The Broadsword Mic Stand And The Softest Metal Surprise

WEBVTT
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Bonjour, good, prevent.
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Hello and welcome back as we take a big saucy sip of Serbia.
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So what can we say about Serbia and what has driven it to its decision of this year's performer for Eurovision 2026?
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Well, starting in late 2024, continuing through 2025 and into 2026, there has been nationwide anti-government protests.
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Serbia has been continuously escalating anti-government protests.
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According to Radio Free Europe and AP News, protests began after a railway station collapse in November 2024.
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And obviously, this is a tragedy, but how does this lead to a year-long protest?
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Because this railway station collapse is because of a lot of underlying issues.
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Corruption, kickback.
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Now the protests after the railway station collapse grew into a daily clash between protesters and police in Belgrade, Novicad, all over the country.
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Then the protesters accused the police of brutality.
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The police were accused of beatings and using excessive force.
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I mean, just think of that.
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Think of the anger behind that to have not weekend protests, not occasional protests, daily protests.
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The police responded with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
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Tear gas, battons, mass arrests.
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According to AP and BBC, protesters were beaten, dragged, detained, the whole riot police starter pack.
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It's like the government saw people demanding accountability and said, hmm, have you tried not doing that?
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Some news sites actually described Serbia's political situation as irreversibly changed.
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That's not a political analysis.
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That's what a therapist says after you tell them all about your childhood.
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But what is remarkable about this is students are leading the change for accountability and reform.
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Right, students, students are leading the anti-corruption movement.
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The same demographic that normally leads movements like, please make exams optional and why is rent like this?
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But in Serbia, they are out there organizing marches, blockades, sit-ins, basically running the country's resistance movement.
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And all between midterms.
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They want to draw attention to the underlying problem.
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What is the underlying problem?
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It's pretty simple, it's everything.
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Political violence, corruption, concentration of power, and the democratic backsliding.
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And a general vibe of this is not what we can be.
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This is not all we can be.
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BBC described it as saying that Serbia was facing the biggest political crisis in more than a decade.
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And the EU is watching on like a parent at a school play, thinking, please, please don't set anything on fire.
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So Serbia is a country that is in crisis, but still it finds the hope and the positivity to demand a better tomorrow.
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Serbia has selected the band Lavina, singing their song Kraj Mene.
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Lavina's story is basically what happens when six metal guys say, Hey, you know what?
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Let's start a band and then actually stick to it and actually practice and actually get good and then actually accidentally end up in Eurovision.
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Lavina, by the way, actually translates as Avalanche to give you a little insight on what you can expect.
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In 2022, they released their debut album, Odyssey.
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After that, they began playing festivals, touring around Europe, and built a reputation for powerful live performances.
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Then came 2006 when Levina entered Serbia's Eurovision natural selection, and magic happened.
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Now it's a national final.
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Usually there's a lot of pop songs, glitter, and occasionally a man dressed as a banana.
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Levina showed up with Hello, we brought metal, an emotional trauma.
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Their song, Krajmen, meaning by my side, was intense, dramatic, and shockingly, their first song in Serbian.
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Not only did they win the contest, they won both the jewelry and the public votes, which means this has to be something very exceptional.
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The first thing I have to notice about this, watching the official music video from their national performance.
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And the lead singer's microphone stand is in fact a giant broadsword that you put the microphone down on, I have to say.
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And once you see it, tell me you see it too.
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They are dressed like the 1980s seminal film Highlander.
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One of my all-time favorites.
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Come on, tell me you see it too.
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Honestly, from looking from them, I thought, okay, we're gonna get a Lordie-style death metal explosion.
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But it's really a sort of goth soft song for about two minutes, about two and a half minutes.
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It's really only sort of in the last like 30 to 40 seconds that they give it a bit of a waaaa and get a bit sort of angrier and moodier.
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Yeah, not what I was expecting.
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Look, to be honest, I think this is a little soft.
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It doesn't reach its angry peak too soon.
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This is gonna be the last song of semifinal one.
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And to be honest, I think this could be the last time we will see it on the Eurovision stage.
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I don't like the chances of this one going through.
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I'm sorry, Serbia.
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It looks like this year is not going to improve.