I will admit it from the start, this was THE interview that I have wanted to do this entire Eurovision season. You will have seen throughout my blog that Latvia have been the nation that I have followed most closely:
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It is also unlikely that I will get many welcome and goodbye hugs from too many other performers! Of all the 43 artists that are performing this year in Lisbon, Latvia will be the one that I will keep tabs on the most and I hope that I get to see Laura perform as many times as possible in the Altice Arena - five times would be the optimum (Jury SF2, SF2, Jury Final, Final and winner's reprise) but having her in the Final would be my hope. Her performing style and THAT song should be heard by as many people around the world as possible in my opinion...
And so that was it, all eight interviews at the Eurovision In Concert 2018 press event - another wonderful experience, another new thing to tick off my 'Eurovision bucket list' and yet another opportunity to hone my interview skills, allowing eight great artists to 'get their message out there'. Thank you to:
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- October 22nd - the Supernova 63 revealed in song only format, "Funny Girl" piqued my interest;
- November 13th - down to the last 30, I knew the name of the song's artist;
- December 19th - my love for all things "Funny Girl" were crystalised when I watched the lyric video for the first time;
- March 2nd - my number one entry this year is set in stone when Laura Rizzotto wins Supernova;
- March 26th - Laura produces a wonderful set at the Riga pre-Party;
- April 14th - I finally get to meet and chat to Laura Rizzotto at the Eurovision In Concert press event in Amsterdam!
Six months from first hearing her song, through to becoming a fan and chatting to her through various forms of social media (primarily FB and Instagram), I found myself waiting in the press queue to chat to her:
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What happened next was something that will stay with me for a very long time, something that made my season, perhaps even my entire career as a fan and blogger. This might seem par for the course for some of you who have been in this game for many years but it was the first time that it ever happened to me...
I am still smiling when I think about it even now! To have a Eurovision artist recognise you and genuinely be openly pleased to see you is a really lovely feeling. I had to wait my turn, beaming inside, to chat to her face to face - apparently I didn't spoil Stuart's interview luckily but it was quite an experience to have another press bod look around at me as Laura shouted out as if to say "How on earth does she know who you are?". But enough of my 'fanboy' (apparently it IS a term) experience, you are here to listen to what Laura said to me - what will you learn?
Laura spotted me in the queue as Stuart Wilders of escSocial moved in to interview her and yelled out:
"Martin! Oh my god, you're here!"
I am still smiling when I think about it even now! To have a Eurovision artist recognise you and genuinely be openly pleased to see you is a really lovely feeling. I had to wait my turn, beaming inside, to chat to her face to face - apparently I didn't spoil Stuart's interview luckily but it was quite an experience to have another press bod look around at me as Laura shouted out as if to say "How on earth does she know who you are?". But enough of my 'fanboy' (apparently it IS a term) experience, you are here to listen to what Laura said to me - what will you learn?
- How she feels about 'random strangers' (my words) now contacting her through Eurovision...
- What she felt about the response to Funny Girl even before the Supernova shows...
- How competitive was she at Supernova or is there something else that drives her more than that...
- Was Israel Calling her biggest audience to date, even more so than opening for Demi Lovato...
- What are her hopes for Lisbon...
- How is the work on her EP 'Amber' progressing...
- And what is Laura's 'special question'.
Here you go:
Having listened to that back again, I don't sound anything like the gibbering fool that I had pictured being in my head as I was actually conducting the interview! Bravo to me for staying professional throughout and to Laura for coping with possibly the most star-struck person she chatted to during the press event. A lot of what I asked her was not the general stuff that a lot of the other press might have gone for with an agenda to meet - for me, it was a chance to get to know more about her feelings about Supernova, Eurovision and us fans in general. She is a consummate professional already, very experienced and Eurovision is not the be all and end all it might be for some artists - Laura does view it, however, as a huge deal and the biggest gig of her life. As for her special question to us fans?
My answer to that one would be the one so far that is closest linked to the artist that asked it...
As you can tell, coming across "Funny Girl" six months ago just as a song on a playlist of 63 has provided me with a totally new way of following a national selection process and an artist's path towards becoming their nation's representative. It has to be also said that Laura is one of the most photogenic and visually witty performers I have met to date:
"What makes Eurovision so special to you fans,
what makes it such a memorable thing"
what makes it such a memorable thing"
My answer to that one would be the one so far that is closest linked to the artist that asked it...
"Eurovision has totally taken up my life so much that any new experience just adds to the wonder of it all - attending my first 'foreign' Eurovision pre-Party and my first Eurovision live in the same year is special. It is also an especially unique moment where I can follow an artist's progression through their selection process so closely, interact with them on social media and then meet them at an event where our first contact was so positive and friendly. "Funny Girl" entered my life last October and has provided me with a truly superb artist to follow long past Eurovision in May, allowing me to become a career long fan, something that that was totally unexpected this season".
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And so that was it, all eight interviews at the Eurovision In Concert 2018 press event - another wonderful experience, another new thing to tick off my 'Eurovision bucket list' and yet another opportunity to hone my interview skills, allowing eight great artists to 'get their message out there'. Thank you to:
Saara Aalto
Ieva Zasimauskaitė
Vanja Radovanović
Eye Cue
Stee from Zibbz
Gromee, Lukas Meijer and Sara Chmiel
Ari Ólafsson and Thorunn Erna Clausen
&
Laura Rizzotto
For agreeing to being interviewed and for all giving me such varied material to work with. Barring any unexpected invitations to events, that is my last press duties of the season - it was a joy to do it yet again and it didn't seem a chore at all. Perhaps being an independent blogger allows me the freedom to chat to who I want about what I want to - it is also easy to do if the other person is as interesting as these artists were.
So that was the press side - I attended two concerts as well, so those (plus the London Eurovision Party) all need the "Let Me Be The One" touch - we've still got eight days until the first rehearsals in Lisbon, so I better get cracking!