Oh? Canada? The EuroWhat? Podcast The EuroWhat? Podcast Ben 0:17 Hello, and welcome to The Year of What, episode 309, dropping on September 15th,2026 . We are a pair of Americans trying to make sense of the Eurovision Song Contest. I'm Ben Smith, and I'm here with my co-host, Mike McComb. Hey, Mike. Mike 0:30 Hey, Ben. How's it going, eh? Ben 0:32 In this episode, we'll be talking about the latest country to join Eurovision, Canada. All right, and roll back the music. Three, two, one. Bonjour, et bienvenue dans l'episode 309 de Year of What, qui sort le 15th septembre du 1026. On est deux American qui essayons de comprenter le concours Eurovision de la chanson. Can you imagine if we did the entire episode in both English and French? Just, Mike 1:06 I don't know how Eurovision does it. It's, yeah. Ben 1:08 nope. Just like, but also this is not a no-name store. We do not, we will not be putting the entire content. In yellow and black in both English and Canadian. Mike 1:17 N. Ben 1:17 Sorry. French. Mike 1:19 Yeah. Quebecois. Quebecois. Ben 1:23 We will get into some Quebecois. with the arrival of a new bombshell to the villa, we're going to spend some heritage minutes exploring so much music and fulfilling our mandatory CanCon requirements ahead of 2027. Poutine? Mike 1:41 Or not poutine. That is, Ben 1:43 Anyways, I think that we have angered all of the actual Canadians who listen to this program. So let's dive in. Mike 1:49 All right. Ben 1:51 But yeah, so we have, we have a new participant. And as of July 1st, Canada Day, that was when all of the press releases happened. per Eurovision.com, Canada loves the contest. Canadian interest in and enthusiasm for Eurovision is high. For the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in May, Canada ranked in the top three countries in the rest of the world vote. Canadians were also among the largest ticket buyers outside of Europe, with many traveling to Vienna to attend the semifinals and grand final. And just like both of those facts, I'm just like, yeah, what this mostly tells me is that Canada is a large nation that has a lot of people in it. Mike 2:28 Mm-hmm. And money. Ben 2:31 Yes. And disposable income. And then I'm going to make you do your Martin Green CBE voice. Mike 2:37 Oh, okay. Let me. Ben 2:38 Just with what he had to say about this joyous occasion. Here we go. Mike 2:47 Canada has a proud and memorable connection to the contest, with Canadian artists, not least 1988 winner Celine Dion, having taken to our stage many times, leaving a lasting mark on audiences around the world. With CBC Radio Canada now able to participate in the contest as a full EBU member, we look forward to seeing Canada bring its own voice, creativity, and energy to the Eurovision Song Contest stage in Bulgaria in 2027. Ben 3:23 Yep. It's Mike 3:24 Yep. Ben 3:24 just, you know, he's real good at the press releases. Mike 3:26 Yeah. Yeah. I'm actually not 100% sure what he sounds like, but I am very certain it's not that. It's Ben 3:33 not that, but I like that. I like that my head version of Martin Green is just you doing just sort of like received pronunciation. Mike 3:40 Christine Baranski in the Gilded Age. That's what I'm going for. So. Ben 3:45 It feels spiritually correct, even if it's not actually correct. Mike 3:48 Yeah. Ben 3:49 as every fan site seemingly did July 2nd, I thought it would be fun to look at a bunch of previous Canadians in the contest. Just because, you know, there's, there's a bunch of them. This is not, this is not the first time someone of Canadian heritage has been on stage. So we're going to start off by taking it all the way back to 1983 and Gary Lux. He is technically the most frequent Canadian Eurovision participant. was, he is a Canadian Austrian singer. He is originally from Kingston, Ontario. And we're going to watch the Austrian entry from 1983. This is West End and Hurricane. All right. There we go. Mike 4:42 Okay. Thank you. Ben 4:44 So he's the, he's the second vocalist we hear there. Mike 4:48 Okay. Ben 4:48 The one with the mustache who winks at the camera. I just sort of like that this has sort of like a Teutonic, Laura Branigan, Gloria deal. Mike 4:54 Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. But also like having seen the wardrobe from the Bucks Fizz performance a couple years earlier. So. Ben 5:01 yes, uh, but also just, like, boy bands had it so much easier in this era, just sort of, like, walking back and forth on the stage. Mike 5:07 Oh, yeah, yeah, like, not, not elaborate choreography happening Ben 5:11 No, Mike 5:11 here, Ben 5:12 it's 1983. Mike 5:13 no. Ben 5:14 Uh. Uh, but yeah, so he places ninth as part of the group, uh, and then he, again, he is the most frequent Canadian Eurovision participant I was able to find. He's made six appearances on Mike 5:26 Oh, Ben 5:26 the Mike 5:26 wow. Ben 5:26 stage in some form or another. Yeah, no, he, he, so 1983, he's part of the band. 1984, he's a backing singer. 1985, he's a solo act for Austria and places eighth. 1987, he's their solo act again and places 20th. Uh, and then he's a backing singer in 1993 and 1997. part of me is, like, surely this is not the earliest Canadian, uh, but I also did not do the full six on stage check for, like, any potential Canadian in the background. Uh, so we're just gonna, we're just gonna keep it to the onstage folks for now. Uh, the next time we have a Canadian show up is Charisse Laurence, uh, who is originally from Selkirk, Manitoba, and she represents Luxembourg, uh, in 1986. Uh, so let's just kind of dive in to, uh, the sounds of, L'Amour de ma vie. Mike 6:30 Is there a Eurovision Casio setting? I'm,like , Ben 6:34 Just, like, yeah, there's something, there's something about the specific synth zones on this that just works for me. Mike 6:39 mm, Ben 6:39 And just, Mike 6:39 okay. Ben 6:40 pairs very nicely with the 1986 set in all of its, like, uh, fortress of solitude glory. Mike 6:46 Yeah. Ben 6:48 so, uh, Charisse Laurence, uh, pre-Eurovision, uh, is a television presenter and singer. Uh, she is part of the hosting on what sounds like a wild program called Circus that was on, like, the CBC in, like, 1978 to 1983 where it's just, like,it's Circus Axe in a television studio. found, like, one video I will send you after recording because I'm, like, this is, this is fun but not relevant. Mike 7:13 Okay. Ben 7:14 I'm just, like, I'm just, like, the promo for it. Mike 7:16 Ha ha ha. Excellent. Yeah. Ben 7:17 Yeah, no, it is, yeah, I'm just, like, this is, this is not for the show but maybe we stick it in the show notes. Mike 7:22 Mm-hmm. Ben 7:23 Uh, she also hosted Miss Teen Canada in 1982 and 1983 but, again, she's a singer. Uh, she represents Luxembourg in 1986. Uh, and Canadians do pretty well at Eurovision. I have no clue if this speaks to their future glory, uh, but she comes third. Mike 7:40 Oh, wow. Ben 7:41 Uh, yeah, and that is Luxembourg's highest placement, uh, up until now. From, like, from 1986 to today. Mike 7:49 Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, Ben 7:50 Yeah, Mike 7:50 because. Ben 7:50 from 1986, Mike 7:51 They've Ben 7:51 yeah. Mike 7:51 won five Ben 7:52 They've Mike 7:52 times, Ben 7:52 won, they've Mike 7:52 so. Ben 7:52 won five times, but, like, by 1986, like, t was, like, about peak Luxembourg. Mike 7:57 Okay. All right, so she's the high watermark right now. All right. Ben 8:00 Yes. Uh, and then checking my notes for a sec, the next singer chronologically is, like, Aline? Aline, do you? Aline, yeah. Now, some French-Canadian lady, So, uh, the big one is Celine. That was the one in all the press releases. We know who Celine Dion is. We've talked about Celine Dion on the program a couple of times. Uh, you can go listen to our episodes on the Truly Bonkers, uh, biopic, uh, Aline in episode 207, or the more recent documentary about her struggles with stiff person syndrome in episode 272, uh, but we know who that is. she kind of sets the mold for when we see Canadians at Eurovision for the next couple of times, which is interesting because, like, the next time that we have a Canadian at Eurovision, it is Annie Cotton for Switzerland in 1993, uh, and just sort of mentally picture, uh, Celine Dion at Eurovision for me just, like, for a couple seconds. Yeah, we know what that looks like. Yeah, we know what that sounds like. So let's watch a little bit of Annie Cotton. This is "moi tout simplement." Mike 9:35 very 1993 sound. Ben 9:38 Just, like, yeah, just, like, very 1993, like, we have slowed, uh, we've slowed Ne Partez Passe-moi down on our record player a little bit, Mike 9:45 Mm hmm. Ben 9:47 Un Chanteuse Quebecois, pour la Suisse, groundbreaking. Uh, there's also just something I liked about this one, where it's, like, it's very Diet Jim Steinman. Mike 9:57 Oh, yeah, I can sort of see that, yeah. Ben 9:59 It's just sort of, like, we have Making Love of Nothing At All at Home. Mike 10:02 Mm-hmm. Ben 10:05 Uh, but again, uh, Canadians are, are very good for their respective countries, uh, Annie Cottonplace is third. Mike 10:11 Oh, Ben 10:11 Uh, Mike 10:12 wow. Ben 10:12 she, she is Switzerland's best placement until Luka Hani in 2019. Mike 10:16 Wow, okay. Ben 10:17 Yeah, I mean, but in fairness, like, the Swiss has some dark days ahead, Mike 10:20 Oh, yeah. Ben 10:21 including one that we will be talking about. uh, so Canadians pop up here and there. Uh, I'm gonna kind of just drive by their 1997 appearance. Uh, Debbie Scary from, uh, Malta, uh, in 1997. She's from Toronto. We've listened to a lot of very mid-90s Eurovision this season, and I feel like we have earned the right to not re-listen to this one. Mike 10:41 Okay. Ben 10:42 Uh, she comes in ninth. Uh, she gets the Barbara Dex award, and as with so many Barbara Dex awards, I'm just like, where? This is the, this is like, just, I have posted a photo, a screenshot I took. It's just like, Mike 10:54 ooh. Ben 10:55 Like, it's not, you know, like, it's, you know, like, it's, it's fine. Mike 10:59 It, yeah, it's, so it's this sort of purple and blue vertical stripes with, like, I don't know, is that chiffon? Ben 11:12 Yeah, kind of, kind of see-through-y, like, it feels like it wouldn't be out of place at a Ren Faire. Mike 11:18 Yeah, um, I could see this working at a different point in time. It is not a very 1997 look. Ben 11:26 Yeah, like, I think that's, like, it maybe gets that, but just, like, as with so much, I'm just like, really? This is what the Barbara Dex award was? Mike 11:33 Yeah, Ben 11:33 Like, Mike 11:34 yeah, Ben 11:34 it's Mike 11:34 I mean. Ben 11:34 fine. What Mike 11:35 Yeah. Ben 11:35 a mean. Mike 11:36 Yeah, a mean award, but. Ben 11:39 Like, they're not, they're not wrong, but they're, Mike 11:41 no, no. Ben 11:42 it's not, Anyways, she seems to be doing great while, while googling for info about her, because, like, part of the reason that we're driving by this one is that there's just not much in terms about her as a person. She seems to be nice. She has the official, the official Debbie Scary username on Instagram. Kind of has Haribyork energy. Mike 12:06 Okay. All Ben 12:07 Just, Mike 12:07 right. Ben 12:07 like, she's doing some local theater. She's running a choir. She's having a great life. We'd love to see it. Mike 12:12 Yeah, there's a giant harp in the background of this photo, which I think is also maybe coloring things a little bit. Ben 12:17 Yes. Mike 12:17 So. Ben 12:18 Is, is, is, is making it real madrigal up in this place. Mike 12:21 Yes. Ben 12:22 All right. So, uh, the new millennium approaches, uh, and France gets in the mix, uh, with recruiting a Canadian. That makes sense. They speak France. They speak French over there. Mike 12:32 They speak Francie France. Ben 12:33 Yeah, they speak, they speak France. Um, so they choose Natasha Saint-Pierre. And I picked a moment in this song that I didn't think was allowed for French entries. a French song with, like, a full chorus in English? What? Mike 12:59 Yeah. Ben 13:01 But there's something that also feels very Celine about this one. Mike 13:04 Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Ben 13:05 Yeah, just, just Celine plus American Idol equals this one. Mike 13:09 Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Ben 13:11 I was delighted to scroll down to the comments on YouTube and see that somebody was, like, a wonderful song that, unfortunately, when it arrives to the climax, someone decided that she changed the language, breaking all of the magic. Mike 13:22 Yeah. Ben 13:24 Oh, someone is going to be mad in the comments that she sings in English. And I was, I was correct. Mike 13:29 Yeah. Yeah. Which, I mean, it's going to be kind of interesting with Canada because, uh, I believe they want it to be a bilingual entry, their debut, Ben 13:37 Well, Mike 13:37 so. Ben 13:38 and, like, this one is exciting because, uh, she is, she is from the other French-Canadian region, Acadia. She is from New Brunswick. Uh, so just, like, the French have chosen an Acadian, uh, and just looking at my notes, a little Celine, n? Mike 13:53 Yeah. Ben 13:55 Uh, but again, Canadian Excellence, she places fourth. that is the best French placement until Barbara Pruvey in 2021. Mike 14:02 Oh, wow. Okay. Ben 14:03 Yeah. this is where all of the French Excellence stops. Mike 14:07 O, yeah. Ben 14:08 There's, there's, like, a long, there's sort of, like, a long hibernation period for our Canadians. Perhaps it was winter. Uh, and not until 2016, uh, when we have, uh, Eureka, Switzerland goes back to the Canadian well, but this time they pick someone from Vancouver, and it's, uh, Yeah, no, this is, like, this is the lovely part about, like, very recent Eurovision, is just all the things my brain has blocked out. Mike 14:45 I remember how much I hated this entry Ben 14:49 the Mike 14:49 at Like, I, Ben 14:50 time. Mike 14:51 like, this was back when we were, uh, blogging about Eurovision, and I'm pretty sure this was one of my most vitriolic reviews. Ben 14:57 I, Mike 14:57 Like, Ben 14:58 I went to archive. org to try and find the posts, because I was like, what did we say about this one? And I could not find them. But Mike 15:04 oh. Ben 15:04 yeah, I was just like, I was just like, I can't, I don't remember being positive about this one. Mike 15:08 Yeah, uh, I, I can dig them up. I know, I know, uh, I have them in my archives. Ben 15:14 Okay. Mike 15:15 Man. An, like, it did not, like, I did not like it at the Swiss selection. The performance at Eurovision was not an improvement. She's doing this, like, curtsy Ben 15:26 Oh, yeah, no, she's, she's just, Mike 15:27 what? Ben 15:27 like, it, she, she is, she is performing the song for Switzerland and getting her squats reps in the entire time. Mike 15:32 Yeah, and, uh, it's just, there's just nothing. Ben 15:37 It's just her, and, like, ther are three backing singers backstage, and that is it. They are trying to do their best with camera angles. yeah, like, it is, like, right in the middle of when Switzerland was still doing a national selection before they brought things internal and sort of righted the ship. Mike 15:51 Mm-hmm. Ben 15:52 But, but yeah, it's just, like, this one, as you noted, we did not enjoy this one. Uh, it turns out nobody else did either, because, uh, they placed last in the second semifinal. And, again, I think a lot of it is just, there's, there's nothing to latch onto. The song is end credits music that announces that it's end credits music. Mike 16:12 Yes, yeah. And it was in the dreaded three spot, Ben 16:15 Oh , Mike 16:15 so. Ben 16:15 yeah, yes, yeah. Like, oh, oh, the three spot. Yeah, no, this, yeah, this was just, this was bad. Rika, like, you were, you were performing, like, I was supposed to say, you were performing this song well. This is not my favorite performance of that song. I've watched a few over the course of the last week or so, and just, yeah, this is, like, I get what it's going for, but also nothing at Eurovision was going for this. Mike 16:35 No, no. Ben 16:37 that doesn't go well. Uh, 2019, uh, Grease picks Katerina Duska, uh, who represents them with Better Love, uh, and this is another one where I had not thought about this one in a while, and, uh, let's, let's, let's revisit together, shall we? we need, like, a Eurovision version of This Had Oscar Buzz. Mike 17:07 Mmm. Ben 17:08 Because, like, I remember this one having, like, some people were just, like, this one's going to blow everybody away, and, like, coming back to it many years later, I'm, like, hmm. she's a good vocalist? Mike 17:19 Mm-hmm. Ben 17:19 Interesting vocal tone? Mike 17:21 Yeah. Yeah, yeah, very Florence Welch. Ben 17:23 Very Florence Welch. Uh, there's something about, like, the production on this song I still find very, like, the first couple of Jesse Ware albums as well, which still grabs me. but also, they are trying to accomplish the music video aesthetic with six people, and that music video had, like, 20 people in it. Mike 17:43 Mm-hmm. Ben 17:44 Uh, I specifically picked the clip where just all of a sudden just sort of a large ball appears. Mike 17:48 Yeah, and is thrown into the Ben 17:50 And Mike 17:50 audience. Ben 17:50 is immediately Mike 17:51 into Ben 17:52 the crowd, and then you just sort of watch it bounce, and then immediately get grabbed by the stagehand and carted away backstage. Mike 17:57 Yeah, Yeah, like, I mean, I think the song still holds up incredibly well. Like, I, I really liked this as an entry, but, yeah, the performance of it, yeah. And it also just wasn't a very good audio mix. Like, she was drowned out by the backing singers sometimes, and, Ben 18:13 Mm-hmm. Mike 18:14 uh, yeah. Like, it wasn't, it wasn't that it was a bad performance. It was just that the elements of the performance didn't really come together. Ben 18:22 I think with a couple tweaks to, how it was performed, how they staged things, it would have done a lot better. Because, lik, it finishes fifth in its semifinal, uh, it finishes 21st overall. Mike 18:33 Yeah, yeah. Ben 18:34 Yeah, and that, that feels, that feels about right. Because, again, like, they're not, like, aesthetically, it's not quite clicking in a way that's going to be sticky to people. she's originally from Montreal, uh, and, Mike 18:43 Okay. Ben 18:43 like, that, that, that has been interesting, is just, like, how many of the Canadian, entrants have been, uh, like, either Quebecois or are otherwise French-speaking, because, like, again, we have, uh, we had, uh, Charisse Laurence performing in, in French Mike 18:56 Mm-hmm. Ben 18:57 way back in 1986. Uh, and then, of course, the, the most recent, uh, Canadian participant, uh, we're gonna just kind of speed past this one, because again, this happened recently. Yeah. Another one where I feel like this one had a lot of Oscar buzz, uh, Lazara and Evie Desmond, and, like, Oscar buzz at the level of, I was, I just remember sitting in the arena, watching one of the rehearsals. With a bunch of other blog people around me, just sort of losing their minds. Mike 19:26 Yeah. Ben 19:27 And just sort of sitting there, and quietly and respectfully going, for this? Mike 19:32 like, the song and the vocal are impressive, but that staging was incredibly boring. Like, Ben 19:37 Yes, Mike 19:37 no. Ben 19:38 no, like, they were, they were losing their minds about the staging, and I was like, this is. Mike 19:41 Huh. Ben 19:42 This is, yeah, they're like, like, they're, like, this is, this is what they need to do, and, like, this is not what they need to do. Like, this, the song is fun, the vocal is good, th nothing going on on stage right now. It's like, we are, we are hoisting her up and down, Mike 19:54 Mm-hmm. Ben 19:54 the dress is big, and then it's not, shower of sparks, end of song. she is very much Quebecois. She is from Montreal, uh, that place 16th, a the main thing I remember is that she had, like, a very bad time. Mike 20:06 Yeah, yeah, and kind of a bad time afterwards as well, with the, uh, flipping off of the camera, and, uh, people not appreciating that. Ben 20:16 I appreciate that immensely, just, like, that was, just, like, that, just, like, aww. Mike 20:20 Yeah, well, you know, so. Ben 20:22 Uh, anyways, most of these representatives have been singing in French. Uh, part of me, if, especially since they have said they want to do something that's multilingual, is just, like, I want them to send something so Quebecois it strips the paint off the walls of the arena. Mike 20:34 Yeah. Now, what, what would that mean? Ben 20:38 I, I'm not sure I know. Mike 20:41 Okay. Ben 20:43 it's just, like, I'm very intrigued, because, again, like, we, again, ther been a lot of French, uh, there's been a lot of Canadians. There's been, like, a surprising amount of Canadians, uh, showing up at Eurovision, doing a lot of Celine Dion light, but there's a lot going on under the hood there. But also, like, the big question for me, still at the end of all this, which is, like, okay, but, like, why now? Why are we doing this now? Uh, and then I read, uh, like, the EBU press release. had, because, like, I had been sort of derisively thinking of this and Eurovision Asia as the two sets of keys that Martin Green is just sort of jingling in front of Eurofans. Mike 21:16 Mm-hmm. Ben 21:16 I'm just, like, don't worry about it, look over here, look over here. Uh, and then, like, the more I think about this, the more I'm like, oh, wait, no, no, this is, this is jingling keys in a different way. Uh, so this, this is the part of the episode where I turn to the camera and get serious. Mike 21:29 Okay. Ben 21:30 Um, anyways, uh, here is what the press release said. Uh, you don't need to do a Martin Green voice on this one. Mike 21:37 As an associate member of the EBU since 1950, CBC Radio Canada has collaborated with public broadcasters on standards, and technology, and built productive partnerships with leading EBU members. Now, as a full member, CBC Radio Canada has access to the entire breadth of EBU collaboration, including member-only networks for investigative journalism,verification , digital news and data, as well as the Eurovision News Exchange and EuroRadio Music Exchange services. Ben 22:09 so, the CBC has been an associate member of the EBU since 1950. Uh, Canada is getting to do Eurovision because they are now a full member of the EBU, rather than just the, you know, the associate member level. You know, they, they have gone to whatever the next membership tier is. Mike 22:25 Mm. Ben 22:26 Uh, and just sort of, again, staring directly at the camera, w would Canada and the EBU think that deeper partnership is a good idea at this particular moment in time? uh, this is more about making sure there are solid partnerships for, you know, accurate information, now that certain neighbors have become less reliable and actively hostile to a bunch of our former allies. Yay. Oh, Mike 22:46 no. Ben 22:48 I'm very interested to see who they select.I thought about diving into who seems interested, but it doesn't make sense to do that until they actually announce who was interested. So, we will, we will circle back later. Mike 23:00 it'll be interesting to, if it's going to be, nationally, nationally known acts or debut acts or a combination of them. Like, I, I'm, I really want to see what that shortlist looks like. Ben 23:11 do you feel like you have learned enriching material about Canada? Mike 23:14 Yeah. Sure, so. Ben 23:18 Great, I'm sending the paper to the CBC, we're good to go. Mike 23:21 Excellent. Ben 23:22 Al right, that's going to do it for this episode of the Eurowhat. Thanks for listening. The Eurowhat podcast is hosted by Ben Smith, that's me, and Mike McComb. Mike 23:30 That's me. You can find our full archive of episodes on our website at yourwhat.com. If you'd like even more episodes, join our Patreon. There are dozens of bonus episodes available, including our coverage of Eurovision Asia. Go to patreon.com slash Eurowhat for more info. Ben 23:47 Next time on the Eurowhat, dream teamwork makes the dream team work.