Australia: How Isabella Clarke made the most out of Junior Eurovision 2017

For the second time in a row, Australia improved on their best ever Junior Eurovision result. Isabella Clarke finished in 3rd place and made her country proud. ESCDaily looks back on her perfect week at JESC2017.

Isabella Clarke was selected for Junior Eurovision early on in the season. At the same time, broadcaster SBS revealed that kids channel ABC was going to join them for JESC this year. It lead presenter Grace Koh to travel to Tbilisi to cover everything Isabella (Izzy) would do over there.

The Junior Eurovision week started out with Australia’s first rehearsal on Tuesday. Isabella had just heard that she would receive the 15th starting position – just the bit of luck every performer need in order to get a good result. Her first rehearsal was an eventful one. Every runthrough, Australia tried out different camera positions. Afterwards in the viewing room, the delegation could then decide which things worked and which did not. Journalists at the press center awarded Australia the victory of the day, together with Belarus.

Improving the smiles

On Wednesday, Izzy had a day off. She used it to invite press over to her hotel in the center of Tbilisi. ESCDaily also took the chance to speak to her. She told us, among other things, that “improving on our smiles” was the most important thing to work on from now on. “We are having so much fun on stage and that can be the strongest point in our performance.”

For Team ESCDaily, being the Australian-based website that we are, following such a professional and successful artist from Down Under is always special. If you wanna know more about our relation to Australia & the Eurovision Song Contest, check out this video!

Australia Isabella Clarke press conferenceIsabella Clarke ‘s strong vocals

It was not until the second rehearsal on Thursday, however, that people discovered just how strong Izzy’s performance really was. Her vocals were incredibly good – so good, that many started to wonder whether Australia was perhaps using a backing tape during the rehearsals.

Head of Delegation Stephanie Werrett explained at the press conference that Australia did indeed use a backing tape, but only for some runthroughs. “If you cannot tell the difference, then that’s great news for us,” Werrett said. And indeed it was. Australia’s Isabella Clarke had all of a sudden become a contender for victory in the jury score.

The new Dami Im

Australia had not yet won a Eurovision event, could this be the first time? At the jury rehearsal, Isabella Clarke gave an almost flawless performance, Dami Im style, and received the highest score from our editorial team. As it turned out, it was enough for a third place in the eventual jury rankings. Izzy received a total of 93 points, including 12 points from The Netherlands. Every national jury awarded Australia at least one point.

However, while Dami Im lost her victory in the deciding televote, Isabella Clarke managed to stand tall in the online voting. She received 79 points there, finishing again in third place (behind The Netherlands and Malta, but above winner Russia), and ending up in a third place in total as well. The first podium spot for Australia at Junior Eurovision ever! You can see Isabella’s performance from Sunday night HERE.

The result not only made Australia and Team ESCDaily proud, but it brought Isabella herself to tears as well. In a first reaction to EBU, she said that Australia will come back and win Eurovision one day. Cheers to that!