In my previous blog post, I found Georgia’s national identity to revolve around religion and language in comparison to their significant others. I used Georgia’s history to emphasize the fact that they built a strong foundation in these facets which distinguish themselves from their neighbors. As we can recall from the first blog post Georgia has been under many foreign powers like the Romans, the Turkish, and the Russians. However, through these powers, they have been warriors in holding on to their identity. This same sense of strength and bravery can be reflected in Georgia’s 2015 Eurovision performance in Vienna, Austria.
Georgia’s 2015 Eurovision entry, “Warrior,” by Nina Sublatti was powerful, dark, and fierce. It offered viewers a feministic message while being brutally honest about their struggles. However, through context and the Eurovision sense of belonging it is clear that the song has so much more meaning. It is a fight song made for Georgia and nations like Georgia. It is a political song that highlights the ongoing tensions between Georgia and Russia. In an interview with WiwiBloggs Nina says, “And while writing ‘Warrior’ I thought to myself – how can we, Georgians build bridges to connect with the rest of the world while our neighbor Russia burns them all. Not only do they burn our bridges, but they burn us alive” (Smith, 2019). It has been almost seven years, since the invasions of Russians in Georgia in 2008, but this conflict still remains relevant. The five-day-long war left 850 casualties and 35,000 Georgian citizens homeless (Pruitt, 2018). The distrust between Russia and Georgia only grew in 2014 when Russia illegally seized Crimea from Ukraine. This event sparked a war that displaced 2 million people and heavily ruined Ukraine’s infrastructure (Popovici, 2018). Russia has selfishly harmed its neighbors over the years, yet they represent themselves as rainbows and sunshine in light of the Eurovision Song Contest. Nina’s performance, “Warrior”, brings reality to the stage and speaks on the fact that enough is enough.
In her performance, Nina was dressed in short black leather pants, paired with a long sleeve, black leathered shirt with black shoulder pads of feathers sprouting out. She also wore thigh-high leather boots and a silver-looking belt around her waist, all topped off with a silver warrior crown. Nina could have dressed like most female performers do a classy, shiny, over-the-top dress, but she didn’t. She wore black pants and a black shirt while she repeatedly sang “I’m a warrior” (“Vienna 2015 Participants”, 2015). Which she clearly is. Her style is gothic and edgy and gives her a fierce stage presence. At the beginning of the performance, dark clouds and flashes of lightning are depicted on the screen in the background. Artificial fog fills the stage as flashing lights match the beat of the drums. It looks like a storm, and the drums sound aggressive like thunder (Eurovision, 2015). Nina stands alone on the center stage, and it is like she has all the power. She stands tall and sings with confidence,
“Fighter
Oximated
Worldʻs gonna get up and see
Iʻm a warrior
Isolated
Worldʻs gonna listen to me” (“Vienna 2015 Participants”, 2015).
She knows the storm is there, but she is not afraid. She calls herself a fighter, a warrior, and demands that the world pay attention to her. She uses herself as a metaphor in that she is a representation of Georgia. Whereas the storm can be seen as the struggles they’ve faced due to war and conflicts with Russia. Having Nina confidently emerge from the storm shows that enough is enough. In “Warrior” she sings, “I’ve been in danger for too long no, no, no” (“Vienna 2015 Participants”, 2015). She directly says no towards Russia for they have caused too much damage in Georgia. The performance empowers Georgia to not be afraid and implies readiness for war.
In the performance, wings show up verbally, in the song, and visually, in the background and a part of the costume. In the song Nina sings, “Violence, break me free, wings are gonna spread up” (“Vienna 2015 Participants”, 2015). The first two lines suggest the want to be free of violence. From Blog post 1 we can recall Georgia’s history and how they could never catch a break. Georgia was being tossed and turned by multiple foreign powers, ending under the Russian empire in the early 20th century. I believe that the wings are used as a metaphor for freedom in the way that we use the expression, “free like a bird.” The wings represent Georgia’s want to fly away from the violence and live freely, the same way a bird soars in the sky. The moment Nina sings the last line is the same time that the wings appear on the screen in the background. The wings look like angel wings as they appear around Nina. The angel wings could hint at Georgia’s long-standing ties with the Eastern Orthodox. If we remember my first blog post, we can recall that religion is a big part of Georgia’s national identity where to this day 84% of the Georgian population are members of the Georgian Orthodox Church (CIA, 2021). This may have been their way of expressing this facet of their national identity. Along with this religious significance, I think it also offers a sense of faith and hopes to the Georgian community, that one day they will be free from violence.
This idea of faith and hope is seen again in the performance through the close-up of Nina Sublattiʻs eyes. Her makeup is very heavy around the eyes. She wears a bold black eyeliner that really contrasts with her eye color really making her gorgeous blue eyes pop. This is about the most color we get from the performance as most of it is just black and white. In a Wiwibloggs interview, she talked about not being able to write a happy, upbeat song when there is chaos and terror within her country. She says, “while ashes are covering our skies I can’t see the rainbow to write about it” (Smith, 2019). In this context, she uses the rainbow as something that is good or happy, so it might be possible that the small bit of the color blue represents that future goal of peace and freedom. I think her eyes also remind us that enough is enough. In the close-up shot, her eyes look tired and weary, not to mention the iron tears gushing down. Her eyes looked overworked which could tie back into the fact that Georgia has been through a lot. But at the same time, her eyes look fierce. It is like she is staring down your soul, kind of intimidating. She looks focused, fearless, and strong.
Nina Sublatti says her song is about feminism and is mostly based around the history of Georgian women (“Vienna 2015 Participants”, 2015). She describes women as always being important figures in the Georgian culture. They aimed to be good women, good mothers, and good teachers. They were able to be poised and control their temper to raise their child as a warrior (Mamsikashvili, 2015). In order to do so, this usually meant that she became a warrior. Her repeated line, “I'm a warrior” (“Vienna 2015 Participants”, 2015) empowers women to stay strong in all that they do.
Nina Sublattiʻs “Warrior” drips with patriotism as she calls for her country to stay strong. Russia has trampled over and damaged Georgia as well as other nations too many times. This performance brings together those minority nations who are in conflict with Russia and encourages them to stand up and say enough is enough. She slyly brings politics onto an apolitical stage and is brutally honest about what is happening. In doing so the meaning behind “Warrior” is extended way beyond her intent. This performance offers that sense of belonging as it can be catered to women, Georgians, or any minority group around the world. It offers a fierce message about staying strong for there is faith and hope for peace and freedom in the future.
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We've had a lot of debate about the inclusion of the technical term 'oximated' in this song. I thought it might have just been used because it sounded cool but I recently learned that 'oximes' are a group of chemicals used in treating nerve agents. I wonder if that is relevant?
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