Douze points for Julia Zemiro

It’s a bit of a dream come true for Julia Zemiro. After 6 years of presenting the Eurovision Song Contest for SBS, she will finally see Australia compete.

In an historic first the European Broadcasting Union has invited Australia to appear as a guest nation for the 60th anniversary event in Vienna, Austria.

Zemiro, who co-presents for SBS with Sam Pang, is hoping Guy Sebastian’s “Tonight Again” will stand-out from an abundance of ballads this year. According to the bookies it is ranked 3rd favourite from 40 songs.

“There are a lot of ballads in the mix. It seems that 70% of the countries have put in a slow song. Which is fine, but it doesn’t make for a lot of variety. Luckily Guy goes straight to the Final and his song is upbeat so it will be really important the night is dotted with some dance songs. Otherwise the atmosphere in the room never gets above ‘get-out-of-your-chair’ level,” she says.

“Il Volo from Italy has a ballad. It’s a pretty great song, but you won’t be dancing to it. Belgium has a gorgeous boy who’s song has shades of Lorde in it, and will get people dancing. And one of the unofficial favourites is Sweden’s ‘Heroes’, but he copped a bit of flak for some homophobic statements.

“Finland has put in a punk rock group with men over 4 who all have learning disabilities.

“The song is not even 2 minutes and I think it will go off in the room. It will be like when (heavy metal band) Lordi was there. We’d not seen it before.

“So what I bloody love about this competition is, it doesn’t matter how old you are, where you come from if you have disabilities, or lipstick in a beard -everyone is welcome. Including Lordi with their crazy masks and heavy metal.”

But that’s Eurovision and its inherent unpredictability.

“The whole point of this place is no matter how wacky you are or how serious you might be, there have been some pretty strange and interesting people over the years. That’s where they should be: up on that stage, because they represent everyone,” she continues.

“United Kingdom has put in a wacky song. I love swing but the lyrics are a little bit twee.”

“Finally something I can dance to!”

If Australia should happen to win we won’t get to stage an event in here in 2016, but in Europe with a joint European broadcaster.

Sebastian has recently been performing his song to Euro-tragics as part of a familiarisation process for both singer and audience.

“He’s been doing a few pre-shows in Amsterdam and London,” Zemiro explains.

“For someone like him who doesn’t know much about what it entails you can go ‘Ok this is the vibe.’

“So now people know the words and they’ve been singing with him. That’s a real boost in confidence.

“The song is so catchy people will think ‘Finally something I can dance to!’ It should raise the temperature of the room which is what you need.

“He’s had quite a bit of control over how it’s going to look and sound, so he’ll be putting forward something he’s really happy to do with a song that he’s written. The fact that audiences in London at the Eurovision show knew the words was fabulous.

“Another reason why he’s a really good choice is his experience. There was a great article in the paper where he said ‘I see now why they’ve chosen me,’ because if you chose someone really young and new it would be overwhelming.”

Sebastian will only appear in the Final on Sunday May 24, as one of 7 acts to automatically qualify. Australian viewers are encouraged to vote -in early morning Live broadcasts only- but cannot vote for our Guy.

“Through the semi-finals we’ll be reminding people they can vote, and I will be encouraging people in press (interviews) to get up early or do an all-nighter and vote. It’s the only chance you will ever have. We know that the hard-core fans will. But some people may decide to watch it at night because that’s when they have their parties,” she continues.

“The kind of people who organise Oscar parties are the ones who are all over it.”

“‘I think she’s the obvious choice!”

On Monday SBS will announce the ambassador who will present Australian jury votes to an audience of more than 180 million viewers. Fans play drinking games based around these hosts alone.

Zemiro is joining a growing call for SBS to anoint Lee Lin Chin for the coveted -albeit brief- role.

“I didn’t know about Guy until 2 days before and I’ve got no idea what’s happening with that. She seems like an obvious choice, but who knows? They might pick someone new or completely left-field.

“But I think she’s the obvious choice!”

Eurovision Song Contest
Semi Final One: Live 5am AEST Wednesday May 20
Semi Final Two: Live 5am AEST Friday May 22
Final: Live 5am AEST Sunday May 24

Eurovision entries are being added to TV Tonight’s Video section.