Australia AUSTRALIA 2022 - Sheldon Riley - Not The Same

[escYOUnited]

I was told at six years old
They'd avoid me if my heart was cold
Found it hard to talk and speak my mind
They'd never like the things that I would like

'Cause you're told to play, but you're not the same
As the other kids playing the same game
Tried to jump on in, but they push away
So far away

I'm not the same, no
I'm not the same, no

Years go by, I tried and tried
My father asked if today I smiled
I said, "Yes I did", but that's a lie
Oh, I always tell those lies

And you run and hide, hide the break inside
Do you realise that the light shines bright?
Through those, oh, who broke inside

I'm not the same, no
I'm not the same, no
I'm not the same, no
I'm not the same, no

'Cause you never want to be a kind of person
You can work it for those ones who cannot word it
Because you've been the kind of person who felt this pain
Yeah, I felt this pain

So you're gonna leave the pain and find another way to make yourself another game
Maybe one for all to play
'Cause it's not just me who's not the same
We are not the same

I'm not the same, no
We are not the same, no
We are not the same, no
We are not the same, no​

 

[Kaz]

Btw the results with a traditional 12-0 format, just to make everyone even saltier:

(+1) 1. Voyager: 20 (8 Jury + 12 Televote)
(-1) 2. Sheldon Riley: 20 (10 Jury + 10 Televote)
3. Jaguar Jonze: 19 (12 Jury + 7 Televote)

4. Charley: 11 (6 Jury + 5 Televote)
5. G-Nation: 8 (0 Jury + 8 Televote)
6. Paulini: 8 (5 Jury + 3 Televote)
(+3) 7. Isaiah & Evie: 8 (7 Jury + 1 Televote)
(-1) 8. Andrew Lambrou: 7 (1 Jury + 6 Televote)
9. Erica Padilla: 7 (3 Jury + 4 Televote)
(-2) 10. Jude York: 6 (4 Jury + 2 Televote)
11. Seann Miley Moore: 2 (2 Jury + 0 Televote)

 

[mauve]

Gosh am so happy, thank you Australia

4 songs to which I can give like 11/10 this ESC edition, am so happy

You are always happy because you 98% 10/10. But me ... Voyager was the best song in years for me. Losing this hurts really bad. I hope Finalnd makes the right choice today and send Rasmus, so that my day is saved ... somehow.

 

[crashworld]

Ochman has a pretty good song, like it's an 8 for me, but he's got the charisma of a dead slug on stage, so that needs to be improved

Ochman was sick during the NF. I am sure if he is on his 100%, he will do so much better. At least Ochman's song feels much more accessible compared to Sheldon's contrived song.

 

[Ringdalen]

The person is much stronger than the song. So I´m happy we can get to know him more in the coming months, but I´m sad we lost the keytar of epicness.

 

[mauve]

Again, Duncan won "the juries" who internally chose him to represent the Netherlands and Jamala won the televoting in the Ukrainian national final.
Both countries sent "some kind of winners" to Eurovision.

This is more like a Black Mamba/Portugal 2021 scenario. And I don´t believe that Sheldon will be ranked much higher in the end. Lower Top 10 to #13 (the place Black Mamba got in the end) sounds about right to me.
He will not come close to winning like Duncan or Jamala in May.

You know what is really terrible? I even like some German songs better than this. Funny, eh? Who would have thought?

 

[Looren]

You are always happy because you 98% 10/10. But me ... Voyager was the best song in years for me. Losing this hurts really bad. I hope Finalnd makes the right choice today and send Rasmus, so that my day is saved ... somehow.

Yeah and I feel sorry for you tbh

Talking about Finland, is u okay with lil Younghearted winning

 

[crashworld]

You know what is really terrible? I even like some German songs better than this. Funny, eh? Who would have thought?

Urm. That is a stretch at best. LOL.

 

[mauve]

Talking about Finland, is u okay with lil Younghearted winning

You are cheeky! No, it HAS to be Rasmus. And I think it will be Rasmus, if the odds aren't lying since weeks. But I will cheer you up afterwards then.

 

[ZoboCamel]

Was hoping for either Voyager or Sheldon there – slightly preferring the former, but ideally wanting to send both – so this result isn't *exactly* what I was after but is close enough for my tastes. Somewhere between 8–10 points for now, I think; there's a lot of work to do before May, but also a lot of potential there, so I'm curious to see how it'll turn out!

That said, I'm kind of annoyed about the way in which the win panned out – i.e. the change in televoting system + the relatively low jury points for Voyager. It's now two Australian NFs in a row where jury votes have overruled the popular vote, and given the removal of proportional voting this time around, Voyager's only way of winning with those jury votes would've been to not only win the televote but also have neither Jaguar or Sheldon second, which seems like a bit of a tall ask.

Hopefully we go back to a system less prone to jury-rigging next year... but for now, I'll be interested to see what sort of tweaks can be made in the next 2–3 months, especially given the glow-up that Kate's staging got back in 2019!

 

[Mainshow]

I will give it a now because I feel very indifferent to this song and I don´t bother to listen to it every again.

Sheldon as a vocalist and performer is INCREDIBLE though.

 

[Looren]

You are cheeky! No, it HAS to be Rasmus. And I think it will be Rasmus, if the odds aren't lying since weeks. But I will cheer you up afterwards then.

My prediction is Cyan Kicks, I think that opening slot will kill The Rasmus, but we shall see !

 

[Loindici]

Now, how will I review this?

Look, the song isn't dreadful at all when it comes to production quality. However, I don't find the songwriting flattering since the choruses are just 'I'm not the same' repeated 1000x times and it's all in Sheldon's higher register -- I think he should've saved them for the biggest, final chorus so the song doesn't peak too early, and add some other lyrics in the chorus to make it less repetitive.

I don't think it's something I'll listen casually or would look to from a singer -- it's more suited as a movie soundtrack rather than a standalone single since it has that oomph of filling cinematic, dystopian scenes.

From me, I'll give points, especially for those tiring choruses.

 

[mauve]

For people loving this:

 

[BorisBubbles]

Ochman has a pretty good song, like it's an 8 for me, but he's got the charisma of a dead slug on stage, so that needs to be improved

I think this nails Poland's main problem yeah. Ochman looks like he's about to deliver a eulogy at your dead dog's funeral. But I do think his problems are fixeable, at least. Staging can be improved and if tvp is smart they'll coach Ochman into appearing more likeable when in front of a camera.

(I also don't think Ochman is coming top five lmfao calm down. "River" is disjointed and amateur, juries are downvoting that on SIGHT even without seeing the "16. POLAND #POL" at the bottom of their screen.)

There's no "fixing" australia here. Australia's package is complete and you either love or loathe it. Divisions like that are a bit scary if faced with juries (especially juries from Eastern Europe - i can't imagine Azer, Romania or Serbia loving this), but I do think he'll do fine enough in the televote (and by fine enough I mean to say "qualify" because lol Australia topping a eurovision televote is never happening ever.)

As much as I dislike this choice, it was a smart one from a competitive perspective (then again, Dreamer also qualifies easily) so there is that at least. You'd better NOT rob Brooke along the way though.

 

[Decayingbooks]

I gave it a , the performance on stage was really strong and he has a great voice.
I do feel that the song may end up feeling repetitive for me in May, but since today was the first time I heard it worked really well as a first impression and it may also work with more casual viewers and also i might had, that I do understand people hating it because it is a song about "being sad because you found out you are gay", but realizing that there's something in you that makes you diferent from your friends is not an easy thing to deal with and I think it may connect to a lot of teenagers and maybe even adults, that although aren't gay, may have other things that make them diferent, like being trans, assexual, having an invisible medical conditions like fibromyalgia, being nerodivergent, etc etc.
I'm not saying that it will win, at this point is to soon to make those assumptions, but it is a song that will resonate with many people and at the end of the day that also matters.

 

[MopManMoss]

I usually hate the talk of "fixes" around eurovision but this absolutely screams of a fix how the hell are you going to have jury points be free and televotes capped and in intervals of 5? What was wrong with with how the televote worked in the previous two Australia Decides?

 

[Kaz]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1497551360161718272

 

[I bims]

It's a , Australia knows how to stage stuff so this will shine in May I'm sure!

 

[mauve]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1497551360161718272

To see this ... it hurts quite a bit.

 

[kamc]

Sorry Australia, this is absolute dirge.