Highlights
- Eurovision – Australia Decides TikTok Wildcard winner Erica Padilla hopes to empower people through her original song in the upcoming contest.
- TikTok has been a platform for artists who want to grow their audience and share their talent.
- Three talented Filipino artists will be part of the Eurovision- Australia Decides 2022 line up chasing Eurovision glory in Italy.
With only a few weeks before Eurovision-Australia Decides, 20-year-old Erica Padilla sat down in SBS Filipino’s Love Down Under segment to talk about her life growing up as a Filipino migrant, her flourishing relationship and music career, and her journey towards Eurovision 2022.
Listen to the podcast:
LISTEN TO
‘I want to encourage people to follow their dreams’: Eurovision TikTok Wildcard winner Erica Padilla hopes to empower through her song entry
SBS Filipino
19:39
As a member of an underrepresented community, Ms Padilla hopes to give voice to the powerless through her original song that is set to be performed for the first time in public on the 26th of February.
“I think what sets me apart from other people performing in the competition is that I’m doing a very soulful RnB song and the message behind my song is empowerment. I want to encourage people to follow their dreams or conquer their own kind of demons.”
Ms Padilla admits that she did not expect to be one of the finalists, citing the contest is beyond her reach as an artist.
“I had already been watching Eurovision with my family beforehand. I thought that it was very out of reach for me. I thought it was a phenomenal show, but I never imagined myself getting close to doing it.”
When she saw that the contest was doing a TikTok wildcard, Ms Padilla says she did not let the opportunity pass.
Padilla family Source: Erica Padilla
“I saw that they were doing a TikTok wildcard. It’s something that’s really down my alley, I’m a TikToker, I really like Eurovision and I’m a songwriter. I think that I could really have a shot at this.”
TikTok, a platform for emerging artists and her ticket to Eurovision
Nowadays, TikTok is the best platform for an artist who wants to grow their audience and share their talent, shares Ms Padilla who have managed to grow her followers to 1.3 million.
“I know that TikTok was a big platform and I just wanted to try my luck on it. I just graduated from high school when I started it and I was trying to think of a way to continue to sing, to continue to make a living especially when COVID hit all you can do is perform online.”
But more than just hitting a million followers, Ms Padilla says she is overwhelmed by the fact that TikTok would pave the way for her to enter such a prestigious contest.
"I started to post my videos as soon as the submission opened. I gave it a crack and tagged all my video posts to Eurovision. The ones that got their attention were videos of me with Lucas (my partner) singing the car."
She adds that she was in disbelief when she received the call from Eurovision-Australia Decides saying she got in as the 11th finalist of the competition.
Erica Padilla singing on TikTok Source: Erica Padilla
"It was mindblowing when they rang me and said I'm the TikTok wildcard. I can't believe we got that kind of reaction from making those videos because one of them reached 26 million views."
Eurovision TikTok Wildcard winner Erica Padilla hopes to empower the people through her original song in the upcoming Eurovision 2022-Australia decides contest. Source: Erica Padilla
Not just 1, but 3 Filipino artists are participating in Eurovision-Australia Decides 2022
Three equally-talented Filipino artists will take the stage on the Gold Coast namely: Sheldon Riley, Seann Miley Moore and Erica Padilla.
Ms Padilla shares she is thrilled to be sharing the stage with all the other contestants, but above all, she is proud to represent the Filipino community in Australia.
Tune into SBS on 26 February at 8.30pm AEDT to see Eurovision–Australia Decides and cast your vote. Australia’s 2022 Eurovision artist will be revealed during the show.
Three equally talented Filipino artists will take the stage on the Gold Coast namely: Sheldon Riley, Sean Miley Moore and Erica Padilla Source: SBS FILIPINO
