Worldvision Song Contest 87 [IC] | Peeto, Polkopia

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Dima: "Alright, we have only ten nations to go, so let's take a quick look at the scoreboard!"

Tatiyana: "Right now, Hafamarimët leads, with Polkopia not far behind, but that's bound to change!"

Lana: "So without further ado, let's get to it!

[Polkopia]

Dima: "Alright, so we have ten countries left. Tenth place in the televote... receiving 81 points is..."

[Polkopia]

Dima: "Next... in ninth place in the televotes, with 83 points..."

[Polkopia]

Dima: "And now, scoring 84 points with the televotes..."

[Polkopia]

Dima: "Next, with 86 points..."

[Polkopia]

Dima: "And now we have a tie! Two nations earned ninety points with the televote! The first nation is..."

[Polkopia]

Dima: "...And the second nation to receive 90 points is...!"

[Polkopia]

Dima: "...And we have our fourth place in the televote with 99 points...!"

[Polkopia]

Dima: "We're going into triple digits now! Third place in the televote, with 104 points is...

[Polkopia]

Dima: "In Second place... boy, this is getting very exciting! Anyway, in second place in the televote it's...

[Polkopia]

Dima: "So it is confirmed that Ertzei Kishim has won the televote... but will it be enough to overtake Britonisea? Let's find out... Ertzei Kishim... you have received...

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE WINNER OF THE 87TH WORLDVISION SONG CONTEST IS...

BRITONISEA

[Britonisea]

#WINNER BRITONISEA
Charlotte Davies - "Let Me Down Gently"
Tune : Becky Hill - "Space"
Music: James Embankmnent, George Willis-Rhyne, Geraldine Foster • Lyrics: James Embankmnent, Charlotte Davies

Britonisea has won the 87th WorldVision Song in Peeto, Polkopia, taking up the nation's win total up to seven now. This was the first time Britonisea has won under the new system.

Despite somewhat good performances since the introduction of the Televote, some Britonish WorldVision fans were worried that the nation wouldn't win the contest again after the nation scored 10th, 9th and 7th with songs that gained as much hype as Britonisea's winners. Some fans weren't quite sure why the nation wasn't hitting the aim of top 5 every edition. A member of the Delegation for Britonisea at the WorldVision Song Contest, the youngest and newest member, was more in charge of the entry for the WorldVision Song Contest this edition because he stood up to the Head of Delegation during a meeting accusing them of not during their job properly (or rather just sitting back and relaxing when they should be going for the win every edition). This member, who has been unnamed, decided to get their friend Charlotte Davies to participate in the Contest by getting in direct contact with her.

Written by winning composer of the 73rd WorldVision Song Contest, James Embankmnent, he along with some other songwriters put together a song perfect for Charlotte to sing at the upcoming contest - "Let Me Down Gently". James knew exactly what he was doing when he composed this entry. A regular at Britonisea's national final, Vha Mehlodhivestoile and of course, the composer behind two top-2 placements already at WorldVision, he knew exactly how to write a WorldVision hit. His track record at the WorldVision Song Contest remains untouched as he scores another win at the 87th WorldVision Song Contest - with a convincing win as well.

Britonisea can rest easily that the country can still win the contest even if the competition has gotten much harder - especially after the introduction of the Televote. It will now be about whether Britonisea can maintain how well it does for many editions in the future. Britonisea is one of the most enthusiastic nations at the Contest and so the public will expect nothing short but bangers or powerful vocalists going forward. BITC does deserve massive credit though. The broadcaster puts up with a lot of pressure from the Britonish public edition-on-edition which has helped the success of the country. Since BITC took over in '61, in its 19 entries it's sent since then, five of them have been winners - much more than BVC's efforts.

It's time for Charlotte to perform her winning song...

Duration: 03:18
Main Vocalist: Charlotte Davies
Female Vocalist 1: Jeanette Baker
Female Vocalist 2: Abi Thompson-Hayes

Initial Beginning Stage Design

Charlotte made her way to the stage with her team right behind her. She had the Britonish flag and looked elated with the result. She lifted the trophy high up into the air to the sound of applause. She was handed a microphone - it was time for her to speak...

"Oh my god! I just cannot believe this - thank you everyone for this win, I'm just so lost for words....right, I just would like to thank my good, good friend Thomas, Tommy thank you for recommending me to do this, for believing in me...this win is for you, without you this win wouldn't have come about so you can give yourself a pat on the back! Behind every great song is a brilliant composer - congratulations to you James for winning your second WorldVision title - I hope there's many more to come for you. I'd like to thank the broadcaster for being so open, um, and I'd like to thank my family especially my mum for putting up with me these past few weeks, I've been so on edge. Finally I'd like to thank all WorldVision fans and viewers out there, those that voted for me. I love you all and...let's perform this song one more time for you all!"

The few people that she was with embraced her on the stage before Thomas came up to her, embracing her the tightest. Thomas tied the Britonish flag around her neck to have it hanging off her like a cape before escaping off the stage so the winner can get ready for her performance. The stage in Polkopia wasn't too big, especially compared to the stages of the 81st and even more so the 82nd WorldVision Song Contest held in Britonisea and Ertzei Kishim respectively. Charlotte wasn't wearing anything to fancy, opting for a less vibrant shade of orange than the linked photo. She didn't want what she was wearing to gel with the background - a focus of BITC this edition. What did BITC lug abroad this time? Well, compared to the big prison stage which was rather liked by other delegations, BITC was going for a simpler design - opting for two rigs of LED circles which didn't go the full 360 - maybe 300 - perhaps that was a way to save money, or maybe it was a way for BITC to seem cool. Either way, those two rigs were placed on either side of Charlotte. There was also a podium that was placed in between the ring rigs, which would be slightly covered by the fog machines that slowly crept in to fill the whole stage floor. The BITC delegation was hoping that she would be okay up on that stage, and hoped that during the time she had up there, she would get as many people to pick up their phones to vote. They also hoped that the song would be a Jury hit - another target for the Britonish stage designers.

It was the end of the postcard, with the Doportedasian skyline appearing on the television screens of millions, if not billions, across the multiverse. There was a huge applause as Charlotte's orange dress could be seen for miles. The LED lights behind her had nothing on them with the circles being turned on - with them turning to a gold gradient with the left circles appearing richer in colour compared to the circles on the right - her left. As the piano started playing, there was an out-of-focus shot of Charlotte's face. The audience cheered a bit as the camera came into focus showing a serious-faced Charlotte Davies looking at the camera. She looked as though she had a bit of glitter in her makeup as her flawless skin sparkled under the lights of the stage. Eventually, after the introduction finished, she started singing, bringing her shiny microphone up to her face...

You only said you loved me from a distance,
Never when we're together.
Something’s on your mind but you won’t speak,
Too afraid to open up.

We’ve been on a knife-edge for months,
Been treading on eggshells, avoiding conversing.
Nights alone, drinking the pain away,
Crying myself to sleep, how long can this go on?

The first verse of the song went by pretty well, with the rather minimalistic staging going along with the rather empty piano and accompaniment. It was time to now take things to the next level as things started to improve in the song. There was a shot of Charlotte Davies, where her body took up most of the camera shot. As we moved onto the line "We've been on a knife-edge for months," we then saw a shot from further away in the arena as orange arrows now appeared behind Charlotte, slowly increase and decrease in intensity behind her along with the beat of the song. After the establishing shot of the arena, we then moved to a camera shot which moved closer and closer to her while she sang about how she felt as though she had been treading on eggshells. She never stopped looking at the beckoning camera, maintaining that close eye contact to make it seem as though the person she was singing to was watching this very performance. Perhaps he was. The strobe lights in the arena, slowly tilted upwards, causing a wonderful look from further away. The camera slightly tilted as we got to the line, "Crying myself to sleep", right before we moved onto the very short and snappy chorus.

The Britonish songwriters decided to make this chorus short and sweet to give the audience only an inkling of her vocal ability due to how powerful the song's chorus was. During the chorus, the whole stage turned a muted gold colour which pulsated through the side LED screens too. Due to how quickly the chorus would pass, there wasn't much thought of making the staging seem very different from the section that we saw before. Charlotte would go on to continue singing the verse with the arrows reappearing on the screen behind her.

Let me down gently, today
Let me down gently, today
There’s no future for us, we both know it,
So let me go, I’ll be okay.
I’m hurting more hoping we’d pick up,
What we had from where we left off...

I want you, you wouldn’t believe how hard
I’ve tried to regain your attention but
Every day, I’m pushed further away,
Shout or scream, please something
Tell me if I should stay…

The song was slowly building up at the end of that verse as alternating pedal notes came in to help build the texture of the song. When this section began, there was a Steadicam that was brought on to the stage. Charlotte was still stood on that podium and as the camera came around to the front of her, she would interact with it - looking down at the camera, pointing at it and singing the words she was singing towards the audience at home. When singing the line, "Every day, I'm pushed further away", she moved her arms outwards, with the camera reacting to this also, slightly jolting further away from Charlotte. As Charlotte continued to sing, you could see through her expressions that she wanted the cameraman to come back towards her, though instead it seemed that the distance between Charlotte and the camera only increased with Charlotte sing with a more desperate expression on her face. Though, this wasn't translated through her vocals which was kept under controlled - powerful yet dignified. For Charlotte, she thought that this performance was going much better than she thought it would - there wasn't one slip up and everything was going according to plan. The lights during the pre-chorus was also reacting to what was happening on the stage. Along with the alternating pedal notes, the lights were flickering from the front of the arena and the back, creating a shadow effect behind Charlotte every other beat in the song which those at home could see when the steadicam faced her front.

Let me down gently, today
Let me down gently, today
Your time is up, ‘cuz I can’t wait,
So give me a decision.
Should I stay, should I walk out that door?
That is your ultimatum.

As Charlotte belted out another chorus, her surroundings changed accordingly. She took a strong, powerful pose on the podium she stood on as the LEDs showed a picture of a staircase - which you can find here which looked as though it had the neon effect on the walls of the stairs that has been present throughout the performance. In the performance, the picture behind her was obviously in motion, with the picture behind her moving closer and further away from the staircase, interacting with the twitching of the lights along the side of the staircase which flickered between the pink and the blue - which obviously refers to the genders since she is singing about a man. While some members of the BITC crew didn't want there to be that pink/blue divide to signify the genders, others thought that it was a global, subtle way to convey what she was singing about throughout colour - but also, pink and blue worked very well and was great on the eyes. Charlotte herself loved the colour scheme and wanted to go with it for the Grand Final performance. The screens which flanked the main one had neon lights running along with it with one side of the stage being pink while the other bathed in blue, a colour scheme which was only enhanced by the strobe lights on either side of the arena. Charlotte really felt the lyrics that she was singing, with Charlotte singing straight out towards the audience, taking in an air grasp as she sang the lyrics, "'Cuz I can't wait." after she pointed out towards the audience the line before. She continued as a close-up shot followed this, slowly moving out to show Charlotte's facial expression more closely. As she continued to sing, the backing LED became brighter as the strobes around her became less intense. She took a deep breath before she came up to her favourite line of the song, grunting as she started the line "Should I stay, should..." before she abruptly turned slightly to the left, pointing to the light at the top of the staircase in the LED behind her. As she sang the final line of that explosive chorus, the silhouette of the door closed disallowing the light to pass through, plunging the stage into darkness. Charlotte continued to sing into the mellow, downbeat bridge.

With the absence of the neon lights that we had become so used to seeing throughout this performance, it was a breath of fresh air to have the camera pull a facial shot of Charlotte - intimately - with the shiny microphone glistening amongst the darkness of the backdrop behind her. As she sang how she wishes she could turn back the clock, she closed her eyes, thinking about all the good times that she once had to the person she is thinking about in her head. You could really feel how hurt Charlotte was feeling in the way she sang those very few words along with the solo piano, only offering her pity as she fell deeper into feeling sorry for herself.

Oh, I wish I could turn back the clock,
See where it went all wrong,
Pay heed to mistakes I made.
I’d turn back to when life was so bliss,
The only thing that I miss,
but I know that I can’t.

The camera started to slowly move back after she sang about the mistakes she made, with her body being shown by the time that she got to the penultimate line of the bridge section. You could see that Charlotte was obviously gearing up to something as she widened her stance, becoming more and more confident as she sang each line before the final line of the section she was on. As she reached the last line, she bent her knees slightly before clenching her fists tightly and as she belted the final word of the bridge, she tilted her head backwards, moving the microphone further and further away from her mouth. There was an added echo effect to the microphone as the shot switched to one further away so that you could see the beautiful Charlotte powerfully belting the lyrics of the song in what was probably the most powerful outcry in a Britonish entry ever. The Polkopian audience applauded the impressive vocals from Charlotte who, after she belted the last lyric, turned around, flicking the few strands of hair which were in front of her face behind her shoulders. It was now time for the final push, the final chorus - the final thing that could bring together the whole song and give another reason to those watching to vote for her. She wore her heart on her sleeve during this performance, but now even more so than before as she knew that this could be the last time that she would perform this song in a setting such as the WorldVision Song Contest. She wanted to revel in the final 40 seconds of the song, she was the focal point of the whole world at the moment - and she didn't take this moment for granted.

As we moved into the grand final chorus, there was a burst of light - juxtaposing the darkness of the bridge section before. The LEDs suddenly burst out with a geometric golden design, similarly to the one that you saw at the beginning of the song though this time - it seemed more interactive. Coupled with on-screen graphics, the LED's design was made to look as though it was coming out of the LED screen as straight to the living rooms of the people watching. There was the use of lasers which looked rather magnificent, especially when the camera moved outwards to see her on the podium. The fans were turned on, blowing her outfit and hair behind her as backing singers came in, creating a feast for the ears as everything blended so perfectly in harmony. The lights were flashing canonically along with the beat of the song, almost creating a nightclub feel on the stage as Charlotte was bathed in darkness for a split second before coming back into the light. The cameras provided a wide range of angles and dynamics to fully engage the audience watching at home. BITC seemed to throw the whole kitchen sink at the performance in a valiant effort to better the performance of last edition.

Confetti started falling from the sky as her delegation was let back on to the stage to join her for the final chorus.

Let me down gently, today
Let me down gently, today
Your time’s up, baby (can’t wait no longer)
So should I stay? (can’t wait no longer)
Or should I go? (can’t wait no longer)
Today? Today.

After she had sung the final line of that final chorus, pyros started falling from the rings at the roof of the arena with the audience cheeringly loudly. The camera focused on the beautiful golden waterfall around her before fading into a close up of Charlotte singing the final two lines of the song in a quiet way, whispering it almost. You could hear the audience cheering away as a smile appeared on Charlotte's face...

Should I stay or should I walk out that door?
That is your ultimatum.

"REMERCIO TEIS EVERYONE, THANK YOU SO MUCH!" Charlotte shouted as the contest came to an end. What a great result for us...