Marc Fennell, host of SBS Viceland’s The Feed, described it as “the most important event in Australian history” – the announcement of the 2017 Australian entrant into the Eurovision song contest in Kiev.
It is Isaiah Firebrace, a former X Factor winner; a fact that ruined one audience member’s hope that “it not be a song contest competition winner”.
Crammed into Melbourne’s Paris Cat jazz club, about 100 competition winners, musicians and journalists gathered to hear Fennell make the announcement on Tuesday evening, many waving Australian flags and wearing fairy lights.
Not only was the entrant announced, but the song was revealed and performed live, with Firebrace choosing a power ballad about love not coming easy or cheap, called Don’t Come Easy.
Choosing between a power ballad or an upbeat over-the-top sensory overload of key changes and special effects is something countries need to contend with every year.
Kyriakos Gold, from Melbourne, reporting for Eurovision portal Oikot Times, said Australians generally developed a sense of national identity by uniting through sport.
“But this puts us on the map uniting us as one using entertainment and song, and unifies us to be part of a competition in the old country but with a new identity,” he said.
“If you look at it in that way it makes absolute sense to have Australia in a traditionally European competition.”
Jack Eaton, 24, travelled from Adelaide after winning a ticket to the announcement by entering a costume competition on Facebook. He said Dami Im, Australia’s 2016 entrant who came second in the competition with her power ballad Sound of Silence, should be Australia’s entrant.
“Dami again,” he said. “Every year. She’s the best.”
While Eaton said he was worried the competition’s notorious bloc voting might “mean Australia never wins”, he was confident a song with enough flare, lighting, sequins, drama and emotion combined with strong lyrical integrity might be enough to see Australia over the line.
“Costumes, fairy lights and drinking games” were essential to a good Eurovision party, Eaton added.
He said he was devastated that Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang would no longer be hosting Eurovision for SBS Eurovision after eight years at the helm of SBS’s coverage.
Seventeen-year-old Firebrace, who is from the country town of Moama on the border of Victoria and New South Wales, released his first hit It’s Gotta Be You after winning The X Factor last year. The song is already big in Sweden which bodes well for his Eurovision hopes.
“Even though it has been a dream of mine, never did I think for one minute it would be a possibility. To be able to share this news with my family and friends is unbelievable,” Firebrace said. “I will make Australia proud.”
Firebrace said he was sitting on the couch with a can of Coke when when he received the news that he was Australia’s pick.
“It was so out of the blue and unexpected,” he said. “My dad and my brother found out this morning. My dad nearly cried.”
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