Full Transcript for AsiaVision 2026 Countdown

of Bhutan. 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:20.879 Cambodia held Cambodia's finest voice. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.039 Laos had the one. 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:27.039 Malaysia, they did something a little bit different. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:31.759 But again, as we come back, we're gonna do a deep dive into each of all of these countries. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:39.199 We're gonna have a look at the song contests, the history of the countries, what's brought them to this point, as well as the artists and the songs. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:47.520 Now, in Malaysia, they have the Song Champion Award, and that's an annual singing contest that's been held in Malaysia for the last 40 years. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:53.759 This year, they had the winner and went, surprise! You're going to Asia Vision. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.800 Woo! Mongolia had Mongolia's chosen one. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:00.879 Nepal had Nepal decides. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.520 Philippines, the Philippines selection night. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:07.439 Republic of Korea had Korea's next wave. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:11.039 Bless you, South Korea. 00:04:11.199 --> 00:04:16.879 Although, although technically you're gonna hear it referred to a lot as the Republic of Korea. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:20.240 No, we are talking about South Korea. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:25.439 Although, wouldn't it be interesting if North Korea did compete? 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:29.680 And when I say North Korea compete, of course it would be Kim Yong. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.160 He does everything else single-handedly in the country. 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:36.160 If you are to believe the film. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:38.879 So of course, oh look, you know what? 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:54.399 I am very sure there is someone putting together a film right now that is going to be released on November the 15th, announcing to the people of North Korea that Kim Yong-un has won Asia Vision 2026. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:56.079 He doesn't even need to compete. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:57.920 He is already the winner. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:02.959 Yay! Thailand had Thailand's chosen one. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:04.560 There can be only one. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:07.920 Vietnam had the sound of Vietnam. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:15.360 Now, all of this is happening on Saturday, the 14th of November, 2026, at the One Bangkok Forum. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:20.319 Now, originally the contest was to be held at the Idea Live Stadium. 00:05:20.399 --> 00:05:23.040 That has a capacity of 4,000. 00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:27.279 The new venue, however, has a 6,000-person capacity. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:30.240 But oh my lord. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:35.279 Can you smell the controversy? 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:40.879 That's right, it wouldn't be Eurovision without some controversy. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.160 AsiaVision hasn't even happened yet and it is already steeped in controversy. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:48.959 For once, nobody is blaming Israel for. 00:05:49.120 --> 00:06:00.800 But Philippines media started covering a story which was actually published in the Swedish newspaper Aftunblad, who claimed that the show's 4.5 million dollar budget. 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.480 That's right, 4.5 million dollars. 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:09.839 That is less than Lithuania spends on sequins in a single year. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:16.000 4.5 million dollar budget had already been slashed down to$1 million. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:24.240 It missed rumors that the show was going to be postponed or even cancelled. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:31.199 But a huge chunk of that budget was going to be on work performed behind the stage or off the screen. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:42.000 Originally it was planned for a large contingent of European workers to fly to Thailand to help perform a lot of the stage and camera work and things behind the scenes. 00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:45.439 But that number of foreign workers apparently has been slashed. 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:51.600 Now it's down to just a very small core team of Europeans undertaking key roles. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:56.879 Whilst the majority of hand-on work will now be done by local production crews. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:59.120 This could be a budgetary constraint. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:11.680 This could also be the local teams and unions, and I think quite rightly throwing a little hissy fit saying, why is this great opportunity being handed to overseas workers? 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:17.199 The local Thai crews were certainly within their right to push back. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:22.160 But a lot of people saw this as a sign that the end is near. 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:35.120 Eurovision, however, went to social media to squash the rumors, saying the inaugural Eurovision song contest, Asia, just call it AsiaVision, will take place as planned in Bangkok on the 14th of November. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:42.800 Extensive work has gone into preparing the contest, and our production team and partners are focused on delivering a high-quality live show. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:52.240 We have full confidence in our local team whose wealth of experience producing world-class entertainment events underpins that commitment. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:08:04.079 It continued, we're proud to be creating jobs and opportunities for local and regional talent and businesses, contributing to the local economy and showcasing the region's creative and production expertise. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:11.360 We look forward to welcoming audiences to Bangkok for a celebration of Asia's artist songs and talent. 00:08:11.600 --> 00:08:18.240 So yeah, I think that might be a fancy way of saying we tried to push in and the local team said null poah. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:26.720 So the preview show will be on the 13th of November and the main event on the 14th of November. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:31.920 And what I find crazy is that tickets are still actually available to purchase.

00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:40.159 I guess, I guess with the fear that it wasn't gonna go ahead and all the plans of it being talked, people just didn't go ahead and book their travels. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:42.799 To be honest, it kind of the year got away from me. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:48.480 It didn't even occur to me to fly to Thailand for Asia Vision 2026. 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:51.200 And honestly, I am kicking myself now. 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:55.360 Now, on the website, there is a variety of tickets still available. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.799 The stadium is split over two levels. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:03.759 Now, there are still general admission seats available for$50 US. 00:09:03.919 --> 00:09:07.440 So I think that's about$75 Australian. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:12.240 So those are just general admission seats, mainly on the first floor. 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:14.000 Kind of towards the back. 00:09:14.159 --> 00:09:15.519 It's a feeding frenzy. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.000 It depends how quickly you want to get to the door. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:22.799 The second options are basically the so the second row, the seated options. 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:26.159 There's still actually some really good seats available. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:31.919 If you want to sit right at the very front, those tickets are$150 US. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:39.039 Or if you don't mind a few little heads in front of you, you can get it for$75 if you want to sit in the nosebleeds. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:41.679 Of course, all those prices are USD. 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:46.559 And for those who need them, there are still accessible seats available. 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:52.080 There are three! And they are$75 USD as well. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:53.039 So you know what? 00:09:53.200 --> 00:10:02.879 Hey, if you're able to get a cheap flight between now and then to Bangkok, I say book it in and you can still have the time of your life. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:09.279 But hey, I'm just a lady boy standing in front of a song contest, asking it to love her. 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:16.720 Now, for those interested, you can actually find all of the country's selection performances online. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.960 You might want to measure your enthusiasm on that. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:32.399 One of the criticisms has been with basically I'm most of the live shows, is there has very much been some technical, mainly sound quality issues. 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:39.120 Not a reflection on the performers or the singers themselves, but there were definitely some mic and sounding issues. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:44.240 They've assured us that all of this is gonna be worked out before the main event. 00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:50.720 Now, over the coming days, we are pretty much gonna divide one episode to one country. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.360 Have a little bit of a deep dive. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:55.039 That is some of these countries. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:06.000 That's a lot of history to compress into a couple of minutes, but because I am a nerdily cool person, I am gonna do that for you. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:11.120 We're also gonna go through some of the songs I've actually put up on Spotify. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:14.399 Dispoir podcast Asia Vision. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:18.000 On there, I've put the songs that will be in Asia Vision. 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:25.279 I've also included some of the biggest hits from some of the performers, just to give you a little bit of taste of what they'll be bringing. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:27.840 Now we are gonna discover all of these songs. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:32.639 Again, what I'll do is I'll put the actual song discussion at the end of the episode. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:42.080 So if you just want to learn a little bit more about the country, its origins, its history, how it treats women and the gay community, you can listen to that first. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:51.600 It gives you great conversation points around the cocktail tray, and then you can decide whether or not you want to hear more about the performer and the song. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:12:00.399 Now, I've actually listened to all of these songs, and honestly, I'm not just saying this for the five people listening. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:02.960 You are gonna be so surprised. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:13.840 There is some genuine surprises, there is some absolute bangers, and I'm so excited to be here for the very first Asia Vision. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:21.600 Also known as Eurovision Song Contest, Asia 2026. 00:12:22.159 --> 00:12:25.679 Grab your wet towel it's it's time.