WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.859 You know, when you watch a massive televised 00:00:03.859 --> 00:00:07.879 music competition, there is this, like, carefully 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:10.779 constructed illusion of effortlessness. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:10.900 --> 00:00:12.980 You see this three -minute pop song performance, 00:00:13.560 --> 00:00:16.140 and the lights flash, the bass drops, the artist 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:18.620 hits their exact mark, and it all just feels 00:00:18.620 --> 00:00:21.760 like magic. It looks so clean. Exactly. Clean, 00:00:22.179 --> 00:00:24.699 polished, and just presented for your immediate 00:00:24.699 --> 00:00:27.879 judgment. But behind that three minute magic 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:30.739 trick, there is usually an absolute mountain 00:00:30.739 --> 00:00:34.479 of chaos. A literal mountain. Yeah. So we're 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:36.140 going to pull back the curtain on that chaos 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:39.119 today. We're looking specifically at the 2024 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:41.500 Eurovision entry from Austria. Right. It's a 00:00:41.500 --> 00:00:44.560 song called We Will Rave by the artist Colleen. 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:46.780 and we're using its Wikipedia article as our 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:48.880 single source guide for this. It's a great example 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:51.179 to use, honestly. It really is. Our mission for 00:00:51.179 --> 00:00:53.700 this deep dive is to deconstruct the life cycle 00:00:53.700 --> 00:00:57.240 of a modern Eurovision pop track. Because, you 00:00:57.240 --> 00:00:59.039 know, this isn't just about a single performance 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:01.439 on a Saturday night. No, not at all. It's this 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:04.500 fascinating look at the really messy intersection 00:01:04.500 --> 00:01:08.140 of, like, artistic intent, high -stakes production 00:01:08.140 --> 00:01:12.209 drama, and just brutal public judgment. Yeah, 00:01:12.469 --> 00:01:14.670 and Eurovision entries act as these fascinating 00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:17.049 microcosms of the entire music industry. Yeah, 00:01:17.250 --> 00:01:19.230 for sure. I mean, in just a few minutes of stage 00:01:19.230 --> 00:01:23.049 time, you have fashion, politics, staging, and 00:01:23.049 --> 00:01:25.689 sound, and they are all just colliding at once. 00:01:25.829 --> 00:01:28.750 All at 200 beats per minute. Right. And by analyzing 00:01:28.750 --> 00:01:31.049 the life cycle of this one specific track from 00:01:31.049 --> 00:01:33.209 its initial conception in a studio to its final 00:01:33.209 --> 00:01:36.349 placement on a global scoreboard, we can uncover 00:01:36.349 --> 00:01:38.609 the hidden mechanics of how global pop culture 00:01:38.609 --> 00:01:41.730 is actually manufactured, tested, and well consumed. 00:01:41.950 --> 00:01:44.150 Okay, let's unpack this. Because the journey 00:01:44.150 --> 00:01:46.930 of We Will Rave starts with a pretty stark contradiction. 00:01:47.049 --> 00:01:48.930 It really does. On paper, if you just look at 00:01:48.930 --> 00:01:51.069 the production credits, this is a major label 00:01:51.069 --> 00:01:54.640 debut single. It was released on March 1st, 2024 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:57.319 by Warner Music Central Europe. Heavy hitters. 00:01:57.480 --> 00:01:59.719 Yeah. And it was written by what is basically 00:01:59.719 --> 00:02:01.540 a veritable committee of industry professionals. 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:05.459 You've got Anders Retoff, Jimmy Thurnfeldt, Julie 00:02:05.459 --> 00:02:07.560 Augard and Thomas Stengard. Right, a huge team. 00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:11.219 And it is self -described as a techno -inspired 00:02:11.219 --> 00:02:13.360 pop track. So, you know, you see that lineup 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:15.659 of writers and you immediately think of a highly 00:02:15.659 --> 00:02:19.400 engineered, totally calculated club anthem designed 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:22.180 purely for commercial radio. Exactly. You expect 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:25.400 a product, essentially. A track built by a team 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:28.240 of Scandinavian hitmakers who just, they know 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.479 exactly how to engineer a hook that gets stuck 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:33.159 in your head. But then you look at Kayleen's 00:02:33.159 --> 00:02:35.800 specific vision for the song, and it completely 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:38.599 subverts that expectation of just some shallow, 00:02:39.139 --> 00:02:41.340 manufactured product. Right. She had a very different 00:02:41.340 --> 00:02:43.780 take. She did. She didn't just want this track 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:45.939 to be about jumping up and down in a dark room. 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:49.000 She described the image of a rave party in this 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.900 song as a sanctuary. A sanctuary, yeah. She explicitly 00:02:51.900 --> 00:02:54.479 stated it's a place where outsiders and wounded 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:57.199 souls go to heal and dissolve their problems 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.340 through music. Which is such a strong image. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.159 I find that contrasts fascinating. It's like 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:04.400 the song is this sonic band aid hidden inside 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:07.699 a relentless baseline. But I have to push back 00:03:07.699 --> 00:03:09.180 a little on this premise with you. Okay, go for 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:11.759 it. When a major label puts together a team of 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.319 pop writers to create this high BPM Euro dance 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:18.080 track, does the sheer volume and that heavy pounding 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:20.699 beat actually distract from that deeper message 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:22.979 of healing? That's a valid question. Like, can 00:03:22.979 --> 00:03:25.379 you genuinely deliver a message about finding 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:28.439 sanctuary for wounded souls when the tempo is 00:03:29.349 --> 00:03:31.830 designed to make the floorboards shake. What's 00:03:31.830 --> 00:03:34.229 fascinating here is that the high BPM isn't a 00:03:34.229 --> 00:03:36.569 distraction from the healing process at all. 00:03:37.270 --> 00:03:39.069 Actually, historically and psychologically, it 00:03:39.069 --> 00:03:41.849 is the actual mechanism for the healing. Wait. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.840 Really, the speed is the point. Exactly. If you 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:47.439 look at the roots of rave culture, these high 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:49.960 energy underground dance parties were explicitly 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:52.879 created as safe havens for marginalized communities. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:55.000 Well, that makes sense. Right. So the relentless 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:57.860 pounding rhythm is not meant to drown out emotion. 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:01.020 It is engineered to create this collective, almost 00:04:01.020 --> 00:04:03.219 hypnotic state where people can physically exhaust 00:04:03.219 --> 00:04:06.500 their anxieties. Wow. So pairing a techno inspired 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:09.439 pop track with a message for outsiders is actually 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:11.699 a highly authentic nod to the origin. of the 00:04:11.699 --> 00:04:14.520 genre. The beat itself is the therapy. I love 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:17.600 that. Yeah, it demands physical exertion as a 00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:20.360 form of emotional release. That reframes the 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:22.800 genre entirely for me. The physical exhaustion 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:25.019 is the point. Yes. But, you know, having this 00:04:25.019 --> 00:04:27.259 beautiful, authentic concept about a healing 00:04:27.259 --> 00:04:31.259 sanctuary is one thing. Getting that concept 00:04:31.259 --> 00:04:33.860 from a pristine recording studio onto the world's 00:04:33.860 --> 00:04:36.300 biggest stage in front of hundreds of millions 00:04:36.300 --> 00:04:39.910 of people is where the friction really starts. 00:04:40.009 --> 00:04:43.089 Oh definitely. Because the timeline of this release 00:04:43.089 --> 00:04:45.939 completely shatters that illusion of a seamless, 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:48.540 effortless music drop. The reality behind the 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:50.639 polished facade of a music release is almost 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.060 always a logistical nightmare. Totally. And the 00:04:53.060 --> 00:04:55.600 timeline for We Will Rave is a perfect example 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:58.180 of this friction. So the Austrian broadcaster 00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:01.439 ORF decided to use an internal selection process 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:03.259 to choose their representative right. Right. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:06.040 They had a short list of 14 artists, and those 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:08.360 artists were judged by a jury and fan clubs. 00:05:08.980 --> 00:05:10.720 Now, the public announcement of the winner was 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:13.439 originally expected in December of 2023. But 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:15.350 it didn't happen then. No, that announcement 00:05:15.350 --> 00:05:17.709 got delayed for an entire month. It finally happened 00:05:17.709 --> 00:05:21.310 on January 16th, 2024. And that initial delay 00:05:21.310 --> 00:05:24.189 was really just the start of the gauntlet. because 00:05:24.189 --> 00:05:27.189 weeks before the official release in March, a 00:05:27.189 --> 00:05:30.709 demo of the song leaked online. The dreaded leak. 00:05:30.910 --> 00:05:32.930 Yeah, and this wasn't just some low -quality 00:05:32.930 --> 00:05:35.529 acoustic recording. It was an early version of 00:05:35.529 --> 00:05:38.009 the track that revealed something very telling 00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:40.610 about the industry. What did it reveal? Well, 00:05:40.689 --> 00:05:42.430 Killeen actually claimed that the final version 00:05:42.430 --> 00:05:45.050 of the song was altered from that leaked demo 00:05:45.050 --> 00:05:49.829 to conform better with Eurovision. I want to 00:05:49.829 --> 00:05:52.829 pause on that phrase, conform better with Eurovision. 00:05:52.970 --> 00:05:55.490 To me, it's less like tailoring a suit to fit 00:05:55.490 --> 00:05:57.629 a specific event, and more like aggressively 00:05:57.629 --> 00:06:00.129 optimizing a website for Google's algorithm. 00:06:00.329 --> 00:06:02.410 That is a great comparison. Right. You have to 00:06:02.410 --> 00:06:04.689 insert mandatory three -second dopamine hits, 00:06:05.269 --> 00:06:08.949 a predictable bridge, a specific climax, or the 00:06:08.949 --> 00:06:11.439 voting machinery simply won't process it. This 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:13.579 raises an important question though about the 00:06:13.579 --> 00:06:16.420 fundamental tension between pure artistic expression 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:19.800 and the highly rigid formula required for a televised 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:22.139 spectacle. It's a huge tension. Eurovision has 00:06:22.139 --> 00:06:24.279 a very specific set of parameters. I mean the 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:27.300 song cannot exceed three minutes, period. Right. 00:06:27.519 --> 00:06:30.240 It has to translate instantly to an audience 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:32.860 spanning over 40 different countries and cultures. 00:06:33.339 --> 00:06:35.639 That is a wild demographic to try and please. 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:38.500 Exactly. It requires structural beats that keep 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:41.779 a massive television audience engaged. So an 00:06:41.779 --> 00:06:44.519 artist has to weigh their original creative vision, 00:06:44.660 --> 00:06:47.579 like that sanctuary for wounded souls, against 00:06:47.579 --> 00:06:50.740 the pragmatic mathematical need to score points 00:06:50.740 --> 00:06:54.000 across diverse demographics. It's a tough balancing 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:57.300 act. It really is. Altering a demo to conform 00:06:57.300 --> 00:07:00.079 means sanding down the edges that might alienate 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.680 a casual viewer while trying to preserve the 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:05.009 core. identity of the track. Which has to be 00:07:05.009 --> 00:07:07.189 incredibly frustrating for an artist. I mean 00:07:07.189 --> 00:07:09.689 you have this vision, you optimize it for the 00:07:09.689 --> 00:07:11.850 algorithm, and the universe just keeps throwing 00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:14.089 hurdles at you. The hurdles didn't stop there? 00:07:14.209 --> 00:07:17.009 No. The music video was supposed to drop on March 00:07:17.009 --> 00:07:19.949 1 right alongside the song's official release, 00:07:20.290 --> 00:07:22.709 but it had to be pushed to March 4. Why was that? 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:24.449 Because the production company couldn't finish 00:07:24.449 --> 00:07:27.519 it on time. Oh wow. Yeah. And meanwhile, Colleen 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:29.819 is out there grinding through this extensive 00:07:29.819 --> 00:07:32.180 pre -party promo tour. Right, the promo circuit 00:07:32.180 --> 00:07:35.439 is intense. She's performing in Madrid in March, 00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:38.980 then London, Amsterdam, and Stockholm in April. 00:07:39.620 --> 00:07:41.740 Plus, she's doing a televised performance on 00:07:41.740 --> 00:07:44.500 an off -train show called Die Gross Chance. That 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:47.740 is exhausting just to hear. Seriously. We should 00:07:47.740 --> 00:07:49.879 look at how these continuous delays and leaks 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:53.040 act as unintended psychological pressure tests 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:55.420 for an artist's resilience. That's a good point. 00:07:55.699 --> 00:07:57.800 Long before Colleen even stepped onto the stage 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:00.819 in Malmö for the semifinals, she had navigated 00:08:00.819 --> 00:08:04.360 internal broadcaster delays, a leaked demo, enforced 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:07.139 musical alterations, and a botched music video 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:09.180 timeline. Yeah. And she had to manage all of 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:11.180 that stress while maintaining the high physical 00:08:11.180 --> 00:08:14.180 energy required for a multi -city European promotional 00:08:14.180 --> 00:08:17.699 tour. It really tests whether an artist can compartmentalize 00:08:17.699 --> 00:08:20.399 industry chaos and still deliver product. It 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:22.620 is a brutal endurance test, and the result of 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:24.379 that endurance test was that the track was officially 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:27.319 out, the music video was up, and the song finally 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:30.019 reached the critics. Ah, the critics. And the 00:08:30.019 --> 00:08:32.659 reaction was spectacularly divided. We often 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:35.179 think of pop music as aiming for universal appeal, 00:08:35.620 --> 00:08:38.120 but the critical whiplash here is extreme. It 00:08:38.120 --> 00:08:40.620 perfectly illustrates the subjectivity of art, 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.639 especially in an environment as hyper -scrutinized 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:46.080 as this one. Right. I mean, a single piece of 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:48.960 music is going to be interpreted in vastly different 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:52.019 depending entirely on what the critic believes 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:54.820 the function of a pop song should be. Exactly. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:58.059 So listen to this contrast, and if you are listening 00:08:58.059 --> 00:09:00.960 right now, ask yourself which side of this divide 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:03.840 you would fall on. Yeah, think about it. On one 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.659 side, you have John O 'Brien, a writer for Vulture. 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:10.500 He ranked We Will Rave number one out of all 00:09:10.500 --> 00:09:13.519 37 competing songs that year. Number one? Number 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:16.690 one overall. He praised the fusion of musical 00:09:16.690 --> 00:09:18.649 styles and called it a relentless club banger. 00:09:18.649 --> 00:09:21.289 I praise But then you flip over to the eyepaper 00:09:21.289 --> 00:09:23.850 where Emily Baker reviewed it. She completely 00:09:23.850 --> 00:09:27.110 categorized the song among the bad ones She claimed 00:09:27.110 --> 00:09:28.970 it's something we've seen a million times on 00:09:28.970 --> 00:09:31.250 the Eurovision stage. He said it wasn't boring 00:09:31.250 --> 00:09:34.139 but It's not exactly good either. Ouch. And then 00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:36.340 you have the middle ground perspectives trying 00:09:36.340 --> 00:09:38.720 to weigh the production value against the live 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.899 execution. Right. The site Weblogs gave it a 00:09:40.899 --> 00:09:44.200 solid 7 .7 out of 10 points placing it sixth 00:09:44.200 --> 00:09:46.679 overall. Which is pretty respectable. It is. 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:50.759 Meanwhile, Daron Lahav from ESC Bead ranked it 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:54.620 15th out of 37. He praised the Polish production, 00:09:54.820 --> 00:09:57.740 but he expressed a very specific anxiety over 00:09:57.740 --> 00:09:59.960 how difficult a high -energy techno track like 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:02.580 that would be to sing live while dancing? Which 00:10:02.580 --> 00:10:06.120 is a very valid concern. But wait, here's where 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:08.200 it gets really interesting. If the ultimate goal 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:10.879 is to win a contest that relies heavily on consensus 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:14.399 voting from across an entire continent, Doesn't 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:16.559 alienating half the audience with a polarizing 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:19.480 track mathematically guarantee you won't get 00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:21.360 the votes needed to take the trophy? You would 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:24.240 think so, yes. Right. How is this gap between 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:27.120 number one relentless club banger and we've seen 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:29.679 this a million times, anything but a strategic 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.000 failure for a competition. Because there is a 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:33.840 massive difference between winning a specific 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:36.039 contest and winning the broader market. OK, say 00:10:36.039 --> 00:10:37.840 more about that. Well, in the attention economy 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:40.320 of pop culture, a song's value isn't just about 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:42.799 technical musicality or universal likeability. 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:45.600 It is about how effectively it triggers an immediate 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:48.539 emotional response. Oh, I see. You want to evoke 00:10:48.539 --> 00:10:51.919 either absolute euphoria or complete fatigue 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.399 because both reactions mean you are memorable. 00:10:54.590 --> 00:10:57.750 Being forgotten is the real enemy. Exactly. A 00:10:57.750 --> 00:11:00.929 song that is universally considered just OK is 00:11:00.929 --> 00:11:03.210 a song that people forget to vote for. And more 00:11:03.210 --> 00:11:05.269 importantly, they forget to stream it the next 00:11:05.269 --> 00:11:08.389 day. That makes total sense. Polarizing art demands 00:11:08.389 --> 00:11:11.289 attention. If you're going to lose the consensus 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:14.929 vote anyway, it is a strategic advantage to cultivate 00:11:14.929 --> 00:11:18.029 a fierce, dedicated minority who will champion 00:11:18.029 --> 00:11:20.399 the track. That makes the stakes for the live 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:22.919 show even higher, then, because Eurovision is, 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.179 above all, a visual medium. Highly visual. Having 00:11:26.179 --> 00:11:28.620 a song that demands attention means your live 00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:31.320 performance has to deliver on that visual promise 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:33.580 in front of millions of people. Which, of course, 00:11:33.659 --> 00:11:35.440 brought a whole new wave of behind -the -scenes 00:11:35.440 --> 00:11:38.179 drama when they finally got to the Malmo Arena. 00:11:38.279 --> 00:11:41.100 Naturally. We know the music video had a specific 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:43.820 sexy aesthetic, but Colleen mentioned before 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:45.740 the contest that they were going to implement 00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:48.539 a toned -down version of that for the live stage. 00:11:48.840 --> 00:11:51.960 Right. And translating a high tempo conceptual 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:54.899 audio track into a massive visual arena spectacle 00:11:54.899 --> 00:11:58.399 is an enormous undertaking. Dan Shipton was appointed 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:00.299 as the creative director for the performance 00:12:00.299 --> 00:12:02.899 and the visual vocabulary they chose for this 00:12:02.899 --> 00:12:05.960 rave was very distinct. Very distinct. On stage, 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:08.220 Colleen was accompanied by four backing dancers 00:12:08.220 --> 00:12:11.580 in black cargo pants. And there was this massive 00:12:11.580 --> 00:12:15.100 inverted pyramid prop shooting multicolored lasers 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:18.100 everywhere. It sounds incredibly visually intense. 00:12:18.120 --> 00:12:21.320 Very industrial. Yeah, very industrial. But the 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:23.659 primary focus of the performance and where the 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:26.279 real tension emerged was in the high stakes politics 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:29.159 of the fashion. Oh, the fashion. The visual aesthetic 00:12:29.159 --> 00:12:31.440 of a pop star is never just about looking good. 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:33.799 It is a highly negotiated corporate arrangement. 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:35.480 Oh, let's talk about the costume drama because 00:12:35.480 --> 00:12:38.159 this is wild. Originally, the performance was 00:12:38.159 --> 00:12:41.559 intended to feature Kayleen wearing a black mesh 00:12:41.559 --> 00:12:44.840 bodysuit designed by Marina Hornman Cedar. Right. 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:47.299 And this wasn't just like a standard piece of 00:12:47.299 --> 00:12:50.299 clothing. It was adorned with around 150 ,000 00:12:50.299 --> 00:12:52.799 Swarovski crystals. That is an unbelievable amount 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:56.720 of detail. It's nuts. But then, literally right 00:12:56.720 --> 00:12:58.460 before the contest during the critical dress 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:00.720 rehearsals, the costume was suddenly changed 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:03.100 to a piece by a completely different designer. 00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:05.639 Though it was still paired with a coat by Hormon 00:13:05.639 --> 00:13:08.440 Cedar, right? It was, yes. But Hormon Cedar was 00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:11.500 reportedly furious, publicly criticizing the 00:13:11.500 --> 00:13:14.350 decision after the contest was over. And I just 00:13:14.350 --> 00:13:17.289 keep thinking, how do these micro dramas, like 00:13:17.289 --> 00:13:20.129 a designer feud, impact the performer's mindset 00:13:20.129 --> 00:13:22.250 right before stepping in front of hundreds of 00:13:22.250 --> 00:13:24.409 millions of viewers? Well, if we connect this 00:13:24.409 --> 00:13:26.909 to the bigger picture, it forces us to look at 00:13:26.909 --> 00:13:30.100 the economics of Eurovision fashion. A designer 00:13:30.100 --> 00:13:32.379 doesn't just hand over a custom garment covered 00:13:32.379 --> 00:13:35.179 in 150 ,000 Swarovski crystals for the fun of 00:13:35.179 --> 00:13:38.100 it. No, definitely not. That is a massive capital 00:13:38.100 --> 00:13:41.299 investment. It functions as a loss leader. The 00:13:41.299 --> 00:13:43.399 designer fronts the extraordinary cost of the 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:45.740 materials and the labor strictly for the return 00:13:45.740 --> 00:13:48.519 on investment of having their work seen by an 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:51.600 audience of nearly 200 million global viewers. 00:13:51.779 --> 00:13:53.860 Right, it's advertising. Exactly. So when that 00:13:53.860 --> 00:13:55.899 exposure is pulled at the last possible second, 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:59.659 it isn't just a bruised ego, it is a ca - financial 00:13:59.659 --> 00:14:02.379 and marketing blow to the brand. So the artist 00:14:02.379 --> 00:14:04.639 is suddenly caught right in the middle of a corporate 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:08.230 standoff. Exactly. The costume drama proves that 00:14:08.230 --> 00:14:11.309 at this level of the industry, fashion is a high 00:14:11.309 --> 00:14:14.509 stakes battleground of branding, aesthetic control, 00:14:14.669 --> 00:14:17.649 and ego. Yeah. For the artist, it requires an 00:14:17.649 --> 00:14:20.929 immense level of psychological compartmentalization. 00:14:21.330 --> 00:14:23.549 I mean, you have to leave the fury of a spurned 00:14:23.549 --> 00:14:26.009 designer, the financial implications, and the 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:28.269 last minute wardrobe panic in the dressing room, 00:14:28.909 --> 00:14:31.269 walk out under the lights, and still deliver 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:33.990 a flawless vocal and physical performance as 00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:36.480 if nothing. happened. And to her credit, she 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:38.620 did deliver the performance. She got through 00:14:38.620 --> 00:14:41.100 the semifinal, placing ninth with 46 points, 00:14:41.419 --> 00:14:43.740 which secured Austria a spot in the grand final. 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:46.980 A huge achievement. For sure. But all of this, 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:49.960 the deep meaning of the rave sanctuary, the algorithmic 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:52.159 tailoring of the demo, the polarizing reviews, 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:54.740 the lasers, the cargo pants, and the crystal 00:14:54.740 --> 00:14:58.360 drama, ultimately in the context of the competition. 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:00.539 It comes down to a final mathematical verdict. 00:15:00.700 --> 00:15:03.259 The numbers. The numbers. And we have to look 00:15:03.259 --> 00:15:05.279 at the mechanism of how those points are actually 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.860 awarded. The grand final reality was starkly 00:15:07.860 --> 00:15:09.980 different from the semi -final success, honestly. 00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:12.980 And the breakdown of the scoring reveals a lot 00:15:12.980 --> 00:15:15.480 about how different factions evaluate music. 00:15:15.700 --> 00:15:18.240 Right. So performing 26th, which was the final 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:21.340 act of the night, Kayleen finished 24th out of 00:15:21.340 --> 00:15:23.840 the competing acts with only 24 total points. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:27.399 That's tough. It is. That broke down to 19 points 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:29.820 from the professional juries, placing her 20th 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:32.539 in that metric, and a mere five points from the 00:15:32.539 --> 00:15:35.269 public televote. placing her 23rd there. Wow. 00:15:35.610 --> 00:15:37.429 And to break down those points impartially based 00:15:37.429 --> 00:15:40.409 on the data, no country awarded Austria the maximum 00:15:40.409 --> 00:15:42.629 12 points. The highest score from the juries 00:15:42.629 --> 00:15:45.169 was seven points, which came from Israel. The 00:15:45.169 --> 00:15:46.990 high score from the public televote was three 00:15:46.990 --> 00:15:49.950 points, also from Israel. Interesting. So why 00:15:49.950 --> 00:15:52.629 such a harsh penalty from the juries? And why 00:15:52.629 --> 00:15:54.429 didn't the public rally behind a high energy 00:15:54.429 --> 00:15:56.720 club track? Well, we have to look at the specific 00:15:56.720 --> 00:15:59.740 criteria juries are instructed to evaluate. Professional 00:15:59.740 --> 00:16:02.620 juries historically penalize high BPM dance tracks 00:16:02.620 --> 00:16:05.059 because they are looking for vocal technicality, 00:16:05.559 --> 00:16:07.960 complex instrumental composition, and dynamic 00:16:07.960 --> 00:16:12.399 range. A techno track like We Will Rave purposefully 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.700 sacrifices traditional vocal acrobatics in favor 00:16:15.700 --> 00:16:18.059 of relentless club energy and heavy production. 00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:20.879 The juries are grading a rubric that the song 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.090 wasn't designed to pass. That makes a lot of 00:16:23.090 --> 00:16:26.330 sense. What about the televote? As for the televote, 00:16:26.509 --> 00:16:28.909 this is where the strategy of being polarizing 00:16:28.909 --> 00:16:32.330 meets its limit in a consensus format. The track 00:16:32.330 --> 00:16:34.870 was highly memorable for a specific demographic, 00:16:34.870 --> 00:16:37.549 but it failed to capture the broad cross -cultural 00:16:37.549 --> 00:16:40.429 base required to amass public points across Europe. 00:16:40.710 --> 00:16:43.009 So what does this all mean? I mean, I want you 00:16:43.009 --> 00:16:45.750 listening right now to imagine the psychological 00:16:45.750 --> 00:16:48.230 weight of this. It's heavy. Imagine working on 00:16:48.230 --> 00:16:50.909 a project for months. You pour your heart into 00:16:50.909 --> 00:16:53.690 a concept about healing wounded souls. You survive 00:16:53.690 --> 00:16:56.250 your work leaking early. You survive management 00:16:56.250 --> 00:16:58.409 making you alter it for the algorithm. All the 00:16:58.409 --> 00:17:01.490 delays. The delays. Your music video being late, 00:17:01.690 --> 00:17:04.089 grueling promo tours, critics telling you it's 00:17:04.089 --> 00:17:05.769 both the best and the worst thing they've heard, 00:17:06.089 --> 00:17:08.730 and a last minute corporate fight over your wardrobe. 00:17:09.410 --> 00:17:11.089 You give it your all on the biggest music show 00:17:11.089 --> 00:17:12.849 on earth and you finish near the bottom of the 00:17:12.849 --> 00:17:15.569 scoreboard. It sounds crushing. It sounds completely 00:17:15.569 --> 00:17:18.660 crushing. But if you look at the actual music 00:17:18.660 --> 00:17:20.900 charts, a completely different story emerges. 00:17:21.240 --> 00:17:25.039 Yes. This is where we have to fundamentally redefine 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:28.019 what winning actually means in the modern music 00:17:28.019 --> 00:17:30.440 industry. Because despite the low placement on 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:33.980 the scoreboard, We Will Rave hit number three 00:17:33.980 --> 00:17:37.140 on the Sweden Heatseeker chart. It hit number 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:40.670 18 in Austria. It charted in the UK, reaching 00:17:40.670 --> 00:17:43.630 number 23 on both the singles downloads and single 00:17:43.630 --> 00:17:46.029 sales charts. That's real commercial traction. 00:17:46.430 --> 00:17:48.309 And Colleen's reaction to the Eurovision results 00:17:48.309 --> 00:17:51.460 is so telling. She stated she was not disappointed 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:53.819 at all and was simply grateful for the opportunity 00:17:53.819 --> 00:17:55.779 to perform at the contest in the first place. 00:17:55.859 --> 00:17:59.039 She gets it. Yeah. There's a massive, fascinating 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.700 dissonance between her low placement on that 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:04.880 specific Saturday night and her very real commercial 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:08.099 success across European charts. And that dissonance 00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:10.720 is the reality of the business today. The scoreboard 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.609 is not the territory. I love that phrase. It's 00:18:13.609 --> 00:18:16.490 true. What Colleen's reaction shows is a very 00:18:16.490 --> 00:18:19.150 mature contemporary understanding of how this 00:18:19.150 --> 00:18:22.130 machinery works. Eurovision is no longer just 00:18:22.130 --> 00:18:24.190 a finish line where you collect a trophy. It 00:18:24.190 --> 00:18:26.990 is a launch pad. Absolutely. The global stage 00:18:26.990 --> 00:18:29.450 visibility, the streaming numbers and the international 00:18:29.450 --> 00:18:32.150 chart placements often matter far more for an 00:18:32.150 --> 00:18:34.549 artist's long term career and financial success 00:18:34.549 --> 00:18:36.970 than the specific number of points awarded by 00:18:36.970 --> 00:18:39.450 juries who are, frankly, grading on an outdated 00:18:39.450 --> 00:18:42.230 rubric. Right. By getting the song onto those 00:18:42.230 --> 00:18:44.960 charts, she reached her audience of outsiders 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:47.640 and wounded souls, regardless of the final ranking. 00:18:48.109 --> 00:18:50.490 It really is an incredible journey when you step 00:18:50.490 --> 00:18:52.509 back and look at the whole life cycle at once. 00:18:52.750 --> 00:18:55.930 I mean, from a conceptual healing rave to an 00:18:55.930 --> 00:18:58.970 algorithmic adjustment to a polarized, crystal 00:18:58.970 --> 00:19:01.809 -studded, laser -filled spectacle that ended 00:19:01.809 --> 00:19:04.289 up conquering international download charts despite 00:19:04.289 --> 00:19:05.809 finishing near the bottom of the scoreboard. 00:19:05.970 --> 00:19:08.569 It is the perfect anatomy of a modern pop song 00:19:08.569 --> 00:19:10.390 release. It really is. You see the collision 00:19:10.390 --> 00:19:13.990 of art, commerce, and pure endurance. It is a 00:19:13.990 --> 00:19:17.049 remarkable case study, but as we wrap up this 00:19:17.049 --> 00:19:19.630 deconstruction, there is one final aspect of 00:19:19.630 --> 00:19:21.730 this life cycle worth considering. Okay, lay 00:19:21.730 --> 00:19:23.809 it on us. Well, we discussed how the song was 00:19:23.809 --> 00:19:26.230 altered to conform to the contest parameters, 00:19:26.890 --> 00:19:29.069 right, and how the staging and costuming were 00:19:29.069 --> 00:19:31.710 changed at the last minute to manage optics and 00:19:31.710 --> 00:19:34.170 corporate relationships. It leaves us with this 00:19:34.170 --> 00:19:36.970 thought. If a song is fundamentally altered to 00:19:36.970 --> 00:19:39.630 fit a format, and its visual identity is changed 00:19:39.630 --> 00:19:42.369 to manage brand politics, at what point does 00:19:42.369 --> 00:19:45.210 the original piece of art cease to be the artist's 00:19:45.210 --> 00:19:47.490 and instead become a product entirely owned by 00:19:47.490 --> 00:19:50.390 the machinery of the event itself? Oh, wow. That 00:19:50.390 --> 00:19:52.809 is a heavy, fascinating question to leave on. 00:19:53.349 --> 00:19:55.549 Where does the artist end and the algorithm begin? 00:19:55.829 --> 00:19:57.730 Exactly. Well, thank you so much for joining 00:19:57.730 --> 00:19:59.650 us on this deep dive into the hidden mechanics 00:19:59.650 --> 00:20:03.019 of global pop culture. We hope you enjoyed unpacking 00:20:03.019 --> 00:20:05.059 the chaos behind the magic as much as we did, 00:20:05.539 --> 00:20:07.640 and we warmly invite you to bring your curiosity 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:10.920 back for the next one. Until then, keep digging.