Eurovision: Australia Decides: From 700 to 10 songs

“There have always been a number of artists interested to be at Eurovision whenever we have approached the majors,” producer Paul Clarke explains.

“In the year of Dami I really wanted a Sia song, but we didn’t quite get it, so DNA wrote a song in that style which was Sound of Silence. It was such a great song to get and I won the Marcel Bezençon Award award for Best Song.”

DNA Songs, founded by Anthony Egizii and David Musumec, also penned entries for Isaiah Firebrace & Jessica Mauboy.

But this Saturday 10 new songwriting teams & artists will compete to represent Australia in Tel Aviv in May in a national final Australia Decides that has Clarke excited and nervous.

Some 700 songs were submitted to an online portal which 3 people culled to settle on the 10 songs left standing.

“There were 25 from a lady in Kazakhstan who seemed to write it with the same melody in mind, which sounded like it came from The Conjuring!” Clarke recalls.

“But the great thing was you could just hear the show come together. Kate Miller-Heidke’s song was ‘Wow!’ To land a song like that between Opera and Eurodance is a fine tightrope to walk, but she did it. After we got Electric Fields we thought we needed a big ballad, and we found Alfie’s song. So the show started to take shape.”

Producers also set about matching some songs with established artists, but admit there was initially a cautious response from some in the music industry.

“There was a bit of cynicism to begin with about whether it would be any good. But when we started talking about the songs and the artists involved, you could just feel the industry really engage with it.”

“Nobody is going to sing it as well as the songwriter.”

There are now 5 labels involved through the event including Sony, Warners, Mushroom & Universal.

“We got a cracker song from 16 year old Leea Nanos and we approached a few different people to sing it until we thought ‘Nobody is going to sing it as well as the songwriter.’

“I thought it was one of the best things I’d heard since Sound of Silence.

“It was SBS that discovered Silverchair via a competition 20 years ago, so this has a nice echo to that.”

Clarke says a couple of standout entries made the selection of the songs as much a choice of genre diversity as quality of song.

Hear all 10 songs here.

“Eurovision responds to what I hasn’t seen before or experienced before. Electric Fields and Kate Miller-Heidke are songs Eurovision will respond to instantly because they haven’t had that in the past.

“But I think they will really love Aydan. I think he will get a teen audience, Sheppard will get a mainstream audience, it debuted on the iTunes charts at #9. And I don’t know an Aussie mum that won’t vote for Mark Vincent.”

The jury, who will comprise 50% of the scoring consists of Christer Björkman, producer for Eurovision & Melodifestival; Fifa Riccobono, former CEO of Alberts; Milly Petriella, Artist Service director of APRA; Josh Martin, Commissioning Editor, Entertainment SBS; and Paul Clarke, Head of Australian Eurovision Delegation.

The other 50% from the public begins with voting from 1am AEDT Saturday by visiting SBS On Demand to see Friday’s Dress Rehearsal performances. This is to aid a fairness level given voting will close 5 minutes after the last performer on Saturday night. The Gold Coast staging will include theatre troupes, dancers, acrobatics and drummers with Clarke currently juggling the running order.

“Where do you put an Olympic pop singer like Tania Doko compared to Ella Hooper? Her song is kind of a reference to Divinyls, classic female rock.”

“Pop doesn’t often get celebrated in Australia.”

Dami Im will perform as an interval act and a winner will be announced at the end of the show.

“I don’t remember a show on Australian television with a competition about music that’s had a better cast and soundtrack,” Clarke continues.

“Pop doesn’t often get celebrated in Australia. We tend to go for Rock, but we have a great history of Pop.

“You have an idea of who you think will do well with the Jury or the audience, but in truth nobody knows! One thing we can promise is drama!

“I’m slightly terrified and fascinated to see what Australia decides!”

To register an SMS vote, voters must text the song number (as promoted in program) of their favourite Act to 1991 3773. Premium SMS must be enabled to vote. Voting costs $0.55 per vote and the maximum number of votes is 20 per mobile phone provider. By casting a valid vote for Eurovision – Australia Decides voters will automatically be entered into the “Eurovision – Australia Decides – Win the Ultimate Trip to the Gold Coast!” competition.

SBS Saturday February 9 (Live in all states):

NSW/VIC/TAS/ACT 8:30pm – 11:00pm AEDT
QLD 7:30pm – 10:00pm AEST
SA 8:00pm – 10:30pm ACDT
WA 5:30pm – 8:00pm AWST
NT 7:00pm – 9:30pm ACST