transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Boy, you gotta wonder about the post-it budget on that video.

Speaker 2:
[00:03] What do Cine and Step on Rob have in common?

Speaker 3:
[00:06] And a music video with flashing light warnings? Thank you!

Speaker 1:
[00:10] All that and more on this week's episode of Eurovangelists. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Eurovangelists. I am Jeremy Bent.

Speaker 3:
[00:33] I'm Oscar Montoya.

Speaker 2:
[00:34] And I am Dimitry Pompée.

Speaker 1:
[00:37] And welcome to the first episode of Eurovangelists in the 2026 Max Fun Drive, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 3:
[00:44] Woo!

Speaker 1:
[00:45] We are in the middle of the big drive for our podcasting network, Maximum Fun, in the midst of all the excitement of all of the fabulous BoCo that you can get for backing our show, other shows on Max Fun. It doesn't matter what show you back, you get all of it. But also you get the satisfaction of helping support the show. And we truly cannot stress how important your support has been to the growth of this show over the last two years. Anyone who backs the show, truly thank you so much.

Speaker 2:
[01:12] And we have so many great backer goals this year. We'll talk about later. Yeah, that's exciting stuff. I'm so excited for it.

Speaker 1:
[01:19] But we won't waste your time with that right now. We got Eurovision to talk about. We will waste your time with talking about our new Big Five shirts, which are still available in the store, maxfunstore.com. Five different shirts, 20% off if you order more than one. Five countries that are boycotting Eurovision over the EBU's decision this year. The more we sell, the more we donate to World Central Kitchen to support their work in Gaza. And they're only available for a little over another month. So if you've been on the fence about one, now is a good time.

Speaker 2:
[01:45] Everyone who buys one sends me a photo. They say how happy they are in their shirt. They look like a million bucks.

Speaker 3:
[01:50] Yeah, they look great.

Speaker 2:
[01:51] I know in this economy, that's not a lot of money. That's still pretty good. Come on now. Don't you want to look like a million bucks?

Speaker 1:
[01:57] By inflation, it's looking like maybe four to $500,000, which is still pretty good.

Speaker 2:
[02:01] That's still pretty good.

Speaker 1:
[02:02] It's still not bad. And of course, we will do an episode about the country that sells the most shirts. All I'm saying is if you're a fan of one of those five, buy that shirt.

Speaker 3:
[02:11] The time to activate is now.

Speaker 1:
[02:13] Is now. Also, Eurovision fans, the shadow bracket is alive and kicking. We got all...

Speaker 3:
[02:19] Oh yeah, let me vote real quick. Where do I go?

Speaker 1:
[02:21] Great question, Oscar. You can find us on Instagram as Eurovangelists.

Speaker 3:
[02:26] Okay.

Speaker 1:
[02:26] And just check our stories as we have a vote going every single weekday, pitting songs that didn't quite make it to Eurovision head to head, usually in fun, dumb little brackets that I put together. Yeah, we've already seen some very close contests, some big upsets, but keep voting, even if you think your song isn't going to win because the highest vote getter will be returned to the brackets in round three and the second chance. And you can check out all of the songs that are in the bracket on Spotify and on YouTube. Just check out our profiles on both of those sites. OK, all right, that was a lot of chatter.

Speaker 2:
[02:59] Let me give you a break here, Jeremy, because I want to start off with an email. You know, we're here today. We're going to be talking about music videos. And I had to read this email before we got started because I think we need to address this listener's concern. This person says, Dear Eurovangelists, I listen to your show every week and your show sucks. You are so stupid and so old. Your dusty, crusty ass is so old, I bet one of you has a retirement account. Why don't you stop making references to old movies like The Force Awakens and bring on a young person for once? Your friend, Real Podcast Listener Jr. Okay.

Speaker 1:
[03:34] We've heard from Real Podcast Listener before, and I feel like Real Podcast Listener Jr. might be related.

Speaker 2:
[03:40] Well, they're just as rude as their father, presumably.

Speaker 1:
[03:43] Yeah. Family has got a real etiquette problem, is what I'll say. Real Podcast Listener Jr., we take your point. We maybe could have some younger Eurovision fans on the show who won't reference old movies like The Force Awakens.

Speaker 3:
[03:58] What is that one?

Speaker 2:
[03:59] That's just what he wrote, man. I don't know, man.

Speaker 1:
[04:01] Okay. All right.

Speaker 2:
[04:01] Fair enough.

Speaker 3:
[04:02] What's that one?

Speaker 2:
[04:03] Are you Real Podcast Listener Jr., Oscar?

Speaker 1:
[04:06] Oscar?

Speaker 3:
[04:07] No, I'm young, okay?

Speaker 1:
[04:10] Of course. Of course. Well, we are very honored to have with us, talking about the Eurovision music videos with us this week. Somebody who knows a little bit about Eurovision, and if you need proof, you can check out his Instagram, his TikTok, his YouTube, for all his great Eurovision content. We have the fabulous ESC Ben with us. Welcome, Ben.

Speaker 4:
[04:32] Hello. Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1:
[04:34] Oh, yeah. A great pleasure to have you.

Speaker 3:
[04:36] Yeah. Thanks for being here. What a treat.

Speaker 2:
[04:38] Let me tell you right now, folks, if I'm sharing a graphic on Instagram that looks particularly awesome or has an opinion that I deeply disagree with, but want to fight about, it is probably coming from the ESC Ben Instagram account. Your graphics are fantastic.

Speaker 4:
[04:53] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[04:53] Thank you.

Speaker 2:
[04:54] The best graphics on social media.

Speaker 4:
[04:56] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[04:56] This is a man with a Canva account or a graphic design degree, and I can't tell which.

Speaker 4:
[05:01] Definitely the former.

Speaker 1:
[05:02] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[05:05] Good.

Speaker 1:
[05:05] Save yourself some time. Ben, we ask all our guests this, what is your experience with the Eurovision Song Contest?

Speaker 4:
[05:12] I think my first Eurovision was Eurovision 2011. I thought there's a whole generation of Eurovision fans whose first one was 2011, with Eric Sada and Layna coming back trying to win again. I just loved it. I was only about eight or nine at the time, watched it with my mom, as you do. I just loved it. I fell in love with it then, and I've followed it and watched it ever since.

Speaker 1:
[05:37] That's like an age when I feel like you're old enough to have opinions about music and songs. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[05:42] You are not the first person to come on to say their first Eurovision was 2011, which is hilarious to me because I think it's one of the worst editions ever.

Speaker 3:
[05:52] Well, we must cover it on the podcast.

Speaker 2:
[05:55] And yet, you came back.

Speaker 4:
[05:57] I came back and it somehow produced three of my all-time favorite Eurovision songs. Forty other terrible ones, but three of my all-time favorites, definitely. And that's what I think it drew me.

Speaker 1:
[06:09] Well, now we got to hear what those fans are from 2011.

Speaker 4:
[06:12] So, Eric Sardo was popular.

Speaker 1:
[06:27] Okay, I can't get on board, but okay.

Speaker 4:
[06:29] Ha ha! Laina and Taken by a Stranger.

Speaker 2:
[06:33] I can't get on board Taken by a Stranger.

Speaker 1:
[06:34] I'll give you Taken by a Stranger, Taken by a Stranger.

Speaker 3:
[06:36] Yeah, great song.

Speaker 4:
[06:37] She's in a one in 2011, not the year before.

Speaker 1:
[06:39] Wow. Controversial, but okay.

Speaker 4:
[06:55] I love Getajani's Rock Up on the Street as well.

Speaker 2:
[06:58] One of my favorites. An Oscar Montoya favorite!

Speaker 1:
[07:01] An Oscar favorite.

Speaker 2:
[07:17] I like how you have one song that each one of us hates.

Speaker 3:
[07:20] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[07:21] That's what I was like, nah, I don't like that one.

Speaker 3:
[07:23] So a nice balance, so today will be a very balanced podcast.

Speaker 1:
[07:26] Yeah, this is good, this is good. It's been too agreeable, and so it's nice to throw off the dynamic just a little bit. But Ben, tell us about yourself, how you got into making Eurovision content. Like what drove you to start posting about it?

Speaker 4:
[07:38] I don't know, I've just been watching everyone else do it for so long, and I know, I know I know a lot about it, and I have my own opinions on it, so I thought, why not just do it myself? I remember the first video I posted was straight after Baby Lasagna won Dora, and I just posted my ranking of the songs then, and that's what started it off, I guess.

Speaker 1:
[07:57] Fantastic. Well, and now you're going strong. You got thousands of followers across multiple platforms, and we're delighted to have you here to talk music videos. Now, before we talk about these music videos, just a word about our relationship to the EBU this year, and how we're handling things. So, in previous years, Eurovision's official YouTube would upload the videos, and then the broadcaster might upload their video on a separate account, so it was possible to watch the videos without using the ESC account. But now there's like the collaboration feature on YouTube, so the accounts are sort of sharing everything. So, you will ultimately be giving the EBU a view if you watch these videos. So, there's sort of no way to do it without doing that, but the other option is not watching these artists at all, which in some cases is kind of a bummer.

Speaker 2:
[08:43] It's tough, because you are giving the broadcaster a view as well, which the broadcaster uses and the artists use.

Speaker 1:
[08:49] And potentially the artists, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[08:52] So, it's difficult, because boycotting is difficult. Especially boycotting is something you like is difficult. There's an ongoing Starbucks boycott. I don't drink coffee, so that's easy for me. But I love Eurovision and the idea of having to weigh the option of whether I give the EBU a view, but I want to support the broadcaster, I want to support the artist, I want to see the music video, because I'm here to celebrate the artist's art, to see their creative efforts, it's so difficult. So I just want to throw out. You're not a bad person if your boycott is partial. My boycott is mostly economic. The EBU has not seen a dime of my money. I can't help it if they get a view because I want to see this music video, you know? So it is worth mentioning that engagement with Eurovision 2026 material is way down compared to where we were at this point in previous years. Streams are down by millions on Spotify, Apple, YouTube. And I think a lot of that is coming from people who just don't want to engage because of what the EBU and con have done. So if you are fully boycotting, we absolutely support you in that effort. It is working. It's difficult, but you're not a bad person if you watch a music video. The only people who should be criticized here are the EBU. So let's keep it straight.

Speaker 3:
[09:59] Straight. No, I'll keep it gay. Thank you very much.

Speaker 2:
[10:04] I apologize, Oscar.

Speaker 1:
[10:06] Dimitry, to your point, I think more countries may be using their national final performances as their music video than usual because just under a third of contestants are using, which we do see every year, but it feels like countries that normally spring for a music video aren't this year. Norway famously had a great video for Kyle Alessandro's lighter last year and this year for Jonas' Ya Ya Ya is just using his national final performance. And I do have to wonder if it's like, is it an economic thing for Norway? Probably not.

Speaker 2:
[10:37] I would wager not, but there are some countries where it definitely is. I imagine Poland, they're like, look, you know, we can't spring it. Let's just use the national final performance.

Speaker 1:
[10:46] San Marino, near way always doesn't make sense.

Speaker 2:
[10:48] On the subject of San Marino, thank you for the pivot here.

Speaker 1:
[10:52] Although, Gabri Ponte had a music video last year.

Speaker 3:
[10:55] That's very true and it was a pretty good video.

Speaker 1:
[10:57] It was one of the better music videos. Ben, I don't know how you feel about it.

Speaker 4:
[11:00] I enjoyed San Marino's last year, yep.

Speaker 2:
[11:02] I think it's perfectly fine if you use your national final video as your music video. I have no issue with that whatsoever for whatever reason. I do take issue when you use your national final video, but you use your studio track audio to sweep you.

Speaker 1:
[11:16] This is a Dimitry complaint.

Speaker 2:
[11:18] Unforgivable, because just like my dreaded enemy, Stefan Ramm did last year, San Marino has taken the studio track and paired it with the national final video. I find it especially offensive because my favorite part of Superstar is when Sunit at the national final turns to the Boy George video and goes, yeah, come on, boy, like she's encouraging boy George. Yeah. Remember what, he's not there.

Speaker 1:
[11:58] He's not there.

Speaker 2:
[11:58] He's not there.

Speaker 3:
[11:59] He's very much. I don't think she knows that.

Speaker 2:
[12:02] I want to live in a world where Suneet believes Boy George is coming in live, and when you use the studio track, you take that away from me. I hate it, I hate it, I was offensive.

Speaker 3:
[12:12] Did you see that tweet where they announced Suneet and Boy George competing in Eurovision, and then someone writes down, has anyone told Boy George this? And Boy George writes back, fuck you.

Speaker 1:
[12:25] Yeah, we did talk about it on the show.

Speaker 4:
[12:27] You definitely know his now.

Speaker 3:
[12:28] Yeah, he's like, oh shit.

Speaker 2:
[12:30] He's aware.

Speaker 1:
[12:31] Yeah, he was mad, but then he like looked at his calendar and was like, oh no, okay.

Speaker 3:
[12:35] Oh crap, I gotta go.

Speaker 1:
[12:37] I should have booked the flight.

Speaker 2:
[12:38] All of that is to say, if your music video is your national final, just use your original audio. Be honest, don't lie to me.

Speaker 1:
[12:45] Yeah, don't lie to people. All right, we are gonna talk all about this year's music videos, but first we're gonna take a quick break where we are gonna talk about all the fantastic things you can get from us during the Max Fun Drive. And we wanna thank everyone who's backed the show thus far, is considering it this year, has decided to do it this year. You truly cannot know how much the support you lend this show makes a difference.

Speaker 2:
[13:08] The funding from the backers has made it easier for us to get the show out there. The idea that we can use your support to reach others and then bring them into the network, that's what we do it for.

Speaker 3:
[13:18] We are eternally grateful.

Speaker 1:
[13:21] Truly are. If you've been on the fence about backing, it's even easier to do this year than it has been in years past. You can literally go to maximumfun.org/joineurovangelists and you will be taken straight to a page where it's like one, two clicks and you will be backing the show. But thanks to our backers from the past year, there is now literally hours of Boko from just our show, that is only available to you if you back our show, but enough about Eurovision, where we talk about music, movies, pop culture, video games, all kinds of stuff as long as it's not Eurovision related.

Speaker 2:
[13:54] I hope we also have more of our Eurovision journeys on the way. That was a goal last year that is still paying off dividends today. We're still talking to Eurovision fans who are telling us their experiences with growing up in Eurovision before the Internet made it a huge thing over here, what it was like to be a Eurovision fan in Europe as a kid, the songs they loved, the way Eurovision is receiving their countries. And all sorts of great stories from fans just like you because you made that show possible last year.

Speaker 1:
[14:20] That's right. And if you want a taste of both, you can go back to our Christmas episode where we gave you a little gift of the first episode of Eurovision Journeys and the first episode of But Enough About Eurovision already. So you can get a taste for whether you'd like that or not. There's many more episodes of both available to you right now if you back. And you get all that for just $5 a month. But if you're in a position where you can give a little more, the benefits are a little more. For $10 a month, you will get our anti-EBU keychain.

Speaker 2:
[14:49] Look, I tried to be nice to these people. I tried to give the EBU a chance. They spit in my face too many times. And now they get a keychain with the, imagine the Ghostbusters logo, but EBU instead of a ghost. Yeah, that's the keychain.

Speaker 1:
[15:03] That keychain available to our $10 a month backers. Also, if you're willing to give $20 a month.

Speaker 2:
[15:11] One of my favorite things to do every year for our $20 a month backers, you get yourself an individual playlist. You tell me the types of songs you like, the type of music you like, doesn't even have to be Eurovision related. Like, hey, this is an artistic profile. Or you can ask, hey, I'd like to sample some Eurovision hits from decades that I've never experienced. You tell me what you want. I will build you a playlist that you can listen to. And I'll tell you, in the last few years, people told me, oh, Dimitry, you're so good at making these playlists.

Speaker 3:
[15:37] Dimitry's a great music curator.

Speaker 1:
[15:39] Who knows more about Eurovision music than Dimitry? I mean, come on.

Speaker 2:
[15:42] I mean, nobody.

Speaker 1:
[15:42] We have a bunch of playlists that our backers have given us the okay to share with you on our Spotify account. There's a whole folder of listener playlists. Now, something that's not going to be anybody's tastes is Cliff Richard's adaptation of Weathering Heights called Heathcliff, which we acquired a copy of and bullied Maximum Films' Alonso Giraldi into watching with us. It is, in a word, terrible. But we had a very fun time talking with him about it, and there's a preview of it in the feed right now that you can listen to. But if you want that whole hour of us bagging on this terrible musical, we've got it for you. I will actually say the episode is very, very funny.

Speaker 2:
[16:27] We had a good time with this terrible piece of art. Let's put it that way.

Speaker 1:
[16:31] It's genuinely terrible. But that's enough Max Fun Drive talk for now. We'll give you a little bit more later. Okay. Welcome back to Eurovangelists, everybody. We are here with the fantastic ESC Ben talking music videos. Let's get into it here. Ben, it's traditional on the show where we will talk about things that we maybe did not like, so we can end on the more positive things that we did like. So we are going to bash a couple of music videos here.

Speaker 4:
[16:56] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[16:56] And you get to start.

Speaker 1:
[16:57] Or we're happy to take that honor from you if you don't want to.

Speaker 4:
[17:02] Let's talk about Azerbaijan.

Speaker 1:
[17:04] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[17:04] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[17:05] Yeah, that's a good one to start with.

Speaker 2:
[17:08] Man, we did our internal selections video and we posted the Azerbaijani clip. Those people got mad at us. Yeah, they were not happy.

Speaker 4:
[17:16] I don't blame them.

Speaker 1:
[17:17] I mean, the song is not great, but the video is also like.

Speaker 4:
[17:20] It's just three minutes of just nothing. I mean, there's just nothing that happens at all. It just sort of cuts between this sort of dreary, horrible beach. I mean, if they found the worst beach in Azerbaijan to film it on as well. And then it cuts to this sort of green screen, where it seems like they've just nicked Cissale's staging from last year, these curtains just around her. And it's just rubbish. There's no sort of cohesion to it at all. And it's just a long watch.

Speaker 1:
[17:49] It doesn't have anything to do with the song.

Speaker 4:
[17:51] No.

Speaker 1:
[17:52] It's, like the song, pretty disappointing.

Speaker 2:
[18:08] I think especially, Ben, to amplify all of your points, these two people, Jeeva and The Man in the Video, they have no chemistry. Like this is a song about separating from someone, presumably, who you at least liked, but like, I don't get the idea that these people even know each other. Get away from her, you're like, exactly. It's like a creepy stranger, like nuzzling her neck, like stop this, ew, get away from her.

Speaker 1:
[18:33] Yeah, like in Heighten, this is not, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2:
[18:35] No, not at all.

Speaker 1:
[18:37] If I may throw out a video that is not so good, but also sort of matches its not so good song, Sarah Angle's video for Fire is ice cold, I'm afraid.

Speaker 3:
[18:49] That was my pick, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[18:50] I hated this so much.

Speaker 3:
[18:52] First of all, she's giving us like a pop girl moment, but there's something about her wearing those flat ass boots that I was like, what in the hell? That's crazy. Those chunky boot, like heavy boots.

Speaker 1:
[19:05] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[19:06] No, and the choreography isn't intense. You could have done those in heels, still those would have been nice. But also she like is writing some, to me it looks like she's having, she's putting paint on a mood board and then setting that mood board on fire. It makes no sense.

Speaker 1:
[19:22] Well, cause she's a liar.

Speaker 2:
[19:24] I didn't realize how much I hated these lyrics until I watched this music video.

Speaker 1:
[19:28] Oh, they're terrible.

Speaker 2:
[19:29] You're watching her and you hear her like, she's trying to say something, she's very heavily accented. And what she's trying to say is, like a vampire, you hide and come out the night.

Speaker 1:
[19:52] What?

Speaker 2:
[19:52] It makes no sense! Terrible.

Speaker 1:
[19:55] This is literally the meme. We want Fuego, mom. We've got Fuego at home. And you're like...

Speaker 3:
[20:01] Very that, very that. Ti-moo Fuego, for sure.

Speaker 1:
[20:03] Ti-moo Fuego.

Speaker 2:
[20:04] Everything about this we've seen before. Like, even I, a person who legitimately cannot dance, there is a part where she starts doing...

Speaker 3:
[20:10] I don't believe that. I've seen you dance.

Speaker 2:
[20:13] Thank you.

Speaker 1:
[20:13] We've seen you in the Euro club, Dimitry.

Speaker 2:
[20:15] Look, I'm powered by alcohol and joy in the Euro club. I don't get that out here. All those dance moves, she's like, these are the dance moves you do to this song. There's no creativity to it. Like, there's no creativity. She's a good dancer. She's an established artist. Like, she's a great talent. Why isn't she not allowed to show it here?

Speaker 1:
[20:34] Yeah, it's very weird to me.

Speaker 4:
[20:36] It's one of those where the actual national final performance is a lot better than the video, I think. She sells it. She sells it a lot better. Yeah, the song is just bang average, but she does a pretty decent job of it live.

Speaker 1:
[20:47] Dimitry, I know you're excited about this one. Cosmo Tonshine.

Speaker 2:
[20:51] Fucking shoot me in the head. Jesus Christ on the cross. We had a discussion in a previous episode that my first perception of the lyrics was less than accurate. Now, I like what the song is about, fostering that club environment that is welcoming and rejects toxicity. Big fan of that. This video is so nothing, so nothing to me. I cannot get on board with this at all. It's so dreadfully dull. I want to put that lion's mask on my head and just scream as loud as I can.

Speaker 1:
[21:35] I don't like the masks. They're just not very expressive, and I feel like there's just such a like better way to communicate that. This is what they did on stage, and they're doing the video, and neither of them really works for me.

Speaker 2:
[21:47] It kind of has to be bolder, right? Of course, you always want to be friendly to subtlety, but there has to be a contrast between the people you don't want to love.

Speaker 1:
[21:57] They all kind of look the same, because the masks are all sort of the same.

Speaker 2:
[21:59] They're all the same color. You can at least put them in a different type of outfit, like a gross sweat suit.

Speaker 1:
[22:04] Give me something. I don't know.

Speaker 2:
[22:06] Some guy who's peacocking with a stupid hat or something. Just like, I want to see that person get thrown out, and I want to see the people that are actually cool stay in the club.

Speaker 1:
[22:14] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[22:15] None of that is here. It's just like, hey, here's a dance party with a bad song. And enough of this.

Speaker 4:
[22:21] I must admit, I did prefer video to the National Funfords.

Speaker 2:
[22:24] Well, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[22:27] I mean, sure, but.

Speaker 4:
[22:29] But yeah, it's still, it's, and I, had they chosen that internally and released the song with that video, I think it would have been better received.

Speaker 1:
[22:38] I don't disagree with you.

Speaker 2:
[22:40] I think you're right.

Speaker 4:
[22:41] I think it was doomed for the moment. We all saw that National Funfords.

Speaker 1:
[22:45] I mean, their options were limited, is what I would say.

Speaker 4:
[22:48] They weren't many options.

Speaker 2:
[22:49] David Kurt was right there.

Speaker 1:
[22:53] Can you imagine the video for Pocketfuls though?

Speaker 2:
[22:57] He made a video for it actually.

Speaker 1:
[22:58] I know, I guess there was one playing behind him on the stage.

Speaker 2:
[23:02] RuPaul's Snowfall is in my pocket.

Speaker 1:
[23:05] Oh my God.

Speaker 3:
[23:05] I'll say the same thing from the national performance to the music video for Austria. Within three seconds, I said, oh, they don't want to win. That's fine.

Speaker 1:
[23:15] And maybe they don't.

Speaker 3:
[23:15] Listen, you don't want to. Listen, winning back to back years is hard.

Speaker 1:
[23:18] That's expensive. I get it.

Speaker 2:
[23:20] It has not happened in quite some time.

Speaker 3:
[23:23] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[23:23] Once people saw the budget breakdown, they're like, oh, no, no, no.

Speaker 4:
[23:27] Not again.

Speaker 3:
[23:28] I would nominate to the Nothing Sandwich, Estonia's Vanilla Ninja's Epic Two Beat Tree music video. What a waste of something.

Speaker 1:
[23:38] Even the three minute ad for Vanilla Ninja ice cream bars.

Speaker 2:
[23:43] Hello, folks. Dimitry here from the future. Just wanted to mention that Vanilla Ninja released a new music video for Two Epic to be True after this episode was recorded. So we are talking about the old version that they released shortly after the national final. This is the one that was shot in black and white. All right. Back to the show.

Speaker 3:
[24:02] I'm like, what's the point of this? Where do you like this song? I do. I do. Listen, I love a mom song. This is the momiest mom song. What's the point of this video?

Speaker 1:
[24:12] I mean, it is. It is vanilla.

Speaker 3:
[24:14] And it's like the song is too epic to be true. Epic where? Where is the epic? It's just them performing to me, music videos like this, where it's like the band performing on a white empty stage, black and white. I'm like, why not just submit your freaking national final video?

Speaker 1:
[24:32] That's more exciting than this.

Speaker 2:
[24:33] Say better.

Speaker 3:
[24:47] It's very confounding to me.

Speaker 1:
[24:49] I think you're right, this is almost worse because it's less energy than the National Final performance.

Speaker 2:
[24:54] As much as I want to laugh at what they did at the National Final with the epic kiss camera or that cringey garbage.

Speaker 3:
[25:00] Of course, well, I liked it.

Speaker 2:
[25:02] At least it's something memorable, it's like, oh, that's so goofy, why would they do that? But then they do the musical insert where they do the audio track of the fake 40s guy going, hey, baby, I want to give you our kiss.

Speaker 3:
[25:13] That's right.

Speaker 2:
[25:15] It's just them watching TV, but we're watching them watch TV. It's like, this is terrible.

Speaker 1:
[25:32] It's a mom song and it's a mom video, I'm afraid.

Speaker 2:
[25:35] It's a mom video.

Speaker 3:
[25:36] It's a mom video. It's an agoraphobic mom's video. It's like, too scared to do anything, go outside or no. It was rough.

Speaker 2:
[25:45] I will throw in my least favorite, not least favorite, I'll say the one that I found slightly disappointing because I know this person can do better. I wasn't down with Lion Sika for Soul Kira Mas.

Speaker 1:
[25:57] Okay, okay, interesting, interesting.

Speaker 2:
[26:00] Hello listeners, Dimitry again. Much like Vanilla Ninja, Lion Sika also released a new version of his music video after this one was recorded. So we are talking about the old version. All right, back to it. We know Lion Sika has wanted this for years. We know Lion Sika is a brilliant creative. And this video, it feels a little too ungrounded. Like there's nothing to happen in here. And I don't know what, like the message of the song we've talked about before is like, I want more out of life. I want you to live the life beautifully, loudly, even though it's hard, even though it's difficult. I'm getting none of that here, Lion Sika dog. Come on, man.

Speaker 3:
[26:38] Solo, can't, oh.

Speaker 1:
[26:51] Ben, similar feeling?

Speaker 4:
[26:52] Yeah, it's too tame for me. The staging is actually quite exciting. You've got this man dressed in silver, sort of acts in robotic, and yet the video is just him walking for three minutes.

Speaker 1:
[27:02] It's just him going up stairs, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[27:04] It's literally that, and then with some weird sort of archive footage of something thrown in the noodle. But no, it doesn't help to sell the story at all, the song.

Speaker 1:
[27:13] You know my problem with this video, and I have the same problem with Tamara Zivkovic's Nova Zora, where I'm like, okay, you have a vision for the video. And at the very end of Lyon Sika's video, he emerges into the real world and it's staggeringly bright. And the same thing happens at the end of Nova Zora, where it's like the whole time these women are being forced to do all these menial tasks. And finally, at the end, they're allowed to break free, and the man is now forced to do all these tasks. But it takes 85 percent of the way through the video to get to that point. There's no release midway through, which is where I feel like it should come. Like you have to sit through the whole thing to get to the one ten second beat at the end where it's happening. And you're like, no, no, no, that has to come earlier. So then we can see the like result of that in the video.

Speaker 2:
[28:15] They do try to slowly do the transition in the Nova Zora video, but I think you're right, because they do clips, they'll swap briefly of the man doing the menial labor and the women relaxing. It takes too long. It's like, I love this vision. I love the production on this video. I love what you're doing here.

Speaker 1:
[28:30] Both of them look good, but like-

Speaker 2:
[28:32] Make it happen faster.

Speaker 4:
[28:33] You get about 90 seconds in, you think this is the complete opposite of a song about female empowerment. It's literally Women's Village Island.

Speaker 1:
[28:40] Genuinely.

Speaker 4:
[28:41] You get about 90 seconds, you think, where is this going? Then it changes, but you're right, you lose at the start. You just feel like you can connect to the meaning.

Speaker 1:
[28:49] Yeah, I agree. Both decent visions for the video, I just think the execution just wasn't quite there. Any other videos we want to dunk on? Because I think we maybe are moving into the-

Speaker 4:
[29:00] Can I say a controversial one?

Speaker 1:
[29:03] Of course you can.

Speaker 3:
[29:04] Oh, okay. Yes, I was just going to say it. I was going to say check yeah.

Speaker 1:
[29:09] Yeah, not controversial here, my friend.

Speaker 4:
[29:11] I don't understand it at all.

Speaker 3:
[29:13] I hated it. Horrible.

Speaker 4:
[29:14] I don't like it.

Speaker 2:
[29:15] Go off son, go off.

Speaker 4:
[29:17] Well, I just, I find it the most frustrating song of all 35 this year. I think it's so close to being so good. It just doesn't quite get there. And the video is just rubbish.

Speaker 1:
[29:32] It's not good.

Speaker 4:
[29:33] He's in this living room almost, in almost like a haunted cabin, and he's just circulating around it.

Speaker 2:
[29:40] Surveying the lands.

Speaker 4:
[29:42] I don't know what's going on. And every time he sings a big note, there's an earthquake and it ends with this loop into the mirror, doesn't it? I've listened to the song loads of times. I still don't have a clue what it's about.

Speaker 1:
[30:07] I completely agree with you, Ben, cause it feels like, oh, we have a song about being at a crossroads.

Speaker 4:
[30:12] Well, that's exactly how I feel with it, crossroads.

Speaker 2:
[30:15] That's where I'm at with it.

Speaker 1:
[30:17] But you're ultimately like, you can't make a song about being like, I got a big decision, I'm like, who knows what I'm gonna do? Like, the song has to be the decision.

Speaker 4:
[30:25] Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[30:25] You know what I mean?

Speaker 2:
[30:27] Pick one.

Speaker 4:
[30:28] And it's so frustrating, cause he has, you can clearly tell he has such a good voice. He's arguably the best male vocalist in the competition this year.

Speaker 2:
[30:36] Have you heard boy George Ben? Come on, man.

Speaker 4:
[30:39] Of course.

Speaker 1:
[30:41] Ben was too busy at the bars sipping cool champagne. He is one of the better male singers this year, for sure, for sure.

Speaker 2:
[30:49] It's gonna be similar, unfortunately, I think to Mr. Adonxis of last year.

Speaker 1:
[30:53] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[30:53] When it's like, I know you have a gift and you're just not capitalizing on it, man.

Speaker 1:
[30:58] I have to give Adonis credit for having a slightly more interesting video and like the dance break. There was just a little bit more going on. This just feels like, I don't know what you want me to take from this.

Speaker 2:
[31:10] Over the last two years, actually, we've become, we used to all love Czechia's songs. Yeah.

Speaker 1:
[31:14] We really did.

Speaker 2:
[31:15] My sister's Crown remains one of the greatest Eurovision songs of all time. Ever since they ditched the ESCZ format, they've thrown two stickers at me.

Speaker 1:
[31:24] I was going to say the last two internal elections, I've been like, it's a no from me, dog.

Speaker 3:
[31:29] It's two of the same and the first time it didn't work.

Speaker 1:
[31:31] So like, why are we doing this again?

Speaker 3:
[31:34] What did they expect to do?

Speaker 2:
[31:36] Ben, do you have any experience with a Eurovision country that keeps doing internal selections, even though they seem to be a bad idea?

Speaker 4:
[31:41] I wonder who that could be. I wonder.

Speaker 3:
[31:46] Australia.

Speaker 1:
[31:49] We at least have to give the UK credit this year for picking something outside the box. You know what I mean?

Speaker 2:
[31:54] We'll get to that because I think that's a good video.

Speaker 1:
[31:57] Okay. I think we can start to move into videos that are at least like interesting or are try... Here's a good example. Aiden's Bella from Malta is essentially the video version of his stage show, but well done. They've added a little bit more. They've expanded the scope of it. It's still him singing the song in front of a bunch of roses, but it feels a little more complete, a little more fully realized than the stage show.

Speaker 4:
[32:21] Don't be shy. Bye!

Speaker 2:
[32:34] I think the Rose Tornado looks a lot better than it does.

Speaker 3:
[32:39] We know they're rose petals.

Speaker 2:
[32:42] They went from PS2 to PS4. You know what I mean? Looking great.

Speaker 3:
[32:46] Damn, not even PS5, Dimitry.

Speaker 2:
[32:48] Not yet. They're saving PS5 for Eurovision.

Speaker 1:
[32:52] Do you know how much RAM costs these days, Oscar?

Speaker 2:
[32:57] That's the thing. I think you're right, Jeremy. I think this one is a much as big step up. I just wish we could see the object of his desire.

Speaker 1:
[33:04] Yeah. Would it be crazy?

Speaker 2:
[33:05] New rule for Eurovision. If you're going to sing a love song and do a music video for it, A, have the object of your desire there, and B, make sure that that person actually likes you. This one goes to you, Azerbaijan. But I want to see him interact with this person. That's what I want. Come on, man. Tell me that beautiful love story.

Speaker 1:
[33:25] Yeah, fair. Other videos that we think are working. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[33:30] I will say it's not the most dynamic video, but there is an energy that Bunga Runga of Bulgaria, that's Dara's song. I think she's executing on what the song is. It's not big, it's not deep. Like, look, we're going to dance, we're going to do some interesting dance moves, we're going to do some crazy visuals. A bunch of people are going to be wearing furry pants. I'm going to be wearing a furry jacket. It's going to be a crazy time. And like, you know, in terms of selling the chaos, I'm there for it.

Speaker 3:
[34:11] She looks also incredible.

Speaker 1:
[34:14] Yes, very true, very true.

Speaker 3:
[34:16] Yeah, I liked it. I liked the color, the color palette, the color story of that video was really, really engaging. Simple, effective.

Speaker 2:
[34:25] Doesn't need to be fancy.

Speaker 1:
[34:26] Doesn't need to cost a million dollars, you know?

Speaker 2:
[34:29] Nope.

Speaker 4:
[34:29] No, she's clearly a very competent performer, isn't she? You should know what she's doing. I just don't particularly like this song, so it puts me off the video, but no, she's clearly very good at what she's doing, so it's fair play to both of them. They've all come back, all the returning countries have come back with strong stuff this year.

Speaker 2:
[34:45] For sure, absolutely.

Speaker 1:
[34:47] Yeah, I think that's largely true, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[34:49] You know, you want to talk about someone with star power and keeping the video fairly simple, but I think also to the genre, I really want to throw some flowers, Romanias way.

Speaker 4:
[35:00] That's my favorite.

Speaker 3:
[35:00] Say what you will about the song. Yes, but there's something quite engaging about her and the band. I don't know, I really dug it. I actually like the song better now because of this music video.

Speaker 2:
[35:14] I kind of agree.

Speaker 1:
[35:15] Yeah, like I it works a little better for me as this in this music video form. It's very late 90s, early 2000s, a thousand percent, you know, sort of emo rock evanescence sort of.

Speaker 2:
[35:27] What did you not listen to the postcard? Listen to these. You're making these old references. What's an evanescence? Come on, man. Ben doesn't know what that is.

Speaker 1:
[35:35] Yeah, Ben, you've never heard of evanescence. But no, like, it was well shot. She clearly has a lot of stage presence as a person. Yeah, 100 percent. And the video is like, okay, just let her cook. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[36:05] I think the video is why I'm willing to defer to the artist when it comes to the lyrical controversy, because you see all these comments that are, I believe, well-intentioned.

Speaker 1:
[36:15] Sure.

Speaker 2:
[36:15] They're usually coming from men, strangely enough, saying, hey, you know, the rate of women being killed by strangulation is XYZ, depending on the country. Those facts are real, those stats are horrific, and we should all be aware of that. I promise you Alexandra is aware. I promise you she knows that.

Speaker 1:
[36:30] Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[36:31] She chose this vision for a reason. She thinks she can execute on it. Yes, the title is provocative, yes, the lyrics are provocative, and that's going to make some people rightfully bounce off. That's understandable. I'm not going to judge them for that. Yeah. I just think let's trust the artist here. Let's trust the artist.

Speaker 1:
[36:45] Yeah. It's provocative, but it's meant to be provocative as the video is also provocative. You know, it's like it's her goal. And so like, I don't know.

Speaker 4:
[36:52] And I think they've done an exceptional job turning that video into a live performance as well. They've taken all the best bits of it. I mean, the production level of that video is off the chart. For a Eurovision music video from Romania.

Speaker 1:
[37:03] Yeah, it's certainly more polished than you'd expect.

Speaker 4:
[37:06] It's really polished. I was very impressed.

Speaker 1:
[37:08] Yeah, true. Like, if you saw this on MTV back in the day, you'd be like, oh, cool, you know.

Speaker 2:
[37:13] We have cages. We have fire. We have a rock band. We have a singer throwing herself into the performance trying to sell the vision of this song. It's like, this is really good.

Speaker 1:
[37:22] Also, her outfit in this is killer.

Speaker 2:
[37:25] Wear that exact thing to Eurovision.

Speaker 4:
[37:27] Absolutely.

Speaker 2:
[37:28] Just wear that to Eurovision.

Speaker 1:
[37:29] OK, I'm going to talk about a video. I don't know if it makes me like the song more, but it makes me understand the purpose of the song more.

Speaker 3:
[37:38] OK.

Speaker 1:
[37:39] I'm talking Sal da Vinci's Per Sempre Si from Italy. And I was like, OK, he doesn't care about winning San Remo. He doesn't care about winning Eurovision.

Speaker 3:
[37:51] Certainly does not.

Speaker 1:
[37:52] Sal da Vinci is like, I am gonna write a song that gets played at every Italian wedding for the next 25 years.

Speaker 2:
[38:02] You know what? Approved.

Speaker 1:
[38:04] And I'm like, OK, Doug. All right, you do you. That's OK.

Speaker 3:
[38:20] He's sick in the long game.

Speaker 1:
[38:21] He's playing the long game.

Speaker 3:
[38:23] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[38:23] For a song that itself is not terribly complicated, the music video is not terribly complicated. This is what I'm talking about, people. It's two lovers going on a wild adventure that ends in marriage.

Speaker 1:
[38:34] And then Sal's pointing to his wedding ring. He's like, that's the whole song. And you're like, great. I get it now, Sal. You want to be at Rich Italian Wedding singing this song for the next 20 years. And bless your heart.

Speaker 2:
[38:45] Goal one is talk about how much he loves his wife. Big wife guy.

Speaker 1:
[38:50] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[38:50] Goal two is what you're saying, Jeremy. Be the wedding song for the next generation.

Speaker 1:
[38:55] Got to have them. You know, you got to.

Speaker 2:
[38:57] I love this video, man. I love this video so much.

Speaker 1:
[39:00] It is sort of a charming video.

Speaker 2:
[39:01] Yeah. Honestly, there's something about it. It's classic romance. It's the same reason why I like screwball comedies. It's like, ah, man, that's nice.

Speaker 1:
[39:08] The song's a throwback. The video should be a throwback.

Speaker 2:
[39:11] It's beautiful.

Speaker 3:
[39:12] We have like two wedding videos in this music video round up, and they both hit two spectrums. We have Sal da Vinci's Persemprasia Italy, and then we have the Switzerland song. You know, the not-so-positive side of a wedding.

Speaker 2:
[39:26] That's the wedding I'm used to.

Speaker 4:
[39:27] I'm more-

Speaker 2:
[39:28] these are the ones I see more often, but I think both of them are great videos.

Speaker 1:
[39:45] We're talking about Veronica Fusaro's Alice, which is a great song and a great video.

Speaker 4:
[39:50] The video is fantastic, yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1:
[39:52] Absolutely fantastic. We talked about this a little at our internal selection roundup, but it's a really well done video.

Speaker 2:
[39:58] Yeah, I'm not quite gonna say it's my favorite, but in terms of creativity and vision and executing and adding layers to the song, watching the presumed Alice character marry someone that is definitely wrong for her, and watching the agony of Veronica watching it happen, there's nothing she can do about it. Oh, so good, man.

Speaker 4:
[40:18] I definitely think it's the most interesting. Doesn't mean it's the best, but it's the most interesting. I think of all the internally selecting countries, how that's gonna play out on the stage, I think is the most fascinating one out of them all, because they could do anything with that.

Speaker 1:
[40:32] That's true.

Speaker 4:
[40:33] I'm interested to see how they stage that.

Speaker 1:
[40:35] It's a great question, Ben, because the video makes the story quite clear, and I wonder if their stage show will be as successful. I hope it is, but-

Speaker 4:
[40:43] But it really glitched you in. That first cut to the bride, who's clearly very stiff and nervous and scared, it's quite haunting, actually. It's not the direction you think it's going to go in at all. The video does a great job in getting your attention in that respect.

Speaker 1:
[40:59] Absolutely.

Speaker 2:
[40:59] She's always harping on. The message of this song is like, this is a different type of violence experienced by women, a silent, more insidious violence. I want people to understand that's just as devastating as something that might be more obvious. And I think she absolutely nails that.

Speaker 3:
[41:15] All right.

Speaker 1:
[41:15] Now I feel like we are maybe moving into videos we actually like very much.

Speaker 3:
[41:19] Our favorites.

Speaker 1:
[41:20] Or too soon?

Speaker 2:
[41:21] I'm going to throw one more. I'm warming to it, but I have an issue with it.

Speaker 1:
[41:25] Okay.

Speaker 2:
[41:26] All right. Because, you know, I love me some Ferto. You know, Aquilus is a dog of mine. When I look at AI generated content for too long, my stomach starts to hurt. I start to get visibly sick, like literally sick. And his video production team claims there isn't. There is AI generated content in this video. And I think it doesn't help at all.

Speaker 3:
[41:47] Where?

Speaker 1:
[41:48] Where?

Speaker 2:
[41:48] I'd have to watch it again to look at, I can't watch this video again. It makes me sick.

Speaker 1:
[41:52] I don't think this is AI.

Speaker 3:
[41:54] You can't just be willingly throwing out, there's AI.

Speaker 2:
[41:57] Sometimes you can tell this is made by a human. And then sometimes the space, the part where he's in space that kind of reads as AI, the part where he's playing his traditional stringed instrument and the crowd looks a little AI generated. There are parts that are very clearly digitally based. There's some parts where it's just like, I don't know, I'm calling bullshit.

Speaker 1:
[42:18] Yeah, cause I gotta say, this is one of my favorite videos.

Speaker 2:
[42:21] I love this video overall.

Speaker 1:
[42:24] I also am very sensitive to AI generated stuff. And I don't think this is.

Speaker 2:
[42:30] It's insidious. You know, like it's, if it's there, and I'm happy to be wrong, please Tom, for the love of God, tell me I'm wrong. If it's there, it's hidden very well. But I think there's some AI generation in there. I don't know what there is.

Speaker 3:
[42:42] Oh my gosh, how scary.

Speaker 4:
[42:57] So this is the problem with it, with AI., is that you just...

Speaker 1:
[42:59] Dude, it's gotten the point where it's...

Speaker 4:
[43:00] I could never tell, I genuinely could never tell between something that's AI and a normal animation. There's one in Junior Eurovision, wasn't there? I think it was Armenia's video, which was all an animation, wasn't it? But I could never tell whether it was an AI or not, genuinely.

Speaker 2:
[43:15] I was like Team America when I saw that Junior Eurovision video. It was like, this is AI all over the place. I was puking like a madman. It was terrible. It was less severe with this. This was like, this is just doubt. With a little queasiness in the stomach. But I'm willing to forgive it, because I could be wrong, number one. And number two, the video is so clear about what the song is about. The creativity is off the walls. The non-animated parts are probably my favorite parts. And I think it's a really good video. I hope, please tell someone with more experience in detecting AI fraud, let me know if I'm wrong. Please tell me I'm wrong.

Speaker 3:
[43:48] And if Dimitry's right, let us know. So then, you know, we are more educated about the matter.

Speaker 2:
[43:54] Absolutely, absolutely. But no, the vision of I want to acquire everything I never had, then transitioning very successfully into I'm doing it for a deeper reason to support my family. And then let's get back to getting everything. Absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 1:
[44:09] Yeah, I quite like that video. And I will be ever so slightly devastated if it is partially generated. That will be a huge bummer. Because to me, it's like the pixel based stuff looks like they got a real pixel art person to do it.

Speaker 2:
[44:20] A warrants of investigation, let's say.

Speaker 1:
[44:23] Somebody get on the case and get back to us. Other videos we are really enjoying.

Speaker 3:
[44:28] Not my favorite, but in terms of the music video and what it does to the song. I mean, we talked about this Cyprus Antigone Jala is such a fun vibe.

Speaker 4:
[44:51] It reminds me of Arminius from 2024.

Speaker 1:
[44:55] Yes, Jaco, yeah.

Speaker 4:
[44:57] Everyone's out on the street, community, dancing, partying. I think it's great fun. It does so well to serve the song as well.

Speaker 3:
[45:05] Yeah, and also it's like very Cyprian, is that what you would?

Speaker 1:
[45:09] Cypriot.

Speaker 3:
[45:10] Cypriot, yes. It's cool, it does everything a music video show, it's like a tourism video for Cyprus. Yeah, I would use this music video to be like, come to Cyprus, which is kind of the whole point of Eurovision.

Speaker 1:
[45:21] Yeah, and to Ben's point, it's like, yeah, Jaco from 2024 from Armenia feels the same way. We're like, oh, Armenia looks cool.

Speaker 2:
[45:28] You know, I will always be partial to Jaco because I think that was just one level stuff. But if you're going to steal from someone's homework, steal from their homework, because wow. No, I actually remember, Ben, maybe you know more about this than I do. When the video first came out, I got in trouble because some people were like, there are people doing tricks on motorcycles, I think. Like, I can't believe people are showing dangerous motorcycle studs. Put helmets on those people. It's like, why is this such a big deal?

Speaker 4:
[45:57] I think there's always some people with too much time on their hands.

Speaker 2:
[46:02] Oh, but great video, big fan.

Speaker 1:
[46:04] Yeah, really good video. If I have a complaint about the Jala video, it takes a little too long for the video to start. You know, it's a classic, like, we're making a little short film here, but there's like a minute before you get to the video. And I'm like, OK, all right, let's.

Speaker 4:
[46:17] But you got to see the hotel again, the famous Secret Hotel.

Speaker 2:
[46:21] That's right. Hey, if you're going to be there, you got to mind that. Get that get that visual on screen for as long as you can.

Speaker 1:
[46:27] I mean, probably that hotel is like, yeah, you can shoot here for free if you have 20 seconds of us at the hotel. And you're like, all right, do what you got to do. You know, it's like the budget for these things is not unlimited. But yeah, super fun video, very, and Oscar is totally correct. It feels like we are getting a window into life in Cyprus and like different parts of life in Cyprus. Because we see, you know, Antigone and her youthful, but then she's with the old ladies, she's with the sort of like uncles drinking and yeah.

Speaker 4:
[46:56] It's proper Cyprus. It's not like, you know, a beachy touristy Cyprus.

Speaker 1:
[47:00] Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4:
[47:01] It's different. It's not like what you immediately think of when you think of Cyprus. But it works just as well.

Speaker 1:
[47:07] And she takes Oscar's least favorite thing, which is Children in Eurovision, and does it in a way that is fun and not weird.

Speaker 3:
[47:14] Yeah, it's not a children-foward music video.

Speaker 1:
[47:16] No, no, no. She's just dancing with a bunch of kids.

Speaker 4:
[47:20] And it's like, it's infectious.

Speaker 1:
[47:23] Yeah. It's quite good. And it also shows off Antigone's personality really well too.

Speaker 3:
[47:27] Yes. Isn't it crazy that she was on Love Island?

Speaker 4:
[47:31] I remember on that. God, I was very much guilty of judging by its cover when she was announced as the artist. I'm thinking, yeah.

Speaker 1:
[47:38] Love Island. Here we go.

Speaker 4:
[47:40] Love Island. But no, she's really wrong. And she's a real fan of Faye, isn't she? She's up there in all the scoreboards and whatever.

Speaker 3:
[47:48] Oh, is that true? I love that.

Speaker 2:
[47:49] Oh, absolutely. Look, there has to be.

Speaker 1:
[47:50] The video's got four million views at present. So not too bad.

Speaker 2:
[47:55] Let's give number one credit for being first and also credit for being good.

Speaker 1:
[48:00] It is good.

Speaker 2:
[48:01] If there's a Miss Congeniality Award for Eurovision, she's certainly up for it.

Speaker 1:
[48:05] Well, we're going to take another quick break and we will come back with videos that are maybe at the top of our list when we return. But let's take a minute to talk Max Fun Drive backer goals. We've got a few goals based on how many new or upgrading backers that we can get that will unlock stuff for everybody. We didn't just want it to be something where backers would get stuff. We wanted to empower backers to share more Eurovangelists the world. And some of this is stuff that we did last year, but it'll be brand new. For instance, if we get 50 new or upgrading backers, we're going to release last year's Max Fun Day BoCo. We also with Alonso Duralde, where we talked about the absolute most bonkers sort of Eurovision has the World Vision Song Contest, 1980s musical film, The Apple.

Speaker 2:
[48:52] A much better film than Cliff Richard.

Speaker 1:
[48:55] We got a whole episode about that. We would love to put in the feed and we will if we get 50 new or upgrading backers.

Speaker 2:
[49:01] Of course, you know, I love making playlists for individuals, but I love making playlists that everyone can have. Last year we did. We ended up with some really good ones last year. I still think the perfect Euroclub setlist is the best playlist I have ever made in my entire life. We'll be doing that again with 100 new or upgrading backers and we will get brand new topics. I'll let you vote on them. I'll make them for you.

Speaker 1:
[49:24] And if you follow Mr. Oscar Montoya on social media, you know he loves a live stream.

Speaker 3:
[49:30] Guilty.

Speaker 1:
[49:33] We thought it might be fun if we can get 200. And admittedly, these numbers are starting to get up there a little bit, you know, but if we can get 200 new or upgrading backers, we are going to do a Twitch live watch party of what else?

Speaker 3:
[49:47] Of a old Eurovision year, namely, 2011. Are we going to do that? Yep.

Speaker 1:
[49:56] Famously one of the more cursed years. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[49:59] I mean, listen, either 2008 or 2011, you pick your poison. Let's make this a reality, people.

Speaker 1:
[50:04] Let's do it, folks.

Speaker 3:
[50:06] And back it up.

Speaker 1:
[50:07] Now, if you've been listening to the show, we've been railing a lot against the EBU. So we thought maybe it's time to make our own organization. So we're going to create, if we hit 300 new or upgrading backers, we're going to create the Eurovangelists Union, the EVU. And what will the EVU be able to do? What powers will they have? Well, they will be able to influence the future of Eurovangelists. Anybody who backs the show, if we hit this goal, will get to vote on to decide what Eurovision years we recap, maybe what year we do for our Twitch live watch party, and topics for our BoCo show, but enough about Eurovision already. Those will all be available to backers to vote on, so that you get to decide. You're helping the show happen, so why not help us pick what we're talking about?

Speaker 2:
[50:56] The EVU is a powerful organization. We want you to flex that muscle.

Speaker 1:
[51:00] All right, if we hit 400 backers, which we admit is a stretch, that is, you know, that's gonna be tricky. But if we get 400 new or upgrading backers, we're committed to you. And what better way to show that commitment is singing Per Siam Prese by Sal Da Vinci, Italy's song for 2026. I can't guarantee it'll be good.

Speaker 2:
[51:18] It won't.

Speaker 3:
[51:19] There's only one way to find out, and that is to back it up.

Speaker 2:
[51:24] Is this the new theme of the year? Back it up.

Speaker 3:
[51:27] I'm trying to make it a thing.

Speaker 1:
[51:29] Now, why is it even important to support Eurovangelists and Max Fun? Well, I think we live in a time where content is getting, let's be honest, worse and worse. And the only way to counteract that is to support those places that make content that you like, that make podcasts that you think are worthwhile. So if you think the show is worthwhile, we hope you choose to back it. I understand not everyone's in that position, but if you want to support one of the few shows that's doing our best to stick it to the EBU, we'd be happy to have you.

Speaker 2:
[51:59] There are lots of Eurovision shows you can listen to. You choose to listen to this one, and we thank you for it. And we think it is important to be that show that says to the EBU, what you've done is wrong, what you're continuing to do is wrong, and we love Eurovision too much to let you get away with it. And you're supporting a voice that is shouting to the world as loudly as it can, this is wrong, and this is not what we want for Eurovision.

Speaker 1:
[52:25] And if that wasn't enough, folks, I guess we're just not going to have you as a backer.

Speaker 2:
[52:29] But it will be enough, I believe in you.

Speaker 1:
[52:30] It will be enough. Welcome back to Eurovangelists, everybody. We've got ESC Ben, an expert on all things Eurovision. And today, it's Eurovision videos, because that's what we're talking about. We've gone through a bunch of them here, but now we're talking ones that I think really hit for us.

Speaker 3:
[52:45] Feel like we're going to have a lot of similar answers.

Speaker 2:
[52:49] I think so.

Speaker 1:
[52:50] Like we were just talking about with Antigone's Jala, it's like sometimes a video just works. And there's like, I don't have a lot bad to say about that video. I don't have a lot bad to say about Satoshi's Viva Moldova video.

Speaker 2:
[53:01] My God, yes. It's great.

Speaker 1:
[53:03] It's really good.

Speaker 2:
[53:04] I'm going to tell you, we're not covering the competitive element of the year of the songs this year. But if I have to award my dues plomb to anyone this year, and my God, is it tough, my personal dues plomb. After seeing this video, I can't help but give it to Cyprus.

Speaker 3:
[53:19] Interesting.

Speaker 2:
[53:20] No, I can't help but give it to Moldova.

Speaker 3:
[53:22] No, use that Cyprus.

Speaker 2:
[53:25] You're trapped. Look, we can never go back on anything we say on this show. This is why we've never changed our minds on anything ever. Yeah, never not once.

Speaker 1:
[53:32] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[53:33] I mean, you want to talk about executing on the vision.

Speaker 1:
[53:36] Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[53:37] We all know why they're celebrating. We all know it's because the successful rejection of the Kremlin at the ballot box last year. That's part of it. We all know that's the core of it, but they're like, look, we're done with that. We're not talking about how brutal that election was. We're talking about the fact that we won. We're talking about the fact that we are part of Europe. We are going to be part of you. You're going to be part of us. We are a big family. Let's dance and my god, anytime you can get the whore in there, I'm down. They got me whore all day and all night. Aliona Moon doing her part. It's everything I wanted.

Speaker 1:
[54:21] It's very fun, it showcases him and his personality well, it showcases Moldova very well. I really enjoy this video a lot.

Speaker 4:
[54:28] Yeah, it's just like a big party, isn't it? They've got the whole town in the town hall just having a big celebration. Again, like Cyprus, you can't sort of not smile at it. It's just, even if you don't particularly like the song, the video makes it better, because it's just so happy and free and wild.

Speaker 2:
[54:44] You wanna be there, don't you?

Speaker 1:
[54:46] Yeah, both songs are sort of party songs, and both videos are parties. But one is a Cypriot party, and one is a Moldovan party, and they're different in a way that is very fun to see.

Speaker 2:
[54:59] It's what you want out of Eurovision. You want, A, you want specificity. What is it about Moldova that happens nowhere else? What makes this country special? But you also want the uniformity of the community. It's like, yes, this is what we do here, and you're welcome to be part of it. Please come join us. It's Eurovision. That's what it's supposed to be.

Speaker 1:
[55:18] Not just Hora, Hora and traditional Moldovan garb. We love it. Big fans, big fans.

Speaker 2:
[55:23] Look, you all saw this coming. In terms of the winner, my personal nominee for the Lucio Corsi Award for Best Music Video of the Year, there's no way I cannot give it to Lillex Andromeda.

Speaker 3:
[55:37] I, what choice do I have?

Speaker 2:
[55:39] What choice do I have when you so brilliantly execute your concept of Croatian women back in the 1600s, fleeing from Ottoman oppression, hiding themselves, tattooing themselves to protect themselves from the Ottoman Empire, being kidnapped, being forced into a life they don't want? How well does this video execute on that?

Speaker 4:
[55:59] I mean, it gave me goosebumps the first time I watched it. It really did. It's haunting. You feel like you're watching a movie, don't you?

Speaker 2:
[56:07] Seriously.

Speaker 4:
[56:08] It's really good.

Speaker 2:
[56:22] And look, we all know Croatia has an interesting record at the contest. I feel they've truly, there are some aberrations recently, but I think that they're getting the momentum back that they had just a couple of years ago. I really think when you execute on a vision like this, when you make a music video this powerful, this meaningful, this well done, this can only bode well for the future of this nation and the Eurovision Song Contest.

Speaker 1:
[56:46] Yeah, I don't disagree. Their song has a lot of history behind it, but the video does a really good job of communicating that past, and it does really add to the song.

Speaker 2:
[56:57] Truly incredible.

Speaker 4:
[56:58] But you need that image. You like the fun and jokey and cheesy songs, but you need the serious ones to come through as well, don't you?

Speaker 2:
[57:06] Absolutely.

Speaker 4:
[57:07] That probably is the most serious one of the lot this year. It's really good.

Speaker 1:
[57:12] But yeah, I agree that a nice mix is always, I think makes for some of the best Eurovisions. And yeah, we've got a decent mix this year.

Speaker 2:
[57:20] Yeah, I'd say so. What else would we like?

Speaker 3:
[57:23] I mean, for my sort of, for my nominees, I am like Czechia, where I'm like at a crossroads. And it's interesting that we talked about this idea.

Speaker 1:
[57:33] And you'll never decide just like that.

Speaker 3:
[57:34] No, I'll never decide. So I'm going to let you decide for me.

Speaker 1:
[57:37] Okay, okay.

Speaker 3:
[57:38] We're talking about the sort of spectrum of like incredibly serious artistry of music videos. And then there's that fun sort of, like the spirit of funness in the music video. I'm torn between both ends of the spectrum. The first one being Armenias, Simone with Paloma Roomba.

Speaker 2:
[57:55] Good.

Speaker 1:
[57:56] Very good video.

Speaker 3:
[57:57] It's just a great vibe, incredible choreo. You know I'm a choreography.

Speaker 1:
[58:02] Oh, but like this is, this is choreo max. This is like.

Speaker 3:
[58:06] Yes, it's choreo maxing for sure.

Speaker 1:
[58:08] We are choreo maxing, yeah.

Speaker 3:
[58:09] It's just incredible. They're like office workers, and it's just evolving into.

Speaker 1:
[58:15] He's got his post-it suit. It's great. It's so fun.

Speaker 3:
[58:31] When it comes to like, aesthetic, we know, I mean, we know this is an internal selection, so it's like, we know, we kind of are expecting this to be the live version of it. And if so, this is a fun little sneak peek into, hopefully, what they'll do in Eurovision. It's just really, really top-notch fun.

Speaker 2:
[58:52] It's not even just a rejection of office culture, that nine-to-five bullshit grind. It's a hearty, happy, fuck you, to the modern office environment. Like, everyone who has a shit job like this, has thoughts like this. Like, I should be doing something better. I should be doing something more creatively fulfilling. Like, he is realizing what we all realize when we're stuck chained to a desk that we don't want to be. We all want to be doing something awesome like that.

Speaker 3:
[59:18] It's incredible. It's like, why watch nine-to-five when you could just watch this music?

Speaker 1:
[59:22] This one's only three minutes. Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[59:24] I know. And the other end of the spectrum, I'm leaning for artistry, another country that starts with the letter A, it's Albania.

Speaker 1:
[59:32] I was like, someone's got to bring it up.

Speaker 3:
[59:36] It is just a feat of extraordinary imagery, powerful content, and having subtitles in the music video really carries the message, sells the message even more.

Speaker 1:
[59:49] Speaking of Lucio Corsi, he did it last year with his song, and it really helped my understanding of the song and the meaning. And I feel the same way about Alis with his song, Nan, which is mother, and like Oscar's right, the visuals on this are like stunning.

Speaker 3:
[60:07] 10 out of 10, stunning.

Speaker 1:
[60:08] But then when you see the lyrics along with it, you're like, oh, we've got a whole story here. You know, we talked about this with Albania's National Final, where like he had a good song last year, but obviously Germ was the move last year.

Speaker 2:
[60:23] There was no other option.

Speaker 1:
[60:25] Yeah, but he came this year and he was Škodra this year, where it's like you would be foolish to pick anybody else. He came with a fully realized vision for the song and the staging and it's also true of his music video. This guy is ready.

Speaker 4:
[60:55] My worry for Albania is that we might, obviously, Lucia, of course, we might get a lot of songs with subtitles live this year. I have a lot of copycat, maybe. And then it might get slightly swallowed up, possibly.

Speaker 1:
[61:09] You might be right, Ben, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[61:11] Lucia might have kicked off a subtitles arms race.

Speaker 4:
[61:14] I fear he has, yeah.

Speaker 2:
[61:17] But ultimately, I think in terms of understanding what the greater purpose of Eurovision is, I think that's a good thing. I've been studying lyrics for years. I've been a Eurovision fan for almost as long as you've been alive. Oh my God.

Speaker 3:
[61:31] You're talking to me, right?

Speaker 2:
[61:33] Yeah, Oscar, of course.

Speaker 1:
[61:36] That's why we call him Old Man Pompé.

Speaker 2:
[61:38] Yeah, it's just like it has been more difficult over the last few years to be like, no, no, no. Here's what this song is about. I know it. You don't understand the language. I'm telling you, there's something here. It's always a bit of a hurdle to get that. And the subtitles make it so easy. They make it so easy on me. Oh, if my true goal is to get people to love these songs the way that I do, I'm all in favor of the subtitles. I will say this about Albania. The yellow was not a great choice for color of the subtitles, but sometimes you can't see the words.

Speaker 3:
[62:06] Oh, good point.

Speaker 1:
[62:07] We have the background, yeah, yeah, yeah. They might just need a bigger, stronger drop shadow.

Speaker 2:
[62:12] Yeah, there you go, there you go. But other than that, good choice.

Speaker 1:
[62:14] But otherwise, yeah, really, really excellent video.

Speaker 3:
[62:17] And just like that last moment too, that last moment in that music video where he's like staring at his mother.

Speaker 1:
[62:24] His mother, yeah, one must assume.

Speaker 3:
[62:25] And then she starts singing it, you're like, oh my gosh, this is too powerful.

Speaker 2:
[62:30] I will tell you straight up, it made me call my mom. I called her. We live in the same country and I was like, hey mom, how's it going? Just like trying not to let her know I'm bitterly weeping on the phone. It's like, hey, I just wanted to call, see how you're doing.

Speaker 1:
[62:42] Yeah, and your mom's like, are you crying about Eurovision again? And you're like, no, no.

Speaker 2:
[62:49] Yeah, that's, yeah, we'll talk about that one.

Speaker 1:
[62:53] That's Boko, baby.

Speaker 2:
[62:54] Yeah, I'll get my mom on to discuss the summer of 2009 and how much she hates Alexander Rybak. It's like, it just didn't stop.

Speaker 1:
[63:03] Now, that's a story I'm willing to hear.

Speaker 3:
[63:06] Yes. Wait, Ben, did you say what your number one favorite is?

Speaker 1:
[63:09] Yeah, you got a number one, Ben?

Speaker 4:
[63:11] Romania, Romania. We've talked about Romania.

Speaker 1:
[63:13] OK, all right.

Speaker 4:
[63:14] I also do really like Australia's. It's, I just love watching it. It's just such a beautiful song. And the lighting and the way the pressure from day to night and the sort of the monoliths they use to light up the scene. I think it's beautiful. It's simple, but beautiful. You can overcomplicate it sometimes.

Speaker 1:
[63:46] It is simple, but it is well-executed, which is short of how I feel about the song, where I don't feel like the song has that much to it, but Delta Gudrum is clearly a really good singer, and I bet when we see her live, it's gonna be like, oh.

Speaker 4:
[63:59] She's gonna belt that out, definitely.

Speaker 1:
[64:01] Yeah, she's really bringing some sauce to this.

Speaker 2:
[64:04] I just want to make sure that Australia hears me, because we have some Alice in the Sparrow and listeners. Folks, please tell your team to manipulate light and dark, sun and shadow. I know it seems obvious to say it, but there are people who won't do this. And I'm telling you, this song is just one simple detail away from being top ranked. Make sure that the staging matches the quality of the voice and you're gonna be A-okay.

Speaker 4:
[64:29] I don't want to see a piano there either. I really don't.

Speaker 2:
[64:32] You don't want the piano.

Speaker 3:
[64:33] You don't want to see a piano?

Speaker 4:
[64:35] No, just let her sing it, let her move around. I never really liked pianos on the stage. I felt it really hurt Duncan.

Speaker 1:
[64:42] Ah, I think I might agree with Ben here.

Speaker 4:
[64:45] Wow. I know he won, but he was such a huge favorite that year, and I really felt like this aging really hurt it, and he limped over the line in the end.

Speaker 2:
[64:55] That's true.

Speaker 4:
[64:56] He was too static. It was hard to engage of it for me. I don't want to have SBS listing, I don't want no piano. Let her roam around, belt it out. She doesn't need to sit down and play the piano. Just let her get on with it. She's good enough. Let her rip.

Speaker 2:
[65:13] Before we skate on out of here, I have one question for you, Ben. A video that we have not discussed. How are you feeling about your countrymen, Sam Battle, AKA Look Mom No Computer?

Speaker 4:
[65:27] The song is better than I thought it was going to be. The video is not. I think I'm meeting it as a much better job at the whole sort of nine to five monotony theme. It just all looks like it was throwing together at the last minute to me, which it probably was. I just don't really get it. I don't. It's going to be another grim year, I think.

Speaker 1:
[65:49] I quite like the UK video. I accept that I may be alone on this. I do think it will do better than Remember Monday for how unique it is, but that is a low bar to clear.

Speaker 2:
[66:15] I did a podcast with our dear friend, World Vachon, in which we discussed every country's Eurovision goal, what everyone wanted to accomplish.

Speaker 4:
[66:24] One televote point.

Speaker 2:
[66:25] Literally what I said, you must have listed.

Speaker 4:
[66:28] One televote point would you ask.

Speaker 2:
[66:29] One single point is the goal for the UK, and by God, I think they can do it.

Speaker 1:
[66:34] I think they can do it, I believe in them.

Speaker 2:
[66:36] I thought this video was all right. It's not my favorite, but anytime I see a person of some influence in the UK advocate for returning to the Eurozone, I will approve of it. And you get that a bit in the song in a very goofy way when he builds his shitty airplane and flies to Europe, but I'm here for it. I'll allow it.

Speaker 1:
[66:56] Well, Ben, thank you so much for joining us for this discussion of music videos. Where can people find you if they want to check out your great Eurovision content?

Speaker 4:
[67:07] So I'm at itsESCBen, I-T-S-E-S-C-Ben on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, everywhere, everywhere normal.

Speaker 1:
[67:17] Everywhere you would go for that kind of stuff. He's there.

Speaker 2:
[67:21] Now, folks, I'm serious. I hate social media. Mentally, I'm 86 years old. And the idea of social media makes me want to jump off a cliff. But when it comes to great Eurovision social media content, you get yourself over to It's ESC Ben. You're going to learn a lot. You're going to be dazzled by the visuals. You're going to have a good time.

Speaker 4:
[67:39] Thank you. Very kind.

Speaker 1:
[67:40] Next week, Eurovision fans, we are talking our personal top tens. We do this every year. We're not so much into the competitive aspect of the concepts this year, but we are absolutely going to talk about what songs are resonating with us this year and highlight the songs performances. We are enjoying the most. So come on back next week and check that out. Also, head on over to maximumfun.org/join and maybe think about supporting the show during the Max Fun Drive. There's an incredible number of benefits that you get, you heard us yammer about early on. Just do it, it's fun. All right, thanks so much for listening, everybody. We'll see you next week. This has been Eurovangelists, your guide to the Eurovision song contest. Your host has been myself, Jeremy Bent, Oscar Montoya, Dimitry Pompay with special guest, ESC Ben. Our theme was written and recorded by Cody McCorry and Faye Fadem and the Eurovangelists logo was designed by Tom Deja. Production support for this show was provided by the Maximum Fun Network, in particular, Stacey Mosky and Laura Swisher, we call her the Swish. Show was edited by myself with audio mixing help courtesy of the sound wizard himself, Shane O'Connell. You can find us on social media as at Eurovangelists on Instagram and at eurovangelists.com on Bluesky, or send us an email at eurovangelists.gmail.com. Also follow the Eurovangelists accounts on Spotify and on YouTube, and check out our playlist of Eurovision hits, all the songs from this year's competition, and companion plays to every single episode, including this one. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.