When the Newcastle Herald last spoke with Norwegian-Australian alt-pop singer-songwriter Mileo, the effects of the COVID pandemic were just beginning to be felt in the Hunter.
The former student of the Hunter School of Performing Arts was at home with his parents, Peter and Anita, at Waratah, facing a ban on international travel that meant the then-25-year-old had to postpone planned studio sessions in Los Angeles.
But rather than curl up in self-isolation watching Netflix or reading books, Mileo - whose given name is Miles Sesselmann - got creating.
The Newcastle-based musician signed with Sony Music Entertainment in 2013 and released debut single Echo the following year to popular release on French radio group NJR, based in Paris.
Since then, Mileo has released a handful of singles and EPs, each showcasing his imaginative pop-stylings, the most recent of which leans into the artist's penchant for anime and horror tropes.
You're Mine - a two-and-a-half-minute synth-heavy pop bop - appeared on Spotify in the last few weeks, produced by Norwegian songwriter Thomas Eriksen, just in time for Mileo to take the hit to the Norwegian Song Contest at the weekend as he vies to represent Norway at Eurovision this year.
Mileo was feeling good headed into a morning of final auditions when he phoned in from Oslo on Friday evening (Australian time). Preparations were coming along, he said, and his TV test screenings were looking promising.
"It has been pretty quiet around COVID," he said, "Just everything with travel and work was difficult but once everything started to open back up we though, ok, let's get back to work."
The Norwegian broadcasting network, NRK, will present the semifinals of the national contest in Oslo this weekend on Saturday where Mileo will perform in the second heat so six hopefuls aiming to secure a spot in the finals slated for February 3. A top three finish will land him in the grand final, from which pool the Scandinavian nation will select their Eurovision contender.
Punters have him with a hot chance to make it to the grand final and social media has backed him heavily with over 115,000 plays on Spotify within a week.
You're Mine touches on themes of a toxic and violent relationship that the artist said has caused some stir in Norway, the controversy from which he was hopeful would help propel him through the competition.
"With everything coming along with this song, it's been quite a big thing because of the context and the lyrics and everything," he said, "It's become a bit of a thing over here."
The song will be staged with TV theatricality and feature choreography by Mona-Jeanette Berntsen, who has worked with artists such as Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Alicia Keys and Chris Brown.
Mileo, meanwhile, has promised a spectacle in true Eurovision style.
"There's a lot of cool things I can't spoil just yet," Mileo said, "but Mona, who's worked with some amazing people, I trust her so much.
"She's got some great ideas that we've been able to actually execute, which is crazy. It's definitely an interesting performance. It's not boring at all."
Eurovision began in Switzerland in 1956 and has long had the reputation for wild and over-the-top performances that have captured a cult following not only in Europe, but around the world.
The song contest, which typically consists of three live shows, two semi-finals and a final where the winner is determined by national audiences and a national juries votes, shifts each year according to a tradition in which the winning nation hosts the following year's contest. Celine Dion, ABBA and Olivia Newton-John are only a few of the most famous performers to have appeared in the contest. Voting in the Norwegian Song Contest is online.
