Our Eurovision fan of the day is Elliot Harris aka @ERHarris76 which many of you will know from Eurovoxx!
What is your name and where are you from?
My name is Elliot Harris, I’m 25 (believe it or not) and from the United kingdom!
Tell us something interesting about yourself? The most interesting thing I can think of is I am a competitive ballroom and Latin dancer and have been for 13 years, and was nationwide team champion at 16 and in 2013 danced in front of 53’000 people on Wembley football stadium
That is bloody fantastic! ~ Aussievision
When did you first get into Eurovision?
My first memory of Eurovision was 2006, and more iconically Lordi, however I fully got in the contest and followed it more since 2011 and since then haven’t missed a semi final or final broadcast live
What is your favourite Eurovision year and why? Favourite year is a toss up between 2011 and 2016 for the same reason, we had such a diverse calibre of songs and artists and the standard was another level, the winner was so hard to predict and I love when a contest is not all done and dusted before the show
Which Eurovision song:
Is your favourite? My favourite Eurovision song is “Only Teardrops” its a song I have just connected to on first listen, I love the backing track and the lyrics and the opening bar with the flute to me its still one of the most standout intros to a song I have ever heard
Yes totally agree one of my favourites ~ Mike
Is overrated?
I have a fair few for this one but to say time I’ll just say one - Il Volo, Grande Amore, now I love opera and think its a great style musically and grew up listening to it, however with this entry something about it came off cheap and manufactured personally, as weird as this will sound, nothing about the performance or them felt authentic or Italian, and considering it was from Italy…I expected a lot better, to this day I have never heard it in full since the 2015 final.
Yes THANK YOU totally agree, I never got the hype - this is reason enough not to have 100% televote ~ Dale
Was robbed?
Again I have two but this time going for the more abstract answer of Sweden 2010. People hate this song and it was the song which broke Sweden and in a sense sparked their amazing result pattern since, however this song is one of my favourite of all time in the contest, I love how innocent Anna was and again the lyrics connected to me on a very personal level and how I needed to take control of my own life and stop being apologetic for what I wanted to do and stop justifying it to anyone and everyone around, the night she didn’t qualify I was gutted.
Had the best live performance? Again we’ve had so many wow moments and performances in Eurovision it’s hard to choose, but for me the one standing out in my head is Austria 2014. Conchita gave a performance of such class and grace, totally unphased, it was pure class from start to finish and I found it just incredible to watch.
It was fantastic, we both wanted Undo to win that year but Conchita gave us goosebumps. Deserved winner.
Did you last play?
Requiem by Alma, I have a Eurovision/National final Spotify playlist 500 songs strong so something Eurovision related is normally being blasted form my phone!
Is your guilty pleasure?
Serbia 2010, in hindsight, the performance is very camp and to an extent silly you could say and is the thing people look at and just go “wtf” to, but I love it, and always will do
Ha it does get stuck in my head that one, bit of a guilty pleasure and so damn camp ~ Dale
Is your favourite from your own country?
2017 - last year was the first year I felt completely sold and confident in our country rocking it since i have been a fan, Lucie gave an amazing performance on the night and the song again has such and emotion in it I just fell in love with it, the revamp gave it the bigger bang and drama I felt it needed.
It was a such an improvement from where UK had been, definitely on the right path!
Any other honourable mentions? Honorouble mentions have to go Iceland 2016, simply adore it, as well as Blanche last year with such an amazing and powerful song, again the lyrics I simply love and connect to personally, so much so I have toy’ed with the idea of having “All Alone In The Danger Zone” made into a tattoo of some kind when I finally decide to get one
What are your favourites this year?
My faves for this year are Estonia, France and Finland respectively, albeit for different and jarring reasons between all three, Estonia has the wow moment I look for in a song, France has the powerful message and emotion, and Finland has the message lyrically but also to a fun uptempo sassy beat, but do enjoy Ukraine, the UK and Lithuania as it so damn emotional!
Big fans of Estonia and France here
Do you have a favourite Eurovision country?
My favourite countries in Eurovision are Finland and Malta, most of the time I just end up loving what they send, they may not always get the result they deserve in my mind but to me they always send something I enjoy during and long beyond the contest.
What do you think of Australia being in the contest? Right. In 2015 it made sense to me, 60th anniversary, they always broadcast it, fine, since, I have wondered why they have continued to be a part of it, but on the flip side, they play fairly, have a serious interest in the contest and do try and send competent chart songs, however if Eurovision Asia does take off, I feel the Aussies may have to choose one or the other with the contests.
All fair points!
What do you think of our song 'We Got Love' and Jessica Mauboy?
Jessica’s song to me is just fine, it’s nice, its upbeat, cute happy pop song, nothing wrong with it, but nothing really wowing me, Inoffensive is the word I think describes it best for me.
Hopefully she can bring something to the live performance and staging that will wow you :)
Favourite Australian song – Sea of Flags, Tonight Again, Sound of Silence or Don’t Come Easy? Easy. Tonight Again, it was cool, it was funky, Guy has great charisma and stage presence, the other three to me where fine and being brutally honest, I never enjoyed Sound Of Silence, just found it your typical ballad, the only standout thing was Dami in a wedding dress sat on a box!
Anything else you'd like to add?
I just want to say as a closing statement that Eurovision is a competition judged solely on opinions, and people should respect that what they like and dislike may differ from your thoughts, but everyone’s opinions and feelings towards a song and or artist is totally valid, as long as its not racist, sexist, homophobic, etc, remember we are united by this crazy contest and music and we should not let it drive us apart and make enemies, Much love.
Preach!!! It's all subjective and no one is wrong on their opinion. Thanks for your time Elliot!!