This week's Australian Eurovision Fan of the Week is Kerem from Sydney aka @kazamafraz - one of Australia's most engaged fans on Twitter.
Check out his full Q&A with us below:
What is your name and where are you from?
My name is Kerem (although most people on Twitter call me Kaz) and I’m from Sydney, Australia.
Tell us something interesting about you?
Well on Twitter at least, I’m known for being tasteless. Um, I’m Turkish? Tabletop game nerd and Survivor superfan. That’s about as much as I can think of.
Survivor is EVERYTHING. Still gutted Shonnee didn't win ~ Aussievision
On to Eurovision itself – when did you first get into the contest?
My dad follows the contest like most casual watchers so I’ve been watching for a while but the 2016 contest was the first one where I got really interested. 2017 was the first year where I heard the songs before the contest and I joined the eurofandom in January last year. So I guess 2019 will be the first year I get the full experience!
Do you have a favourite Eurovision year? Why is it your fav?
2018 in terms of studio cuts as I enjoy almost all the songs, but since there were quite a few disappointing lives, I’ll say 1997 for an ‘old year’ and 2015 for a modern one. Also shoutout to JESC 2018 too.
2015 is one of our favs and yep big shout out to JESC 2018 - cracking year.
Which Eurovision song:
Is your favourite?
1944 (Ukraine 2016).
Oh.
Is overrated?
Waterloo, Brotherhood Of Man are clearly the best 70’s act.
First you love 1944, and then you diss ABBA. We've never been more insulted! Haha! :P
Was robbed?
Too many, but if I have to pick just one, I’d say Blackbird (Finland 2007) only cause the juries killed a song that should’ve been ‘jury bait’.
Agree - that was rather confusing, expected a very solid jury score.
Had the best live performance?
The raw emotion, anger and vocals in 1944 The choreography, attitude and power in Fuego or The story, emotion and tenderness in Goodbye To Yesterday
Amazing way to describe them Kaz, and even we agree on that with 1944.
Did you last play?
Fly With Me (Armenia 2017)
Is your guilty pleasure?
DJ Take Me Away (Bulgaria 2008).
Any other interesting honourable mentions?
Well some of my other all time favs I haven’t mentioned yet include Fiumi Di Parole, Dinle, Mercy, Origo, Dance Alone and Crno I Belo. Fiumi Di Parole and Dinle could also be in the best live performances category since those songs come to life live.
What nations (other than Australia) do you tend to support in Eurovision?
I’m one of like 3 Macedonia supporters (my luck is they are the country on the longest NQ streak), although I seem to usually enjoy Hungary, France, Bulgaria, Serbia and Georgia’s entries too.
We're sure Macedonia will nail the staging... one day. Maybe 2019!
Should Australia be in Eurovision - why or why not?
Of course! We have one of the most dedicated eurofan communities, interest in the contest is higher than in some/most European countries and having us means more new countries to get songs from!
What do you think of Australia having a national final?
I think it’s a step in the right direction. I think all the songs we’ve sent so far have been well produced but they’ve been lacking a spark of personality/character (or perhaps too much in Jess’ case). Having submissions from the public allows us to not only have a more diverse group of songs and artists but gives the dedicated community of Aussie Eurofans, a way to actually be more involved with Eurovision!
Definitely a great step for us in Eurovision and you're right, lets add some spark!
Out of the seven artists announced so far for Australia Decides who are you most excited about?
Well Electric Fields’ other stuff is hypnotising but it seems they’re going an EDM route, so I wasn’t the biggest fan of the snippet for ‘2000 and Whatever’. Kate Miller-Heidke song should be jaunty and fun, same with Sheppard, who I think could get us our best result from the bunch. Leea Nanos could be a surprise too given she was the wildcard chosen for having an amazing song.
What other national finals are you most looking forward to?
Selectia National is pretty stacked this year, looking forward to seeing what they end up seeing this year. Eesti Laul has a lot of good modern, electric stuff, it could be a risk as live it may fall flat but I’m excited nonetheless. Others to mention would be Destination Eurovision, Vidbir, Melodi Grand Prix and Melodifestivalen.
Any prediction of what we might see in Tel Aviv this year?
Perhaps a lot more upbeat dance songs given the success of Fuego (Armenia and Cyprus already seem to be going in that direction) otherwise I’d hope for tons of different genres and more countries singing in their native language(s).
Hoping the run of a lot of songs in native language continues too!
And finally... Tonight Again, Sound of Silence, Don’t Come Easy or We Got Love?
That’s easy, Sound Of Silence!
Thanks for joining us Kaz!