WHF67|Playa de Rocas, Elejamie - DRAFT THREAD CLOSED

by **Elejamie** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 4:01 pm

OOC THREAD – IC THREAD – NECESSARY INFO - PREVIOUS CONTEST

Your WHF67 Schedule (warning, may be subject to change):

Sign-ups Close: 30th October, 23:59 GMT
Draft Thread Close:13th November, 23:59 GMT (+ 24 hour grace period)
Voting Period: 15th November - 19th November
Winner Known By: Me. No, wait, 25th November

N.B. Dates have changed according to this post

Welcome to the Draft Thread of the 67th World Hit Festival! This will be the place where nations will work and post on their entry that I (your gracious host) will then eventually transfer to the IC thread once it opens. The final deadline for posting entries will be 6th November at 23:59 GMT/6:59 EST, followed by the Live Allocation Draw and then the 24 hour grace period, which people can use to touch up their entries (i.e. fix typos, correct any grammar, unbreak ~~my heart~~ the thread). The IC thread will be up soon after and, once the grace period is over, that'll be it, you can't edit your entries any further.

For this thread, you can use any format that you wish when posting your entry. The only things that will change as it is transferred to the IC thread will be the header (which will act as a link to your postcard and will be located at the top of your entry) as well as the text being aligned to the centre for uniformity's sake. I might make very minute edits after that (more often than not adding your actual number) but they'll probably be at the end and they'll probably reflect what's going on, such as crowd reactions.

Please leave translations at the end of your post under a single spoiler.
If you are currently working on an entry, please put "Work-in-Progress" or "WIP" at the top, in the title or as the name of the spoiler with the entry inside. That way, I know what's complete and what isn't.

As written by Kalosia for WHF26: The host (Elejamie in this case) reserves the right to make alterations to your RP when copying it over to the IC thread. However, these alterations will be limited to cleaning up the formatting as well as adding (not deleting) RP regarding the situation in the arena (i.e. how the audience reacted). Substantial/major alterations will not be made without written permission, and any further changes to an entry within the IC thread will only be done upon written request by the user behind it, and with host discretion.[/align]

What is a Complete Entry?: Following the end of WHF66, the Overseer has brought in some new rules so the definition of a "complete entry" has changed. Meaning that, on top of the complete set of lyrics, you'll also have to include a little bit of background info and a bit of stage directions. You don't have to go overboard, even though that would probably help you, just a little bit of info about who they are, why they're here and what they're doing on stage. Especially since time can be a real pain, even more so when everything and everyone seems to want you for one reason or another. However, entries that are an incomplete set of lyrics, just the header or are considered too low-effort by myself and/or the Overseer or inappropriate for the WHF will sadly not be transferred.

Speaking of which below is the header, which is essentially a template used by Euskirribakondara and Normany and Picardy, for you to put all the information about your entry. Things like artist and song names, any translations if it's not in English and transcriptions if it's not in the Latin alphabet, who wrote the music and who wrote the words, what language it'll be performed in and what real-life song it uses as a base. As helpful as it is, you don't have to use it here in this draft thread. If you do want to use one, the header code is below.

Code: Select all: [box][b][size=200][color=#000080]XX. Country[/color] [color=#0080FF]"Song Title" - Artist[/color][/size][/b] [b]Title Transcription:[/b] (If any, eliminate this line otherwise) [b]Title Translation:[/b] (If any, eliminate this line otherwise) [b]Language(s):[/b] Language(s) of the lyrics of the song [color=#404040][b]Lyrics:[/b] IC songwriters [b]Music:[/b] IC song composers [b]Tune:[/b] Add the link to your tune here[/color] [b]Trigramme:[/b][/box]

And the rest:

Once this thread opens, there'll be alerts to it on the OOC thread and on the Discord so everyone should be able to reserve a spot here and start working on their tunes whenever they can.
A week from now (30th October), when the sign-ups close, there'll be a message sent to people who have signed up but not posted here letting them know we're open and they can start posting.
If there's 24-72 hours left before the draft thread closes and your entry hasn't met the entry standards, either myself (the host) or Normandy and Picardy will contact you with what you need to do to get to that level.
If you need any help or even some more time, again, don't be afraid to contact us and we'll see what we can do to help.
If you need any help with camera angles, here is a quick handy dandy guide to help you out. Certainly saves writing "pan" more times than a bread addict.
Although Elejamie is a primarily Anglophone country, the contest will take place in a primarily Spanish-speaking part of the country. As such, this Spanish phrasebook from a time when the Achaean Republic hosted should help you get around.
As mentioned under the "El escenario" section of the OOC thread, there is no screen at the back of the stage but rather an array of lights. There are some portable screens that can be wheeled in (five of them, each being 1m long and 3m tall) that can be used instead. Please keep this in mind while you write your entry.

WORLD! START POSTING NOW!

by **Illdonya** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 7:21 pm

by **Aenglide** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 8:33 pm

XX. Aenglide
"Time" - blujaket
Language(s): English
Lyrics: Hara Vridmann
Music: blujaket, David Elmer, Markus Harler
Tune: Ride - Kaleidoscope
Trigramme: AED

The 66th World Hit Festival was the previous edition of the World Hit Festival in Valletta, the capital of Malta Comino Gozo. It was an orchestral edition, and it saw Aenglide’s Ella Kristjanssen and her song “Set Me Free” achieve 13th place out of twenty entries. So far, it is Aenglide’s worst entry in terms of both placement and score, but the bar isn’t really that high at all, since more entries participated in the 66th edition compared to the 63rd edition where Aenglide debuted, and Aenglide has only participated twice in the contest so far. Since then, the Aenglish national broadcaster ÆTV has returned to World Hit Festival 66 as Elejamie was announced as the winner of WHF66 and host of WHF67, and have wanted to support the country by making an appearance after their recent shift away from other musical contests.

The band blujaket. From left to right, Markus Harler, Hara Vridmann, David Elmer

For the 66th World Hit Festival, ÆTV has internally selected the band blujaket, an Aenglish-Elejamian shoegaze band that was formed in Akjefuldin by childhood friends Hara Vridmann and Markus Harler, vocalist and guitarist respectively. The band has pre-existing links to Elejamie, as they moved to the Elejamian city of Avon because the band felt isolated from the prominent shoegaze scene that was formed in Elejamie. While living in Avon, they managed to get an Elejamian person to join the band, David Elmer, the band’s current drummer. While in Elejamie they were able to collaborate with Hasmat, another Elejamian shoegaze band who performed at the 98th Worldvision Song Contest in Keterig, Aenglide. Hasmat and blujaket, along with other smaller dream pop/new wave/shoegaze bands, have done tours around Elejamie, as well as a big show in Keterig, the capital of Aenglide. Since then, they have moved back to Akjefuldin, along with David, to continue creating music.

Cover for “Time”

Playa de Rocas is the host city of the 67th World Hit Festival. Through some of the band tours they did, they occasionally went to Playa de Rocas, so the band is actually no stranger to the city. They have visited the city before, and have learnt a handful of words and common phrases in Spanish from their tours around the Nuevo Paraíso area. Some places in Playa de Rocas are places that they have already visited in the past, but there was still a lot more to see. As they were spending their time only in Playa de Rocas, they had the chance to go around the entire city. A lot of the band’s time was spent in the bustling centre and old village of Playa de Rocas, where a lot of historic streets and much of the city’s commerce exists. They also visited La Biblioteca Española, a grand library of remarkable design.

On the night of the World Hit Festival, blujaket are introduced onto the stage of the Centro de Convenciones de Nuevo Paraíso after the postcard ends. The lights in the arena illuminate the stage and reveals the band, with lead singer Hara Vridmann in the centre of the stage with the microphone stand. Markus Harler, the band’s guitarist behind Hara to his left, and David Elmer, the band’s drummer, who is also behind Hara on his right.

After the band was revealed on the stage, the music begins to play and the song has quite a fast beginning, as the cameras just manage to keep up with Markus Harler, who begins to play the guitar, which is quickly followed by a camera shot to David Elmer and the drum set, as he begins to play them. Shortly after, cameras turn towards singer Hara Vridmann, who begins to sing the first verse.

You are breaking all of these clocks now
Smashing it to pieces on the ground
To you, time means nothing at all
You just want all the clocks to fall

The song goes into the chorus. In this part, cameras show a mix of the general wide stage and the Elejamian audience for most of it, as well as short moments showing the band’s guitarist Markus Harler staring down at the stage floor while heavy guitar sounds are heard, two major characteristics for songs in the shoegaze genre, which includes the song Time.

You wanna go back to the past
But then you want time to go fast
The clocks end up falling behind
You struggle to make up your mind

The song goes into the second verse, and this verse contains lyrics which feature specific periods of time or events in history, like the sinking of the Titanic boat in 1912, or the beginning of humanity, estimated at about 200,000 years ago. The verse also has many camera shots, between general pans of the whole band on the stage, to individual shots of each of the band members in action, to more views of the stage watching the performance.

You’re taking time and taking it back late
And all of a sudden it’s nineteen-ninety-eight
Then time falls so far behind
We’re gonna witness the start of mankind
From the sinking Titanic
To the creation of planets
The blame leads back to you
You’re the reason time is screwed

Lastly, the song ends in the final chorus which is repeated twice, with the addition of one lyric, “You always end up changing the speed of time”, which did not feature in the first chorus. As the performance and song comes to a conclusion, cameras are pointed directly at guitarist Markus Harler, where he ends the song by strumming the guitar for the final note, which is given a reverb noise effect as the audio is turned down.

You wanna go back to the past
But then you want time to go fast
The clocks end up falling behind
You struggle to make up your mind
You always end up changing the speed of time
You wanna go back to the past
But then you want time to go fast
The blame leads back to you
You always end up changing the speed of time

The performance ends with stage lights pointed at all of the three members of blujaket, and the lead singer grabs his microphone and says “¡Gracias, Nuevo Paraíso! Thank you!” The lights in the venue are all dimmed down and blujaket and the instruments are taken off stage.

by **The Ice States** » Sun Oct 23, 2022 11:21 pm

RETCONNED!

XX. The Ice States
"Tie Your Deity Down" - James Brownsword
Language(s): English
Lyrics: James Brownsword
Music: James Brownsword
Tune: Queen - Tie Your Mother Down
Trigramme: TIS

The Ice States had already debuted in the 65th iteration, where the Ice military anthem "Warship and Ice" was performed. In this iteration of the WHF, the song performed would be "Tie Your Deity Down", composed by James Brownsword. It topped the Ice music charts for two weeks, becoming Brownsword's second number-one single in The Ice States, following his success with "The Free Waters" four years earlier.

Due to the song's promotion of the Order of Klyprer, it was therefore chosen to be performed at the 67th World Hit Festival. In the festival would perform Mick Wonders as bass guitarists, the Divine Scribe Theodore Lowney as drummer, and, of course, James Brownsword as guitarist and lead singer.

As the applause surrounding the stage ends, a gong was struck from behind. As Brownsword finished the guitar introduction, the spotlight shifted from the gong to Brownsword and his guitar. After hitting the gong again with his sledgehammer, Lowney got in front of the gong, and invited a round of applause...

Then Lowney got onto the drumset on stage when the song's characteristic riff began, backed by the bass playing of Wonders.

Ooh, pray!
Ooh, pray!

By now the applause completely finished, while the spotlight remained focused on Brownsword.

Get your Holy Book, take your other book
Get your fire, baby
Got my timing right, got my sacrifice done
It's gotta be tonight
My little sinning babe
Your Lord says you don't
And your priest says that you should
And I've seen all the sinning
There is no way you're gonna keep on sinning
Oh, no

Tie your deity down
Tie your deity down
Lock Ahtacaba out of doors
I don't need him nosing around
Tie your deity down
Tie your deity down
Give Him all your prayer tonight

By the time the next verse entered, the spotlight illuminated the drumset of Lowney, shortly before changing back to Brownsword.

"You're such a Satanist"
"Go get out of my church"
That's all I ever get from your
Your religious ties, in fact
I don't think I ever heard
A single little word of truth from those guys
But you know they are gonna die
At the hands of the Lord
I've got a sacrifice all done to put a stop to all that
Sinning and cursing going on all day

Tie your deity down
Tie your deity down
Take your little pastor
Swimming with a brick, that's alright
Tie your deity down
Tie your deity down
Or you ain't no believer

Bad god
Ahtacaba and your deity
Are gonna plague you when you die
You can't understand it
I'm just a Klyprer's preacher

In the next chorus, the excited crowd began to sing along with Brownsword for the first two lines. Brownsword's duet with the audience produced likely the largest highlight of the performance...

Tie your deity down
Tie your deity down
Get that big, big, big, big, big
Big deity out the door
Tie your deity down
Yeah, tie your deity down
Give Him all your prayer tonight
All your prayer tonight

After the chorus ended, the spotlight was now completely shifted to Wonders, up until the final line...

Give Him every inch of your prayer
All your prayer tonight, yeah
Did I do my sacrifice right?
All your prayer
Always!

Almost as soon as the spotlight changed to illuminate Brownsword, however, the audience's applause became louder than Brownsword himself. With the spotlight once again shifting to the centre of downstage, the performing band arranged with Brownsword at the left, followed by Lowney at his right and then Wonders on the far-right.

After the band all bowed, the applause eventually calmed down, and Lowney gave a terse, closing speech to the audience.

"Thanks all, have a good rest of the evening, and give Klyprer all your prayer!"

The group then promptly exited the stage to be followed by the next participants in the festival...

by **Elejamie** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 3:48 pm

XX. Elejamie
"The Church" - Fernsehturm
Language(s): English
Lyrics: Stefan Kiszka, Ruslan Melnychenko
Music: Stefan Kiszka, Ruslan Melnychenko, Daniel Cárdenas
Tune: Einstürzende Neubauten - Feurio!
Trigramme: EJM

A behind-the-scenes pic of Fernsehturm taken during their appearance on a 2019 episode of The Live Music Show. From left to right: Stefan Kiszka (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, production), Daniel Cárdenas (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Ruslan Melnychenko (guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion, production, backing vocals)

Fernsehturm was formed in August 2000 by Stefan Kiszka (born July 30th, 1981) in Murgon, BNTT. Originally a producer for the power electronics duo IRMTR, he founded Fernsehturm as he wanted to perform something more rhythmic compared to the unrelenting brutality and harsh feedback of his original group. A couple of months after the band was formed he enlisted the help of his neighbour Ruslan Kostyantynovych Melnychenko (born 23rd January, 1986 in Mariupol, then Ukrainian SSR), a high school freshman who was also a bit of a guitar prodigy. While it wasn't originally the sort of music he had in mind as he was more of a metalhead, not only did he eventually grow a liking to this more aggressive form of music but he found out that his playing actually complimented Stefan's harsh noise really well. The only downside was that, as he was still in high-school, the two couldn't really perform live all that much and he was a bit on-and-off for the first few years (leaving the band altogether in his final year of high school). This wasn't a problem at first but, in 2001, IRMTR founder and vocalist Chris Fallon unexpectedly left the band following the release of their third self-titled EP, with Stefan disbanding the project after a couple of concerts in which he was the sole person on stage.

The duo would record their first album in 2002, which was self-titled and self-released but didn’t sell that well. A second album, titled Fernsehturm II, came the following year and sold a little bit better but wasn’t really flying off the shelves. The two releases, however, did end up getting them a bit of buzz in the underground and they signed for a minor record label in December. At the start of 2004 they hired a proper drummer in Jim Kirk (1980-2014), a high school friend of Stefan’s who had been in a few bands over the years. It was also around this point they became a lot less free-form and more refined, although they still had elements of harsh noise in their work. They would release their third album ODYN in June that year; while the band were still relative unknowns and little to no reviews of the album exist, they were able to get enough money out of it that they went on a small tour of northern Elejamie (namely cities in Burnett, Aventry, Autumnia and parts of Mittedorf and Wyken), making it the first time the band had performed outside of their state.

After a fairly successful tour, the trio then got to work on their next album (Budowa) which saw a number of changes from their earlier work. For a start Ruslan’s then-girlfriend, a local artist named Jen Kaufman, joined the band on bass to bring the trio up to four members. Secondly, it was the final album to include any elements of noise music, even though by that point all the noise was just made with their instruments instead of just being made with computers and keyboards. And thirdly it was the first album that used everyday objects, such as wooden planks being hit together for the title track and engine sounds for the song Construction. This change of pace ended up working quite well for them as not only did they get some reviews from more mainstream publications but they managed to sell a number of copies upon release in the Summer of 2006. This lead to a nationwide tour, even if they still performed in small clubs and as opening acts, although Jen would leave the band shortly after the end of the tour for reasons unknown.

After a year-long hiatus so that Jim and Ruslan could work on separate projects, the three re-united to get to work on their next album Curve. However, early in the album’s making, Jim left the band due to a number of family issues that meant he couldn’t concentrate on recording; he was only around long enough to provide drums for one song and a spattering of percussion on other tracks. Then, sometime later, Stefan and Ruslan had a falling out in which creative differences (Stefan wanted a return to the band’s old style while Ruslan wanted to carry on in the direction they were going)l something that turned out to be the breaking point of months of the two starting to not getting along, resulting in the latter leaving the band and the former essentially completing the album as a solo project. While he didn’t officially tour to support the album, he did play a number of concerts over the next few months with guest musicians (one of which ended up joining the band a few years later but more on him in a bit) before Kathleen Quinn, who was presenting as a male named Paul Holder at the time, stepped in to play drums full-time.

As a duo once more, they released the album Concept to some positive reviews and good sales, along with a live album called 09-09-09 (taken from a concert on that day). However, this line-up would be short-lived when in 2011 Ruslan managed to get back in touch with Stefan. The two made up and he went on to rejoin the band in time to work on their 2012 album, simply titled 2012. It was their best reviewed and best-selling album and, not only did they managed to go on a nationwide tour but they also played a few gigs in Talvezout that managed to get a good turn-out. Shortly after the tour came to an end in 2013 Kathleen left the band to pursue a solo career as well as begin her transition from male to female, although fortunately Daniel Ezequiel Simón Cárdenas Yavorskyi (born 29th December, 1977) managed to step in to replace her. It probably helped that he had played with Stefan as a touring musician when the band was pretty much him, so he at least has some knowledge of how everything works. With a new line-up, one that continues to this very day, the trio would go on to release their seventh album Time to some success. Unfortunately tragedy struck a few days after the album’s release when former drummer Jim Kirk was found dead after falling from his apartment balcony; no foul play was suspected and there were no drugs or alcohol in his system, although no note was found. The band’s 2016 album Granada, which took on a much darker tone, was dedicated to him.

After the resulting tour the band took a little break so that both Ruslan and Stefan could tend to family matters. However, they would return in November 2019 for their new album Sedona. While not as successful critically, it did sell a fair amount so it wasn’t all bad. However, they had to cancel their tour for the album, which would’ve also doubled as a 20th anniversary tour, due to the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore they went on a long hiatus as they were unable to get together to actually record, although all three member did get some paid volunteer work done so they could keep afloat and Daniel went on to release a solo self-titled album, so at least it wasn’t all bad. The hiatus also lasted throughout 2021, although in June that year their long-neglected first two albums were remastered and re-released so they weren’t completely absent (with Stefan and Ruslan crediting themselves this time instead of using the “Steve Kessler” and “Russ Milner” stage names they adopted around that time). The trio would finally re-unite on April Fools’ Day 2022 when they announced they’d be working on their newest album Mariupol, a concept album about the war in Ukraine and, indeed, named after Ruslan’s place of birth. It’s been hailed as the band’s best work and selling a good enough amount of copies for the band to have some sort of mainstream recognition, although whether or not they’ll be this well-known down the line will be anyone’s guess. Although given that The Church will be the Elejamian entry for the 67th World Hit Festival (being held all the way down in Playa de Rocas) and the 12 minute long instrumental outro Mariupol (The City That Weeps Tears of Blood) being used in a number of trailers, it’s fair to say that they might have a bit of staying power.

The last World Hit Festival saw Elejamie compete in it for the first time, following their departure from the WorldVision Song Contest. Granted, they sent a WorldVision song to the WHF, namely Since I Lost Him by Aurora Cassidy, but it was more to test the waters to see whether the contest would be a viable replacement or if they’d be in for a world of pain. It probably helped that the contest was held in Valletta, the capital of Malta Comino Gozo, so not only was it a country that Elejamians would be familiar with but also Aurora had lived in the country for a few years and had visited the city a number of times so she knew her way around the city. Furthermore, Since I Lost Him went on to finish fifth at the 82nd WorldVision Song Contest so it wasn’t like they were sending a complete dud. Either way, while hopes weren’t exactly high given the whole niche nature, everyone at the Collection of Regional Television Stations (or CRTS for short) were hoping for a good enough result to get them to consider staying on.

To say they did would be an understatement.

Aurora had a bit of a slow and sluggish start and was completely shut out by the first two countries to vote and only picked up a single point from the third. But then she went on to receive the maximum five points from Norrp as well as another solitary point from the Achaean Republic to make it to fourth place with 7 points by the quarter-way mark. After receiving no points from her own country for obvious reasons, a set of five from Carrelie and a brace of fours from Malta Comino Gozo as well as Normandy and Picardy eventually resulted in her moving up to second place and 20 points, just a point behind the hosts. After being blanked for three countries in a row, a five from the Alezian Union and a three from Kalosia gave her an uncomfortably steady lead by the three-quarter mark with 28 points, four ahead of the hosts. After being blanked twice more, she went on to get three from Ikslund, four from Rilamark and a fourth and final five from Moorland to finally grab the win on her country’s debut with 40 points, with MCG finishing second with 36 (although they had the lead going into the last set of points) and Moorland coming in third with 27 points. Pemecutan and Beepee rounded off the top five, each having 26 points. Furthermore, Elejamie were now the sixth country to win the World Hit Fesitval on their debut, which is still quite an impressive feat even if it’s been done before.

Completely blown away by this, as well as the fact that the infamous Monterra Screwjob had now been avenged, the country celebrated long into the night and when she returned home Aurora pretty much gave a free concert. And, after a series of messages with WHF Overseer Christine Périault, CRTS announced that the 67th edition of the contest will be brought to Elejamie. This lead to a number of subsidiaries bidding to host the contest. There were some good ones from Burnett TV for Murgon, Iyil Telefisi for Rosetta and the Wyken Regional Broadcasting Service for Davenport but it eventually went down to the Aventry Television for Coventry and Televisión Nuevo Paraíso for Playa de Rocas. After a lengthy vote, the latter was selected as host and, after the original choice of the Arena Ángeles turned it down due to them being a bit busy with the ENIHL, the second choice in the Centro de Convenciones de Nuevo Paraíso was chosen to actually hold the contest. Sure they’d have to make a few adjustments and changes but it’s still one thing that’s now out of the way.

Then came the rigmarole of actually trying to find an entry. On the one hand, they could go with something moderately normal, seeing as it is still the World HIT Festival and thus something chart-topping would probably be very representative. On the other hand, they could send something a bit more out of the norm, especially since as the reigning champions they could kind of afford it. And that’s not to mention how the World Hit Festival is apparently a bit more lenient towards more alternative forms of music compared to the WorldVision, although since they’ve only been in the one competition and it was a special orchestral edition it wasn’t something you could quote them on. After mulling it over, they decided on a mixture of both; something that’s a little bit out there and unusual but still sounds polished and poppy enough that it could go down relatively well with the mainstream folks. A solid plan but the question is where they could find someone who produces such music.

Enter Fernsehturm, an experimental music trio that had been around for over two decades but only just now made some level of mainstream popularity due to a couple of reasons. The first was one of their songs being regularly used in trailers, leading to a number of people wondering who made it and what the song’s called. The second was them announcing that half the money they’d make from their latest album, Mariupol, would be donated to charities helping Ukraine in the war over there which definitely got people interested; something that made sense given that guitarist Ruslan Melnychenko was born over there (in Mariupol no less) and move over to Elejamie when he was two and drummer Daniel Cárdenas has Ukrainian-Jewish ancestry on his mother’s side. There was no guarantee that they’d be household names and even they would admit that they’ve only really got 15 minutes before heading back into obscurity (and maybe shilling NFTs or MLMs just to pay the bills at the risk of alienating the fanbase) but hey, they might as well ride this wave while they’re at it. It probably helps that they decided to use a song from the album rather than try and compose something original, just so they wouldn't waste time trying to think of something new to make.

With that out of the way, it was time for them to travel to Playa de Rocas. A city they have performed in numerous times and so, again, they didn’t really have a whole lot of anything new they could do to pass the time. The weather was getting colder so a swim in the sea wouldn’t be as pleasant as it would’ve been months ago, neither of them were super into ice hockey so tickets to see Ángeles de la Playa de Rocas probably wouldn’t have been that exciting to them and they’ve already seen a fair amount of the sites that are usually recommended. They were still able to make their own fun like visits to the usual art galleries and museums, as well as a quick stopover at the Plaza de Toros de Playa de Rocas. Something that brought back some memories for Daniel as he went there for his 16th birthday (even if it was a somewhat different version instead of the corrida de toros you’d think of whenever someone mentions “bullfighting”). In fact, he had relatives who lived in the city even if they weren’t super close, which gave him someone else to talk to while he was there.

Eventually, rehearsals came and went and so it was time to perform. While some elements of their live shows had to be either toned down or removed, namely them performing loudly and some of the more political elements such as a particular sticker on Ruslan’s guitar, they were still able to make things work out. In fact, they even managed to bring in a few out-of-work builders to help out, which was handy given that the original song made use out of pneumatic drills, pipes, sheet metal and chains. As for Fernsehturm themselves? They were relatively calm. After all, they didn’t really have any pressure thanks to the win from last time, so it was more hoping they didn’t come dead last. And with everything in place and everyone knowing what to do, coupled with a couple of the other nations actually having more alternative songs, they were fairly confident that that wouldn’t happen to them. Only one way to find out, really.

Once the postcard came to an end, we cut to an overhead shot of the stage. One that was still, although it slowly zoomed in just to give the viewers at home a good idea of who and what was on it, even if it wasn’t exactly a dead-on shot. At the front of the stage were three figures: one was holding a guitar and standing next to a keyboard, one was holding a microphone and had his head down and one was standing behind a stand-up drumkit. Behind them were three other figures: one resting on a pneumatic drill (that has been specially modified so it won’t be as loud), one in front of some sheet metal being propped up by a frame and the third standing in between a pulley with a loop made out of chains and a giant bit of metal pipe; the last one was also holding a silver adjustable spanner in his hand. And, of course, in the foreground was the audience at the CCNP, applauding the act they’re about to see as either a mark of respect or because it’s a group and/or song they genuinely enjoy. One or the other.

The applause started to die down and the lights around the stage started to dim, although the ones ON the stage were still shining. A couple of seconds of silence later, the camera faded to a medium shot of the stage as the bassy synth started to play. It lingered on that shot for a little while, with the lights in the background and on the arcs slowly dimming before cutting to two quick shots. The first was an extreme close-up of Daniel hitting one of his cymbals with his drumstick, the other was of one of the backups hitting the pipe with the spanner. After some pre-programmed drums started to play, the camera faded in to a close-up of Stefan looking down with his eyes closed. He and his bandmates were dressed in the exact same way – shirtless with a pair of blue jeans and whatever shoes they had on that day (in this case black and white trainers for Ruslan, plain black loafers for Daniel and some ordinary black shoes for Stefan). Shortly afterwards, he held the microphone in a way that it was at a 90° angle in front of his mouth and started to sing, lifting his head up and opening his eyes as he did so. Partway through the verse, it then cut to the wrench builder hitting the side of the pipe to make some higher-pitched sounds. After a while, we then cut to a shot of Stefan singing with Daniel standing up straight and hitting his drumpads, all while the lights in the background started to flash in time with the beat; some of the lights turned blue whereas the others turned yellow, with the latter turning on every time Daniel played his instruments. Towards the end of the verse, the camera then cut to a close-up of him still in the pose he was earlier, although he slowly blinked in the gap halfway through the last line and, at the end of the verse he moved his arm and his head before appearing to walk out of the shot.

A mighty church will soon be built here
They need people to get it ready
They will be brought in
Across oceans
Across deserts
Across the seas
As the saying goes:
“If you build it, they’ll show”

After that, there was a cut to one of the builders pulling the rope chain repeatedly so it’d make a full loop around the pulley, while just in the shot there was another builder hitting the sheet metal with a couple of sticks. It was also a shot that revealed what the builders were pretty much wearing: a plain white T-shirt, a hi-vis jacket, a pair of blue jeans and some black, brown or cream-coloured work boots, along with a yellow hard hat and some red earmuffs for safety reasons. Two of them, Pedro Salazar (pneumatic drill) and Esteban Garcia Hernández (pipe and chains) were locals to the area, whereas the third – one Ihor Stepaniuk on sheet metal – was originally working abroad to make some money to send home but is now trying to seek citizenship along with his family due to what’s been going on in his home country. The camera pretty much lingered on this shot before it slowly panned over to Daniel playing his drums, eventually cutting over to Ruslan playing his keyboard. In the background, the lights faded out and started flashing randomly between red, white and green in no real pattern or definitive shape whatsoever, whereas on the arches they were just flashing white in time with the beat.

After a quick cut to Daniel playing his instruments, namely hitting a particular drumpad a bit harder than the others, we then return to Stefan holding the microphone up in front of his face with a grim, determined expression on his face as he started to sing into it again. He slowly paced to his right and made his way towards Daniel, although he only stopped a couple of steps in and pretty much walked backwards and forwards. Halfway throughout the verse he slowly got down on one knee and waved his other arm up and down whenever necessary to provide a bit of emphasis, something that sped up at a certain point. After that bit, there was a quick cut to Esteban hitting the pipe with his spanner before the camera returned to Stefan, who was now standing up and looking up at the ceiling. The camera slowly zoomed into him as he sang the last line of the verse, although there was a brief moment where it faded into another also zooming-in shot of Ruslan playing his guitar (using a bottle cap as a pick, no less) before it faded back into the aforementioned shot of Stefan.

Shipped off and dragged across the waters
Lured and brought in as cheap labour
To build a wonder
A monument
To corruption and to greed
To abuses, authority and to despair!
To slavery, to bribery, a place to host their circuses!
We have no choice but build

After the camera returned to Ruslan playing his guitar, it was time for the next verse. Furthermore, the lights above the stage turned on and started to shine a white light, some of it shining down onto the stage itself while the rest on the small bit of ground in between the stage and the audience. As he carried on singing, Stefan paced back and forth while in the background Pedro began to use his pneumatic drill on some slabs of concrete that had been brought in. He didn’t have it on too high a setting, for obvious reasons, but it was still enough to make the necessary sound. There were also moments where the camera briefly cut to a close-up of Stefan’s face while he sang before returning to the medium shot from before. After a while, he headed over to Ruslan and stood there while he sang, occasionally waving his hand while he sang. Also during this time the camera briefly trucked over to Ruslan who was strumming along, his all-black guitar having a white sticker with “POLITICAL COMMENTARY” hastily written on it in place of the Ukrainian flag sticker with a somewhat censored version of a certain political phrase written on it that he's had there since the start of the year. Afterwards, the camera slowly trucked back to Stefan as he balled up his other hand into a fist and waved it in front of him while he was hunched over. He stood up straight during the brief pause at the end of the last line before resuming the position and slowly leaning forward as he sang.

There’s no time to waste here
It all must be perfect
We’re starved and we’re exhausted
But we have to work
Working close to the edge
Where we’re close to death
But we can’t rest; there’s work to do

There was another cut to Ruslan playing his guitar, which slowly zoomed in while he too hunched forward a little bit. He then stood up straight at the end of his bit, lifted the neck of his guitar and quickly turned to face his keyboard so he could play the next bit. At that point, the camera quickly cut over to Stefan who was down on his knees, had both hands on the microphone as if he was about to pray and staring up at the ceiling, all while he sang the first line. Afterwards, the camera then cut over to a shot of Ruslan, who had turned around and started to strum along on his guitar with his bottle cap pick; for a brief moment there was a brief fade to Esteban hitting the pipe with a spanner a couple of times before fading back to the guitarist. For the second line Stefan slowly got up, tilted his head down to face the audience and held the microphone in one hand again as he sang, with the camera slowly raising itself as he got up. He then stumbled in Ruslan’s general direction, with the camera following him guitarist turning around again to play his instrument while, in the background, Pedro began to turn on his pneumatic drill to not only provide a bit more percussion for the end of the verse but also get ready for the instrumental break that was about to come.

My Saviour, why have you forsaken us?
Are You there? Or have we misplaced our trust?

Once the pneumatic drill was all fired up, Pedro rested it against up against the sheet metal and started to slide the end of it from side to side. All while the lights above the stage flashed on and off, albeit in two second increments just to avoid triggering any photosensitive epilepsy. Fortunately, Ihor had moved out of the way to give his fellow builder a bit of room as well as avoid having his hearing damaged, and the members of the band had some earplugs in to help make some of the louder noises a bit more quiet. After a little while of this, Pedro pushed the pneumatic drill forwards while an offscreen Ruslan began to strum his guitar again. Pedro then moved his pneumatic drill out of the way, taking care not to hit anyone with it, before he rested the drillbit on the paving slabs and started to use his drill to break away at them.

After a couple of seconds, Ruslan stopped playing his guitar and the bass synth kicked back in again. The lights above the stage stopped flashing and instead stayed on to show a darkish red light, whereas the lights on the back of the stage were going between white and yellow and the lights on the arches were simply flashing white in a strobe effect. As the camera had also changed back to a medium, sweeping shot of the stage by this point we could also see that Ihor had moved back to where he was just so he could go back to hitting the sheet metal in a rhythmic pattern. Indeed, there were quick fade-ins and fade-outs to close-ups of him doing that and Esteban hitting the pipe as well, along with an extreme close-up of Ruslan’s hands playing the keyboards. Eventually it’d cut over to a series of close-ups, mainly switching between Pedro using the pneumatic drill and Ihor hitting the drumstick against the sheet metal but also throwing in a couple of shots of Daniel playing his drums (with one of the shots being him hunched over the kit while he hit the snare pad with a bit of force). After that came some medium shots of the band playing their instruments and the builders using their construction tools as percussion; most of these shots showed more than one person but there were a couple that were centred around one person, namely a fairly long one of Daniel playing his drums (and hitting the snare hard again) and a relatively brief one of Esteban hitting the steel pipe with his spanner.

After a brief tracking shot that showed Stefan picking up a drumstick and rattling it around the inside of the pipe, the camera then cut all the way over to a medium shot of Ruslan leading back while he played his guitar. During the brief moment when he stopped, he moved out of the way to show Pedro in the background drilling up some more pavement and an off-screen Esteban hit the pipe a little bit more, before he stepped back in place and resumed playing, all while the camera slowly zoomed in on his guitar for the next ~25 seconds with other people doing their things occasionally showing up in the background or doing them off-screen. Once this was over, we then cut over to Stefan lifting the microphone up and looking up at the ceiling as he sang the first line of the verse. After a brief cut back to Ruslan strumming away, albeit at a slower pace than earlier, the camera returned to a series of shots from different positions and angles of Stefan singing the rest of the verse. At the start of the last time he leaned back before he threw himself forward at the end of it, all while Ruslan started to strum again.

My Saviour, are You there? Can you hear me?
We work for little money
We’re dropping like flies
We’re being worked to the bone
We cannot escape
We have to bury our friends
Then work as normal
What can You do to help us?

Once he was finished strumming along, Ruslan lifted up the neck of his guitar before he brought it down. As the lights above the stage dimmed until they were off, while the lights on the arches and at the back of the stage were dimming but still remaining on, there was a quick close-up of his face making a vocalisation before there was another cut to Daniel doing the same thing. The camera lingered on Daniel as he hit one of his drumpads, with the lights above the stage turning on and shining a blue light down on the first hit and a yellow light on the second before they all went white. At that point, the camera cut to a medium shot of the stage as Stefan paced around the stage, with his bandmates coming into the shot every now and then while the builders were busy in the background. There was a brief instrumental gap between the third and fourth lines, at which point the camera slowly panned over to Ruslan strumming before it panned back to Stefan when it was his turn to sing. In between the fifth and sixth lines there was was another cut back to Ruslan except this time he was shredding. The camera returned to Stefan, who was down on his knees, looking up and had the microphone in front of his mouth, with his other arm straight up in the air as if he was trying to grab something. Towards the end of this bit, there was a brief cut over to Ihor drumming away on his sheet metal before he slowed down, at which point we cut away to an extreme close-up of the spanner in Esteban’s hand hitting the metal pipe three times. Afterwards we cut again to Stefan, still in the same pose, although as the camera zoomed out he slowly raised himself up off the ground and lowered his arm until it was down by his side.

Now it’s nighttime, it’s time to get some rest
Now it’s nighttime, it’s time to get some rest
I see my comrades
I wake up in the dead of night
I can still hear them cry:
“And you up there!
Help us please! Help us please! help us please! help us please!
And you up there!
Help us please! Help us, help us, help us please!
We’re down here drowning in the concrete!”

Once he was upright, Stefan hunched forward and became a bit more manic with his arm movements, swinging it around with a bit of force and looking like he was about to hit someone or something at some point. Towards the end of the second line, there was an extreme close-up of his face, with his eyes opened wide and an impressive rictus on his face which he kept even as he lowered the microphone and, little under a second after that, the camera zoomed out until it was a wide shot of the stage. A couple of seconds later, he carried on singing, swaying his body from side to side as he did so. When it came to the fifth line, there was a medium shot of him leaning to one side with his arm stretched out and his hand ready to grab something, something that was briefly followed by a brief shot of Daniel hitting his drumpads. For the sixth, it was now a close-up of Stefan's face, with him having another manic expression while his arm was behind him and his fingers were spread out in a claw position; the cameras didn’t pick it up for the viewers back home but he was also leaning to his right. The final line was a slowly zooming in and slowly rolling shot of Stefan leaning back as he sang, with a brief cut to Ruslan shredding the strings of his guitar appearing appearing midway through and a quick montage of shots of the six from different angles and distances (with one or two seemingly taken from rehearsals) showing up near the end. At the last syllable, Stefan hurled himself forward, all the lights shone brightly and everyone else played their last notes, all before the lights turned off and the stage plunged into darkness.

The church is now completed and it’s built to their liking
The gods shall now look on and despair!
A temple to host their games
And their worship
On top of where our friends lay
While we live another day
For there’s more work to do!

Once the song was finally over, the lights turned back on and the audience started to applaud. The six of them stood in a straight line and did a couple of bows. Stefan slowly lifted the microphone back up to his mouth and said “Gracias, Playa de Rocas.” He then held the microphone right in front of Ruslan’s mouth, who chipped in with a “дякую!” After one last quick bow, they headed off backstage just so everything could get ready for the next act, although fortunately the camera will be centred around the hosts introducing the next act so that should give everyone plenty of time. As for Fernsehturm? The easy-by-comparison part was over, now it’s just hoping the juries watching and listening would be kind enough to give themm a good score on home soil.

by **Flusia** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 4:38 pm

XX. Flusia
"The Lights are Dimming Down" - ◇UTER W◇RLD
Language(s): English
Lyrics: Saanvi Patel
Music: Saanvi Patel, Hank Rohas
Tune: Pinkshift - in a breath
Trigramme: FLU

From left to right: Patel, Tóth, Bór, and Rohas in their Kirha recording studio

THE ARTIST

Outer World (Stylized as ◇UTER W◇RLD) Is a band originating from Arkanyal, featuring vocalist Saanvi Patel, guitarist Hank Rohas, bassist Fulop Tóth, and drummer Gara Bór. Created at Arkanyal Universitá in 2016, the band has been a fixture in Flusia’s punk scene for years, noted for their heavy hardcore, grunge, and emo influences in their music. As of 2022, Outer World have released 4 EPs and two studio albums, Done (2018) and The Punisher (2021), to positive reviews from fans and critics alike.

THE SONG

Ironically enough, The punkers of Outer World have been selected for one of their least punk songs. “The Lights are Dimming Down” is a ballad concerning anxiety surrounding aging, humanity, and above all, death. Only one instrument is used, the piano, which is played by Rohas. Nonetheless, Bór and Tóth will accompany the rest of the band on stage.

ARRIVAL

On November 4, the band arrived in Playa de Rocas.

After this initial tweet, the Flusians had plenty of fun romping around the Hispano-Elejamian Museum, the Plaza De Toros, and La Franja. They also went around signing autographs on La Ronda and outside the CCNP. During interviews with FRG, Tóth said that La Ronda was “number 3 on the top 10 smelliest places” he knew of. Soon enough, the band packed up for CCNP and a WHF performance.

THE PERFORMANCE

The performance begins in darkness. Then, as a set of three rollout led screens lights up with layered video of rotating blue rosebuds similar to the one on the single cover, a dim spotlight illuminates Rohas as he solemnly plays the opening notes on a black grand piano. Rohas is wearing a formal outfit with black pants, white button-up shirt and a black tie, and a blue rose pinned to his chest. While the song opens, the camera slowly zooms out and pans to the right to Patel sitting cross-legged on a coffin next to an in-memoriam sign of her. She is dressed the same as Rohas, except for an additional black coat, and her hair is done in a bun. She sings the opening verse as the camera focuses on her.

I often wonder how much time I truly have
‘Cause soon enough I’m gonna die, gonna die, gonna
Clean out my head so I can find the will to laugh
While in my head my broken brain’s trying to tear itself in half

The LED plinths, LED support walls, and most of the spotlights subtly light up in blue, while the lower arch of rear spotlights and neon arches light up in dark grey. While Patel continues to sing, undoing her hair and trussing it up, a group of four pallbearers in full black tuxedos pinned with blue roses, including Bór and Tóth, quietly emerge from the darkness to lift the coffin in an aerial shot. while they begin to slowly carry it to the other end of the stage, the camera focuses on Patel’s despondent face.

I bet it’s nice to have a heart that’s made of lead
To let emotion pass me by, pass me by, pass me
I’d never let myself leak out in vibrant red
Even as I wonder if people will care when I am dead
With my heart that’s made of lead

Midway to the other side of the stage, Patel uncrosses her legs and spreads them lengthwise across the coffin. She also becomes more emotional and agressive, throwing herself forward on some words. The coffin is brought to the stage’s left edge, near Rohas and the piano, and the pallbearers begin to set it down. While doing so, Patel throws her hand towards to heavens while singing the penultimate line of the verse. This seemingly provokes the lights and LED screens to turn blinding white, which fluctuate along with the singer’s voice on the last line, before fading out.

I’m getting older and I’m wearing down my bones
I sit alone and I feel sick and I want to cry
I’m breaking down upon my throne of solid gold
I only wish that I was born without this poisoned soul,
Oh no

The camera cuts back to Rohas on the Piano as the LED plinths, rollable screens and support walls illuminate the stage in blue and grey again. While he poignantly push’s the keys down, blue rosebuds begin to flutter down from the ceiling of the arena. The camera cuts back to Patel, who soberly gets up off the coffin, sheds her coat, and half-stumbles her way to the center of the stage, followed by the pallbearers.

Don’t talk to me right now
I am dead and burning out
The lights are dimming down
The world is blurring out
Please don’t take me from the crowd

On the last few lines, the camera, fixed on Patel, starts to become blurrier and blurrier, until the video quality has dipped significantly, at which point it fades to black.

Can’t save me now, ‘cause all the lights are finally dimming out
Please take your bows, the world is finally blurring out

The voice of Patel is heard saying “Thank you, World Hit Festival.” And applause is heard as the arena lights back up again and preparations for the next act begin.

by **Achaean Republic** » Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:01 pm

XX. Achaean Republic
"Supersonic" – Vanessa Navarro
Language(s): English, Spanish
Lyrics: Vanessa Navarro
Music: Vanessa Navarro
Tune: Ambar Lucid - Timeless
Trigramme:ACH

She went back home. It was hard to believe that she would be performing in the World Hit Festival back home. Whatever happened to her in the short weeks and the long months that led to her to agree to perform for the Achaean Republic, her mother’s island, she would end up coming back home. She promised she would be back home. Her friends, family, lovers, teachers, judges, confessors, confidantes and pets and fans and haters would converge within the confines of their history and turn back time to come back home. All those years fiddling away with her uncle’s Casio keyboard he got her from Achaea would lead to her back home. She was ready to switch from zinc-thatched roofs and constant heat and security issues to the oceanic, occasionally frigid and bundly world in Playa de Rocas. Playa de Rocas was home. She was home.

It wasn’t much of a thought that she wanted to go back to Elejamie and visit her family. What she didn’t expect to happen was that she would return as the Achaean representative to the World Hit Festival back into her hometown. The beaming young lady was approached by national representatives looking for a new face to represent the nation in the contest. “Sophisticated tastes,” she jokingly spoke to herself, taking that self-deprecating sense of humor after her Elejamian father. It seems that most Elejamians were kind, but self-effacing; humble, but depressive. Perhaps it was her eternally snarky mood which contrasted with the sunny and explicit (as in clear-cut and straightforward, not sexual—albeit not necessarily) Achaean mood. Her pale body contrasted to the olive-skinned and rambunctious Achaean culture, which side she wanted to suppress—Oh, wait.

Nessa Navarro (full name: Vanessa María Navarro Fernández) was not an unknown in the Elejamian music scene, nor was she an uncommon fixture in television. Born on the outskirts of Playa de Rocas, she grew up in a humble, working-class family with an Elejamian father that was a plumber and a trasdesman, slowly working his way towards building one of the most popular contracting companies in the Spanish-speaking Elejamian tracts. Her mother was an Achaean housekeeper-turned-headmistress of a local international school, who traveled from Candelaria to Playa de Rocas to escape the drudgery of the tropical urban city life and live amidst the oceanic, laid-back, and admittedly cynical Elejamians in her first trip to Europe. She wanted to backpack her way through Europe—but her growing belly made other plans for her. In between the native English-speaking Elejamians, the Iliyim, the Spanish-speakers and the espotras like herself, Nessa had to navigate many different worlds in her life in quite a way it never made sense.

Despite growing up in between Playa de Rocas and traveling often to see some of her family in Valledorado and Coventry, Nessa also traveled every other summer to the Achaean Republic, to her mother’s ancestral home in Arapaima. There, she felt out of place and unsafe, trying to juggle her pale, skinny body with the curvy, tanned, and expressive Achaeans that showered her with love and affection and shamelessness. Even the Spanish she spoke at home felt so different, so uptight, to what was she used to while staying in Achaea. The only way she could try to bridge those disparate words was through the power of music, poetry, and a generous mixture of the Elejamian coolness and the Achaean passion mashed together like welts into an extravagant musical collection.

A viral Tweet noted that the World Hit Festival seems to be an entry magnet for la diáspora—generations of Achaeans that grew up far from the Motherland, but keep links between distinct multicultural halves or thirds or quarters or so on. Nadine Tanóus is of mixed Lebanese and Syrian descent. João is of Scotatrovan descent. Most of Taputoki’s members are of Tobuan heritage. It seems like the mixture of cultures and races and musical unknowns made many consider if AS1 would follow suit with another unknown who barely even has roots in the nation. Oh wait—Nessa felt on the same path.

When she was anointed as the Achaean representative to the World Hit Festival…while she was on her first holiday with her mother in Achaea after two-and-a-half wasted pandemic years…there were opinions to be shared on social media. In typical Elejamian fashion, her friends jokingly called her a “traitor” while congratulating her on the feat. Some Achaeans, however, had certain opinions and concerns and reservations about her participation when they barely even knew her, when she didn’t do any major press tours (again, she was on vacation), when her presence in the country became a mark of heavy political exchanges and discussions on the differences between “real Achaeans” and “fake” ones in a rapid escalation that made no sense for the greater part of the afternoon until a new puppy-kicker in Corola got cancelled for animal cruelty. It was visceral and unnecessary, intense in the only way the Achaeans could pull off extra. Elejamians weren’t known to be extra. How could she juggle a warm reception with the threat of an immediate cancellation. It was as if she never knew her own people. Or the people she was about to represent.

She used to go to the convention center whenever they had those anime conventions where B-rated guest stars would come over and take pictures with fans for hefty prices. It was very weird to peruse the halls where the contest would be held, the same ones she ran over and over whenever the hockey team used to play any of the other gringo tracts—as long as a riot wouldn’t happen between rivals. She went to many school fairs and graduations, weddings, baptisms, bar mitzvahs, and the like. It brought her so many memories. But now she foolishly chose to be here again as the representative of her mother’s nation, a country she somewhat had tangential relations but managed to give her the chance of a lifetime, the opportunity to shine.

The stage was warm and short. The audience crammed into the crowded arena, cheering for the Achaean entry, more so because she was one of their own. Some were miffed, of course, that one of theirs would go and stab them in the back with a performance, but that was a bit of the boos of contrarians and marauders looking to ruin someone’s day. But she still was one of her own. It was quite unusual: there is always an interesting cultural exchange between Elejamians and the rest of Latin America. Despite most Spanish-speaking Elejamians coming from the Iberian Peninsula, a small generation of espotros from the Latin American colonies—Mexicans, Venezuelans, Argentineans, Colombians—were changing up the status quo and engaged with the movers and shakers to bring more warmth and flavor to Elejamian culture. Achaeans were one of them.

The stage had a twinkling of lights behind her, creating a faint silhouette in the shadow. She was not one to toy with her feminine wiles, even though the silhouette managed to leave a distinct, curvy figure beside her. The lights glistened into a faint tone of white—not white enough that would distract the audience and send them flashing back to a hospital, not white enough that can cause a seizure or an accident. But it was a slight tone of off-white that the delegation embraced with a few streaks of blue and aquamarine and mint green for the performance. She wore a gray boina coiffed over her curly green hair—the natural consequence of using lots of Mega Hair slightly running over the caked-on lights—with a poplin-striped shirt the Achaean delegation got for her in Forever 21 (she would never wear anything from Forever 21!) with the mangas rolled back and that pouty look on her face, the same one she did whenever something never went her way. But she was allowed to wear her trusted old black combat boots, the ones that were at least a size-and-a-half bigger than what she usually wore but became a heirloom from her abuelo that passed away a year or two ago. Her arm had lots of random tattoos, for she was a random person and warned her parents that she would disappoint them as soon as she were eighteen, gifting herself with a heart tattoo and a bumblebee tattoo and a pitbull tattoo and a butterfly tattoo on the lower back. Pity that her Forever 21 dress wouldn’t allow her to show it.

As the song began, the panned camera boomed above her frame and then titled towards her angle. An unnamed violinist started playing from the (pre-recorded) strings. On another side, she was standing on a hanging microphone to the viewer’s right, standing a side (one can hope it was her good side) and trying to side eye the audience. It was an awkward position to be in, as she couldn’t directly face the audience and had not much to do or say except waddle her arms and pout. And pouting was already forbidden by the delegation. Oh, well—there was only so much she could do, and complaining about it will be pointless. Much less when there was a camera trouncing at her face.

Fervor rising, I’m so lost but I’m free
Scared and lonely, I will rest on a tree
Complicated, only three stars aligned
Left for dead—but alive, I see!

Switching from English to Spanish wasn’t as complicated as she thought it would be—when singing at least. She used to do it all the time when she lived with her friends and family in Playa de Rocas. “Pásame the jamón, please!” “Déjame show you what mi tía compró…” “Suelta un poco de esos motors and let’s have a fiesta!” These mangled phrases made no sense, not even by the strict linguistic standards imposed by the Elejamian Academy of the Spanish language, which barely tried to keep its legacy as a moribund, yet neutral arbiter of the Spanish language. But she never managed to do it while singing. If she sang in English, she kept it in English. If she sang in Spanish, she kept it in Spanish. However, it made sense in her head, and hopefully in the long run to the Multiversal audience watching in Playa de Rocas and at home in Achaea and at the Multiversal audience at their own homes. It shouldn’t be as much of a controversy as people make it seem to be. And one can only hope that would be enough.

Yo soy ajena a tus sueños, inmenso mundo
Trágicas memorias hacen ver un segundo
Supersónico en él, sonidos por doquier
Tan loco e inmundo

TV viewer’s left to the TV viewer’s right causing faint flashes of shadows behind Vanessa. They were quite powerful and distracting, she mentally muttered to herself; luckily they didn’t do much to distract her from the performance. It was hard, however, not to look at them directly, more so when she certainly knew that so many friends and family and haters would be watching her fail—erm, I mean, perform on stage. She believed herself to be quite witty and rambunctious when need be, always answering questions with a straight face that could break a smile or turn a wry chuckle when needed. She could put on some charisma when needed. Just dial it down a bit tonight; she had a contest to win. Maybe.

Supersonic
More than enough I’m lonely and soundless
Speechless and alone that’s all I’m wanting
Dame un pedazo de tu boca
Corazón

Supersonic
More than enough I’m lonely and soundless
Speechless and alone that’s all I’m wanting
Dame un pedazo de tu boca
Corazón

One of the handheld cameras struck closely to her face, circling her head and framing around her body. One could see how the lights behind her changed patterns from bone-white arrows to a form of pixelated “waves” or “circles” that began as small pricks on the background to a circular explosion that took most of the stage. Nessa was standing in the back, arms tied by her hands, awkward posture, streaks of dark hair shining over the uncomfortable lights, she wanted to sing. In and out of her mind, she wanted to have a quick chat with Lucía Beltrán when all was over to ask her if she preferred living in Elejamie or staying in Achaea—nope, gotta keep sticking to the song! Too much was at stake (or so they told her) if she lost her focus. No pressure, of course, but she didn’t need that.

Bésame, aún beso tu virtud
Me hace bien estar contigo en la luz
¿Cúanto dejaré sentir tu frenesí?
Never felt that someone love me just for me

And there was the chorus. The stakes were high—or so they tried to make her feel. Making her feel pressure was kind of a worthless exercise. She’d just shrug things out and walk it off, no questions asked, no further remorse. She always tried to play off herself as someone too cool to care, pointed and spicy, as if nothing else mattered in the world—and it really didn’t. But self-imposed stoicism had a limit, and she closely reached it every time she was singing the song. Not because she had any fears to burn through, but because she was trying so hard to hide from them. Now she had to sing them in Spanish.

Yo soy ajena a tus sueños, inmenso mundo
Trágicas memorias hacen ver un segundo
Supersónico en él, sonidos por doquier
Tan loco e inmundo

TV viewer’s left to the TV viewer’s right causing faint flashes of shadows behind Vanessa. They were quite powerful and distracting, she mentally muttered to herself; luckily they didn’t do much to distract her from the performance. It was hard, however, not to look at them directly, more so when she certainly knew that so many friends and family and haters would be watching her fail—erm, I mean, perform on stage. She believed herself to be quite witty and rambunctious when need be, always answering questions with a straight face that could break a smile or turn a wry chuckle when needed. She could put on some charisma when needed. Just dial it down a bit tonight; she had a contest to win. Maybe.

Supersonic
More than enough I’m lonely and soundless
Speechless and alone that’s all I’m wanting
Dame un pedazo de tu boca
Corazón

Supersonic
More than enough I’m lonely and soundless
Speechless and alone that’s all I’m wanting
Dame un pedazo de tu boca
Corazón

Once again, there was a chorus. This time, the stakes the Achaean delegation—and brought upon by Vanessa—were high, or so they tried to make her feel to confound her into creating some type of magic for the audience in Playa de Rocas and the Multiversal audience at home. Making her feel pressure was kind of a worthless exercise. She’d just shrug things out and walk it off, no questions asked, no further remorse. She always tried to play off herself as someone too cool to care, pointed and spicy, as if nothing else mattered in the world—but it did terrify her to lose. She never wanted to lose face in front of her father, and mother, and friends, and family, and that high school crush she never got over that moved to Britonisea and never texted her back. Her self-imposed stoicism had a limit she refused to cross—or barely attempt to wring over in her desires—, and she closely reached it every time she was singing the song. Not because she had any fears to burn through, but because she was trying so hard to hide from them.

Now, an over-the-shoulder image showing her small Maltese cross tattoo (she got it on a graduation holiday trip with her friends to Malta) and another small coqui brandished on her left shoulder. The camera attempted to circle back, and viewers could see the richness of the light patterns that attempted to be captivating the audience. Her eyes, half-open, half-closed as always, fostered a unique sense of intimacy she could not quite capture in words. Maybe she didn’t need to. Maybe she hoped. It was always too hard to tell with her.

Yo soy ajena a tus sueños, inmenso mundo
Trágicas memorias hacen ver un segundo
Supersónico en él, sonidos por doquier
Tan loco e inmundo

Behind her, the wide pan of the camera, followed by a tilt (tilt, tilt, tilt) showed the gleaming stage once more, this time with a twinkling array of lights and the arrow-like patterns in successive waves, gleaming with at least a yellow or golden light flashing at random points. In a clever array of camera tricks, she extended her arms as the “waves” behind her would pan to the TV viewer’s left and to the TV viewer’s right, causing faint flashes of shadows, this time with faint yellow hews, behind Vanessa. At first, they became quite distracting; in time, she became used to it. They began to distract her from the performance, but she managed to make it work. That’s something with her: she moaned when she had to, but stopped when she couldn’t. It was still hard to try to look at the audience in front of her awkwardly angled on her sides, especially when they were cheering (or jeering? Who would dare do that to her!?) and she couldn’t see. There were a few flags waving and many crowds, but it was too hard to tell. Oh well, she had to make it work. Maybe.

Supersonic
More than enough I’m lonely and soundless
Speechless and alone that’s all I’m wanting
Dame un pedazo de tu boca
Corazón

Supersonic
More than enough I’m lonely and soundless
Speechless and alone that’s all I’m wanting
Dame un pedazo de tu boca
Corazón

She was moving her head, shaking noddingly from side to side as the song left to an end. She silently hummed the last parts of the song to herself, keeping her actions nice and taut. She grabbed the microphone by its head and slowly tilted it. Another panned camera showed the audience waving their flags, in particular the Achaeans and the other hometown espotros holding the fueguero flag and the shawls (it was a particularly chill evening in Playa de Rocas). She waved to the crowd and said, “¡Muchas gracias, Playa de Rocas! Thank you!” Only this time, though, she said it with the “th” sound like the Spaniards she grew up with, making it sound more like “Gra-thee-as” instead of the “Gra-see-as” she was accustomed to in Achaea. Oh well; at least she could make it work.

by **Beepee** » Tue Oct 25, 2022 12:31 am

XX. Beepepe
"Sunflower" - Maria Poole

Language(s): English
Lyrics: Otto Tune
Music: Otto Tune
Tune: "Scandal" by Tina Karol
Trigramme: BPE

The Beepeean internal selection team has raised some eyebrows with the choice of entry to the 67th World Hit Festival, throwing schlager to the side for a popular, modern tune. There has been growing disconcern regarding the potentially incendiary lyrics.

Maria Poole stands centre stage on a slightly raised platform wearing a cream silk outfit. Around the raised platform, are planted hundreds of sunflowers. Behind Maria a circular lighting structure is set up, although for the beginning of the song, it is in darkness. Instead a singular red spotlight shines down from above giving an eerie glow.

The song begins...

As Maria makes her way through the opening stanzas, the lighting behind her begins to slowly glowing up.

Sunflower
Take these seeds
Keep them with you
Please keep them near
Sunflower

Sunflower
Lie yourself down
On cold ground
Don't shed a tear
Sunflower

As the introduction comes to an end the lights behind her are joined by blue hues from the stage lights around her. The beams of light behind her splay and from the front of the stage, the effect is such that the the lights make petal shapes around the outside of the structure.

The incredible stage of the Centre de Convenciones de Nuevo Paraíso shots into life, with the LED screens showing clear blue skies and yellow and golds of small sunflower heads.

Sunflower
Take these seeds
Keep them with you
Please keep them near
Sunflower

Sunflower
Lie yourself down
On cold ground
Don't shed a tear
Sunflower

Maria thinks dearly of her hometown, there's a moment of sad reflection as she carries on.

No
You've come to my home today
The sky is so cold and grey
No
I won't see you til spring
With the warmth the sun will bring

As the following chorus is being sung, Maria slowly meanders around the small platform on which she has stood. It gives the impression of her walking through a field of sunflowers. The auditorium is filled in hues of navy and gold as the lights from the stage and the LED screens dapple.

I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine

I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine

As she sings the following, Maria pulls out, from a small pocket stitched into the side of her dress a handful of Sunflower seeds and she sprinkles them into the ground in front her.

Sunflower
Take these seeds
Keep them with you
Please keep them near
Sunflower

Sunflower
Lie yourself down
On cold ground
Don't shed a tear
Sunflower

The auditorium lights show in blue and gold. A small furrow crosses the brow of Maria as she sings the following stanzas, as she recalls the place of her birth, the streets , the buildings, the people and how it is now. She prays deep within herself that soon the spring will come.

No
You've come to my home today
The sky is cold and grey
No
I won't see you til spring
With the warmth the sun will bring

As the final chorus are sung, Maria stands surrounded by a ring of lights and a ring of yellow flowers. Maria's voice powerful, against the fading colours of blue and gold which have been so vibrant throughout the performance.

Slowly and quietly, paper Sunflower petals begin to fall from the ceiling of the auditorium. Flutters of yellow slowly fall, glistening in the lights of the auditorium.

I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine

I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine

I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll feed on the seeds in summertime
I'll walk through the fields in bright sunshine

As the song comes to an end the lights blaze behind Maria who cuts a strong and defiant figure alone, in silhouette.

And with that the Beepeean performance comes to an end. Maria waves to the audience as she makes her way of stage.

by **StrayaRoos** » Tue Oct 25, 2022 2:31 pm

XX. StrayaRoos
"The Light" - K/K
Language(s): English
Lyrics: Sidney Dareti
Music: Douglas Caseta,Francis Raesdi
Tune: We Are Domi-Alive
Trigramme: STR

About the Group

K/K is a Roosian band, who participated in World Hit Festival 65 in Beepee, finishing 7th with 13 points, the best result StrayaRoos' has had in Any IBA Song contest, they then took on roovision again,and won this time after falling short at the last moment in Roovision:Century,ending up finishing 22nd at WorldVision in Lipa,which is the best result StrayaRoos has ever achived at the contest.

COMING SOON
K/K

The Performance

The camera focuses on Sidney as the performance starts,with a sphere of small drones behind her (in a style similar to the JESC 2020 logo)

Running off Ain't easy to hide
take off
Don't look, run out
it might be better
feel the wind against your skin
face the sun,it's time
to see the light
can you see the light
can you see the light
can you see

as the chorus starts,the lights behind her form a hand,as the rest of the stage is lit up looking like a spaceship's cockpit and showing francis and douglas

The Li-i-i-i-i-ght
can you see the light
can you see the light
can you see
The Li-i-i-i-i-ght
can you see the light
can you see the light
can you see

during the chorus,when the beat drops,Sidney starts dancing,similar to what she did in WHF65

Escape all the responsiblities
Run off
It might be better
Feel safe,it's only for now and forever (now and forever)
face the sun,it's time
face the sun,it's time
to see the light
can you see the light
can you see the light
can you see

the stage's top lights start flashing from white to blue to purple then to black,repeating several times

The Li-i-i-i-i-ght
can you see the light
can you see the light
(can you see)
the light,can you see the light
can you see the light
can you see

the stage goes dark,and the drones reposition so the outro gives the audience another roosian light show™,as the song slows down

See the light
See the light
See the light
See the light (can you)
See the light (can you)

all three thank the audience then leave

by **Carrelie** » Tue Oct 25, 2022 2:40 pm

XX. Carrelie
"Répondez-moi" - June & Julie
Title Translation: Answer me
Language(s): English, French
Lyrics: Alfer Donwick, Lieuhart Aston, June Cibero
Music: Lieuhart Aston, Julie Geril, Oswynn Carfler
Tune: Japanese Breakfast - Be Sweet
Trigramme: CRL

▲ Julie Geril (left) and June Cibero (right) in 2022.

Cousins June Cibero (28) & Julie Geril (30) once had it all - blockbuster movies, bestselling albums and hit singles, even their own fan club. They were child stars, living the high life on Royal Dislissmont and making it big in Seaforthe. For a short time, they were all the rage across Carrelie, but it would never last. When Julie's father Albescrand Geril was found guilty of fraud and fled from the country, the two lost their destined fortune and were relegated to the halls of 'where are they now' listicles and strange top-10 videos on YouTube and Conversate. What remained was scandal, and when that had passed, obscurity. Years passed, the two began to grow less content with their lot. They'd both always wanted to be stars - that's why Julie's dad had set them up with a career - but now it was just out of reach. And so, they did as any enterprising individuals would - they tried to make it alone.

ChildStar, as it was known, was formed on April 4th 2020, and was almost immediately a complete and total failure. Their debut single, Glitzy, was received very poorly by critics, and their confused mess of a debut album was universally panned. Despite this, the two persevered, working night and day in their small Seaforthe flat, trying to come up with an idea, a concept. So when June's boyfriend left her suddenly, she began to feel both dejected and inspired. She could make something of it, she knew she could.

And so, répondez-moi was born.

The stage remains empty until the song begins. In a rush, June and Julie run onto stage in a cardboard cut-out car, the wheels of which roll onto the stage. Surrounding them are various cardboard cut-outs of skyscrapers and towers, and spotlights are shining onto them as they arrive. June steps out of the fake car, Julie following swiftly behind her.

Moor boots at the harbour
Share a shaky breath
That’s all in the pictures I sent you but you just leave me on read
Can’t manage your timing
Can’t just spare a minute
Hoping for a love life of sorts but it’s all gone because of you

Just answer my calls, it isn’t too hard
Just answer my calls, why can’t you do that?

Répondez-moi, baby
Why don’t you pick up the phone
Why don’t you pick up?
(Répondre)
Répondez-moi, baby
I need to hear you again
I need to hear you just once more

I travelled ‘cross the country (Travelled ‘cross the country)
Thought you’d sit and wait (Thought you’d sit and wait)
Oh, but I’m the blind one with blood on my hands ‘cause you thought I’d change

You can be the one now and I’ll keep you closer
But in that acknowledge that you’re not a poser
Just answer my calls, it isn’t too hard
Just answer my calls, why can’t you do that?

Répondez-moi, baby
Why don’t you pick up the phone
Why don't you pick up?
(Répondre)
Répondez-moi, baby
I need to hear you again
I need to hear you just once more
Répondez-moi, baby
Why don’t you pick up the phone
Why don't you pick up?
(Répondre)
Répondez-moi, baby
I need to hear you again
I need to hear you just once more

by **Pemecutan** » Wed Oct 26, 2022 8:09 pm

XX. Pemecutan
"Tak Ada" - Trisna Arya
Title Translation: Nothing
Language(s): Pemecutan Malay
Lyrics: Trisna Arya
Music: Komang Artha Wijaya, Made Bayu Diarsa
Tune: Gaho - Right Now
Trigramme: PCU

Another special edition in the 66th World Hit Festival. But this time, Pemecutan was not shine as much as before. Andre Darmanto, Pemecutan representative, said that he did his best and he feels sorry for the result. Despite the result, Darmanto is still praise domestically. And that's because he elevated the genre that rarely seen in Pemecutan music industry. The WHF 66 is also the last festival in the year of 1783. Something that makes the contest become more special for Pemecutan music festival fans.

And as the opener contest in Pemecutan new year of 1784, UBC already preparing everything. From selecting the songs until getting it into audience test to see how acceptable it is. Like usual, 5 songs were placed for audience test to determine which song that will be selected. The songs were either already released or will be released. And at the end of the test, a song from a duo, Pande Suryawan and Wirayuda came out as the winner. Preparation was done from props selection, staging and else to a complete failure. Wirayuda have to be hospitalized just a week before they have to flew to Playa de Rocas. He got a car accident which makes him paralyzed from waist down. UBC then make a quick decision and change the entry at the last minute. The second best song at the audience test is then selected. The song 'Tak Ada' which is sing by Trisna Arya.

Trisna Arya is not a new name in Pemecutan music festival scene. This is in fact is his third participation to World Hit Festival. He was the first artist to represent Pemecutan in the country's debut at 53rd WHF in Bovingdon, Britonisea. His second participation was at 55th edition in Fromulya. And this time, he come back with his brand new single from brand new album. The song is not released yet. It was schedule to be release on the 3rd week of this year. But with it's selection to WHF, the release is postpone until after the competition ended.

The song Tak Ada is written by Trisna Arya himself. It was inspired by his personal life. 'It was the time when I first know about love,' he said. He was cheated by his girlfriend yet he still forgive her. He try to win her back as he still love her until he realize that she was still cheating from him. Trisna stated that the story happened way back to the past of his life. Before he become a singer. But it become a good reference for himself. You can love someone but don't let them hurt you because of love. That's the meaning of the song to him. Although he mentioned that the song is only put the cheating part and the forgiving part so they can work things out together again. With the last part seeing the singer realization that he is still a fool of love. 'But aren't we all are?' he closed the interview.

A modest sound of claps welcomed Trisna Arya after he was introduced by the host. It is believed that Pemecutanian fans are amongs the one who is clapping the loudest. The view is change from the enthusiastic audience to the empty looking stage. The floor lights from the back are shine on him from both side as he start to sing the first verse. There's no intro as he straight to sing the lyric. The song is only accompanied by a soft bass guitar. The camera shot a close up of Trisna face from his right side. He looks stunning with the hairdo. The camera zooming out as he end the verse and turn to the bridge part. Trisna's outfit is now can be clearly seen as the lights are also getting brighter. He wear an all-black outfit which covered by grey blazer.

Hhmm...Tak pernah kubayangkan
Cinta yang kau berikan
Hanyalah kepalsuan
Dan semua canda tawa
Yang tlah jadi kenangan
Hanya semu belaka...a...

Oh...Inginku pertahankan rasa yang tlah kita bina
Walau ku hancur saat engkau dengan dia

Turn to the chorus, the lights around him suddenly burst in lights as the beat step on the first word of the chorus. Trisna took the microphone and walk closer to the audience. As he walk, he lightly knock his chest as he sing 'Amarah di dada'. He left his hand in a fist as he get to the front. The camera walk through his movement when we kneel down when he sing 'Kesal dan kecewa' part. It looks like he is suppressing his anger just like in the lyrics.

Lepaskanlah semua
Amarah di dada
Hingga kan tak ada, tak ada
Air mata
Ungkapkanlah semua
Kesal dan kecewa
Hingga kan tak ada, tak ada
Dendam yang membara

The lights are calmer again and change its lights color periodically inline with the beat of the song. Trisna rise up and continue singing. Now he open the second verse. His hand repeatedly turn from his chest to pointing out towards the audience. This happened twice. At the first sentence, he held his hand to his chest. Then he open up his hand as if he wants to reached out someone else at the 'Harap kau berubah' part. Then he knock his chest again as he sing 'Cinta yang aku punya' before he pointed out to the audience when he close the verse with the last sentence.

Dan ku ingin memberikan
Kesempatan kedua
Harap kau kan berubah
Aku akan membuktikan
Cinta yang aku punya
Lebih dari yang dia punya

The music grumble for a moment as he release his emotion to enter the chorus. The lights also becomes vibrant again with more lights shine on the stage. It illuminate him as he sing throughout the chorus.

Kulupakan semua
Amarah di dada
Agar kita bisa, kan bisa
Mengulangnya
Kumaafkan semua
Salah dan serapah
Agar kita bisa, kan bisa
Menyatukan rasa

He control his pitch at the long Oh... as the music become hype. He stomp his right foot following the beat as he continue the long Oh..... The music suddenly stop and the lights turn off with only one downlight shine on him. He look down and sing the 'Mungkin aku bodoh....' part. Then suddenly he lift up his face. The atmosphere on the stage change into colorful as he belt his voice on 'Ku rela.....'. The winds blow underneath him which fly away his long blazer. He stomp his right foot again as he continue to sing until the song is ended in a dramatic scene where everything suddenly turn pitch black.

Oh….

Mungkin aku bodoh menjalani cinta
(Aku pasrah)
Ku rela…..

Hu…
Rela…
Rela…
Oh...

The audience give a round of applause with Pemecutanian fans become the loudest one. They seems to amaze with Trisna performance. As the lights on the stage is lighten up, Trisna is scene standing hear the front edge of the stage. He bow down thanking for the positive feedback. 'Thank you, Playa de Rocas!!! Gracias!!!!' he shouts before he headed to the backstage.

by **Malta Comino Gozo** » Thu Oct 27, 2022 2:55 pm

XX. Malta Comino Gozo
"Feel so Special" - Fakawi
Language(s): English
Lyrics: Louis Castelletti, Franġisku Ross, Andrew Visanich and Alwiġi Manzoni
Music: Louis Castelletti, Franġisku Ross, Andrew Visanich and Alwiġi Manzoni
Tune: Palaye Royale Mr. Doctor Man
Trigramme:MCG

Malta Comino Gozo was on a World Hit Festival High. A win followed by a second place on home turf. The mojo was back. viewing figures were up 100 fold and the country was keen to keep this going on. Sidney Vella and Olivia Wilson had scored the nation's highest score in the contest and had gone on to achieve international success as well as holding onto the top spot in MCG for 3 weeks with "Memory of Mine."

Now doing what Malta Comino Gozo does best, it was time to bring in a pop-rock boyband.

Five years ago, Fakawi played their first Malta Comino Gozoan headline show in the FCC. The venue can hold around 10,00 fans. It’s no wonder frontman Franġisku Ross is bounding so keenly around the stage like he’s just inhaled some Haribos. “Holy f*cking shit!” he yells as he surveys the mass of young punks (and a fair few older ones) before him with colourful hair and tartan clothes, for whom Camden Town would seem like a natural habitat.

Louis Castelletti, Franġisku Ross, Andrew Visanich, Alwiġi Manzoni

Back with their new song "Feel so Special",sound-wise it’s like they captured themselves 100% on this track. Huge rock energy. Grungy and sexy but catchy and dynamic at the same time. It's really keeping everybody hooked all the way to the end. The song is a classic break-up song. It is about a person drinking and turning to alcohol to cope with a breakup. It shows how the person is distraught over not being able to be with their lover so they use anything to numb the pain that they are feeling. Despite the woman being at fault, she has dragged his name through the mud to the point everyone has turned against him so the term "Feel so Special" can be used sarcastically as well as unironically. No one would accuse Fakawi of not being theatrical.

Each of the record's 15 tracks on their new Album feels like its own mini apocalypse, with the crescendo of the music providing the soundtrack to a world beginning and ending. That bombastic sound was created through a true collaboration between the Fakawi members. Speaking to MCG Audio, Franġisku Ross shares that each Fever Dream song contained a “quarter of each of us” instead of “having a track that’s more Manzoni-driven or a track that’s more Visanich or myself-driven.”

“This was the first time we really had that opportunity,” Franġisku Ross says. That apocalyptic music is matched by Franġisku’s singing, who felt it was “so important” to “push myself vocally on this record. I wanted to try stuff I’ve never tried before,” Franġisku says. “Go to higher and higher notes, go to lower notes, hit falsettos, do something I’m not used to, vocally.”

Fever Dream also provided another first for Fakawi, lyrically and tonally. “There are so many dark undertones to everything that we do, but I think this is the first time we’ve ever been more hopeful,” Castelletti explains. “There is a light at the end of it all, and there’s a little bit of hope that we have instilled in it.”

Franġisku feels Fever Dream reflects his own personal journey toward “self-realization” that he experienced while writing and recording it. He points to a lyric from the song “Oblivion” as being especially representative of the album. “There’s a lyric that says, ‘What is done out of love, will make you feel alright,'” Franġisku says. “That kinda sums up the perfect lyric for the record.”

Fakawi definitely bring the juxtaposition of the glitz and grime! Gretsch guitar tones that shimmer with reverb, drums that shake and pound, vocals that claw forth with the electric urgency of the early punk movement, all swirling together with the swinging cool of the 1960s and the swagger of latter-day Brit Pop bands such as The Libertines and early Arctic Monkeys. Looked down by the elderly but respected by the youth Fakawi has definitely carved itself into the MCG music scene.

It was now onto the festival hosted this time in Playa de Rocas, Elejamie, a country MCG had a very close and thriving relationship with who had won the previous festival on their debut! This large city of little over 110,000 was the capital of the autonomous tract of Nuevo Paraíso and an epicentre of Hispano-Elejamian culture.

After landing and unpacking it was on to explore this exquisite city. It was one of those baby-blue skies, not the psychedelic candy-blue nor the washed-out grey so characteristic of wintry mornings. The clouds were as puffs of radiant joy, ready to disperse into the wind, to travel our Earth. Franġisku watched them eddy, pure reflected rays dappled and swirling with the sky, until all that remained was that perfect baby-blue, the same hue as before as if inviting those born of the wing to ride warm thermal air heaven-bound. The day would be spent marvelling at the sights of this great city from the Palacio Legislativo de Nuevo Paraíso Viejo Playa de Rocas old town to the amazing Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Gracia.

For the contest, the guys would be wearing rather Circus-Esque outfits with patchwork waistcoats and the odd bowler hat for good measure. Franġisku would be wearing a black blazer and matching trousers with a light blue t-shirt underneath. His face was caked with plenty of dark eye shadow adding to his menacing yet charming look. His ghostly white makeup-covered skin only made his shimmery hazel eyes stand out more in the murky spotlights.

The electric guitar riff from Louis Castelletti reverberates through the arena as the camera floats mindlessly through space before cutting to a bottom-half shot of Louis's boot-ladened feet tapping away as he plays before moving upwards to catch his furrowed brow as he concentrates on the guitar. He is bathed in a neon pink spotlight. The plinth in the back sparkled with dozens of white LED lights. Andrew is on the keyboard on our back left and Alwiġi is back centre on drums Franġisku is standing centre stage with a condenser microphone, his arms down by his side. The camera glides towards him as he begins to sing and the drum beat kicks in. He stares menacingly into the lens as the purple lights pulsate around him. He looked like a kid dressed up for Halloween as his ominous stare accompanied by a smirk filled his boyish face. As he sings "What is done out of love, will make you feel alright" he pretends to snap his neck as the camera stays focused on him before we cut away to a brief shot of Alwiġi drumming away.

I feel so special
Dripping down the world around
Lost inside, your bright wedding gown
What is done out of love, will make you feel alright
I'm leaving today yeah yeah in your morning light

The song picks up the pace with more electric guitar riffs and a light fog begins to distribute around the stage adding to the sinister vibes. There is a slight glint in Franġisku's eyes as he sings, illuminated by the neon pink lights.

I want to tell you how to lose your mind
I want to tell you how to go coincide
I want to tell you how to take my hand hand hand baby

Franġisku grips the condenser microphone and leans the stand backwards.We cut away to each band member for the last line as the camera cycles rapidly between them all ready for the chorus. The drums build.

I'm sitting right here saying I want to be your man
Good evening! Where did you go now?
I've been up all night looking for you
So take me where you want to go go go go go go yeah!

There is a burst of bright white light as the arches on the stage burst into a bright dazzling light. The remaining lights are neon pink again and sweep around the stage chaotically. Franġisku leans the mic's stand forward and then claws at his face with emotion, he sways to the chorus with an open posture before pointing into the crowd. His legs remain slightly bent as he sings. Franġisku does a phenomenal job of amplifying the emotions being conveyed by the lyrics, and his raspy tone fits the song like a glove. The camera focuses on him as he sings the first "I feel so special! " before the camera then whizzes towards the stage from the back of the hall across the engaged crowd as he sings the next line. We then have a quick shot of each band member ignoring the camera and playing their instruments.

All the things, those things that I once feared
All the whispers in my ears
All the friends I thought I knew
I feel so special!
All the nights, I wasted those distant tears
All the disappearing years
For a while was in denial...
I feel so special!

Spotlights race around the stage and arena. He lets go of the mic and struts around the vicinity of the mic stand in an improvised fashion. The camera has zoomed out and we can see the rest of the band playing their instruments. The camera then cuts to an upper-body shot of him grabbing the condenser microphone in his left hand he waves his right arm over his head as a glowing pink light illuminated him from behind. The camera roams off before cutting back to a close-up as he sings "Well you were especially good". He looks menacingly with a scowl into the camera as if talking to the woman and winks before he swings his head to his right to look over at the camera a few feet away just ahead of Louis on guitar. There is a brief drum shot of Alwiġi from above his drums before we transition back to Franġisku. His wicked gravelly vocals ring out spectacularly. For the last line, the camera is directly in front of him and Franġisku shakes and pushes it back as the chorus kicks in.

So it's me left, with the baby and disease
You can't say you didn't want it on your hands and on your knees
You made me feel so special
Well you were especially good
I'm sorry that you feel misunderstood
So you've left me for another pretty face
That's not true I left you for one-half the human race
Now I'm by myself, a woman who knows her place
It's not so much the chase
It's the race!

Just like in the previous chorus, there is a burst of bright white light as the arches on the stage burst into a bright dazzling light. The remaining lights are neon pink again and sweep around the stage chaotically. His choreography is improvised as he grabs at his microphone with a heavy grip. Franġisku does a phenomenal job again of amplifying the emotions being conveyed by the lyrics. The camera focuses on him as he sings the first "I feel so special! " before the camera then whizzes towards the stage from the back of the hall across the engaged crowd as he sings the next line.

All the things those things that I once feared
All the whispers in my ears
All the friends I thought I knew
I feel so special!
All the nights I wasted those guilty tears
All the disappearing years
For a while, I was in denial...
I feel so special!

The camera does a spin as it races towards Franġisku centre stage. He is joined by Louis on his left who is standing there, hopping on his right leg aggressively playing the electric guitar. With an evil smug smirk, you know, that creepy sinister kinda smile that makes a person look deranged he glared into the oncoming camera but behind that icy stare was a mountain of pain as he sang from deep within.

No no don't rescue me
I like the saltwater sting
It feels so good to feel
It feels so good just to feel something
Now that I've lost control
It's an incredible feeling
I can't believe all the things, that you do when you call my name

The camera spins once and the camera turns black and white as the song calms. The band members sway behind Franġisku as he clunches the microphone. The camera cuts away to Alwiġi on drums as he plays with abandon before it cuts back to a close-up of Franġisku as he actresses the mic seductively his head tilted back, and the fog floats around him eerily. He clasps at his hair while singing "Intoxicated until I'm dumb". The whole time the lights around him shimmer slowly between off and on while a moody white spotlight remains on him. For the last line, he slides down the microphone to his knees while holding his last note flawlessly.

It's like you walked right through
The deepest part of my imagination
I must find a recreation
Desperately in search of ways to alter my sensation
There's no equilibrium
Inebriated till I'm numb
Intoxicated until I'm dumb
To avoid confrontation
It's like you walked right through...

Directly head on to the stage we suddenly have a huge eruption of fire in front of Franġisku that erupts upwards bringing colour back to the stage. He watches it with a pyromaniac-type grin as the fire glistens in his wide eyes.

Accompanying the fire, blinding flashing lights shoot and dance with force throughout the hall, and the crow roars with joy. The camera is set at the back of the hall and we can see people really engaging with the song. Louis leans and bops into the audience, banging his head to the beat as they do. We then have a boom camera shot that sweeps in and then around the edge of the stage as fireworks fountains shoot outwards out of the edges. The whole stage flashes a glaring white before we have an up-close shot of Andrew, then another guitar shot of Louis screeching his guitar riff, his guitar held high, before a quick shot of Alwiġi on drums. The whole stage is now bathed in dazzling white flashes with strobe lights whirling around the arena this time a lot slower. We then have a view from above left before it transitions to a crowd view off on Franġisku's left. Back on his feet, he is holding his microphone stand and jolting it about, the mic swallowed by his left hand as he slouched over slightly moving his whole head to the beat. The camera switches to a view from afar and hurtles towards the stage leaving us with a body shot of Franġisku and Louis. The crow behind cheers loudly. Franġisku looks exhaustingly into the camera, his hands squeezing his microphone. The guitar fades into the background.

All the things, those things that I once feared
All the whispers in my ears
All the friends I thought I knew
I feel so special!
All the nights where I wasted those guilty tears
All the disappearing years
For a while, I was in denial...
I feel so special!
No No
Oh no no no
Oh no no no
I feel so special!
Oh... no
So special!
I feel so special!

Franġisku lets go of the microphone and bro hugs Louis, the other two band members shake their fists in delight behind them. With one arm over Louis's shoulder, Franġisku shouts breathlessly with his famous raspy tone. "Thank you! Love ya so much! The crowd cheers continue long after the band leave the stage.

by **Indo States** » Sat Oct 29, 2022 2:46 am

XX. Fatimanian Federation (Indo States)
"Beauté Fatimanienné" - Slnečnica
Title Transcription:
Title Translation: Fatimaian Beauty
Language(s): Fatimanian
Lyrics: Vlastimil Eduard Aleško, Vit Ešaň
Music: Elena Marie Cuseta, Stephanie DeLasscher
Tune: KeshYou - Ризамын
Trigramme: FET

Fatimania has Returned to the World Hit Festival, primarily this Edition that would be held in Elejamie, a Year since Fatimania has been withdrawn from the World Hit Festival a Long Time Ago.

Serena Patricia Valsino-Tan, Stephanie DeLasscher and Elena Marie Cuseta

Slnečnica has wrote the Song "Beauté Fatimanienné", which it was not just a Theme for the Miss Universe 2024 that would be Potentially be held in Fatima City, but also to show that Fatimania is Great on Music despite being sometimes Imperfect, and to Appreciate the Fatimanian Women for their Flawless Beauty to show it around the world. However, since it didn't Qualified for the WorldVision Stage of the Fatimania's National Finale for the WorldVision Song Contest 102 and it went to the World Hit Festival, it is their Chance to see if they would make it Perfect. On this Performance, Elena Marie would wear the Traditional Luisitian Kroje, while Stephanie would wear the Goralic Dress of Meadow Fatimania, which it is similar to the Dresses of Żywiec Gorals in Poland, and Serena would wear the Vlaamskijrt Dress of East Samara, which it is similar to the Polish Rzeszowiacy. More Information about their Dresses in the RTV News Article.

On the Beginning, the Camera has been Focused on the 3 Women, which it was Serena Patricia Valsino-Tan, Stephanie DeLasscher and Elena Marie Cuseta, hidden by the Dark, while the Background LED Miniscreen shows the Landscapes of Fatimania, and as the Bagpipe Solo plays alongside with the Beginning of the Song, until the Camera Focuses on Elena as it walks and sings, as well for Stephanie, and the dancers in various Fatimanian Traditional Costumes doing a Pirouette-style spin.

Elena: Je montrerai ma beauté de ma patría,
Je montrerai ma beauté traditionnellé
I Will Show my Beauty of my Homeland,
I Will Show my Traditional Beauty
Stephanie: Ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté
Ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté
Ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté
My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty
My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty
My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty

The Camera still Focuses on Stephanie as she sings, and the Background LED Miniscreen shows the Panorama View of Fatima City in Motion, then the camera Focuses on Serena, and then Elena.

Stephanie: Je suis une beauté de notrá naturalna traditionnellé et de notre environnementé,
Je suis łą Béllé de notré Patría pour fairez-le touré du monde,
Je suis une Femme Fatimanienné qui Montrerré ma Patrie Traditionnellé et méš Origináléé,
Je suis celéž qui peuté montrerré mon drapeaux au monde,
I am a Beauty of our Traditional Nature and Environment,
I am who was the Beautiful from our Homeland to take the Fame around the world,
I am a Fatimanian Woman who will Show my Traditional Homeland and my Origins,
I am the Ones who can Show my Flag to the world,

Serena: Des Diesz Provinces aux Huicz Territoires de mon Pays,
Je suis fierra de mon pays avec ma beauté et ma forza,
From Ten Provinces to 8 Territories of my Country,
I am a Proud of my Country with my Beauty and Strength,

Elena: Personnán ne peuté mir fairez-tomberré, je suis une personnesse plus forte,
Parcza que ma beauté est le moynák de direž que je suis une personnesse qui veur faire le tour du monde,
No Ones who can bring me down, i am a Stronger Person,
Because my Beauty is the Way to tell i am a Person who wants to take the Fame around the world,

The Camera has changed it's focus on the Trio, when Elena, Stephanie, Serena began to Sing the main phase of the Song, as it rolls into the trio while the Dancers also Spin faster in the Pirouette-Style Dance.

Together (Elena, Stephanie, Serena): Łą beauté des fémmés fatimaniennés ne s'effacé jamais en candrés,
Les Femmes de Fatimanélaisé montreronté leur Beauté au Monde,
The Beauty of Fatimanian Women never Fades away into Ashes,
The Women of Fatimania will show their Beauty to the World,

Stephanie: Je suis fierra de ma beauté,
I am Proud of my Beauty,

Elena: fierra de mon pays,
Proud of my Country,

Serena: et de ma patría
and my Homeland

As the Background LED Miniscreen changes into the Mountains of Fatimania during Winter Season, the Camera focuses on Serena again as it zooms into her Axial Region, primarily towards her face while she sings, then the camera focuses into Elena once again.

Serena: Des montažnes enneigées et des glaciers aux forêts couvertes de pinéssé et aux rivièrés plus przoprzessz,
Mon pays est ce que vous n'attendez pas, en plus de notre beauté et della naturellé,
C'est une Péninsule Couverte par Unéz Grandéz Océaniqué et Unéz Grande Mér avec Troiszé Grands Pleuvés,
Il n'est jamais éclipsé par nóš amîš du monde entrera,
From Snowy Mountains and Glaciers to Pine-Covered Forests and Cleaner Rivers,
My Country is what you will not Expect, besides our Beauty and the Nature,
It is a Peninsula Covered by 1 Major Ocean and 1 Major Sea with 3 Major Rivers,
It is never being Overshadowed by our Friends around the world,

Elena: Plusieurs siècles, décenniés et années d'histoiréllé,
Noúš sommessé toujourszé un Grand Pays malgrá les Difficultés,
Je suis łą fémmé qui aide notré pays à grandiré,
De notré naturéllé à notré przoprzé patrie, célla ne finiraité jamais,
Many Centuries, Decades and Years of History,
We are still a Great Country despite the Hardships,
I am the Woman who are Helping our Country to Grow,
From our Nature to our own Homeland, this would never end,

The Background LED Miniscreen has changed into the Fields that was Located in the Southern Fatimanian Province of Meadow Fatimania, as the camera Changed it's focus towards the three, Elena, Stephanie, Serena in the Second Main Part (Reprisal), as it began to zoom away slowly while also showing the dancers Step-dancing, which it was the Traditional Ramseyian Step-dancing and in the Part where only Serena and then Elena Sings, the Camera has focused into the pair, Serena and Elena, then back to the Three again on the Third and Last Main Part.

Together (Elena, Stephanie, Serena): Łą beauté des femmes fatimaniennes ne disparaît jamaisé,
Je suis łą fémmé qui montrérré ma beauté au mondé,
Je suis fierra de ma beauté, fierra de mon pays et de ma patrie
The Beauty of Fatimanian Women always Never Disappears,
I am the Woman who are Showing my Beauty to the World,
I am Proud of my Beauty, Proud of my Country, and my Homeland

Together (Elena, Stephanie, Serena): (Repeat) Łą beauté des fémmés fatimaniennés ne s'effacé jamais en candrés,
Les Femmes de Fatimanélaisé montreronté leur Beauté au Monde,
Je suis fierra de ma beauté, fierra de mon pays et de ma patría
The Beauty of Fatimanian Women never Fades away into Ashes,
The Women of Fatimania will show their Beauty to the World,
I am Proud of my Beauty, Proud of my Country, and my Homeland

Serena: Ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté, ma beauté, Je montrerai ma beauté de ma patrie, ma beauté
My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty, My Beauty, I Will Show my Beauty of my Homeland, my Beauty

Elena: Éllé ne disparaît-léz jamais, notré beauté, notré beauté
It will Never Disappear, our Beauty, Our Beauty

Together (Elena, Stephanie, Serena): Łą beauté des femmes fatimaniennes ne disparaît jamaisé,
Je suis łą fémmé qui montrérré ma beauté au mondé,
Je suis fierra de ma beauté, fierra de mon pays et de ma patrie
The Beauty of Fatimanian Women always Never Disappears,
I am the Woman who are Showing my Beauty to the World,
I am Proud of my Beauty, Proud of my Country, and my Homeland

Together (Elena, Stephanie, Serena): (Repeat) Łą beauté des fémmés fatimaniennés ne s'effacé jamais en candrés,
Les Femmes de Fatimanélaisé montreronté leur Beauté au Monde,
Je suis fierra de ma beauté, fierra de mon pays et de ma patría
The Beauty of Fatimanian Women never Fades away into Ashes,
The Women of Fatimania will show their Beauty to the World,
I am Proud of my Beauty, Proud of my Country, and my Homeland

As the Song Ended, and the Smoke Effect launches into the Atmosphere in the end, Elena Marie Cuseta has shouted in Luisitian, "Nech sú Ľuišiťské ženy hrdé! (Let the Luisitian Women be Proud!)", then Serena Patricia Valsino-Tan has Thanked the Audiences in Fatimanian, "Mercoî pour tout! (Thank you for everything!", and finally, Stephanie DeLasscher has thanked the Audiences in Rasmussenian German "Ich danken denz beidren und mirsch selbescht für dieserle großartige Leischtung! (I Thank to the Two and Myself for this Great Performance!)", referring to her other 2 Members, Elena Marie Cuseta and Serena Patricia Valsino-Tan.

by **Astbeck-Langgate** » Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:33 am

XX. Astbeck-Langgate
"At fljuge" - Nora Jensser
Title Translation: To Fly
Language(s): Astic
Lyrics: Nora Jensser
Music: Nora Jensser
Tune: Taylor Swift - willow
Trigramme: ABL

NORA'S STORY

When submissions first opened for Astbeck-Langgate’s debut entry into the World Hit Festival, Nora Helene Jensser, a 21-year-old psychology student from Kirkjekelde, was one of the first to send in a song. With just a 150 kr. microphone from ReMarket, her dad’s old webcam and the guitar she got for her 15th birthday, she recorded herself performing a song she had written all by herself a few days earlier. She put her all into it, but didn’t think she’d actually get far. That was until, after about a month, she got an e-mail from ALTV, asking her if she was available some time next week. She gladly accepted. When she finally arrived at the office in Astbeck, she couldn’t believe it when she was asked if she wanted to go to the World Hit Festival. After a quick call with her dad, she accepted the offer and, once she got home, immediately started preparing. Over the next two weeks, Nora, with the help of ALTV’s music department, recorded and produced the final studio version of the song. The week after, the music video was filmed in the forest surrounding Kirkjekelde. Finally, after five weeks, the song was officially revealed, to mostly positive reception. The following is a translation of a quick interview with Nora on the talkshow "Blabla":

Q: Why did you decide to submit an entry?
A: It's always been my dream to perform live in front of a large audience, so I just could not let this opportunity go by.

Q: Are the song's lyrics based off of an actual relationship you've had?
A: No, my current boyfriend's actually my first, and I don't see us breaking up any time soon.

Q: Have there been any issues between you, the people you're working with and ALTV?
Well, of course there have been some minor differences in our creative vision, but, at least for now, we've always come to good compromises that satisfy all parties.

Q: What do you hope will happen at the contest?
Of course, I hope to win, I think every contestant wants to. But mostly, I just want this to be a learning experience. As I've said before, this is my dream, so it would be great to be able to learn from any mistakes I might make there. And of course, I hope to get to know more about the contest, the contestants, Playa de Rocas and Elejamie as a whole.

Q: And finally, what are your plans for after the contest?
A: I'm going to finish my studies, and we'll see then. I hope to pursue music further, but you can never be 100% sure when it comes to success in such a rapidly shifting industry.

PERFORMANCE

A turntable is stood on stage, with all the sets needed for the performance being on this turntable.
As the music starts, the lights slowly shift to a light cream colour, like the wallpaper of the room Nora and a man, depicting the person she's currently in a relationship with, are in. The room has a door on the left and on the right. The camera is stood before the turntable.
The man is standing and is very expressively shouting at Nora, but not actually making any sound. Nora, on the other hand, is sitting down on the couch, staring boredly in front of her.
When she sings the last line, she stands up and leaves the room through the door on the right side.

Drir, kand fjor månedjer hafe sig passeret
Hvari du mig ålltid hefer denigreret
Og nu kreppes minn mage af der
Eg hefe set dat du djyst vilt läke vid mer
Svå hefe eg nyjen fyr sjåndveret

On the other side of the door is another man, actually her boyfriend, whom she embraces. A small smile appears on her face. The man in the room can still be seen shouting. The lights change to oranges and browns, reminiscent of a forest in autumn.

När vid der em, kenn’ eg mig på egg
Men när vid håm em, då flyg eg
Fyrd eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

The turntable turns a bit to reveal a sections filled with clouds. The lights change to sky blue and white. Nora and the man she's now with walk through the clouds, the man stopping to throw a bit of the fluff at her.

Eg flo ‘fer skynem vid, på minne side, ser (å)
Eg true ‘t eg så sky dat mer minner um der
’t Hef’ aldrig genget meden okker
Men vid håm, eg kenne mig sålj svå utmerkter
Eg vil bara gladet lif fyr mer

Nora and the man start throwing more fluff at each other, the man laughing, but again, not making any sound. Nora's smile grows even larger.

När vid der em, kenn’ eg mig på egg
Men när vid håm em, då flyg eg
Fyrd eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

Eg hef’ bruk’t allt mins hander på der
Svå nu kref eg tid fyr mer
Jå, eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

Nora lays down on one of the clouds. She puts on a pair of sunglasses hidden behind the cloud.

Vit fluge yfer ållem okk’re rädslenne (å)
Imens du stender i fruktinge
Vit fluge yfer ållem okk’re rädslenne (å)
Svå eg hugse nu ekke lenger på der

The turntable turns again, to reveal the first man once again, in an identical copy of the first room, standing with his face towards the door. The lights turn the same light-cream colour as before on the left side, and the oranges and browns from the second set on the right side. When she sings the first line, Nora and the second man run through both of the doors, with Nora slamming the right one shut. During the second line, the second man kisses her neck. On the last line, the two turn away and walk to the next set.

Eg lyk då gamle dyrene i ditt andlet
Eg og hann gange af frå der me’n kyssende
Do kreppes minn mage af der
Do se eg dat du vilder läke vid mer
Nu er ‘t tid at dig fyr ålltid glöme

The turntable turns once again, revealing an autumn forest set. The lights turn fully to the oranges and browns. The two hug, laying their heads on each other's shoulder.

När vid der em, kenn’ eg mig på egg
Men när vid håm em, då flyg eg
Fyrd eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

Eg hef’ bruk’t allt mins hander på der
Svå nu kref eg tid fyr mer
Jå, eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

The two start dancing together, the man kissing Nora's cheek a few times.

När vid der em, kenn’ eg mig på egg
Men när vid håm em, då flyg eg
Fyrd eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

Eg hef’ bruk’t allt mins hander på der
Svå nu kref eg tid fyr mer
Jå, eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

They step off of the turntable, hugging each other again. The camera finally moves from before the stage, turning around the couple.

Hej, f’rode dig
F’rode dig
Jå, f’rode dig
Nu er ‘t tid at dig fyr ålltid glöme
F’rode dig
Hej, f’rode dig
Jå, eg bara vil forglade mig
Elske sig
F’rode dig

Nora ends the hug, shouting "THANK YOU! DAKKE YDER!" to the crowd. After a bit, she runs away, so that the next act can start...

by **Alezian Union** » Sun Oct 30, 2022 3:23 am

XX. Alezian Union
"Mo'amu'u (Mon Amour)" - Ma'aka Salem
Title Transcription:
Title Translation: My Love
Language(s): English, Francalezian
Lyrics: Ma'aka Salem
Music: Ma'aka Salem
Tune: Ajay IDEAZ - Te Amo Mi Amor
Trigramme: ALE

If the earth is to stop now,
I'll say my last vow,
Hear me closely,
I love you, Mo'amu'u

by **Norrp** » Sun Nov 06, 2022 4:56 pm

XX. Norrp
"Dates" - Chainzz
Language(s): Language(s) English
Lyrics: Loredana Zefi
Music: Loredana Zefi
Tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fa1yzleukjg
Trigramme:NRP

Loredana Zefi (born on 1st September 1995), also known as Chainzz, is a Norppian rapper and influencer.

The first Norppian debut had gone really well as they placed Ninth with a total of 18pts. Due to this, the country would not withdraw.

Chainzz will be on stage with 2 male dancers. It starts off with her singing acoustically and all serious and folksy before kicking into a proper sassy pop strut with flashing colourful lights all the while keeping some eastern tinges. She ruffles her hair up mid way.

First date, electricity
When you walk in, you suck my circuitry
Back it up, with an attitude
When people sweat it out, you always play It cool

Her attitude is hot and she smirks while she sings and winks.

I think I know you, I'm gonna bet
That you like Superchunk and Joan Jett
Get your quick fix in my car
You got a sweet tooth, and I'm your chocolate bar

The 3 of them do some impressive choreography all keeping in unison as they drop and bend and twist as Chainzz trusts fall into each mans open arms.

Dates
And I say
He-ey... Yeah!

Seductively she leans inwards to the onstage camera operator and sings. She portrays her chin with her hands as she smiles and sings "happiness". The camera backs out.

Let's start our playdate
You and I
Are you excited, too?
I want to just give you happiness,
Just the two of us
Underneath the lights on our playdate
You and I, you and I,
Let's start our playdate

The 3 of them do some impressive choreography all keeping in unison as they drop and bend and twist. The lights around the stage sparkle.

Dates
And I say
He-ey... Yeah!

Her body language is sexy and confident as she sings this verse.

He-ey boy do you kiss on the first date?
He-ey boy do you kiss on the first date?
'Cause I do
Don't be a fool
Enjoy this show
Don't be fake
He-ey you do you kiss on the first date?
He-ey you do you kiss on the first date?
'Cause I do

He-ey you do you kiss on the first date?
'Cause I do

The stage lights flash red pink and green for the dance break.

Dates
And I say
He-ey... Yeah!

We now have the dance break where the 3 of them congo around before spinning outwards to different points on the stage dancing in a traditional Nrrpoian way with their arms folded across them and legs kicking. The lights flash a deep red and a light pink. As the beats get louder to round off the entry the camera cuts suddenly to each person who performs some choreography to the camera. The song ends with them all centre stage and she crosses her arms and tilts her cap down and stick her tongue out. "Thank you so much Elejamie!" She yells loudly.

by **Westanglia** » Wed Nov 09, 2022 4:28 pm

XX. Westanglia
"O Almighty Father" - Virgina Maria
Language(s): English
Lyrics: Virgina Maria Hestis
Music: Alice Othwick, Swenard Crowther
Tune: The Oh Hellos - Bitter Water
Trigramme: WSA

I pray to you, my Lord
You give your holy board
But one I cannot see.
If you’re true divine
I pray, give me just one sign
Of your divinity.

But is it sin to doubt your truth,
O almighty Father?
Am I to be forever damned to an eternal hell?
These questions stay unanswered
These questions stay unanswered forever.

I fear my tortured path
If I stray will I come back?
Bite the hand that feeds me.
And I fear the consequence
If I sin should I repent
Towards humanity?

Is it sin to think as such,
O almighty Father?
Am I to be forever damned to an eternal hell?
These questions stay unanswered, they stay.

If it’s sin to doubt your truth
O almighty father
Then damn me forever, send me to the deepest hell.
If I am damned forever
Oh, if I am damned forever then I’ll go.

by **Caribou Island** » Sun Nov 13, 2022 4:53 pm

XX. Moorland
"Old Timer's Blues" - Cortana
Language(s): English
Lyrics: Elisabeth Rowland, Cortana
Music: Laren Morgan, Raymond Fiest, Cortana
Tune: My Window Faces the South - Sweet Megg
Trigramme: MOO

The Moorlands of Moorland had long been one of the most rural regions in the nation, comparable to the frigid North in its sparseness. Farms and small communities were the norm, and out of this came a unique cultural spirit - music defined by simple tunes and emotive lyrics, easy to sing and instantly memorable. While the region has built up over the years, home to Moorlea, one of Moorland’s largest and fastest-growing cities, these musical stylings have remained ingrained in the identity of the people.

After the chaos and bloodshed of the past few World Hit Festival and WorldVision entries from Moorland and her sub-states - both in the literal and monetary sense - reorganisation efforts in the relevant departments had nearly dashed all hopes of a Moorish participation in the 67th World Hit Festival in Playa de Rocas, Elejamie. Fate, however, would see this musically beleaguered nation set right back on the course towards participation. Farah Fiescher had been a musical programming director at a small regional subsidiary of the massive publically-owned MoorRadio network, sequestered deep in the Moorlands. It was there that she formed connections with dozens of local artists and made a name for herself as the woman to go to to get things done when there was no one else could do the job. During the massive shift in the newly renamed MoorTV network, now fully under public directorship, she found herself transferred from the world of radio to the head offices of MoorTV in Moorlea as an assistant director of live events programming. This umbrella included, among other things, handling matters to do with international competitions like the World Hit Festival.

With less than two months to the competition and Moorish participation confirmed but with no plans having been able to me made during the restructuring, a brand-new team of people from across the spectrum of Moorland's news and entertainment divisions found themselves around a conference room table. Their mission was simple: find someone, anyone, to make, record, and release a brand new song in the next two months, and then perform it to an international audience of millions. Simple, but deathly difficult. It was worse than it seemed, truly, because two months wasn't even the deadline for the music - it was the deadline for the whole production. The music would have to be done at light speed to give time for staging and paperwork and funding requests and all the little elements that made these events work. The big names were the first to come and go. Saint and Mx declined due to the short time frame, Rana Yana was on tour in North America for the next month, Doula Peep had just released her own album a month prior and was busy promoting it. Even Bernadette Ainsdoter, a sure-fire crowd pleaser, was busy on production with her new talk show. The bastards in reality programming had stolen her first, nothing to be done for it. Then they went through the lower tiers of acts, each call more desperate than the last. Ginger Revue, Mira, Tera Sanen, SKNY, The Flying Daggers, Mezzo, Adora ... no, no, no. MoorTV contact lists were rapidly running dry, an indictment of the complacency and incompetence of the previous administration.

Seven hours in and desperate, the order was then given: no matter what, no matter who, someone must be found. Personal contact lists were pulled and calls were made with a renewed frenzy. It was Farah who struck gold first. A call to her old station rewarded her with the names of a half dozen small artists who were looking to promote albums that were about to release. Albums ripe with as-yet unheard songs that could easily, surely, somehow possibly become proper World Hit Festival entries. A few phone calls, emails, and DMs later, and the station had their answer. The artist known as Cortana would be representing Moorland in Elejamie.

Cortana is a Moorish vocalist best known for her prominence in the minor Moorish jazz scene. Cortana spent nearly a decade as the front of a jazz quintet known as "Cortana and The Nets", performing jazz across southern Moorland. Though growing up in the Swamplands of the south eastern coasts, her touring through the Moorlands bred a fascination with the swing styles and folk-influenced music popular in the region. Her sixth and seventh albums, coming in 2018 and 2020, highlighted this shift. Though her choice of genre and luck never saw her make a chart impact, she has become a valued member of the musical community with her contributions to jazz and swing.

Reaction to the selection of a relatively anonymous regional artist mainly known by genre fans and musical insiders was mixed, but the pleasant tune and potential for a simplistic production - as well as being the first artist to respond back - made her the ideal candidate. Her newest album was set to release the day after the World Hit Festival anyway, making the timing perfect. Amidst confusion, doubt, interest, and mostly apathy, the team at MoorTV set to work making an entry that wouldn't disgrace their nation. Or worse, that would end with them all being terminated.

Cortana stands on the stage, soft buttery yellow light and other warm tones filling the slightly dim space. Behind her, on the platforms and ringed around the side of the stage, is a live band - fiddlers and a drummer and a big brass section. She is placed front and centre next to an older form of microphone, like something from the 1940s, dressed in a shimmering black dress of the same era and draped in furs. To either side are twelve dancers in six pairs, three on each side. They dance like swingers, staying relatively small in movement during the build up to the first verse and following the height and expression of the music.

I loved you once long ago
From first sight we knew it was magic
Arm in arm we lit up the night
Happy scars running all over me

The dancers are bopping and so is much of the audience, an unexpectedly nice song. It's not the pop magic typically expected or quite a ballad, but it's something new the arena doesn't hate. The lights brighten a bit and the fog machines go off, giving the stage the appearance of a smoky jazz lounge. An old trick of the trade has viewers at home see the stage in an even more stylised way, Vaseline applied to the camera lenses to give a softer, dreamier appearance.

I dream in shades of the past
The sweetest I ever did have
Rapidly fading but still I can see
Half-forgotten, dim the marquee

At the third verse the song hits a peak and the dancers go for their biggest moves, flowing dance skirts flying with kicks and flips as the choreography has them rock and roll with their partners, tossed around and brought back in with a practised ease. Cortana's voice is as smooth and bright as the music, playfully prancing around the instruments with her jazz-based sensibilities, finding her own rhythm in the midst of the joyous fanfare.

I met you once in a dream
And though I may have no memory
You still remember, oh, for you and me
In prime time just how fun two people could be

Despite the tragedy of the lyrics, there is a strange toe-tapping infectiveness to the song that keeps the audience engaged. Cortana does her own shimmying around the microphone, sultry and fun and having a good old time on the biggest stage of her life.

You'll always be in my heart
Though I can't always remember
Baby I'll be there when we take our bow
Remember our love for me

As the lyrical part of the song ends and the instruments go on for thirty seconds on their own, the lights from the front of the stage fade off and the background lights from behind the band and dancers grow brighter, giving all on stage the appearance of being shadows, the forms of the dancers whirling and stepping all around the stage in perfect synchronicity with some of the most chaotic looking moves an audience might ever expect to see. All in all, it may not have been a winning performance to the tastes of international juries, but by the end it was certain that Cortana had made her mark on the competition with something original and - as often eludes original performances in song contests - something good.

Won't you remember all those nights I can't
Remember our love for me
Remember our love for me

WHF67|Playa de Rocas, Elejamie - DRAFT THREAD CLOSED

WHF67|Playa de Rocas, Elejamie - DRAFT THREAD CLOSED

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