Douze Points! - The Eurovision Podcast
Eurovision, but not as you know it! Australia's biggest weekly Eurovision podcast, giving you all the dirt, all the drama and all the scathing opinions you love to hear about the Contest we live for!
Douze Points! - The Eurovision Podcast
Exploring the Dark Side of Eurovision: Alexander Rybak's Stalking Nightmare
Ever stared into the abyss of fame, the one riddled with obsessive stalkers and a violated sense of privacy? Join us, as we venture into this unnerving territory with our revealing discussion on the stalking nightmare endured by 2009 Eurovision winner, Alexander Rybak. Ranging from relentless emails to unsolicited house visits, we shed light on Alexander's struggle, as well as the extreme extents celebrity stalkers can go to. Accompany us as we delve into the song 'Leave Me Alone', a poignant outpour from Alexander seeking peace from his persistent stalker, complete with film clip.
Get ready for an unfiltered, thought-stirring discussion that will undoubtedly leave you contemplating, am I the stalker?
#eurovision
Hello and welcome to the Douce Poir podcast. Now, I don't know if any of you know this, but I love Eurovision, and I mean I love Eurovision. I watch it, I live it. I live every point in the grand final and listen to it all year round. I even started a Eurovision podcast many years ago with a friend, just so I had a valid excuse to talk about it every week. You know what they say if the conversation won't come to you, start the conversation yourself. Start it and it will come. You know what? Actually? No, no, that is bad advice. There are many people out there starting conversations to nobodies on the sidewalks on trains around the world. Okay, that doesn't work. You know what? Maybe you know, wear a t-shirt or something I also love. All well, okay, most okay, some. Well, you know a few of the Eurovision performers. I would follow Ras Mutant into battle, I would follow Suckus Ruvus into the very gates of hell and I would follow Andrew Lambrou into a swingers party, yeah, but I have to be honest, I'd never follow one of them home.
Speaker 1:I mean, don't get me wrong. If I'm, say, driving past a house and someone says, hey, mons lived there, I'd definitely slow down a little so I could check out the place. But, to be honest, I'm not that invested in his choice of cushions or cereal selections. But some people, on the other hand, it seems, want to know just that when do you live, what cereal do you eat? Why did you close the blinds? It seems to some people they can be a fine line between loving a celebrity and stalking a celebrity and sadly, people keep crossing that line. I don't know if you've heard, but the latest victim of this is 2009 Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak, who won with Fairy Tail. Only for Alexander 2023 has been anything but Alexander, currently living in the United States, in Los Angeles, admitted to fans five days ago via his Instagram account that he has been a victim of stalking.
Speaker 2:Here is some of what he had to say this year Was supposed to be filled with new music, planning a tour. Instead, I had to deal with. Well, first of all, I have a stalker in Los Angeles and she has been harassing me every day for a long time, even showing up at my house at night. And then, on top of that, there is another anonymous person on the internet who is Obsessed with targeting every woman I follow on Instagram. Doesn't matter if it's women. I work with women. I've dated my fans as long as they have a picture together with me. They get the most evil things written about them on the internet every day. So, yeah, this is what I have to deal with, and then I'm trying to focus on music. So yeah, thanks for your support.
Speaker 1:I gotta say Alexander looks to me Visibly Emotionally drained by this. I can certainly agree. Must be hard when Creativity is your bread and butter. Having having that creativity Stifled in this way, and then the exhaustion of having a stalker is very real. It's got to be hard to relax. You have to be on guard. Is that door locked? Is there someone out there right now? There's a woman driving past my house so slow. Stop looking at my house.
Speaker 1:This isn't, sadly, the first time that Alexander has been harassed by a stalker. After his 2009 win, alexander Ryback was stalked by a woman who even traveled across Cross-continents to stalk him. A who has that commitment. B who has the resources. Thirdly, if you've got that amount of money, you can afford to get another hobby to keep you distracted. Eventually, in frustration, alexander even wrote a song about his stalker, titled aptly, leave me alone. Talking about the song to press, alexander said it's a true story of a woman who traveled around the world To babysit by my doorstep, sent me 600 email and always seems to find my new secret phone number. I have to give her credit for her hard work in finding me wherever I am. This is something you only normally see in a movie. 600 emails. I don't care how much you are a fan of anybody 600 emails what is there to talk about? I haven't even sent 600 emails to my best friend. Like emails. What is this woman like? 90, if you can't express your emotional Situation or what's happening in your life with a selection of memes back and forth? Are you even communicating?
Speaker 1:The three and a half minute song was released in October of 2012 and it even comes with a rather unique film clip. I suggest you go and check it out. It's available on YouTube. Essentially, what happens is it starts with Alexander Ryback saying he's being stalked and he checks himself into a mental asylum. Interesting way to go, although it kind of makes sense. A lot of mental institutions actually have a lot of security to make sure that you can't get out, which actually makes it impossible for people to get in, so like completely a bad idea. Once inside the what looks like a very poorly funded asylum, alexander begins to vigorously violin a solution, while patients jazz hands their cares away behind him until eventually, his stalker is straight jacketed and kept in the mental asylum whilst he makes his escape.
Speaker 1:The song was also recorded and released in Russian. As of July 2020, the film clip had over 11 million views and the Russian version 6 million views. 11 million views. I'm interested how many of those were the stalker? Is the song really popular or was she just dedicated? My casual jokes aside, it's actually a really serious thing. In May of 2020, rybak revealed that he had been addicted to sleeping medications and antidepressants for 11 years and we have to acknowledge the effects that stalking would have had on this. But in January of 2020, he was beginning to heal after entering rehab and we can only wish him all of the best and send our hopes and our prayers and our love and hope that this continuing drama this year doesn't affect his journey to health. Sadly, he's not the only Eurovision performer who has struggled with a stalker. Damiano, lead singer of Maniskin, who brought a sexy back to Eurovision, told the Sun UK on 19 January 2023. He opened up about his own stalker who began obsessing after the
Speaker 1:Maniskin star after their Eurovision win. On the Rush album you will find a song called Mark Chapman it's actually named after the stalker who fatally shot Beatles icon John Lennon. Damiano says quote the song talks about stalkers, because I have a stalker and it's scared the shit out of me, which, to be honest, it only makes you human. He goes on to say it's a topic that must be spoken about because I think at times there needs to be a healthier relationship between fans and celebrities. I think the tendency to idolize people like in the 70s and the 80s is coming back, and it is the unhealthiest things. It drives fans to expectations and people do crazy things. I think that people need to be educated on how to interact and to understand when people are crossing the line. Artists need to understand the red flags and when to leave if they are getting hate or shit. It's only a small number this refers to, and more need to speak out about it. What do you think? Do you think that's true? Do you think we idolize celebrities too much? I would say anyone who's witnessed the astral rise of the entire Kardashian family would agree we put too much of an onus on a celebrity. Oh my God, just because you're on TV, it doesn't make you a celebrity Just because you've been on an episode of the Amazing Race. No, I don't want to support your Patreon. No, I don't want you to do a cameo to me on my birthday. Go away. I think we all need to remember.
Speaker 1:Yes, especially singers. I know they write songs, they make music. They can make us feel things that we've never felt before. They can make us unlock emotions that we've never said out loud. But at the end of the day, they're just a human being and that means, for the other 99% of their day, when they're not being inspiringly creative, there's dead shit, boring as you and me. They're sitting on the toilet doing a crossword. They're scrambling around in that drawer of nothing, trying to find the bloody address of Auntie Jean so you can send her a Christmas card. Well, it's the Christmas card that you actually filled out last year but you forgot to send, so you better, bloody, send it this year. There's a lot of getting the electric bill. How is the electric bill that high then walking around furiously turning off all of the lights? Okay, that's probably not a Kardashian issue, that could just be a poor me issue, but I mean love artists, support artists but, you know, also give them some room.
Speaker 1:If you haven't heard it and it is an Italian, but so to do a translation here's some of the lyrics to the Mark Chapman song hidden among the people without an identity, he says he loves me, but I know he lies, locked up in four walls, no visitors. He says he loves me, but I know he lies. He always wants you to play by his rules. He's not interested in looking like you, he wants to be you, he wants it all. And you can find him under the house with a knife in his hand Because you didn't reply to his message. But he swears that he loves you, that he wouldn't want to, but you didn't reciprocate his love for you. And all I could think of straight away is that song, stan, by Eminem. I never thought there would be a musical cross-junction where Maniskine, eurovision and Eminem would come into alignment. But there we go.
Speaker 1:The answer Stalkers. I mean. Luckily we're in a situation where we're not being stalked so we can make jokes about it, but oh my god, like honestly, it's pretty terrifying stuff. Okay, here's a guide for you If you're sitting at home and what I've talked about has suddenly made you feel a little bit uncomfortable and you're like, oh my god, am I the stalker? Maybe that's a new thread that we need to start on Reddit. Dear Reddit, am I the stalker? Okay, here's a guide. But if you're unsure about your reactions, well, am I being creepy? Am I being stalky or am I just being a super fan? Ask yourself this question Could the police arrest you for what you're doing? If the answer is yes, and be honest now. If the answer is yes, it means no, no, you shouldn't be doing it. In fact, if this whole episode is making you uncomfortable, mm-hmm, I think you need to put down the binoculars, get out of the bush and quietly go.
Speaker 1:Think celebrities are probably like cats. The more you chase after them, declaring your undying love and you just want to give them kiss, you, kiss, you, kisses, the more likely they are to slap a restraining order on you and run away. The more you say don't touch me, I have an important meeting, the more they jump on you and just throw their hair all over you. So those are our songs of the week Stalker Express. You can check out Mark Chapman by Maniskine. You can also check out Leave Me Alone by Alexander Ryback.
Speaker 1:I had a quick look in the comments section for Leave Me Alone by Alexander Ryback. Apollo Rabbit has just said I think it looks funny when you search for this song, quote Alexander Ryback, leave me alone, like I'm the one telling him to leave me alone. And the fact that it comes up in my search engine implies that Alexander Ryback has been stalking a lot of his fans. Can you imagine the irony? It turns out Alexander Ryback has been stalking us all along. I remain. Looked at the film clip and said has nobody talked about the fact that how the violin matches insane people? Oh, that's a bit of a harsh judgement. Call there Silver. However, I think wins the comments where she just said Alexander Ryback's written a fan about being stalked. She'll be like aw, he wrote a song for me. Well, that's all we have for you this week.
Speaker 1:Just this little bit of life advice Stop stalking people. You know what? If you want Damiano from Maniskine to love you, then don't work on finding out and learning everything that he loves and everything that he does. You know what? Spend that time learning what you love. Become your own favourite rock star. Then you can be your own damn favourite groupie. Oh, not long, not, not, not long. Now get off my lawn before I call the police.
