Australian delegation: We need to be the Sweden of the south to stay in Eurovision

Tonight Australia will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for the third time in a row. Will this be the last time or will SBS Australia get a permanet staus by the EBU. Head of Delegation Paul Clarke hopes the latter, in an interview with ESC Daily.

“We are on probation, and if we don’t come up with a good artist, maybe they will just sack us,” Clarke tells us. “We know we need to bring it, we need to be the Sweden of the south, to be able to stay in the contest. That is how it feels to us.”

Impossible to find a new Dami Im

After the fifth place of Guy Sebastian, Dami Im did even better in Stockholm with a second place at Eurovision. It is up to young Isaiah Firebrace to give Australia another top result, starting with qualification for the final in Kiev.

“It is a dream for us, to be able to perform here,” Paul Clarke looks ahead at the chances for tonight. “We think of Eurovision like a wonderful fantasy. Last year was special and we appreciated the support for us. This time we went for someone younger than Dami, because we can not replace her.”

Check out the full interview we had with Paul Clarke above!

2 Comments

  1. If I were them, I wouldn’t stick TOO much to the Swedish way and wait a little bit. It’s not for nothing that counter-developments are growing slowly now. While a lot of delegations are still concentrating on copying the Swedish way,laying stress on perfect, no risk productions, we see ‘alternative’ developments on the other side, like e.g. the pure Portuguese approach and the spontaneous, more intuitive way the Italians deal with the contest. If the latter turns out to be more popular with audience and juries(I guess there must be some saturation point for how much swedishness the contest and its audience can bear), it could well be THE turning point for esc. Will people keep on going for perfectly produced songs and acts or will they prefer a more creative and natural approach? That remains to be seen, starting Saturday. And maybe Australia is able to develop its own unique way to deal with the process without necessarily striving for a southern MF-style? We were told it’s all about diversity, weren’t we?

  2. You are right dami Im was one in a million and you wont find another Dami I’m.
    This year it was going to be tough trying to do as well after Dami.
    Sending Isiah with another ballad was the wrong choice and you should of sent someone with a different sound.
    Isaiah has a good voice, but the song is very ordinary and does not stand out from the rest.
    it was almost like they ran out of time trying to find the right artist with the right song.
    Samantha jade should of been sent, she would of done much better than Isaiah.
    Yes the year is about Diversity, but the song and best artist is more important than trying to fit in with Theme.

Comments are closed.