Roksie Rakas - "Come What May"
Tune : Erika Vikman - "Syntisten pöytä"
Music: Jorge Knights, Callum Wright • Lyrics: Roksie Rakas
Can Britonisea do the double?: Roksie Rakas (pictured above) is set to represent Britonisea with the song "Come What May" in Rhim Flavezztowland...
Britonisea returns to the WorldVision Song Contest after the victory in Polkopia last edition, where Charlotte Davies won with her song, "Let Me Down Gently". In this edition, we will be sending Roksie Rakas' song "Come What May" and she is ready to take on the world...
For a few editions, namely those since the introduction of the Jury and Televote split, Britonisea's scores were always on the lower end of the top-10s. While Britonisea was able to preserve only producing top ten entries since WorldVision Song Contest 53, the Britonish broadcaster for WorldVision [BITC] were getting a bit restless that, whatever they sent, it seemed as though it also produced the same result. The Head of Delegation listened to advice from one of the youngest members of the Delegation, asking whether it was possible for one of his personal friends to go to the WorldVision Song Contest. The Head of Delegation agreed and it looked as though it was a good decision based on the result that came back. If we go back to the evening of the 87th WorldVision Song Contest, after all the nations had performed, it was unclear as to who was going to win the Contest. Britonisea had hoped that Charlotte was going to at least place in the top 5, but as the points rolled through and we reached the halfway limit, it looked as though Britonisea was on course for victory - 12 points ahead of the runner-ups at the time. While the runner-up changed by the time we reached the final jury votes, Britonisea was still leading - this time with 21 points. Britonisea had consolidated its first-ever jury victory and a quite convincing one. Had the Jury votes been the actual votes, Britonisea would've seen its largest margin for a victory, though the story was only half-told, it was time for the televotes. The 86th edition of the WorldVision Song Contest saw Britonisea place 3rd overall and so BITC and the general public were hoping that the televote will play into Britonisea's favour again this time around. As we moved higher and higher up the scoreboard, we could see that Britonisea was a fan-favourite, not being called out until we were down to the last two nations. Britonisea didn't win the televote, coming in second with 108 points. Britonisea had a total of 242 points but Ertzei Kishim could've stopped it all. Ertzei Kishim needed a mammoth 140 points to win the contest, which (for those who did the calculation) might have given away Britonisea's eventual victory but for the average viewer, they were clutching the edges of their seats waiting for that official confirmation. It was announced - Ertzei Kishim scored 113 points, not enough to come close to Britonisea's first victory post-televote split. Britonisea had won their seventh WorldVision victory. Britonisea, for the first time since the 77th WorldVision Song Contest, moves back into being the 2nd most successful nation in WorldVision - with 7 wins and 6 silver medals. BITC's faith was restored finally, but the competition continues and they had to start looking at who was going to represent the country at the 88th WorldVision Song Contest.
For this WorldVision, BITC wanted to go for something different than in the past. While Britonisea will always be known as a country that sends serious entries to the contest, BITC didn't want to send something too serious and wanted to let go a little bit. Roksie Rakas is a 32-year-old woman from Loueske, and she was chosen as the representative for Britonisea with her song, "Come What May" which is about somebody who didn't help her when she was at her lowest point, with this person now coming back asking for help when roles were returns. "This performance will be fun and crazy," Roksie Rakas said in a press conference, "I just want to get up on the stage and just be happy and free. It might be a risk but we can take that risk after last edition. I'm so excited, let's go!"
Roksie arrived in Rhim Flavezztowland a week before her Grand Final appearance. She really liked the country and was happy to add another nation to her list of nations that she has already been to. "I'll back here xx" she wrote on her twitter page before she went to bed the night before the Grand Final.
Roksie Rakas was to perform in the 24th position, well at least officially. The nation that was supposed to perform before Britonisea, Nekoni, didn't seem to turn up on the day meaning Roksie's time came much quicker than expected. "Oh my God, is it me already? Bloody hell" she exclaimed as she ran towards the stage after her warm-up. Her performance involved some pretty impressive vocal acrobatics and so making sure that her voicebox was ready for the performance, to her, was essential. The style of performance would be quite different compared to what we have seen in the past but so this fit with the song that Roksie was sending, which was unlike any song that we had sent in the past. For this performance, Roksie had backing dancers - well - people who appeared on the stage with her dressed in all sorts. Roksie herself wore a black catsuit, so sultry, showing of her fantastique physique. On her head, Roksie wore a veil reminiscent of the ones that you would wear on your wedding day, but it was pulled back, over her head and so wasn't too much in the way. The veil contrasted with the rest of her outfit, with it being white. In terms of the staging that she had, the staging was quite similar to the one that we used in Main Nation Ministry when they hosted the WorldVision Song Contest. Six benches were brought onto the stage with an alter section downstage - facing away from the audience. There were dancers sitting on each of the benches dressed in over-the-top wedding or ball attire. The postcard for Britonisea stopped playing and you could hear the raw of the audience in Flavezztowland City. It was a fantastic sound - for those nations that hadn't hosted the WorldVision Song Contest before, their audiences always seemed more excited.
The pulsating beat of the music filled the arena, with the audience cheering real loud as the stage lit up from its dark and barren state. Roksie Rakas started walking down the aisle that was set out because of the benches. As the altar was facing away from the audience, the first shot was of Roksie facing away from the camera, walking towards the eager audience. Roksie got herself onto the altar before quickly turning around, being greeted by the camera zooming in quickly as she quicky put the microphone to her lips. The camera was a close-up shot of her face, slowly zooming out as she started singing. She started singing...
I don't take anything I have for granted,
I know how much you can lose in one second,
I've been there, I'd know,
That's where you made your mistake.
So when your life turned into ash and dust,
I saw a chance, I had to take it and I struck gold
And I felt no way, consider this repayment.
Pulled the rug from right underneath you and took your whole world,
I replaced you with me so you know how it feels
As we moved to the sentence, "So when your life turned into ash and dust", Roksie turned around now to face the packed audience of thousands of people. There was a camera shot from further away as we saw the benches facing towards the audience with Roksie centre downstage on the podium - looking like the queen of the world. The camera showed what was going on the stage - it seemed as though the backing dancers were acting unlike how they would if they were actually at a wedding - laying down on the benches, cocking their legs up, manspreading etc. The lights on the back wall of the stage was a deep rouge, helped by the red strips on the floors of the stage. As Roksie finished singing the final line of the verse, she winked at the camera when it cut to a closer shot of her. The people who were sitting on the bench started to now walk towards Roksie in a row, appearing behind her as she moved onto "I know that you wish you were me". Roksie took a squatting position, with the backing people all taking different positions behind her, all looking at the camera with somewhat menacing grimaces. Doing some of the reactions they were doing were over-the-top actions of the things that Roksie sings about..
I know that you wish you were me,
I'm living the life that you had.
Nothing but high tea and soirees,
Sparkling in the glitz and glamour.
You've had your chance, now it's my time to shine,
Step aside, envy doesn't suit you.
Thinly veiled threats, send them my way,
Tell me your ex doesn't want me.
Where's your ring? It's on my finger,
Looks like, here, I am the winner.
You promised you would be back come what may,
I won't hold my breath 'cuz I am soaring
As Roksie sang the lyrics, "Where's your ring?", she raised her hand up towards the camera, smiling cheekily and looking at her hand as though she was surprised to see the ring on her finger - obviously quite sarcastically. There was a quick zoom out at this point with the camera slowly tilting up towards the roof of the arena before we cut to the next part of the song. The pulsating beats were back as we rejoined the darkened stage once again, slowly moving towards Roksie over the audience and when the camera stopped, Roksie took a strong stance - maybe when we got to the line, "Feels like I'm only taking what's really mine", different versions of herself appeared on the stage behind her, copying the actions that she was doing. Roksie got down onto the floor, facing upwards with a birds-eye camera meeting her eyeliner, slowly moving down to get closer and closer to her. There were some camera effects, something similar to this but in motion as she swayed her head from left to right.
You must think I think about you night and day,
Feeling a sense of regret, well, no I'm not.
I'm living my best, my best life all thanks to you.
Feels like I'm only taking what's really mine,
Compensation for the way that you treated me,
Like I fool I believed every word you said...
Why was it you didn't help a girl when she needed it most?
It looks like karma has come back around to bite you on the...
I know that you wish you were me,
I'm living the life that you had.
Nothing but high tea and soirees,
Sparkling in the glitz and glamour.
You've had your chance, now it's my time to shine,
Step aside, envy doesn't suit you.
Thinly veiled threats, send them my way,
Tell me your ex doesn't want me.
Where's your ring? It's on my finger,
Looks like, here, I am the winner.
You promised you would be back come what may,
I won't hold my breath 'cuz I am soaring
Suddenly, some men wearing little (let's say some white shorts) appeared at the back end of the stage, holding huge drums with them. The camera focused on them for a few beats of the song as they transformed the song from the high energy and impactful chorus into this softer section. The lights reacted with the bangs of the drums too, growing in intensity with each bang of the drum. The shot turned dreamy for a split second, with a soft fade into the next shot being done. Roksie could be seen now with her veil down, singing about how she would be in a church. On the screen furthest away from the audience, one could see a picture of a church in and amongst the whiteness of the stage.
When I'm in all white to the sounds of wedding bells in the church,
I'll thank you for all, I thank you for everything you've done
At this point, the backing dancers were holding their hands together and mimicking the vocals in the background (which they obviously weren't doing because they weren't wearing microphones or anything). They all appeared from around Roksie who was bathed in a white spotlight with her veil down, looking up as though she was some sort of biblical figure. Roksie removed the veil from her face, throwing it out to the audience with a lucky someone catching it being able to take it home as a souvenir. During this short section between the bridge and the chorus, as Roksie was bathed in the aforementioned white spotlight, the strobe lights around the stage started alternating between one another causing a bit of madness.
I know that you wish you were me,
I'm living the life that you want.
Nothing but high tea and soirees,
Sparkling in the glitz and glamour.
You've had your chance, now it's my time to shine,
Step aside, envy doesn't suit you.
Thinly veiled threats, send them my way,
Tell me your ex doesn't want me.
Where's your ring? It's on my finger,
Looks like, here, I am the winner.
You promised you would be back come what may,
I won't hold my breath 'cuz I am soaring
It was now a matter of repeating the final sections of the chorus once again as pyros shot into the air to add to the madness that was happening on the stage. Roksie strutted all the way down the catwalk with her six other friends going down the other three catwalks. Roksie, when she reached the end started posing sexually, flicking her hair from side to side as the cameras worshipped her from every angle.
You promised you would be back come what may,
I won't hold my breath 'cuz I am soaring
You promised you would be back come what may,
I won't hold my breath 'cuz I am soaring
At the end of the performance, Roksie took a huge bow before thanking her audience. Roksie took her leave and hoped that she could give Britonisea another great result off the back of Charlotte's win last edition.