Bradley: "I’ve learnt to never put on a mask in order to satisfy people"
As the Malta Eurovision Song Contest quarter-finals are coming to the results stage soon, we had a great pleasure to chat with the participants of this year’s edition of Malta’s national selection. Bradley DeBono presented his song “Blackout” already in the first quarter-final.
We had the pleasure of having a chat with Bradley and found out more about him and about his song “Blackout”. Check out everything he told us in this interview right here below:
Hi Bradley! For the beginning of the interview, tell us when and how did you decide to become an artist?
I’ve been singing and performing for almost 13 years now. Ever since I was a youngster, I used to love performing, and my teachers at school used to try and get my mum to take for singing lessons, when I was still about 10 years old, and they used to tell her that “Your Son Is Going to Be a Star one day”. I never looked back from that point on.
Can you describe what your song is all about and what it means to you?
Ever since I was young, I’ve experienced constant verbal and physical bullying about the way I look, my weight, and the fact that I’m a man who wants to become a singer. I only had a few friends to lean on and keep me going. When the epidemic struck, I struggled more mentally since I couldn’t see those who meant the most to me. That’s also where the inspiration for my song Blackout came from since experiences in the past leave permanent scars, but it’s up to you to decide whether or not you want to utilise those scars to fortify yourself and pursue your aspirations.In order to normalise stigmas, I’ve learnt to never put on a mask in order to satisfy people, to never be scared to reveal my true colours, to stand up for oneself and for others who are unable to do so, and to speak out about such struggles.
Which other artist(s) has inspired you to reach your goals?
2 Artists who I follow and who inspired me a lot throughout my music career are Shawn Mendes, and the one and only queen Christina Magrin who is my songwriter and also represented Malta during JESC2016.
Do you have an all time favorite Eurovision song/performance?
I think an all time favourite no, since there were so many great songs and talented artists that it is impossible to choose 1. But Entries which left an impact on me are Brividi, Beautiful Mess, Proud & Toy.
What would your stage performance look like at a big stage like Eurovision?
I mean at this point I cannot reveal much, but be prepared for something emotional, inspirational, dramatic and mind-blowing.
Thank you very much for chatting with us Bradley, and we wish you the best of luck in the contest!
Give a listen to Bradley’s entry in Malta Eurovision Song Contest – “Blackout” right here:
Let us know who YOUR favorites are in this year’s Malta Eurovision Song Contest by voting for them in our poll right here:
- Brooke - Checkmate 25%, 668 votes668 votes 25%668 votes - 25% of all votes
- The Busker - Dance (Our Own Party) 14%, 363 votes363 votes 14%363 votes - 14% of all votes
- Maxine Pace - Alone 11%, 297 votes297 votes 11%297 votes - 11% of all votes
- Ryan Hili - In The Silence 6%, 167 votes167 votes 6%167 votes - 6% of all votes
- Dario Bezzina - Bridle Road 6%, 154 votes154 votes 6%154 votes - 6% of all votes
- Nathan - Creeping Walls 4%, 93 votes93 votes 4%93 votes - 4% of all votes
- Dario - Pawn In A Game 3%, 83 votes83 votes 3%83 votes - 3% of all votes
- Cheryl Balzan - La La Land 2%, 60 votes60 votes 2%60 votes - 2% of all votes
- Fabrizio Faniello - Try To Be Better 2%, 56 votes56 votes 2%56 votes - 2% of all votes
- Stefan - Heartbreaker 2%, 53 votes53 votes 2%53 votes - 2% of all votes
- Matt Blxck - Up 2%, 46 votes46 votes 2%46 votes - 2% of all votes
- Kirstie - Girls Get Down 2%, 43 votes43 votes 2%43 votes - 2% of all votes
- Chris Grech - Indescribable 2%, 42 votes42 votes 2%42 votes - 2% of all votes
- Stefan Xuereb - What Do You Want? 1%, 39 votes39 votes 1%39 votes - 1% of all votes
- Mikhail - Lehen Fic-cpar 1%, 37 votes37 votes 1%37 votes - 1% of all votes
- Clintess - Lura Qatt 1%, 34 votes34 votes 1%34 votes - 1% of all votes
- Jessika - Unapologetic 1%, 31 vote31 vote 1%31 vote - 1% of all votes
- Maria Debono - X'allegrija 1%, 31 vote31 vote 1%31 vote - 1% of all votes
- Marie Claire - Thankful 1%, 28 votes28 votes 1%28 votes - 1% of all votes
- Eliana Gomez Blanco - Guess What 1%, 27 votes27 votes 1%27 votes - 1% of all votes
- Lyndsay - Haunted 1%, 26 votes26 votes 1%26 votes - 1% of all votes
- James Louis - Dream 1%, 26 votes26 votes 1%26 votes - 1% of all votes
- Klinsmann - Piranha 1%, 25 votes25 votes 1%25 votes - 1% of all votes
- Haley - Tik Tok 1%, 23 votes23 votes 1%23 votes - 1% of all votes
- Geo Debono - The Mirror 1%, 21 vote21 vote 1%21 vote - 1% of all votes
- Greta Tude - Sound Of My Stilettos 1%, 20 votes20 votes 1%20 votes - 1% of all votes
- Andre' - Broken Hill 1%, 19 votes19 votes 1%19 votes - 1% of all votes
- Christian Arding - Eku car 1%, 16 votes16 votes 1%16 votes - 1% of all votes
- Dominic and Anna - Whatever Wind May Blow 1%, 14 votes14 votes 1%14 votes - 1% of all votes
- Maria Christina - Our Flame 0%, 12 votes12 votes12 votes - 0% of all votes
- John Galea - Trailblazer 0%, 12 votes12 votes12 votes - 0% of all votes
- Dan - It'll Be OK 0%, 12 votes12 votes12 votes - 0% of all votes
- Mark Anthony Bartolo - Tears 0%, 11 votes11 votes11 votes - 0% of all votes
- Giada - I Depend On You 0%, 8 votes8 votes8 votes - 0% of all votes
- Francesca Sciberras - Masquerade 0%, 8 votes8 votes8 votes - 0% of all votes
- Jake - Love You Like That 0%, 8 votes8 votes8 votes - 0% of all votes
- Ian - On My Own 0%, 6 votes6 votes6 votes - 0% of all votes
- Bradley Debono - Blackout 0%, 5 votes5 votes5 votes - 0% of all votes
- Jason Scerri - Anything Can Happen 0%, 4 votes4 votes4 votes - 0% of all votes