Australia has chosen its representative for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, crowning Sheldon Riley the winner of Eurovision – Australia Decides.
Sheldon won with his incredible track ‘Not The Same’, the song that earned him plenty of votes from both the jury and the Australian public.
Speaking to TV WEEK after his phenomenal win, Sheldon said the people he wanted to thank most were the fans voting at home.
“Thank you so much, I’m so honoured. It means the world to me, thank you,” he said through tears.
Australia has chosen its representative for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, crowning Sheldon Riley.
(Imahe: Supplied)
He’s been following Eurovision for years now and after experiencing painful bullying in his childhood, Sheldon is ready to share his authentic self with the world on the Eurovision stage.
“I’ve been working on this for years, I’ve watched every Australian [Eurovision] artist and taken so many notes on what they did well,” he told us.
He’s also had plenty of practice, having appeared on The Voice in 2018, but wants to take things to new heights when he heads to Italy.
“I’m so excited to show everyone in the world what I’ve got in my mind and what we’re going to do, it’s going to be huge. I’m so excited.”
And with his avant-garde style, mesmerising voice and unreal stage presence, we have a feeling Turin won’t know what hit it.
As for the past Eurovision winners he’d reach out to for advice given the chance, his first pick would be Duncan Laurence, who won for The Netherlands in 2019 with his song ‘Arcade’.
“I want to know how he moved forward and how he took his music into the pop world,” the Eurovision megafan told us.
“And how to make it so that the entire world can listen to his songs. I would be so honoured just to be in the room with him.”
But we have a feeling that Sheldon, with his signature ‘dark pop’ sound, will soon be the star that aspiring young artists will be clamouring to meet.
The Gold Coast local holds a special place in the hearts of many LGBTQIA+ artists and youth here in Australia and is ready to do them proud.
As for his win, it was a close competition. The title could have gone to any one of the 11 talented acts, including Australia’s 2017 Eurovision representative Isaiah Firebrace.
Powerhouse Jaguar Jonze received the highest jury score, with a whopping 51 points, followed closely by Sheldon himself with 50 points.
In fact, Jaguar, whose real name is Deena Lynch, looked like she would take out the top spot with her amazing performance of ‘Little Fires’, only to be overtaken by Voyager when the public votes started rolling in.
The progressive metal band from Perth lit up the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre with their song ‘Dreamer’, and for a moment it looked like they had secured the win.
But it was Sheldon who took the crown, with 50 points from the jury and 50 points from fans watching at home, taking over from last year’s winner Montaigne.
He will be heading to Italy in May, where he will compete in the 66th Eurovision song contest in Turin, following Italy’s win last year with the song ‘Zitti e buoni’ by Måneskin.
Sheldon joins a growing number of prolific Aussie artists who have represented Australia at the competition since 2015, including the likes of Dami Im and Kate Miller-Heidke.
As a superfan, Sheldon knows their past performances well and hopes to learn from his predecessors when he takes to the stage.
Last year pop sensation Montiagne represented the nation with hit ‘Technicolour’, and she returned on Saturday night to delight fans with a new track while the votes were counted.
The singer, whose real name is Jessica Cerro, performed her new single ‘Always Be You’, an upbeat earworm she created with David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame.
Other special performances at the live final included two numbers from former Eurovision stars Norwegian supergroup KEiiNO, who represented Norway in 2019.
The other 10 acts put on an amazing show on Saturday night, with performances including everything from pyrotechnics, to wild dance numbers and giant smoke machines.
And while G-Nat!on, Charley, Paulini and the rest may have missed out on representing Australia this year, they can always try again in 2023.
In the meantime, congratulations to Sheldon and we can’t wait to see him in Italy.
