Australia has chosen a gimmick song
On an early Saturday morning many European ESC fans have followed the Saturday night live show from the Gold Cost, Queensland, Australia. The Australian broadcaster SBS has put a lot of effort to produce a show of high quality. It was the first time ever that Australia has been hosting a national final for the Eurovision Song Contest.
On an early Saturday morning many European ESC fans have followed the Saturday night live show from the Gold Cost, Queensland, Australia. The Australian broadcaster SBS has put a lot of effort to produce a show of high quality. It was the first time ever that Australia has been hosting a national final for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Australia had its premiere in Vienna 2015 with Guy Sebastian and “Tonight Again” and made a fabulous 5th place. Australia has now been looking for the 5th Australian entry in Eurovision history.
There have been a lot of great elements in the show, the introduction, the postcards and the view backs in Eurovision history. The ambitious singers were highly enthusiastic and the majority of the songs were ok, but not outstanding to win the Eurovision Song Contest. All music genres have been seen: pop, rock, opera and some trash songs. Officially there were 700 entries send in for this competition.
There was a 50/50 split of jury votes and televotes. From the first result of the juries it became clear that Kate Miller-Heidke is going to be among the top artists. At the end the televotes confirmed that “Zero Gravity” received the highest votes both from the national jury as well as from the Australian public. The entry will definitely polarize.
The winning song “Zero Gravity” is a weird mix of opera and pop. Kate is looking like the Statue of Liberty standing on a very high pedestal surrounded by a flying person in black. In this combination the entry appears from outer space, not serious at all. With the entire show it had similarities to the scene of the great Australian movie “Priscialla – Queen of the desert”, while the drag queen is singing on the top of a driving bus in a silver outfit through the Australian outback.
Everything is a matter of taste. But was this the right decision to determine a song which definitely won’t be played in the radio at all? If the singer would be a drag queen it might have been a different story. This year it’s going to be tough with a qualification for the Grand Final. After all the solid Australian entries in the past years, this year might be a risky adventure for the Australian entry 2019. Let’s hope that the responsible people take their learnings and produce an even better show in 2020 with a better choice of songs.
This is the Australian contribution 2019: Kate Miller-Heidke with “Zero Gravity”
Last year`s Australian contribution: Jessica Mauboy with "We Got Love"
