Australia: Artists who could represent Australia at JESC 2017

After the recent announcement that Australia will be participating in the next Junior Eurovision Song Context (to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia), the focus is now on the selection of a young artist to represent the nation. Our Australian team member Joshua Mayne tells you who the main candidates are.

Bella Paige (2015) and Alexa Curtis (2016) received top 10 results with their two respective entries, so the Australian delegation – who are now working together with ABC ME to broadcast the junior version of the contest – will be keen to replicate and hopefully improve on previous results.

Contestants must be between the ages of 9 and 14, which rules out the popular young ‘The Voice Australia’ Grand Finalist, Lucy Sugerman. Still it is quite likely that the Australian representative will – again – be a former The Voice Kids participant.

Abigail Adriano

Abigail was only 9 years old when she competed in the inaugural (and so far, the only) ‘The Voice Kids Australia’ in 2014. She blew the judges away in her audition with a strong rendition of Alicia Key’s ‘Empire State of Mind’.

With a powerful voice similar to last year’s Junior Eurovision winner Mariam Mamadashvili, there’s no doubt that she’s capable of producing a captivating performance, particularly seeing that she will have matured since her time on the Voice Kids.

Katie and Emilie

Also contestants from ‘The Voice Kids Australia’ in 2014, now both 14, Katie and Emilie are identical twins from Perth, Western Australia. Although none of the judges turned for them in their audition, the sisters have persevered.

In April this year, they released their second single called ‘Bloodlines’. This experience in the industry, along with their unique stage presence, makes them strong contenders to represent Australia in Tbilisi.

Musical Theatre Actors and Singers

With a myriad of young talent available in the Australian musical theatre industry, there’s no reason why an Australian entrant for Junior Eurovision couldn’t be a singer sourced from a musical.

Although theatre actors/singers don’t usually sing songs that tend to be performed on the Eurovision stage, the ability is already within them. With a bit of tweaking, a Junior Eurovision contestant could be created.

Options include Harriet Turnbull (1984), Nicholas Cradock (Les Miserables) and Madison Russo (The Sound of Music).

Callum The Heavy Metal Kid

To say the least, it would be a very left of centre entry if ‘Callum The Heavy Metal Kid’ is selected, but after all, Eurovision always expects the unexpected. He made such a positive impression on the 2016 edition of ‘Australia’s Got Talent’, that even rock legend Ozzy Osbourne was impressed after being shown Callum’s audition.

There’s no doubting that Callum has a natural talent and strong passion for this style of music, but the question will be whether or not the Australian delegation will select an act that could be quite divisive. It might be an unlikely choice, but it’s an option nevertheless…