Delta Goodrem representing Australia in the Eurovision

That song was perfect for the era though, with all the Europop floating around!

Read the thread. This gets asked every year and the answer doesn't change!

We used to send established pop stars - Sandie Shaw, Cliff Richard, Lulu but that seems to have stopped.

Since when is Australia part of Europe ? Why are they there ? Does anyone know.

@LBFseBrom is about being a member of the EBU, not actually in Europe. Australia loves Eurovision because so many people there have European backgrounds. I believe they were invited to take part and have been doing so since 2015.

@AgnesX it’s part of their participation agreement that they won’t host if they win (due to time zone causing broadcast difficulties, cost for delegates to attend etc). They are also an associate of the EBU not an actual member and only members can host. It’s not definitive who would host in their behalf, could be 1 of the big 4 (UK, Germany, Italy France) the runner up country the year they win or a private agreement with another participant nation.

I would say the reason big names at the peak of their careers don't do Eurovision is precisely because being a big name at the peak of your career is no guarantee of winning. Instead they risk reputational damage or becoming a laughing stock at home due to being beaten by something a lot of people would never consider listening to.

Delta is unlikely to win though I think she'll do well. Does it give her massive coverage in very many countries? Yes. Is she likely to damage her career or become a laughing stock? No because on the whole Australia is viewed favourably in Eurovision and her career trajectory is probably on the decline. She has loyal fans, but she's not a Sam Ryder with a massive social media following looking to break into the mainstream. She's a great performer.

No, we have often had stars doing the performance; think Cliff Richard, Lulu, Sandi Shaw, Bonnie Tyler, Engelbert Humperdinck. Blue.

Other countries too have their well known performers in the Eurovision, Abba were big in Sweden when they won and attained international stardom.

It's the song that is written by someone unknown.

PS: Since when has Australia been in Europe?

That made me chortle.

I’d rather have Delta than the abomination that is the UK entry this year.

Delta Goodrem, singer/actor. She was on Neighbours in 2002.

Out of curiosity why wouldn't/couldn't it be held in Aus (apart from being on the other side of the planet that is)?

It's happened 7 times before where the previous year's winner (or one of the previous year's winners, in the case of 1970) didn't host the following year - and 5 of those times were picked up by the UK to host.

It's a fair basic ideal to have the last year's winner host this year; but there are several scenarios in which it just won't ever be practical:

1. Australia - too far away for the vast majority, plus very different time zone
2. Iceland, San Marino, Monaco and other very small/low-population countries - insufficient infrastructure for all of the participants and visitors
3. Unstable countries e.g. in the middle of a war (regardless of whether or not they are generally welcomed to participate)
4. Very poor countries who just couldn't ever hope to afford it

Sandy Shaw, the first UK winner, had had number one success before she did Eurovision.

Many countries have sent big name singers from their own country. She looks to be having a fantastic time, and has been getting into the spirit of it. Australians aren't going to care if she comes last. She's a cancer survivor, then had to learn to speak and sing again in 2018 after surgery left her tongue paralysed. A nil point at eurovision isn't going to slow her down!

@Dogladyloveswine havent read the full thread so apologies if someone already pointed this out but it was actually just front man Justin Hawkins from the Darkness who entered a song into our national selection, back when it was a televised popular vote rather than behind the scenes exec choice. He lost out to Scooch! (I’m a Eurovision nerd)

Growing up in the 70s/80s, lots of families in this country watched it in the same way they watched Miss World, and there wasn't a lot else to watch. It was never cool, and as a young adult it was barely on my radar and was just seen as cheesy with music that no credible British artist would perform in. In more recent years it has become increasingly camp and over the top, and lots of people have embraced that and have parties, so it is definitely more popular than it was 30-40 years ago, particularly amongst young people.

Katrina and the waves were an existing group before representing Great Britain and winning in 1997

There is actually another song contest, albeit led by Russia because of being blocked from Eurovision. They played some clips in a news report on the BBC last year. It sounded equally interesting and it's a shame we can't watch that one too:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervision_Song_Contest

You may well be right. I wonder where the future of the contest will go from there, though? I still remember the immense sigh of collective relief last year when Austria pipped it at the very last moment.

Would it be safe/politically expedient to host it in Tel Aviv? If not, who would partner with them... and would their cards then be marked by the dissenters? Would people who didn't boycott it this time because of Israel's inclusion as a competitor maybe have a change of heart next year if they were actually hosting it?

If so, I wonder if there will be a redrawing of the rules to make it strictly for countries from actual Europe (sorry, Oz), or a 'side version' that looks very like the main one and takes over - in the same way as when somebody is an arse on a WhatsApp group, they don't get booted out; everybody else just sets up a new group without them in it!

It wouldn't be held in Oz. A European country would be nominated to host instead. The most obvious choice is us, but unlikely since we just did it for Ukraine in 2023.

It will be interesting to see how things progress with the new Asian version of the contest - oddly enough also organised by the EBU and slated to be called 'Eurovision Asia' rather than the much more obvious 'Asiavision'. The first one takes place later this year.

I did hear that there are suggestions Israel could 'move' to the Asian contest; but then again, geographically, you could probably argue that Australia would be more at home there, even though they culturally share far more with Europe.

I'm presuming that they'll use English as the official language, same as with Eurovision - which will be a bit weird, considering that it isn't a native language of any of the participants.

Cliff Richard, Sandie Shaw, Lulu, Olivia Newton-John. All big names before they did Eurovision.

We've often entered already famous acts!!

In the 90s, Michael Ball, Sonia, Katrina and the waves

In the noughties
Scooch
Various pop idol contestants who'd got record deals

In the 2010s
Blue
Englebert Humperdink!
Bonnie Tyler

In 2024 it was Olly Alexander!

As people have said, its the song and not the artist.

Israel will win so I don’t think it matters who else performs.