AUSTRALIA 2024

   


Australia announced this year's Eurovision entry on Tuesday, and it's a familiar face: Electric Fields with "One Milkali (One Blood)":


About the Artist

Electric Fields - singer Zaachariaha Fielding and producer Michael Ross - formed in 2015, with both being alumni of X Factor Australia. Both are from South Australia - Ross from Adelaide, and Fielding from the rural indigenous community of Mimili. Their breakout came in 2019, when they finished 2nd in Australia's national final with "2000 and Whatever". Since then, the duo have become increasingly relevant in the Aussie music scene, performing at events as diverse as the AFL Grand Final and WorldPride Sydney.


Song Analysis

There's definitely some similarities with 2000 and Whatever here - the genre sticks to Electric Fields' wheelhouse, there's some use of indigenous words (from the Yankunytjatjara language in this case). But it does feel more Eurovision-y and polished, and I'm honestly not thrilled with that. We'll have to see how it looks live, though, since this music video is basically nonexistent, and Zaachariaha is such a dynamic stage performer.

Australia's History


Australia, long the biggest overseas fans of Eurovision, were invited as a one-off in 2015...then just kept getting invited. They've done incredibly well, nearly winning in 2016, placing top 10 in 6 of their 9 appearances, and winning three semifinals. It's worth noting, though, that they consistently struggle with the televote in the finals - confused casuals don't want to vote for them, evidently.


Well, here is my number one. (Not you, Helena.) By quite some margin, Australia's my top country from the 21st century of Eurovision, with all songs making the top half of my annual rankings and six making the top 10. "Sound of Silence" is probably a top-five ESC song all-time for me (certainly the best vocal performance), it just has the misfortune of being in 2016.

Prognosis

The reaction to this has been really negative, which surprised me a bit. So I'm guessing it's an NQ until we see the staging.

Current Rankings






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