance, an idea that the Britonish broadcaster helped come up with, with the broadcaster releasing a statement regarding the issue. The broadcaster did say that they were committed to making sure that Doportedas would host the competition someday in the future. The Grand Hall is expected to host the IBA Awards which are coming this autumn.

73 nations registered their interest in participating at the 100th WorldVision Song Contest - which probably is the most the contest has ever received. Britonisea was the first nation to confirm that it was participating in the competition, with it being known that the runner-up of the seventh Vha Mehlodhivestoile would go to WorldVision and even officially, Britonisea had confirmed that this would be the case. Britonisea is set to send Josh Morris, the winner of the 59th World Hit Festival which took place in the Achaean Republic. Josh Morris won with his song, "Mine" which came third at the 2021 edition of Vha Mehlodhivestoile. Josh Morris' third place at the national final was interesting with the International Jury actually ranking the song 8th out of 12 songs, but the International televote disagreed with this, giving him 2nd place. Britonisea ranked him third. His win at the World Hit Festival represents the second-largest winning margin ever at the contest, with Britonisea receiving over 40 points which is almost unheard of at the Festival. His third place in VM2021 meant that he received an automatic pass to VM2022, qualifying straight to the Grand FInal where he performed in position 2. Usually, when an artist comes back and performs in position 2, they don't really do as well as they did the edition before but Josh Morris was an anomaly. With his song, "Nightmares", which sounded very similar to his previous Vha Mehlodhivestoile effort, Josh was ready to go further and aim to win the competition. He faced stiff competition from Petre Lemetre who had a lot of hype going into the contest. For the final, the pair performed alongside the rest of the league, with this final being named one of the least predictable finals so far. The international jury had Josh Morris in third place with 86 points - points ahead of eventual winner Petre. It would be up to the Britonish televote alone to decide who would be the eventual winner. Rocco Verlice was leading, a shock considering he hadn't won his Semi-Final (but the Juries in that Semi-Final did give him first place). As the Britonish votes had rolled around, it was clear that Petre Lemetre was favoured but by how many points? As the final televote had been announced, Petre Lemetre was had the contest by two points in true Vha Mehlodhivestoile fashion, with Josh finishing runner-up. Better than his previous effort, but not good enough to win. It was noted, though, that the international viewers preferred "Nightmares" to "Disillusioned" according to polls, with it being one of the favourites in Beepee, Polkopia, Alezian Union, Antahbrantahstan, Kalosia, Malta Comino Gozo, and Achaean Republic - of the nations that had voted in the Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2022 final and so for Britonish fans, they were worried that Petre would flop in the televote which he didn't. BITC are hoping that this is a positive sign for Josh Morris, though, ahead of what is expected to be a very difficult 100th WorldVision Song Contest.

After coming second at Vha Mehlodhivestoile, Josh has had some time to sit back and relax as he watches Petre being thrust into the limelight to live out the dream that Josh was going to live. For Josh, he kind of knew what it felt like - with Josh having participated at the Achaean World Hit Festival but WorldVision was a different beast, especially the 100th edition. The work for Josh began as soon as the 99th WorldVision Song Contest finished, with him being called in from the Monday onwards to start the planning around his staging. The staging would remain pretty similar to that of Vha Mehlodhivestoile but now for a bigger stage in Kalosia. As with most VM songs that go to the WorldVision stage, the lyrics were reworked and made perfect for the contest as well and as soon as that was done, Josh went over the revised staging for "Nightmares". He had opportunities to showcase his talent both in Britonisea and abroad, with him going to the Junterapten Pre-Party, which drew fifteen nations from different countries together to perform on a relatively large stage. It gave the opportunities for some acts to perform in front of a small version of the WorldVision Song Contest with the stands in an arena format. Josh had the experience from VM2021 and 2022, however, so he wasn't too nervous ahead of the Pre-Party. Josh also performed in Malta Comino Gozo for the Foundation Day celebrations too which he enjoyed. After that, he made his way to Kalosia to begin the preparation for the contest. It was then announced that there would be semi-finals, with Josh receiving an automatic qualification into the final if it went ahead in a similar fashion to his Vha Mehlodhivestoile 2022 participation. With it likely to go ahead now, Josh can rest easy that him and his country will be at that final thanks to Petre's win last edition, but how far will he get in the final? No one knows...

Josh Morris is one of the favourites to win the competition according to the odds and has been greeted with a pretty good running order slot, 11th, for the Grand Final. Josh performed his song during the rehearsals for Semi-Final 2 with a clip of it being showed during the live broadcast which seemed to gain a good response from the public afterwards.

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Josh Morris was initially supposed to perform sixteenth in the Grand Final of the centennial edition - which was supposed to be the longest grand final to date, but the Semi-Finals were introduced shelving those plans that BITC were mostly in favour for. Now, while Josh Morris didn't get the opportunity to perform his song live on the stage at the Second Semi-Final, a clip of what he had performed during a rehearsal was instead shown and everything seemed to look pretty good for the Briton. However, it was now time for the Grand Final and business meant business... He knew that this had to be the strongest performance of this song he had ever done and alongside the fantastic staging that BITC had once again prepared for its participant, Morris knew that everything else relied on him. He also knew that people would be looking at Britonisea with beady eyes this competition thanks to Petre Lemetre's win last edition so to say Josh felt pressure would be an understatement. As the performance from Besen finished, the Britonish postcard showed up on the screen and Josh walked onto the stage, taking a deep breath and shaking his body to get any last nerves out of him before mounting a large object that the Britonish team had brought on stage. For the 97th WorldVision Song Contest, it was a lollipop merry-go-round, 98th was held in that huge arena which gave way to lots of pyros, 99th WorldVision Song Contest saw Petre Lemetre had a wall-less box and interpretative dancers on the stage but for the 100th WorldVision Song Contest, team BITC decided to bring a huge platform (seen in the middle picture, at the bottom) which had a LED panel tunnel alongside the bottom and about a metre above where Josh's head would end up. The prop was brought on the stage in three different sections, with those in the arena able to see the little markings on the LED floor telling the stage personnel where to put them. Once all of them were in a line, they created a much wider platform on which Josh could perform on. In terms of his outfit, Josh Morris followed a similar outfit to the most recent male performers for Britonisea, a very simple outfit. In Josh's case - he wore black denim and leather only, including his shoes. At the end of the postcard, there was huge applause for Britonisea. Most times Kalosia hosted the World Hit Festival, Britonisea had won - but never has the country won whilst Kalosia hosted the WorldVision Song Contest, as with any participation by BITC - their plan was to come up with the best package to do very well at the contest, and most certainly coming close (or indeed getting) a victory in Monterra. At the start of the performance, there were no dancers on the stage - it was just Josh Morris and a backing singer who was standing out of the way.

To start off the performance, BITC had chosen to make use of Kalosia's revolving LED screen. As said in the host bid, the LED screen was split into 12 sections, with the screen revealing an LED fixture behind it. A little bit of haze being used during the start of the performance. There were a couple of seconds of silence between the audience clapping and the start of the song with bright white light from behind slowly turned on during the silence with a strong figure with his hand up in the air. As the music started to play, the camera slowly moved forwards, with the once still Josh moving into place, facing forwards. You couldn't yet see his face, with it being quite similar to the beginning of his World Hit Festival 59 performance (which did help influence some of the decisions in this performance), though with the addition of the haze and how far the light was, it did look marginally different. Right before he started singing, he snapped into position, with the LED lights on the platform that were brought on the stage now shining blue (with a better picture of what this looks like later on in the performance). You could now see Josh as he started singing the first couple of lines.



The first couple of lines of the performance is rather intimate, with the camera shots echoing this. The bright light that was behind him had suddenly switched off and twinkling (though not intense) lights were what you could see behind Josh. Along with the billowing haze around him, the camera angles were kept very tight on his face to shoulders without there being much movement. Josh always kept his eyes forward, with most of the camera shots (even though there weren't that many during verse), right in front of him anyway so it did not look odd or as though he was completely ignoring the cameras that were around him. As the audience started cheering over the music, he left of a little smile - but not a huge one as he didn't want people to be taken away from the moodiness of the performance. The moody, dark pop sound was a favourite in Britonisea amongst the youth - especially with its sprinkle of orchestral themes, with this song definitely being one that would represent the country the most and so BITC were determined to stage the performance well and slick to display the best of Britonisea to the rest of the world. When singing the line, "Lost in my nightmares", while the forward camera was on him, he hid his face with his free hand, moving his head to face his right, with the camera moving along with him before going out of focus.

We then reached the next part of the song, a pre-chorus or perhaps just a step up from the verse? Josh's vocals became slightly louder with him no longer teasing the audience with his gorgeous vocal range. There was a shot from a crane camera which swooped over the audience, exposing the stage which had a purple outline as he sang the line "...a thousand miles,". As he started singing this part of the chorus, lights that were directly singing out into the audience were flashing on and off, all while the screen behind Josh was slowly rotating in order for the LED part of it to be facing the audience once again. As he started singing about the "vicious cycle" that he was in, he slowly spun around loosely, though he quickly turned right around as he continued singing the next part of the song:



When Josh was singing the last bit of the verse into the chorus at "There ain't no drug, no antidote", he started almost singing to the floor as what he was singing about really meant a lot to him. He put his hand to his head when he sang the word sickness rather violently before he slowly looked upwards as he sang the words, "Rest in peace, dear boy Josh". A camera shot caught this moment as he looked upwards, with the happiness that he tried not to show at the start of the song now completely gone with his mind being in a completely different place. Sometimes, songs such as "Mine" and "Nightmares" were almost like PTSD for him and while he doesn't have to sing songs that bring up his broken past, he said that it gets him to sing more honestly. We then moved into the pre-chorus of the song with a grey static being shown on the back of the screen, which by now had completely turned around to face the audience. A red circle was dispersing from the middle of the stage (think Heros 2015 but the circle wasn't filled in...and its in front of a grey static), along with the beat of the song. The LED line on the platform was flashing along with the sound of the piano. There was a much further away shot which could show what was going on around the whole stage a bit better.



As the chorus came about, the red and grey quickly went away in favour of blues, dark pinks and purples with the LED screen behind Josh completely dark now exposing a wall of darkness behind him. A long with the fast pace flickering hi-hats that you could hear in the background of the song, the LED outline of the stage was flickering along with this alongside some of the rig lights on either side of the stage. Josh moved very gently on the stage, with the man more focused on delivering a good vocal performance, for now, before loosening himself up. The backing singer was singing the section underneath him and you could start to hear him, especially when the pair of them sang the last line of the chorus together. With everything else dark, the lights that were on the platform were bright enough so that you could see the haze that was used during the chorus.



At the line, "Get, get, get, get" - when he sung that word, he would jump up and down with the lights reacting as he sang these words - though when he did say them, it was less of him singing them and more of him melodically shouting those lines. There were quick, rapid camera cuts between each time he sang the word, "get" as well, each of those shots was focused on Josh, before quickly panning to the left of the right when the camera was cut to. We then cut to a shot looking at Josh before he sang the final line along with his backing singer, Timothy Blanchet with the spidercam moving outwards, exposing (once again) the whole stage and the people in front of it. During the second line of the horn section of the chorus, we cut to camera shots that are out of focus though what the audience can see is the figure of Josh dancing on the stage amongst the colours around him which were certainly popping against the black backdrop.



During this section of the song and similarly to his song, "Mine" at the 59th World Hit Festival, Josh Morris addresses his relationship with drinking here and how helps him cope in situations that he feels uncomfortable. As we went to this part of the song, abstract diagrams and whatnot start to appear on the back LED backdrop on either side of Josh Morris who stayed in the middle, on his platform. As he sang the line "sea of semi-consciousness", a huge was shown on the LED screens behind him and onto the LED floor too, with there also on-screen effects to make it look as though the water was spilling out from the stage. Josh was plunged into blue light as he continued singing the rest of the verse. As the orchestral elements came back into the song, Josh almost rapped the last part of that song, swaying from side to side every along to the song with there being a mixture of shots from further away and close up. We then went into another pre-chorus, with a spotlight focusing on Josh as he sang the rest of this section of the song with the light panels on the podium interacting with the song. At 01:39 in the linked music video, the sound that you could hear in the background (like an eclectic drumkit being hit in quick succession), the screen in the background flashed white to the pace of this with it making it look like Josh was moving in slow motion.



When moving into the bridge section of the song the colours surrounding the stage go, leaving the stage quite desolate and monochrome. The separate LED strips which lines the edges of the stage turn to a bright white was one could see from all corners of the arena. Alongside this, the low flying fog starts to fill the bottom of the stage with Josh standing in the middle with a singular spotlight on him. While most of the performance was quite moody anyway, this gave off a different vibe - one that was much colder, and with Josh not having colours to join him on stage, it made him look even more lonely than he already was. As the stage pieces except for the one that he standing on were in the darkness, those were moved to different parts of the stage. During this section, the LED screens turned once again, with the lighting rig being exposed though it was kept off until Josh started singing about "The nightmares that haunt me" once again, along with the twinkling of the music heard on the track, the lights mimicked that - with a similar effect to the one done at the start of the performance.With the different set pieces now moved to different corners of the stage, they both had people who were on them, with Josh being joined on stage by Timothy - one of his backing singers - and another backing singer, Jordan Barker, who was copying the movements of Timothy on his stage piece. They were all dancing very differently from one another, with the camera quickly cutting between the three of them while the last few bars of the line were being played.



And that was it! Britonisea's contribution to the 100th WorldVision Song Contest was over and done with. Josh was quite happy with his performance and thought that it kept up the expectations that people had with Britonish entries, especially over the past few decades. While it is extremely rare to win back to back, Josh thought that he had done what it takes to do very well at the Contest. While he didn't have the chance to perform live at the Semi-Final, luckily for Josh he had a lot of experience performing in front of people - interestingly, the capacity for the 100th WorldVision Song Contest is a tad smaller than the Vha Mehlodhivestoile Grand Final's, but Josh felt much more nervous in Kalosia, since he knew that he would have to try and win over an audience who did not actually know who he was. He raised his hands in the air and waved emphatically, "Thank you all so much for this opportunity!" he jumped in the air slightly before walking off the stage as the preparations for Pemecutan began.

Beatbox Sunset is made up of Carl the lead singer and Fanny, Sophie, Bard and Hunnulv the backing vocalists. One of the youngest groups in Crustyland aged between 19 and 20 only and have been making waves with their wacky music. Beatbox Sunset is celebrating life, individuality and diversity through partying, dancing and drinking a lot of champagne.

Forget everything about nowadays problems and worries, put a smile on your face and get ready to party. Those are the headlines for Beatbox Sunsets' new song which will be Crustyland's next entrant. "Its time to go Insane is a mix of modern pop and oriental music.

With a highly varied history Crustyland had always been a how should we put it, an interesting country at Worldvison, with their not-so-fortunate acts involving semi-aquatic sea mammals to a notable electric power pop song that actually reached the top 10 of this scoreboard. With Crustyland declaring their participation in Monterra for the centenary of Worldvision it was time to mash these two "genres" together with a dose of wackiness in a fun cheesy song. With a noticeable better budget Crustyland could afford to push themselves to do better and they really hoped this anthem could do well for them!

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KEY

Carl
Everyone
Fanny, Sophie, Bard and Hunnulv

The arena cheers as the postcard end. We have a view of the dark stage. The backing vocalists' voices resonate out across the arena loudly to huge cheers acoustically before the beat starts. The camera does a clockwise spin as cold blue spotlights light up Carl centre stage. The stage is dimly lit in a white light mixed with some blue tones. Each member of the group is wearing the same clothes as in the picture above. The group all stand just behind Carl in a line and all bop as the camera zooms into a facial shot of Carl before pulling outwards slightly and then begins to swing left to right capturing the whole group. The back LED's remain black. Everyone on stage is bubbly and happy and animated. The camera cuts to a shot of her group behind while they the last line proudly.

It's time to go insane!

It's Saturday night,
Times right to give you a call
I pick you up
Went to the dance hall
It's time to go insane!

As they sing the last 3 lines the spider camera begins to pull outwards from the stage and all the spotlights start strobing white. The individual screens that make up the huge LED at the back also begin to strobe streaks of white. As the camera pulls out we notice dozens of large inflatable coloured beach balls have started to drop from the ceiling into the audience. The audience who are already pumped and cheering, start to bat the beachballs around the crowd.

Open the door, get on the floor
It's time to dance the night away
Let's party the night away
It's time to go insane!
Ohhh.... Ohhhh
It's time to go insane insane!
It's time to go insane insane!
It's time to go insane insane!

The camera quickly cuts to a facial shot of Carl and zooms back with force as the chorus springs into action and steam vents explode around the edges of the stage and the stage strobes white with bright white flashing lights everywhere. The backing vocalists have now picked up a trumpet on the floor in front of them and begin miming playing. The audience bounces the beach balls up into the air adding to the party vibes! We cut to various shots of the excited audience in the arena with people with huge grins and people swinging their arms upwards dancing to the beat. We then have a few shots of the trumpet players as we see carl interact with the audience running right to left across the stage.

It's time to go insane!
It's time to go insane!
It's time to go insane!

The strobe lights settle again for the next verse and the stage is relatively calm. The backing group places their trumpets down by their side as they support carl again. Every person on stage remains animated and groves to the music. The camera pans sideways to Carl's left, the stage is bathed in a soft blue and Carl is lit in a white spotlight. The camera cuts to Carl as he sings "Tonight you found your dancin' shoes" he sings with a loveable expression. The camera quickly cuts to the group as they sing "It's time to go insane!" in harmony and raise one of their arms into the air. We then cut back to Carl who is bopping away. He follows the on-stage camera from his left to right as its pans. We cut back into the group again as they all sing "Cause it makes me feel so right!" loudly.

It's Saturday night
The lights are shining on you
Tonight you found your dancin' shoes
We'll rock and roll
It's time to go insane!
Dance the night away
Let's party tonight!
I wanna hold you tight
All through the night,
Cause it makes me feel so right!

The white lights start to build as the camera rolls in from the back of the hall rushing over the heads of the audience towards the brightly lit stage. The beach balls are still travelling about bouncing up and down as the group backing vocals ring out behind Carls's lines. We then transition to a quick view of some of the audience members from Crustyland who are smiling and nodding their heads. From there the view is now back onto Carl surrounded by his backing group who are now all standing at the front of the stage almost on the edge. The lights begin to flash quickly like lightning in clouds during a storm as the chorus and excitement build.

Ohhh...Ohhhh
I wanna spin you around,
And take you down
Rock this hall to the ground.

The camera quickly cuts to a facial shot of Carl and zooms back with force centring on the middle of the stage as the chorus springs into action and steam vents explode around the edges of the stage again. The stage strobes white and spotlights whirl around the arena. The atmosphere is insane and everyone in the arena is having the time of their lives as Crusyyland brings a dance anthem to the stage. The camera view is eccentric and dances around the hall. The arena reverberates with the beat. The backing vocalists have now all picked up a trumpet and began miming playing again.

It's time to go insane!
It's time to go insane!
It's time to go insane!

The beat dims and the bass increases. Carls's voice is slightly autotuned for this part of the song. He sings with style with one hand placed on his left hip.
Not on carl but the whole band claps and engages with the crowd causing a huge cheer as the chorus builds up again!

Grab the beers and grab the gin
Dance and find the spark within
Rock this hall to the ground!
It's time to go insane
Ohhhh!
It's time to go insane insane!
It's time to go insane insane!
It's time to go insane insane!
Monterra go insane insane insane!

This time, more performers join the dance to create a rehearsed and choreographed dance troupe on stage to ignite the contest into life with light, steam vents and sparkles. Silver glitter then fell from the roof creating a sort of shower, amongst the steam vents whilst everyone generally just danced and ground and had fun. The beachballs danced around the crowd. It was a scene of pure hedonism, and unadulterated pleasure, yet everyone continued to sing perfectly. The cameras gave multiple perspectives of the choreography unfolding on the stage in front of millions. Now everyone was dancing along to the enormous boom of the beat, and Carl played up to this, hyping up the audience. He and his group manage to carry out a clapping rhythm with everyone inside, and the camera swings around the arena showing the whole impressive stage and audience.

It's time to go insane!
It's time to go insane!
It's time to go insane!
Ohhh... Ohhhh... Ohh
It's time to go insane!
Ohhh... Ohhhh... Ohh
It's time to go insane!!

And with that the crowd roared again, one of the loudest cheers so far in what was a credible entry! This song had rocked the hall! "Thank you so much Worldvision!" the group exclaimed loudly! They then left the stage for the song.

18 Norrp

Official Broadcaster: NORRP-PTV
Song Title: Midnight
Artist(s) Name(s): Azka Luca
Tune: Supermodel Måneskin

Azka Luca is a boy band group from Flaledo.


The boy band consists of Sander Helmers-Olsen , Alexander Instoy, Michael Landruit and Eric Tryland. Until March 6, 2017, Laurent Kelmendi was a member of the group. On March 14, 2017, Eric Tryland became a new member of the group.

The band began to be active in 2014. They are signed by the record company The Tune Park. The boy band sings Pop Rock music. They have two albums - We Are Who We Are & Lost Right Here EP, and have released a total of 20 songs.

They are the first pop rock band to sing for Norrp in the Worldvision. Norrp has not had a good run in the contest and hopes to change that.

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The song starts with the four group members spread across the stage, with the LED screen showing a clock behind them, the clock is counting down to zero, with each tick matching the ticking of the song. The camera starts from the back of the stadium and moves into the stage as the clock gets closer to zero, when it does hit zero one of the members is illuminated by an overhead spotlight. He sings into the first verse into the camera. We thern cut the rest of the band scattered around the stage , Sander Helmers-Olsen on drums centre back, Michael Landruit on electric guitar and Eric Tryland on bass .The lights will flash to the beat of the music.

WORLDVISION!
All alone, I tossed a long lonely night
Alone in my bed couldn't see the light yet
And I couldn't get you couldn't get you
Out of my head
My midnight miracle
Ahh
All night long I dreamt of you
And all the things we did
The way I was so strong
Then I'd come to you
I'd know what to do

The lights stopped strobing, showing Alexander in his spotlight and the rest of the stage in half-light. A deep red starts to flow around the stage and some lights shine red. Alexander started to move around the stage, singing to the front row of the audience, picking out certain members at random and singing at them.

Can you resist my charms
How long?
Can I stay out of your arms
How long?
Can this thing grow
How long can I burn down below
My midnight miracle!

For the chorus the lights started strobing again, as Alex and the band now started to properly rock out, all jumping up and down like lunatics, getting the crowd going. The guitarist and bassist are both seen jumping to the beat as well, and the drummer can be seen moving his head back and forth.The background LED shows a spinning clock that stops at midnight as the chorus ends.

Will make it all come true
My midnight miracle is waiting for you
My midnight miracle will show you what to do
The midnight miracle is waiting for you

The camera enters the stage and follows Alex about again. He looks very chilled. The drums build and the camera shows us a shot of the hall. Michael moves closer to Alex and bends slightly and plays his guitar to him. He smiles!

When you are here I just grow
You know what I mean
When you are here
I know that you
Like Jack's magic bean
You make my love grow
My midnight miracle

The camera moves left to right over the lively crowd and we see the stage which is still white and red. Spotlights shines into the crowds! This was a anthemic rock song and the crowd love it. Alex sings to the camera as it comes back up to him.

You fill
All my waking hours
You fill
My dreams with scent of perfumes
When you are here I just grow
You know what I mean
When you are here...

As the final chorus begins, the cameras begin panning the stage, and the audiences enjoying the performance and singing along as the words for the chorus are shown on the background, at different angles, in different colours and made to look like they are made of broken glass. As the strobe lights reached a climax, the white appeared to beat out the red, and while the white strobes continued at breakneck speed, the red LEDs "bled" out of the stage via the peninsula of the stage.

My midnight miracle
Will make it all come true
My midnight miracle is waiting for you
My midnight miracle will show you what to do
The midnight miracle is waiting for you

---

Tune: vincent gross - "wer schön sein will muss lachen"

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[In spoken word:]

This song is for all the nations past and present, I love you all so much.  I really mean it...

It's Friday evening,  I got my big wine glass
I got the music that you give me, coz it makes me want to dance
Ertzei brings the party, Beepee brings the shtick
I can't wait to see just what song Aenglide is going to pick

And you probably think I'm making all these crazy stories up
But I can't lie I just love to play all your songs so loud and bop

WorldVision makes me happy
I love sing along
Those lyrics that you write
They've got me hooked - hey don't you see

WorldVision makes me happy
The worst of the worst is great
I wouldn't ever change it
Even puppets make me laugh

Hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahahaha

It's not karaoke, it's much more than that
I just turn on an Achaean song whenever I feel sad
I love songs from Cary, hear that orchestra
Even Waisnor knows those Russian songs that lift my broken heart

And you probably think I'm making all these crazy stories up
But I can't lie I just love to play all your songs so loud and bop

WorldVision makes me happy
I love sing along
Those lyrics that you write
They've got me hooked - hey don't you see

WorldVision makes me happy
The worst of the worst is great
I wouldn't ever change it
Even puppets make me laugh
Hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahahaha

Hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahahaha

WorldVision makes me happy
I love sing along
Those lyrics that you write
They've got me hooked - hey don't you see

WorldVision makes me happy
The worst of the worst is great
I wouldn't ever change it
Even puppets make me laugh

(Worldvision makes me happy)

WorldVision makes me happy
I love sing along
Those lyrics that you write
They've got me hooked - hey don't you see

WorldVision makes me happy
Even the worst of the worst is great
I wouldn't ever change it
Even puppets make me laugh

Hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahahaha

Puppets make me laugh

Hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahahaha

[In spoken words]

Hey hey, you're the most amazing folks. Never change! Stay awesome and you forever... Know that I love you!

20. Ikslund
Song: Kiss My Ass!
Artist(s): Elektra Stryke and Bernadette Ainsdoter
Lyrics: Emily Brown and Jans Fennen
Music: Elektra Stryke, Emily Brown, Lira Wassan

The dark stage was shorn was dark and quiet as the opening bombastic notes of the song began.

Kiss my ass!

Then two voices came up and the stage blew up with light, two women surrounded by a cadre of shirtless men in bowties and sparkly pants and suspenders, dancing to the beat.

Bernadette Ainsdoter began the song with her verse as Elektra danced next to her, as flashy and trashy as any low-rent drag queen pop girl from Ikslund would be expected to be.

I looked up “bad bitch” online
My pic’s in front of the line
A sexy bundle of sass
So what? Kiss my ass!

The dancers began dancing around the two with jazz hands as Elektra went into her verse and Bernadette sexily shuffled next to her, replete in a rhinestone-studded hot pink Juicy Couture tracksuit with a plunging neckline that revealed a really wrinkled peek at cleavage worn down by a century.

They’re talkin’, we'll make them stop
We’re makin’ jaws drop
Stilettos clacking you step
And I'll make his head throb

With the next verse, several the dancing men picked up Bernadette and held her aloft with her laying on her side, handed an old fashion opium pipe. On the other side of the stage, Elektra was grinding with several men and sucking on a vape pen.

I'm smokin' all that you got
I’m tougher than you thought
I may be a senior, so what?
Kiss my ass!

At the conclusion of the above verse, the two women took a big drag of their respective devices, as did all of the dangers bring out fake glowing cigarette, pulling deep. They then all let out a big breath, arcing their heads as smoke billowed out. From the sides and above the stage on that cue, smoke began billowing onto the stage and the lights went out to reveal everyone was wearing glow-in-the-dark neon clothes and makeup. The lasers also began at this time, making an impressive lightshow as they entered a dance breakdown.

I’m feeling down to par-tay
I shake it all the way
I’ll unscrew your lid and then you’ll spray

At the line "spray", four men from each side of the stage came running out with a hose and began spraying shimmering foam into the audience as the lights began turning colors and flashing on and off.

Kiss my ass!
So what? Kiss my ass!
So what? Kiss my ass! (Ass, ass, ass)
So what? Kiss my ass!

There is more gyrating, people are screaming. Probably from the excitement and not chemical burns from the foam.

I always makin’ pants drop
He’s feeling hard as rock
I’m getting ready to go get some, get some
He’s harder than hard
Sudoku crossword all star
Revved engine race car
So what? Kiss my ass!

Several poles descend from the ceiling and aerialist pole dancers slide down and begin flipping up and down and switching poles and shaking everything. Tastefully of course.

I’m feeling down to par-tay
I shake it all the way
I’ll unscrew your lid and then you’ll spray

More foam is sprayed!

Kiss my ass!

The dancers gyrate in the background and do a bunch of complex and underappreciated choreography as Elektra and Bernadette grind at the front of the stage. Well, Elektra grinds on Bernadette as the centenarian slowly, slooooowwwwly twerks - sexily, and also hip-safe.

I can feel 'em starin'
Jealous bitches glarin’
I just drop it down low
So what? Kiss my ass!
Yeah, we've got 'em talkin’
All these hoes are walkin'
I got their guys runnin'
They what? Kiss my ass!
Ass, ass, ass, ass
So what? Kiss my ass

The lights turn off again for the breakdown, the neon and black landscape coming back - and look, the foam glows too! How fun and totally not a pain to clean up for the event staff and audience.

I’m feeling down to par-tay
I shake it all the way
I’ll unscrew your lid and then you’ll spray-y-y-y

Kiss my ass!
So what? Kiss my ass!
So what? Kiss my ass!

Kiss my ass!
Kiss my ass!
Kiss my ass!
So what? Kiss my ass!
Kiss my ass!
Kiss my ass!
Kiss my ass!
So what? Kiss my ass!
Ass, ass, ass, ass
Kiss my ass!

The crowd is screaming, crying, throwing up. Quite a few people are foaming at the mouth and very red. Again, probably from excitement over the killer performance and not the probably-non-toxic foam all over them.

Unlike several of Scotatrova's past WorldVision acts, Areceli didn't have much musical background growing up. Born and raised in a small town just 30 minutes outside of Zanandea, Elejalde, Areceli's family owned a small farmhouse and sizeable area of land. It was here that Areceli would first experience music, as her father would often play several folktunes on his guitar. Areceli would often spend most of her time helping out around the farm, and didn't have it quite as easy as someone living in the city would. The days were often hard and long, and the nights her dad would play the guitar would be some of the times she would get to relax and be herself. As she got older, she would develop an interest in music herself, wanting to play the piano. But not long after she turned 16, her mother had become sick. The time that she would set aside to be able to practice became used to take care of her mother while her father tended the farm. Areceli would nurse her mother back to health, but by the time she did she was out of secondary school and was getting ready to head to university. As she pursued her degree, her interest for music was shelved. Often times between classes, Areceli would write down lyrics and verses that came to mind throughout the day. While she never officially did anything with them, she would keep a whole notebook that was dedicated to songwriting.

One day on her way home from campus, she had heard that auditions were being held to choose the state of Elejalde's representative for Ereide eu le Cançe Scotatrofine 2022, the winner of which would represent Scotatrova at the WorldVision Song Contest's centennial edition. Her friends encouraged her, saying that the lyrics she had written down in her journal were good, but Areceli scoffed at the idea. There's no way that she would be chosen out of the hundreds if not thousands of applicants who would be vying for the same thing. But, hesitantly, Areceli agreed, and submitted some lyrics she wrote for ECS 2022. After submitting, Areceli forgot about the whole thing as she would become swamped with midterms. While doing some homework, she received a call one day from a representative of SSTR. They called to let her know that out of the thousands of applicants, Areceli was selected as the representative for the state of Elejalde. Immediately, Areceli was thrilled, and would then go on to work with a team to develop her entry for ECS 2022. Areceli never expected to actually be selected, but she was even more surprised once she qualified to the final. Sitting in the room with the other 10 delegations as the final results came in was such a roller coaster for her. Topping out the jury vote and then watching as the televote results came in gave her the utmost anxiety. It was announced that Elejalde had won the televote on top of the jury vote and was the winner. Areceli sat on that couch speechless as her team was celebrating and she was being congratulated. Being in Monterra getting ready to perform her song not only as a representative of her country, but also during the contest's 100th edition all felt surreal to Areceli. However, she was here to prove to everyone else what she proved on the ECS stage, that she deserves to be here.

---

With the conclusion of the postcard, the camera slowly starts to pan in on the stage. Areceli comes into view, her right hand on her hip and the microphone in her free hand. Her hair is wet and slicked back, and she has on a full black bodysuit. Around the stage is full of flame, dim but no less abundant. The flames help cast this reddish-orange hue all along the stage, and can be seen faintly reflecting off of Areceli's body suit, giving it a dark orange color. Areceli can be seen standing on some sort of circular platform, lifted not too high up from the stage floor. The LED screen behind her just displays a blank, black image. However in the top right corner of the screen, a pause button can be seen. A close up look at Araceli's face is shown as the song begins, with Areceli's opening harmonies signaling the beginning of the song. The close up camera view pans slowly from the left side of her face to the right. Areceli's eyes are closed, and she has smokey eye make up on, something that wasn't visible from that far away camera angle. A full angle of Areceli and the front of the stage are shown as the opening synth beats begin, with the pause icon in the top corner of the LED screen changing into a arrow icon, indicating play. The flames that burned around the stage go out and are replaced with overhead red lights.

It’s time to grow into something new
Going on my own
Sorry but you’re slowing me down
Slowing me down
It was cute, but now I’ve outgrown you
It’s been reaped and sewn
You won’t be seeing me around
Slowing me down

Something that keeps bubbling deep inside me
Right or wrong
Ah, but I can’t keep lying
Have to say it’s over
My head is chaos, chaos

Areceli opens her eyes as she begins singing. The platform that she's on begins moving in a circular motion at a slow enough pace that Areceli can walk in place and continue her performance. At first, the platform moves slow enough that Areceli stands in place for a couple seconds as she makes her way around the platform, with the camera slowly following her. The camera gets close enough that it's practically in Areceli's face, and as the platform continues to slightly speed up, Areceli makes eye contact with the camera while singing, not focusing at all on walking on the platform. At a certain point, the speed levels out and doesn't continue to increase. Areceli walks as if on a treadmill, smooth and with no worry about keeping up. She continues to perform to the camera as the red lights around the stage start to strobe synchronously. The flames that were all around the stage also start to reignite, this time in larger flames but more spread out instead of every single dull flame like before. The lighting of the red lights and flames project a unique blend of colors onto Areceli, with one half of her body being bathed in red light and the other in more orange tones, creative a beautiful reddish-orange canvas along the black body suit she has on.

I just want to love and
Lust, but you can’t love enough
Oh, we should hit rewind
Rewind, start anew
I already knew
But I kept up this whole charade
Oh, we should hit rewind
Rewind, start anew
Let’s rewind, start anew

I’m just trying to talk and make peace
We’re not fixable
And you just keep slowing me down
Slowing me down
I think you and I need a release
You’re invisible
I don’t know what to say to you
Slowing me down

Something that keeps bubbling deep inside me
Right or wrong
Ah, but I can’t keep lying
Have to say it’s over
My head is chaos, chaos

As soon as the chorus begins, the platform that Areceli is walking on begins to slow down and stops completely over the course of a few seconds. Areceli then positions herself the opposite way on the platform, and as she sings the line "Oh, we should hit rewind", the play button on the top corner of the LED screen changes into a rewind symbol. The platform then begins rotating in the opposite direction and Areceli looks at the camera and gives it a quick wink as she continues on the platform. The flames also ramp up in intensity and begin to shoot off intermittently as she progresses through the chorus. The flurry of orange color just bathes the stage, and mixes well with the overhead red lighting. Areceli turns around and begins walking backward on the platform, keeping her balance and holding out her free hand while she does so. Eventually the platform slows down once again and Areceli stops walking along it, letting it take her around in slow circles. While this happens, a camera gets a close up angle of Areceli and follows her on the platform as it goes in circles, with Areceli continuing to perform.

I just want to love
And lust, but you can’t love enough
Oh, we should hit rewind
Rewind, start anew
I already knew
But I kept up this whole charade
Oh, we should hit rewind
Rewind, start anew
Let’s rewind, start anew

A major breakthrough
I don’t know if I can do it
Oh, we should hit rewind
Rewind, start anew

As the platform continues to slow down, it stops entirely and Areceli jumps off as she begins singing the final chorus of the song. An overhead view of the stage is shown as Areceli makes her way from the platform to the front of the stage. After having performed on that restricting platform, now's the time when Areceli is able to truly perform. The flame jets around the stage once again erupt in intense strobes, and is accompanied by the overhead red lights also strobing. The stage is just engulfed in a flurry of warm colors, with the LED screen now displaying the final set of lyrics as Areceli sings them. Onstage, Areceli finds herself lost in the music and performance, dancing around onstage and clearly enjoying herself. As the final verse begins, the red lights overhead go off and the flame jets around the stage transition back to the dull flames that they were at the beginning of the peformance. Areceli turns her back toward the audience and begins singing over her shoulder as she starts the final verse. She bends her knees down for a quick second before shooting back up and turning back around again as she sings the final "Rewind, start anew". The whole stage goes black, and displayed in large white letters on the LED screen reads "REWIND". As the lights come back on and the audience erupts into applause, Areceli takes a quick bow and blows a kiss out to the audience. "Greixas! Mulde Greixas Monteír!"

Look at the news article above... Sure, it came from ABA's Opinion News, but you can say that the Alezian public is terribly unhappy with the latest stagnation in Alezia's Worldvision career. While earning 14-18th shouldn't be a massive issue, the problem is that Alezia had the Worldvision recipe since it's reunification and debut, earning top 10 since then and actually hosting the entire contest in the 93rd edition in Zafizamarrah's National Stadium, and surprisingly winning it the edition after in Marina Point, Nekoni.

But then, Alezia started placing outside of the top 10. 16th, 14th, 18th, and 18th. Used to getting proud of Alezia at Worldvision, the public is now angry at the ABA for its' lackluster song selection and talent finding. Initially, the Alezians' anger was controllable. But eventually, Alezia struck its' worst result, 23rd. Reacting to this, a protest was held by the public in front of all ABA regional headquarters and the ABASphere, calling for a change to Alezia's Worldvision results.

ABA then promised that they will try something from 101 to 105 (which end up becoming Operation:Worldvision), and to take the contest more seriously. They then said that for the 100th edition, the ABA has preselected Andi FM, Junior World Hit Festival Runner-up to represent the union for the edition.



Andi Faturazzi Makarina or more known for his stage name Andi FM is an Alezian singer, composer, lyricist as if I can do all of those lol, Indonesian poem reader, English storyteller and recently this year, a newly accepted University Student at the University of Zafizamarrah in the International Relations department through his satisfactory AUFX grades (1372 from 1600) and his recently earned reputation in the world stage. He was born in Pa'are'u, 20 kilometers out of Bucinnois, Pantabang Islands in 30th of January 2005. He's the youngest of three children. Growing up in a musical family, he always know music as a great source of motivation and learning. In 3rd grade or when he was 7 years old, he and his family moved from Pantabang Islands to North Alezia, specifically Kota Basna in the region of Basna. However, as his father entered retirement last year, the family returned to Pa'are'u.

Faturazzi has been singing since he was 4, making small performances in front of his family, although the voice quality isn't as refined as it is now, of course. He has been writing songs since he was 10, making super simple music once in a while, only to never finish it. He has tried musical instruments such as violin and the keyboard, however, it just never sticked with him even with his previous experience on learning the violin in Junior High School. However, he does have the ability to play the recorder.

Previously, Faturazzi's singing experience was only heard by people near him and at his school. However, back in July last year, he was contacted by ABA Bucinnois to represent the Alezian Union at the 9th Junior World Hit Festival in Mellaleuca, Northern Beepee with a song he wrote with a friend titled "Harapanku". While public opinion towards him at the time was still low as he is still a new singer (some even predict him to place last, but this didn't affect him), he eventually surprised the nation as he nearly won the competition, earning second just behind Achaean Republic's Cuarto 315 with their song "Vuelve Temprano"

His experience of competing internationally caught ABA's attention after receiving massive backlash from the Alezian people over the past poor results in Worldvision. And thus, ABA contacted Andi once again to represent the Alezian Union at the 100th Worldvision Song Contest. This decision in itself was also met with backlash from some members of the public suggesting that Andi was too young and/or too inexperienced to represent the union at the contest, but the ABA kept going on.



"So Why?" talks about someone who sung his heart about trying to accept that life can be harsh and for that he needs to find a way to atleast get out of it (moreso win) with a grandeur exit. It talks about a relationship that finds it hard to appreciate each other's attempt of keeping it together anymore, it talks about life that keeps on giving people problems.

In the song, the singer asks the listener to not give up facing these problems, instead, the listener must face the problem with full determination and to enjoy life instead of lamenting about it. That way, perhaps one day the listener will look at the past with a smiling face, knowing that the problem has been solved and will never haunt their mind anymore.

It was said in an interview with the ABA's Good Morning Alezia that Andi wrote the song partly due to his frustration trying to find a University before the AUFX score came out. At the time, he felt betrayed by the system thinking that his Junior World Hit Festival second place that brought Alezia's reputation as a formidable singing country up meant nothing to the Education Ministry.

The song also made reference to the possibility of Alezia not qualifying into the Grand Final of the Worldvision Song Contest and to tell the nation not to worry about it too much through "I’d rather sip my coffee, I’d rather sing on the stage, At this stage, I write songs and present it to the whole wide world, Whether I qualify to sing is in another chapter". Andi tried to support both sides saying that Alezia should fix the music industry so it can be Worldvision ready, while also saying that the public should not panic too much as it would actually be counterproductive.





(The stage readies for Andi FM on the stage, the camera shows the whole stage with audience flying flags of various countries. The number and country started showing up on the bottom left in a bit of transparent style. Andi was standing on the stage's island behind a standing mic with Halim Dannasnayir, an Alezian guitarist sitting behind. The camera started viewing a close up of Halim strumming his guitar, starting the song. The camera then moved from behind to show Andi on the island with the audience around him. At the 10th second, Andi took a breath and started to sing)



(The camera view changes to show both Andi and Halim as Andi sung and Halim strung his guitar and hummed along with the song. The camera then zoomed in at the third sentence, as Andi pointed towards the camera at the last sentence.)



(The camera view changes to show the scene from behind as Andi sung where the audience waved their flags slowly to the beat.)



(The camera then shows a close-up of Halim again with him strumming his guitar to the beat for the instrumental. When the drum beats were added, the stage started showing lines of yellow waving up and down the stage before being "transferred" into the island. Second before the instrumental end, the camera views Andi singing from the left side)



(The view then changes to a 360 degree rotation showing the performance from all sides of the island, before it finally stops facing Andi at the front when he sung the last sentence, and then facing upwards to the ceiling, which is met with an applause from the audience.)



(The camera view transitioned with a slow fade and changes to show the scene from behind as Andi sung where the audience waved their flags slowly to the beat. From the third sentence, the screen at the back shows the words "Honesty is all I want, For what we wait, Just answer me, so why?" like how it was shown on the music video (watch it to find what I meant). )



(The camera changes its view from behind recording the performance from the ceiling. The third sentence changes the camera's view to show a zoom-in of Andi singing to his best)



(As the zoom-in happen, it stopped at the first sentence, before continuing with an added special effect of the word "OH" spinning around Andi. The special effect faded away as Andi let out a small laugh before he faced the audience and snapping his finger prompting the camera and stage to quickly dim down for a quick second, met with another applause.)



(The stage was turned on again, where television viewers can see a closeup of Andi and Halim from a steadicam. As Andi took the mic from it's stand, The steadicam walked behind Andi and followed Andi as he walked around the island stage. Behind him can be seen audiences waving flags of various countries, most particularly Alezians who tried to wave their flag higher than the others and showing banners that has "#SaveAlezia", "Retake our Reputation!", and "Go Andi!" written in most of them.



(Andi jumped on the spot for a second, before looking at the steadicam gesturing his right hand as he's drinking a cup of coffee (with the pinky finger out too), then he looked at the audience and spread his audience outward as the stage lights lighted up outwards.)



(Andi walked around again as he looked at the steadicam camera holding on to the microphone, at the second sentence, stopped a bit and flicked his right hand away from him (not literally). At the third sentence, Andi still stopped, then walked away back to the stand to put the microphone back to its' stand)



(The stage dims again, showing only one overhead light over Andi as a ceiling camera zoomed in slowly. As he finished the second sentence, Andi happily spun for a while)


(The camera then showed the entire stage as fireworks started to fall from the ceiling.)


(The screen then got filled with rotating words of "So Why?" as the camera flew around the stage, with more audience with flags and banners from various countries was waved, the camera then returned back to show a close-up of Andi, before fading into a black screen with "So Why?" in a white writing with a blue glow around it.)



(Then the silence was broken as Andi raised both of his hands and with the shout the audience, sung the last bit of the song, the camera then shows Halim strumming the last few bits of the song before it stops. The camera then quickly zoomed out to record the great reception at the venue. Halim then walked towards Andi and shook his hand before both bowed in unison. After that, Andi shouted "Thank you, Kalosia! Thank you, Worldvision!". Both left the island stage and returned to backstage for the preparation of the next song.)