This former teen pop princess (A-list in her home country, mostly a trivia question abroad) threw her hat in the ring to represent her country in her continent’s glitzy annual singing contest, the one where sequins, voting blocs and soft diplomacy collide. Her performance? Polished. Her vocals? On point. The public? Largely on her side, but she placed 4th in the televote. A random entry, who got rejected from her own country’s contest and backed by a major label won…
Our pop star publicly called out the judges’ behavior, sparking headlines and backlash. She was branded a sore loser, but hindsight is a funny thing. As the dust settles, it turns out she may have been the only one who saw the trainwreck coming. The gamble didn’t pay off for the backers of the random act. Their chosen one crashed out before the final and fans haven’t forgotten.
Whispers of payback politics, after the nation publicly shamed a certain Middle Eastern broadcaster last year for bullying their entrant are growing louder. Our pop star didn’t need to scream conspiracy. The scoreboard said enough.