New Zealanders want to go to the Eurovision Song Contest

New Zealand comedy duo Two Hearts have released a fun single with a message. They want their country to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Australia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2015, but New Zealand has never participated. Couple Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore, who together form comedy duo Two Hearts, think that should change. Together with the New Zealand Beer Brewery, they released an unofficial entry. The title is Eurovision (Open Up). The special spelling is a nod to typical New Zealand Eurovision pronunciation. In this song, which pretty much fits every modern Eurovision cliche, Laura and Joseph sum up why New Zealand should take part. One of their arguments is that New Zealand and Europe belonged to the same continent around 300 million years ago: Pangea.

Although this call does not seem too serious, it is on change.org two weeks ago, an official petition was launched for New Zealand entry into the Eurovision Song Contest. So far, only a few dozen people have signed this petition. In addition, Laura Daniel was the guest of a New Zealand television news last week to discuss a possible participation of her country. Earlier this year, Nina Obermaier, the European Union’s ambassador to New Zealand, also announced that she would like to see the country in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Actual New Zealand participation does not appear to be a serious scenario at this time. The New Zealand television channel TVNZ, like the Australian SBS, has been an associate member of the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, for many years. In principle, associate members do not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, but the EBU has made an exception for Australia. In this country, the Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast since 1983 and has a large fan base. In New Zealand, however, the popularity of the festival is not yet so great and no New Zealand channel broadcasts it.