211 Allons-y! === [00:00:00] Mike: ​ Hello and welcome to the Eurowhat, episode 211 dropping on December 5th, 2023. We are a pair of Americans trying to make sense of the Eurovision Song Contest. I'm Mike McComb and I'm here with my co host Ben Smith. Hey Ben! [00:00:27] Ben: Hey Mike. [00:00:28] Mike: In this episode, we'll be talking about a very busy November for the Eurovision pre season. How's it going, Ben? [00:00:34] Ben: It has been the busiest November news wise. last month I'm like, Yeah, we've figured it out. We're checking in on the news once a month. We don't have to, like, respond in real time to things that are gonna have completely changed in a week from now. And then, oh my gosh. [00:00:46] Mike: It was working so well, and then it's just like, oh, everything is happening now. It's like, oh, okay, uh [00:00:52] Ben: Yeah. [00:00:53] France surprise announces Slimane and "Mon Amour" --- [00:00:53] Mike: So yes, we can finally talk about the first song that dropped for Eurovision 2024, uh, six months before it actually has to compete? [00:01:03] Ben: I can finally press publish on, our top one YouTube video. Pew pew pew. [00:01:09] Mike: on November 8th that they will be represented by Slamane and his song Mon Amour. So Slamane, won the Voice of France back in 2016, and he's done, kind of the Gamut of reality singing competitions. He was on a Nouvelle Star, which is basically French Idol. Uh, he was on the X Factor. He's part of the Voice Belgique, both the adult and kids versions. Eurovision seems like a very good fit for his resume. Uh, he's also been a successful contestant to come out of, uh, the. System, I guess. The Grinder, is that what we're going with? Yeah. Um, but yeah, he's, released three albums that have gone to number one. He's had nine top 40 singles, as lead artist. I assume, since you've had a month, you've had a chance to listen to the song, Ben? [00:02:25] Ben: Yes, I mean, with the fact that, like, it has been almost a month. Since this song came out, I listened to it when it came out, and I had all my little bullet points in my head, and the problem is that I did not write those bullet points [00:02:35] Mike: Oh no! [00:02:36] Ben: Because today, I was like, I need to listen to this song again. Which does not speak great for the song that I couldn't immediately pull it up. On the other hand, the title Mon Amour is a little generic. thinking about Spotify wrapped, one of the artists that popped up on my list of songs is, Stromae. Who is a Belgian performer who has a song in his most recent album called Mona Moore. And every time I see Mona Moore, I think of his song. [00:03:01] Mike: I think this is an indication of what France's strategy is for 2024, there's no difference if this song had dropped on November 8th or March 8th. Like, France, this broadcaster, I have a feeling they're just really overextended. Like, they just hosted Junior Eurovision. They won Junior Eurovision, and they're just, like, trying to decide if they're going to try to host again next year, which would be the third year in a row. [00:03:26] Ben: I just had the mental image today as I was listening to the song of somebody at like France two or whatever, just taking a big drag of their cigarette and just being like, well, we have, uh, jeux Olympique next summer. Uh, we, we have one junior Eurovision again. Uh, I don't, I don't know. Let's just pick, let's just pick that guy. [00:03:44] Mike: it's a safe pick I think for France. Cause it's somebody who knows how to do televised singing competitions. He's expressed interest in doing Eurovision in the past. The song is, I think it's perfectly serviceable. Like it is, it is a French entry. [00:03:58] Ben: Mm-Hmm. it. It is the song that Fran wants to send every [00:04:00] Mike: Exactly. And uh, yeah, like I, I don't get the sense that they're throwing down the gauntlet because I really have a feeling they don't want to win, or at least not have that be front of mind at this point. But I think it set, it sets a good baseline [00:04:14] Ben: yeah, that's a good base, like, it's a good first entry to get to hear this year. Lyrically, like, just sort of reading through the translation of the lyrics, my brain just wants to make it, Oh, this song is not singing to a lover, this song is singing to, like, the Eurovision Song Contest itself. do you love me or not? Because, like, France has had, like, some up and down times in the last years. Uh, oh my love, come back to Paris, but maybe not in 2025, we're busy. [00:04:35] Mike: I think he's a big enough name that he probably wouldn't necessarily do like the fan events and stuff. So like I, I think seriously, their strategy is like, okay, we know that you can do this, we don't need to talk again until May when you, are flying out there, and even then, we'll meet you at the hotel? Is that cool? [00:04:55] Ben: Yeah, it's just like, hey, if you can, like, show up at this studio at, like, end of March, beginning of April, so we can film, like, a nice video for the fan parties. [00:05:03] Mike: I would not be surprised if they have already filmed their live to tape backup at this point. [00:05:07] Ben: They have filmed the backup performance, they have filmed whatever the backing, like, thing is gonna be on the screens we have next year, they're just like, we're getting everything done now. [00:05:16] Mike: Yeah, and I mean, considering the video that they released, for the debut of the song, it's like, oh, this is going to be a very minimal performance. They don't need a choreographer. Like, he's just going to probably stand behind a microphone. It's, [00:05:27] Ben: He's gonna stand behind the microphone and we're gonna release the curtain of sparks behind him at the pivotal moment of the song. [00:05:32] Mike: yep, just have to remember to sign the invoice to order those sparks. So [00:05:38] Ben: if there is one thing about the song, I wouldn't hate a slightly more uptempo disco version of it, like, if they were to give it like the Sir Hot I Didn't Know treatment. [00:05:46] Mike: Mmm. Okay. Yeah. And as long as it's somebody else who takes that on, like France, France's broadcaster is just like, Nope, like you do you, we're busy. So, [00:05:56] Ben: yeah, 2 is just like, we did it, got all the Christmas shopping done, got all the Eurovision shopping done, we're good. [00:06:01] Mike: yep. So, uh, yeah. Uh, see y'all in May, I guess. [00:06:05] Ben: Yeah. Now to take a big sip of my red wine and watch the Junior Eurovision results. [00:06:10] Mike: Oh no. Zut alor. All right. [00:06:13] Ben: Zootalore! [00:06:15] Greece will send Marina Satti to Malmo --- [00:06:15] Ben: The other news that we have, artist wise, is that Greece has selected their artist, and it's Marina Sati. she's a Berklee alum, she's worked with Bobby McFerrin, she's worked with the EBU European Jazz Orchestra. It feels like a solid choice for Grease, that's the sort of pedigree that you, that I feel like they've gone to before. [00:06:37] Mike: Yeah. And I was listening to some of her releases on Spotify and she's gotten a lot of plays, like she's an established artist. It's a really interesting sound. there's a pop sensibility, but kind of a mix of what would maybe be described as world music for people who don't actually listen to world music. But, uh, yeah, like, I'm, I'm, Very curious to hear what sort of songs are being sent her way because, like, what is on Spotify right now feels very, like, interior and kind of restrained, um, and kind of reminds me of Tori Amos's, Choir Girl Hotel era, and I mean that in a positive way, uh, but yeah, like it doesn't feel quite right. It doesn't have the bombast of Eurovision, so I'm curious if there's going to be something like that thrown her way, she has so many different influences and, combination of genres, uh, like a lot of Mediterranean, a lot of Balkan, sort of trap stylings mixed in there. And yeah, like she's, I'm very curious to learn more about her. [00:07:44] Ben: Grease has had a public submission for potential songs that closed on December 1st. So, it will be interesting to see how they combine this artist with the songs that come in, and to see what ultimately results from that. [00:07:56] Mike: Yeah, yeah. And they are avoiding the mistake that they made last year of their convoluted committee process. [00:08:04] Ben: I did appreciate that in, like, the news updates about this, that they called out very, like, very publicly that, like, we will not be using the committee process used for this year's entry. Like, yeah, that didn't work out. [00:08:15] Mike: Yeah, yeah, it's just like a lot, a lot of own goals and hurdles that they didn't necessarily need to have in the rollout they've also been debating, like, whether or not to do, a national final or, some sort of, public aspect to the selection process, but it sounds like they're going to go fully internal on this, but it's interesting that they pick the artist without really any songs to pair her with at the time of selection. So, um, yeah, Greece will be one to watch, I think. [00:08:45] United by Music Forever --- [00:08:45] Mike: Alright, so in terms of overall 2024 planning, the slogan for next year's contest will be United by Music, and if that sounds familiar, it's because that was the slogan for 2023, and it's going to be the slogan going forward. [00:09:02] Ben: mean, it's a very good slogan. [00:09:04] Mike: I agree, and I think the video that they used to make the announcement, like they did this sort of Montage of all of the slogans that they've had for the last 20 years. And I think that made a solid case for why they should just have one permanent slogan. Yes. [00:09:25] Ben: deep well of previous slogans entirely for joke purposes, consistent branding is nice. [00:09:32] Mike: And I mean, it's like one more thing to take off the checklist. I think that may be a theme of this year's Eurovision. [00:09:37] Ben: Why are we coming up with a completely new slogan every year when the slogans that we have just sort of sound like the list of themes from the pageant that Kirstie Alley goes through in Drop Dead Gorgeous? [00:09:47] Mike: yeah. So, uh, yeah, I'm glad that they're sticking with this one. And maybe it was just a case of, like, it took 20 years of brainstorming. It's like, oh, good, we finally found one that actually works. [00:10:00] Tickets Wave 1 Happened --- [00:10:00] Ben: And then, tickets have happened! Already! We don't even know the full participation list, or who's in what semi yet, but, uh, tickets are gone now. I was looking at the response to the announcement that tickets were going to be going on sale on November 28th. Taking it with a grain of salt because, the people who are going to respond on your Facebooks and your Instagrams and your Twitters and whatnot are gonna be, the big Eurofans. But, like, it felt kinda mixed. [00:10:27] Mike: Oh, really? [00:10:28] Ben: Yeah, a lot of it was. We don't know who's in what semi, like, how do I know which semi to buy tickets for, if I don't know what artists I want to try and see live. For me, it feels slightly too early, but like, I, like, Sweden is just like, very on the ball and just trying to get everything in place, so I also get it. [00:10:45] Mike: For me, it feels early just because, we've not heard anything about stage design yet, so it's just like, okay, so, like, the tickets that you're selling It still feels kind of theoretical at this point, and it's actually making me wonder, are they just going to use the same design as like 2013, which is well within the realm of possibility? [00:11:06] Ben: mm hmm. this year's Melfest was very eco focused and they were using a lot of the same staging elements from 2022. So, it would not surprise me if Sweden's like, yeah, we're gonna be a little bit greener, we're gonna recycle a bunch of these staging elements. Because, like, recycling staging elements is not unheard of with regards to Eurovision. That's the whole deal with 1980. [00:11:25] Mike: Right, right. And yeah, like on the most recent episode of The Amazing Grace, they were talking about Sweden's recycling culture and that they're actually importing garbage to help [00:11:34] Ben: like, at this point they are importing other people's stuff to recycle. [00:11:38] Mike: if it's a greener contest, I think that's great, but it just feels like, I don't know. The train cars are out of order and the caboose is in the middle. [00:11:45] Ben: Yeah. Yeah. Like it, yeah, like it feels just, just like acot early to, to be sold out of wave one of tickets before December on the plus side, and speaking mostly as someone who gave several money to Ticketmaster co uk. the contest was looking more affordable, especially given that the arenas are about the same size. for these semi-final preview shows. tickets were in the range of like $14 for the cheap seats to $75. [00:12:10] Mike: Hmm, [00:12:11] Ben: for the actual semifinal that goes up to, like, 50 for the cheap seats to 230 for the good stuff. Uh, and then for the grand final, you're looking at 82 to 362 for tickets. I'm glad to see that the price is going, down slightly, would love to see those higher ends go a little bit lower again, just given what those ranges have been in previous [00:12:29] Mike: yeah. The last time that Malmo hosted, that was an Austerity Eurovision, like they were trying to recover from being like, Yeah, Baku was way too expensive. We need to bring some sanity back to this process. So, yeah, maybe that is one of the goals this year as well. [00:12:47] Ben: like, how did Ticketmaster. se compare to Ticketmaster. co. uk? It's like, just like any, I mean, just as an American, any time I see Ticketmaster, I'm like, ah, crap. [00:12:58] Mike: I did not try to get tickets I mean, the one thing about The tickets are available in November. It's like, oh, yeah, I don't think I'm going to Sweden next year. So, uh, yeah, do not have to stress about that. But seeing people, posting on Blue Sky about, their ticket buying experience and queue numbers in the 300, 000, it's just like, oh, wow. I'm glad I did not wake up at four in the morning for that. Yeah. And [00:13:23] Ben: of tickets, we will learn more about that once we know probably something about the staging and how many floor seats there are still available. [00:13:30] Mike: what countries are competing and such. [00:13:32] Ben: which semifinals they're competing in. [00:13:33] ESC Top 250 Voting Opens --- [00:13:33] Mike: Getting back to a more normal schedule of things, the ESC 250 countdown voting is open, it will be closing out this coming Sunday, December 10th, so if you've not submitted your ballot, this is more a note for me, get that, submitted, as soon as possible. this year's countdown is moving to a new venue, it's going to be on France EFR 12, which is an online radio station, and, The countdown will be New Year's Eve day, December 31st, and we'll be counting, down the top 250 songs, as voted by the fans, very much looking forward to this year's countdown, particularly this new venue, which was kind of a surprise that it was, a switch. [00:14:17] Ben: I looked into that, or at least I saw some stuff about that, and ESC Radio is also doing their own 250 countdown. [00:14:22] Mike: Yeah, I had no idea about this drama until you did this research. [00:14:27] Ben: yeah, apparently, uh, Songfestival. be, who, runs the ESC 250, had some difficult collaboration with ESC Radio, uh, and didn't really want to say anything about it until ESC Radio was like, We're doing a 250 as well! [00:14:41] Mike: Apparently, the results of last year's countdown, where Euphoria was knocked to second place and Slow Mo was the number one song in the countdown, ESC Radio did not agree with that result, which is fine, but yeah, it was a much more public disagreement than I had completely missed it, but that was probably because I was getting ready for, like, New Year's Eve stuff, [00:15:03] Ben: Yeah, cause like, cause I was being a normal human being with New Year's Eve plans. [00:15:07] Mike: I'm glad the countdown is continuing regardless, and this year should be a really interesting year in terms of results, just because we have, like, a very popular fan favorite that came out of this year's contest, and, uh, Laureen has two songs, [00:15:23] Ben: Which could split the vote, which could split the vote. I say as someone who has submitted their ESC 250 with very strategic guidelines in [00:15:29] Mike: Uh huh. Yeah. And also, just the fact that it's just like, well, slow mo is also still in the mix. And the other songs that are typically in the top ten. So it feels like it's much more up for grabs this year. [00:15:43] Ben: it does. I'm really hoping that there's some wild stuff. [00:15:46] Mike: Social network song, this could be your year. No, [00:15:48] Ben: Yeah. [00:15:49] Mike: it probably won't be on my ballot this year. I think I've given up that fight. So, [00:15:53] Ben: Yeah, I mean, I mean, at some point I should give up the ghost of getting Yeda and Don into the 250, but I'm gonna keep doing [00:15:58] Mike: you know, yeah, I think Sufi was the, uh, [00:16:02] Ben: Yeah, like, Sufi had his moment, like, that's, that was us coming together that one time, and I think that's all we can [00:16:06] Mike: Yeah, yeah, so, good luck to everybody who is voting in this, I hope all of your choices make it, mathematically I know that's not possible, but, you know, so, [00:16:15] Ben: But it's the thought that counts. [00:16:17] Bluesky and Patreon --- [00:16:17] Ben: let's talk about some social media stuff, because we're not on Twitter anymore. [00:16:21] Mike: I think the, last thing that we posted was the link to the, Aline episode that we did, ugh, was that back in October? Like, it was a while ago. and, things have deteriorated there since then, uh, if you've not been paying attention. [00:16:34] Ben: I think I've joked multiple times, possibly even on this program, that I was going to be scuttling around in the ceiling of Twitter and chewing on the wiring I deleted all my tweets, save for a few greatest hits, and I'm just not there now. [00:16:46] Mike: I've not gone to that degree, I've just, made my personal account private, we've pretty much moved shop over to Blue Sky. we still have our Instagram as well, uh, all of it is at Eurowhat, as usual, but, um, yeah, and, like, BlueSky is still invite only, which is kind of annoying, but we are swimming in codes, so, [00:17:04] Ben: like, if you want an invite Say hi at eurowhatpodcast at gmail. com [00:17:08] Mike: it's fun over there, the Eurovision community is building, Hashtags still aren't a thing just yet, [00:17:15] Ben: But there is a Eurovision feed, and it's good, and just in general it has the vibe that I enjoyed at Twitter the most of all the various replacements. Come on and join us over there, it's a lot of fun. [00:17:24] Mike: We should also talk about what we are doing over on our Patreon. Thank you again to everybody who is supporting us on Patreon, it really does help, with getting this main show produced. Ben, you did an episode about Scopatone earlier in November, and yeah, learned a lot about kind of the history of music videos, and some really weird production choices that feel very Eurovision y. later this month, we will be doing our wrap up of pop culture in 2023, and what other media we've been consuming. So, head on over to Patreon. com slash Eurowhat? And you'll be able to, join the feed, get our entire catalog of bonus episodes. the Media Diet episode will be dropping on December 26. [00:18:10] Contestant Lists: Malta, Estonia, Spain, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Ukraine --- [00:18:10] Mike: Malta had 36 songs that they are considering over the course of four weeks, but it wasn't like last year's presentation where it was just. Endless. Uh, these were all contained within their Friday night program show. Yeah, which, uh, yeah, if you're gonna name a show that, um, great SEO. Anyway, it actually was a good way to present it, mainly because it, uh, moved along very quickly. Like, they had five songs, commercial break, four more songs, they're done for the week. It's awesome. Twelve finalists emerged, and they are now filming their live to tape performances, to be released in January. Ben, did you watch any of the Malta process? [00:18:56] Ben: I watched the first week, I came in like maybe five minutes late on the first week, but managed to miss nothing, which was great. Thank you, Malta. Watched it, sort of took it in, was like, this is a little bit more rough drafty than I want to engage with these songs, and then did not show up for any of the other weeks. [00:19:12] Mike: I watched all four weeks, cause I didn't have much going on Fridays. [00:19:18] Ben: I should have, because, like, it's just, like, it's, like, 3pm on a Friday. I don't have anything else going on, I should just put this on, but [00:19:24] Mike: None of the songs really caught my ear in a way that was like, Ooh, this, this could be a contender. Again, these are all very much like demo versions, rough drafts, uh, some of them rougher than others. But, uh, the 12 that advanced? I have no real beef with. I was looking through the notes that I was making for the ones that didn't get through and a lot of those notes were like good vocal, boring song, pretty sure I have eight other versions of this, in my playlists, uh, leather pants aren't for everyone, uh, camera does not know what to do, and word salad, and also just various iterations of eh. Of the twelve that did advance, a couple of the ones that are noteworthy, Ryan DeHealy, who won X Factor Season 3, which used to be Malta's, way of selecting their artists, and he was also the runner up in last year's, uh, Malta Eurovision Song Contest, so, uh, definitely one to keep an eye on, uh, another one to keep an eye on, Matt Black, I think that's how you're supposed to pronounce it, there's an X in the middle there, he was third place in last year's, MESC, so, uh, They're probably the two frontrunners of the group. And this is also Matt's third consecutive M E S C final appearance. [00:20:37] Ben: those, those feel like good ones to watch, of the 12. [00:20:40] Mike: None of the contestants from week three advanced, and that was correct. That was a very boring 45 minutes, [00:20:48] Ben: Sometimes that happens. [00:20:49] Mike: the final for Malta will be happening sometime in January. I don't think they've locked down a date on that just yet. [00:20:57] Ben: Elsewhere in Selection News, Istilal has released its lineup, and we have 15 semi final acts who'll Meetup with five automatically qualified acts for the final. Looking in the semi final, Laura, who represented Estonia in, 2005 and 2017 and has popped up in selections for Estonia and Finland, is in the mix. The band Trafik, that's Stig Ross band, he's done Eurovision before in 2015. And then E Wart and the Two Dragons. Who have Ivo Eti, who represented them in 2003, are there. Uh, and then Oli, the Istilao 2023 runner up, is, in the semifinals. And then in the automatic qualifiers, Brother Apollo, Carlos Ucureta, Daniel Levy, Nelilis Veksu, and Udo and Sarah Marie. The songs drop this Friday, the semi final is January 20th, the final is February 17th, so lots to look forward to there. [00:21:50] Mike: Yeah, I'll be curious to hear the auto qualifiers versus the semi finalists. Like, I'm very curious what Estonia's trying to go for. [00:22:01] Ben: Yeah, because it feels like shades of what Norway has done a couple of, uh, Grand Prixs. That hasn't always worked, because sometimes, when you look at the final of Norway, often it's the auto qualifiers. Like, what if you guys just built the final out of all auto qualifiers? [00:22:18] Mike: Over in Spain, they've announced the 16 contestants that will be competing at Benidorm, and it is all new contestants this year. This is the third year of Benidorm, the ones that I'm keeping an eye on, include, Maria Pelé. Uh, she, our favorite show, Your Face Sounds Familiar. Yeah, yeah, uh. [00:22:40] Ben: program. [00:22:41] Mike: she finished third, on her season of that show, and, one of the acts that she performed was an imitation of Barbara Pravi, in Doing Voila, she's also written songs that have been on the shortlist for previous Spanish Eurovision entries, so, she's here to play. And then Jorge Gonzalez, he tried to represent Spain in 2009. So that is a another like Eurovision connection. I don't know, I feel like it's a good idea to root for the contestants that have expressed previous interest in the contest. The songs for Benidorm will be, released on December 14th, which is a week from this coming Thursday, and the festival will be starting, the week of January 29th, so we'll have about six weeks to sit with the songs and, uh, pick our favorites. [00:23:27] Ben: Sweden dropped the list of the 30 competitors for this year's Melodifestivalen. There's no previous winners But half the field are Melfest alumni. Which I think that's just a Mel Fest thing. Just like every year, half of the field, or if, if not more, are Mel Fest alumni. Like there's a, I I was doing some number crunching when I was pulling together the Sweden episode and repeat performers at, at Mel Fest. Kel Sapr, [00:23:51] Mike: With the alumni piece of it, my only concern is that in the first heat, five out of the six acts are alumni, so Melina Borglo, who is not a Melfest alum, may have their work cut out for them. [00:24:06] Ben: yeah. Oh, and the song is in Swedish too. Uh, oh. [00:24:10] Mike: yeah, we'll see how it goes. [00:24:13] Ben: Amidst the various alumni, Casio o Pia, who was part of Mel Fest 2022 as a performer. And it's notably co wrote Tattoo and Wonderland, the song that won the sole season of American Song Contest, is in the mix. I liked her Melfest 2022 entry. She seems fun. [00:24:29] Mike: This does remind me, I forgot to look through the songwriters for the 30 entries to see what the, what the, uh, Jimmy per capita is, so, [00:24:38] Ben: how many Jimmys? How many Jimmys? [00:24:40] Mike: Azerbaijan has, been kind of dropping hints on what their process has been. It's like a multi stage internal process. Uh, they started with 214 songs, and, 16 acts were invited to audition for a live panel, six of those acts were invited to a second stage, which I believe this is the shortlist, I don't know if there's going to be any further rounds after this, and one of the acts that is still in that group of six is Aysel, who represented Azerbaijan back in 2018. Unfortunately, she is the first. Azeri act to not qualify, so, um, I'm hoping that's not being held against her, because I like her. I, uh, like, her 2018 song was not my favorite, but the rest of her catalog, I really like her voice. So, uh, yeah, I'm, uh, the fact that she's made it this far, like, is a good sign that they're, uh, not holding a grudge. [00:25:36] Ben: Mm hmm. Ukraine has shortlisted 10 acts out of the 20 they were looking at for this year's selection, uh, amidst the, the alumni in the list of 20, the one that popped out to me was Carpetman, you know, from Kalush Orchestra. Mm hmm. [00:25:51] Mike: Great publicity photo that was included there. [00:25:54] Ben: But also, at the time when they're like, yeah, we're having everybody come and perform for us, I'm like, I just saw him a day ago in, in Cambridge, performing live, like, when is he gonna pop back over to Ukraine to do that? he's busy manning the merch table right now, is he, is he supposed to be over there, or does he get to do like a video audition or something? it turned out to, I didn't need to worry, he did not make the shortlist of 10 acts, although Although, the audience gets to choose a wild card from those 10, so we could still see Carpet Man, Melvin, who represented 'em in 2018 and notably popped out of a piano is in the mix. Uh, and then other vid beer alums, uh, AONA Alona, who I believe I saw at Iceland Airwaves in 2019 at least partially, uh, is teaming up with, uh, also Vid Beer alum, Jerry Hale. [00:26:36] Mike: It's a good list. And I mean, like, of course, it's Ukraine. Yeah. [00:26:39] Ben: it's Ukraine. [00:26:41] Mike: They'll, they'll be fine. [00:26:42] Alumni Notes: Tumblr Trends --- [00:26:42] Mike: But, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, it's interesting that the 2018 alums seem to be popping up again. So, uh, yeah, I guess we'll see, like, how, how many returning acts could be going to Eurovision this year. [00:26:55] Ben: On one hand, it's interesting that, a bunch of stuff from, like, five years ago is just like, hello, we're back! On the other hand, if you look at how current alumni are doing Uh, like, Eurovision is like a pretty decent platform these days, we had been following the the MTV, European Music Awards, and that had three of this year's competitors in Best Nordic Act, Kariya won the EMA for Best Nordic Act, and like, also on the list of winners, Maneskin, John's Tears. [00:27:20] Mike: Nice. [00:27:21] Ben: And then I have continued to follow the Tumblr fandom charts that come out every week just because it's an interesting thing to see how that particular corner of the internet is processing pop culture. And they released the 2023 Year in Review lists a couple days ago, and Kariya was on the Music Artists list. At 52nd. What blew my mind is that Joker out was at 21st. [00:27:51] Mike: wow. Huh. [00:27:53] Ben: Yeah, I was like, when did that happen? Have I been paying attention to the wrong pony in this horse race? I feel like those two things are highly connected on some level. [00:28:00] Mike: Oh, yeah, I've seen those posts. but the fact that, like, Joker out, uh, overtook Karya on that is, um, interesting. Yeah, I mean, like, I don't really have a sense of the geographic distribution of Tumblr. Like, if it's, like, bigger in, like, Slovenia than it is in Finland, or, how it's driving those numbers. [00:28:22] Ben: Yeah, just like part of the factor here, boy band. [00:28:25] Mike: Yeah, I know what you mean. I just don't think of them in boy band the way that I think of like BTS in boy [00:28:29] Ben: I, there's something of like a One Direction factor happening there, like there's distinct, there's distinct boys with personalities and the internet loves that. Boys with emotion still making hit. In Eurovision land. Uh, also in that list, uh, Blind Channel. So hey, Finland and Tumblr, who knew? [00:28:47] Mike: I think that's going to do it for this episode of the Eurowhat. Thanks for listening. The Eurowhat podcast is hosted by Mike McComb. That's me and Ben Smith. [00:28:57] Ben: That's me. If you'd like to help support the show and access a ton of bonus content, head over to Patreon. com slash Eurowhat. [00:29:03] Mike: Free access to our full archive of more than 200 episodes going all the way back to the 2018 contest can be found on our website, Eurowhat. com. [00:29:12] Ben: Next time on the Eurowhat, we'll catch up with Czechia, Italy, and even more December headlines. ​