Australia will face off against 38 other nations in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The 2020 competition was called off due to Covid-19, each country is allowed to send the same performer, or choose a fresh face to the 2021 edition. All the contestants however have bring a new song to perform.
Montaigne remains Australia’s representative but fans of the competition are not loving her new tune Technicolour as much as last year’s Don’t Break Me. The artist unveiled the new song at the 2021 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Initially there were going to be 40 countries in the 2021 competition but Belarus has been disqualified after their song was deemed to be too political.
Belarus had put forward a Russian-language song titled Ya Nauchu Tebya, which translates as “I’ll Teach You”. The band performing the tune, Galasy ZMesta, have a long history of mocking President Alexander Lukashenko in their lyrics.
After the Eurovision officials knocked back the song, a second song by the same band was put forward, but it was also rejected.
Belarus has taken part in the competition 16 times in the past, making their first appearance in 2004 and they’ve never missed a year. Their best result was in 2007 when Dimitri Kolun performed Work Your Magic and they placed sixth in the rakings.
The 65th outing of the competition will be in Rotterdam. Bulgaria and Ukraine rejoin after not submitting an entry in 2020, while San Marino, Hungary and Motrenegro are not taking part this year.
Australia will be be in the first semi-final, appearing fifth on the bill. The show will be opened by Lithuanian band The Roop with their song Discotheque which is one of the favorites tipped to do well this year. Sixteen artists will perform in the first semi-final, while 17 will take part in the second semi-final. San Marino’s Senhit will open the second show with her high-octane tune Adrenalina.
The final will add in six more countries, England, Spain, France, Great Britain and Italy, plus the host nation and previous winner – The Netherlands.
Many pop pundits had predicted Iceland would have triumphed if the 2020 outing had proceeded.  Daði Freyr is back for this year’s show – but maybe his new tune 10 Years is not quite a catchy as Think About Things, last year’s offering.
Nineties trip-hop band Hooverphonic are also returning to represent Belgium, their song for 2021 is called The Wrong Place. Cyprus is being represented by Elena Tsagrinou with her track El Diablo which sounds incredibly Gaga-ish. While the Czech Republic might be in the running with a great tune from Benny Cristo called Omaga – which sounds like he’s signing Oh My God!
Ireland might notch up their seventh win in the competition with Lesley Roy’s uplifting tune Maps. She was selected for the 2020 competition with her song Story of My Life.  Ireland has had a bad run in Eurovision since they stopped sending Jedward to represent them. They’ve failed to make it to the final five out of the last six years.
Another one to look out for is Moldova’s Natalia Gordienko with her song Sugar. We don’t think that nay chance of getting far, but the video has dancing ice-cream cones and we’re eager to see how that is realised as a live performance.
Sweden is sending Tusse with his anthemic song Voices. The singer came to Sweden in 2015 as a refugee from Congo-Kinshasa and was the winner of Swedish Idol in 2019.
Since Australia joined the competition in 2015 we’ve always made it through to the final and four of those times we’ve made it into the final top ten. Dami Im has been our most successful attempt to date, her 2016 entry Sound of Silence came second in the final tally. Our least successful attempt was in 2018 when Jessica Muaboy’s We Got Love placed twentieth.
The contest takes place on May 18 to May 22 in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, and will be broadcast in Australia on SBS.
OIP Staff
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