In April this year, we published a very public declaration of love by Paul Williams for Lilli Bayliss, the undeniable pop princess of X Factor NZ.

“A girl with snow-white hair had done the impossible. Not only had she made me not hate the song ‘Rude’ by Canadian reggae band Magic!, she had made me love the song ‘Rude’ by Canadian reggae band Magic!. The girl’s name was Lili Bayliss and she was possibly the most prettiest girl I had ever done seen. I’ve always had a theory that with the right song playing I could love-at-first-sight anyone – but I never expected the right song to be ‘Rude’ by Canadian reggae band Magic!”

A few weeks later, we exclusively hosted one of the better songs to come out of X Factor NZ 2015: ‘Lilli’ by Paul Williams. Safe to say, Paul had played all his cards.

“Everybody knows I like you,
because my heart is on my sleeve.
AKA I wrote it in a tweet“

And now, something miraculous has happened. In this year’s 48 Hour film competition, Team Peru produced a heartwarming meta-musical with Paul and Lilli in the lead roles. The film won awards for Best Director (Anna Duckworth and Benjamin Brooking) and Best Original Song (Paul Williams – ‘Hard to Read’). Have a watch below:

Rest assured The Spinoff will creepily be there every step of the way for this blossoming onscreen/online/ondemand romance.