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Mother of Eurovision finalist says he's 'ready for this moment' · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We now know the five Canadians who have been shortlisted
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  Speaker 1: for the Eurovision contest and will represent the country in
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  Speaker 1: its first ever Eurovision appearance.
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  Speaker 2: CBC's senior entertainment reporter.
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  Speaker 1: Magda Gebrselassie is here to tell us about these contestants.
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  Speaker 2: Magda, what do we know about the finalists?
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  Speaker 3: Well, among the five finalists, you've got a couple who
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  Speaker 3: are no strangers to televising competitions and the others, Juno
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  Speaker 3: nominees and a couple of winners. So up first from Montreal,
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  Speaker 3: you have the dance pop artist Rev. She took home
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  Speaker 3: the Juno for Dance Recording of the Year in 2023.
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  Speaker 4: And here she is talking about what Eurovision is all about.
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  Speaker 5: Eurovision is all about the celebration of individuality and maximalism.
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  Speaker 5: So we as Canada, I mean, I'm so excited for
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  Speaker 5: us to match that. I know it's such a history
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  Speaker 5: of maximalism and individuality and showmanship. And I'm just very
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  Speaker 5: excited for one of us lucky contestants.
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  Speaker 4: To bring that to the stage.
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  Speaker 1: So not only is it.
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  Speaker 5: A fantastic song with a deep meeting, which is yet
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  Speaker 5: to be determined, but something important. And then it's going
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  Speaker 5: to be the costuming, the staging, the choreography for something
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  Speaker 5: truly unforgettable.
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  Speaker 3: And next up, you've got pop singer-songwriter William Cloutier from Victoriaville, Quebec.
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  Speaker 4: Some have called him Quebec's Prince of Pop.
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  Speaker 3: As a teen, he performed on the music competition show
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  Speaker 3: Mix Mania.
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  Speaker 4: And he's since had a couple of albums.
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  Speaker 3: If he gets picked to represent Canada, here is what
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  Speaker 3: he would want to do.
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  Speaker 7: Oh my God. Something crazy because we are capable of
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  Speaker 7: great things in Canada. Canada and I would like a
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  Speaker 7: creative team to build a powerful performing and of course
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  Speaker 7: I'm going to take some learning in English.
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  Speaker 3: And the next finalist is Josiane, originally from Dieppe, New Brunswick.
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  Speaker 3: She is a singer-songwriter who won Quebec's version of The Voice,
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  Speaker 3: the singing competition. Her music, she says, is emotional pop,
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  Speaker 3: and she does not shy away about writing about heartbreak.
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  Speaker 8: Well, I don't think there's anyone that hasn't been through heartbreak,
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  Speaker 8: whether it's with a loved one or anything like that.
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  Speaker 8: Any relationship you go through, and for me, writing about
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  Speaker 8: that is to help people overcome these difficult steps in
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  Speaker 8: their lives and that they feel less lonely and that
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  Speaker 8: they find themselves at.
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  Speaker 2: The end of all of it.
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  Speaker 8: I think it's so important to take care of ourselves
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  Speaker 8: and to not forget our value, and that's what I
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  Speaker 8: preach for the people around me.
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  Speaker 3: Then you've got Tyler Shaw from BC who loves writing
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  Speaker 3: songs about love and relationships. He's been nominated for Junos before,
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  Speaker 3: and if he's chosen, here's what he plans to deliver.
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  Speaker 9: The idea of the song that I have in mind
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  Speaker 9: is very emotional. As long as I'm writing a song
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  Speaker 9: that really hits the soul, makes you feel something deep down,
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  Speaker 9: I think that's the most important message.
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  Speaker 3: And last but not least is Tak, who grew up
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  Speaker 3: in Ottawa. He's a singer-songwriter, a musician who plays plenty
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  Speaker 3: of instruments. He won the Juno for Breakthrough Artist of
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  Speaker 3: the Year in 2024, and he defines his sound as
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  Speaker 3: rock opera. And he's a Eurovision fan.
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  Speaker 10: For me specifically, I've been watching this for 15 years.
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  Speaker 10: 2010 was the first year I watched it. And it's
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  Speaker 10: become a yearly thing for me and my friends. So
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  Speaker 10: it's not just like, oh, this is a good opportunity.
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  Speaker 10: It's like, this actually means something. And I've also been,
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  Speaker 10: since it's been announced, been working to build a team.
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  Speaker 10: I think Canadians are going to see that this is
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  Speaker 10: not just a song. This is an American Idol. This
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  Speaker 10: is something that countries put years of work into. And
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  Speaker 10: jumping in in our first year is going to be
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  Speaker 10: really new and scary for a I went ahead and
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  Speaker 10: made contacts with people who have worked for other countries
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  Speaker 10: and tried to put a team together that has more
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  Speaker 10: experience that can get me to the finals.
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  Speaker 3: So now people across the country can weigh in and
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  Speaker 3: vote starting from today. You can go on to cbc.ca
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  Speaker 3: slash Eurovision. You get one vote a day, 10 in total,
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  Speaker 3: and voting wraps up at 11.59 p.m.
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  Speaker 4: On November 5th.
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  Speaker 3: And then by December, we're going to find out who
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  Speaker 3: gets to rep Canada in Bulgaria for Eurovision 2027.
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  Speaker 1: Magda, this is a global song contest that I think
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  Speaker 1: we all know is not immune to global politics or controversies.
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  Speaker 1: And so Canada is in for the first time this
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  Speaker 1: next year.
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  Speaker 2: But there are other countries that are not. Can you
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  Speaker 2: talk about that?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: So this year, some boycotted the competition over Israel being
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  Speaker 3: allowed to participate. There were five countries that pulled out.
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  Speaker 3: Ireland confirmed it's not participating again in 2027. RT, the broadcaster,
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  Speaker 3: says it's not going to air Eurovision as well. And
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  Speaker 3: it's because of, quote, appalling and ongoing loss of lives
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  Speaker 3: in Gaza. And just today, the Netherlands pulled out of
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  Speaker 3: the 2027 competition. You've got Spain and Iceland that may
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  Speaker 3: be leaning that way as well. But there's no decision yet.
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  Speaker 3: And there's no decision yet from Slovenia.
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  Speaker 2: OK, thanks, Magda.
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  Speaker 1: The CBC senior entertainment reporter, Magda Gebrselassie.
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  Speaker 6: You're welcome.
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  Speaker 2: No question.
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  Speaker 1: It's a big day for those Canadians who were shortlisted
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  Speaker 1: for Eurovision. Also a pretty exciting moment for their families.
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  Speaker 1: Who better to tell us about that than Cindy Beauchamp?
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  Speaker 1: Her son, Nick Desrochers, better known by his stage name, Talk,
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  Speaker 1: is one of the finalists who was announced today. You
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  Speaker 1: just heard a clip from him. And now we're going
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  Speaker 1: to talk to his mom, Cindy. Cindy, congratulations.
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  Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: When you learned, well, first of all, tell me, how
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  Speaker 1: did you learn that your son was a finalist here?
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  Speaker 2: And when did you actually?
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  Speaker 6: Actually, it's very, very recently. We knew when the prime
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  Speaker 6: minister announced that Eurovision would be, or Canada would be
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  Speaker 6: part of Eurovision, Nick right away got very, very excited
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  Speaker 6: and wanted to be part of it. And made it
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  Speaker 6: public that he wanted to be part of it. And
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  Speaker 6: so we were thrilled about it. And then it kind
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  Speaker 6: of got busy with other things.
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  Speaker 2: And he had to keep it a secret, am I right?
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  Speaker 2: He wasn't able to tell you right away?
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  Speaker 6: Well, he kept it a secret, that's for sure, because
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  Speaker 6: we didn't know until like not even 24 hours ago.
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  Speaker 6: We were, you know, invited to watch the announcements. And
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  Speaker 6: so we kind of suspected it at that point. But yeah, no,
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  Speaker 6: he's good at keeping secrets.
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  Speaker 2: So wait a minute. So you suspected it.
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  Speaker 1: But at what point did he tell you or did
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  Speaker 1: you have to watch it with the rest of us?
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  Speaker 6: Well, we had to watch it, but we had an inkling,
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  Speaker 6: let's say.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 8: All right.
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  Speaker 4: Fair enough.
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  Speaker 2: I won't, I won't pry further to that. This is a,
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  Speaker 2: it's the world's largest, uh, live music event.
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  Speaker 1: As you know, we heard from Nick saying, or pardon me,
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  Speaker 1: talk saying that this is something that he's been watching
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  Speaker 1: regularly every year with, with friends. Was it always clear
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  Speaker 1: to you that an opportunity, maybe this big could be
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  Speaker 1: in the cards for your son?
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  Speaker 6: Gosh. Um, I don't think so. Nick was a bit
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  Speaker 6: secretive about his passion for writing and not for music, though.
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  Speaker 6: He was always interested in learning a new instrument, started
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  Speaker 6: with drums, then to guitar, then to piano. piano he
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  Speaker 6: did a bit of voice nothing for very long he
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  Speaker 6: got the gist of it and then then he he
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  Speaker 6: kept learning on his own um so and and then
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  Speaker 6: when he moved out we found these binders full of
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  Speaker 6: writing full of songs so i think he had his
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  Speaker 6: older brother as a as a great mentor um and
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  Speaker 6: uh and then you know i guess he was 17
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  Speaker 6: a little maybe 16 and he really stepped into what
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  Speaker 6: he loved and that was the stage he started performing
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  Speaker 6: with bands and then the story just kept going.
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  Speaker 1: Cindy, we're watching as you're talking some of the video
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  Speaker 1: put together by your son, and he's very theatric in
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  Speaker 1: his performances. As Canadians are now able to vote, and
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  Speaker 1: they can for a period of time here, what do
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  Speaker 1: you want them, or what do you hope that they
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  Speaker 1: will learn about your son that might, I assume you'd
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  Speaker 1: like them to vote for him?
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  Speaker 6: Um.
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  Speaker 6: He's always been a very genuine kind of person. What
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  Speaker 6: I see at home is what I see everywhere else
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  Speaker 6: on screen with Nick. He's funny.
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  Speaker 8: He's witty. He's warm.
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  Speaker 6: He loves people. He's been on so many sports teams
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  Speaker 6: because he loves the idea of being on a team
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  Speaker 6: and being coached by other people. So I see him and.
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  Speaker 6: Just flourishing with the experience that he's going to have
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  Speaker 6: moving forward. The candidates are all so strong. I was
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  Speaker 6: really impressed in quite a variety of different genres. We'll
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  Speaker 6: see what happens, but it would be a thrill to
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  Speaker 6: see him move forward, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 2: It sure sounds like he's got some strategy.
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  Speaker 1: We heard him talk about already looking into, as you
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  Speaker 1: point out, teams to help him.
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  Speaker 2: Very quickly, I just have to ask you, have you
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  Speaker 2: already voted?
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  Speaker 4: Yes, yes.
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  Speaker 6: And I'm thrilled to hear that we can vote every day.
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  Speaker 6: So we're on it. My whole neighborhood's on it.
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  Speaker 8: Excellent.
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  Speaker 1: Cindy Beauchamp, mom of Eurovision finalist Nick Desrochers, finalist for Canada,
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  Speaker 1: waiting to find out if he will compete for Canada.
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  Speaker 2: Nick Desrochers, known as Talk. Thank you so much, Cindy.
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  Speaker 6: Thank you for the opportunity.
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  Speaker 5: Thank you.