As all of the national Eurovision heads of delegation from around the world meet today in Stockholm, it seems Australia has already become an odds-on favourite with betting agencies around the world seeing our entry averaging in a third place position.
Why is this so exciting?
Last year, Guy Sebastian was given a one-off wildcard entry which saw him go straight through to the grand final of the contest – where he finished in a very highly ranked position – fifth place.
So it’s clear the European nations have taken kindly to us Antipodeans, but this year our artist Dami Im will have to work extra hard to get us through to the grand final as there’s no special fast-track to the grand final – we’ll have to earn our place there.
Following Friday’s release of her official Eurovision single, ‘Sound of Silence’ it’s clear that this should be no problem for our fabulous Dami.
The epic ballad is as catchy as can be and as Dami herself says, “the first time I heard Sound of Silence I knew it was the perfect song for me to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest."
“I can’t wait to perform it live in Stockholm and connect with a whole new audience.”
It seems the fans can’t wait either, with fan site aggregating the odds from various online betting agencies around the world to see Australia placed third, just behind Russia with last year’s winner (this year’s host country) odds-on favourite to take out the stop spot once again.
Russia’s ‘You are the Only One’ by Sergey Lazarev, which came in second, is one banger of a dance tune featuring lyrics like ‘Thunder and lighting, it’s getting exciting!’
Australia's odds for Eurovision 2016 are looking good! (Source: eurovisionworld.com) Source: Eurovisionworld.com
In top spot is 17 year old Frans from Sweden who claimed victory at that country’s Eurovision talent hunt contest, known as Melodifestivalen over the weekend. The looks like he could be the missing member of One Direction with vocals that sound straight out of Mumford and Sons. Check out his arty and brooding official video.
Tailing at last place on the betting sites is poor San Marino who deserve special mention with this entry by Serhat – actually a Turkish singer who sports an unusual monocle look in this rather – um, sensuous - video directed by Manfred T Mugler aka fashion designer Thierry Mugler. It really needs to be watched to be appreciated in all its artistic beauty:
Australian fans seem to favour Dami’s odds with this belter of a song too, casting their votes on the SBS Eurovision site overwhelmingly in favour of ‘Sound of Silence’ as a competition winner:
Australia’s prime position on the international betting board though sees us miles ahead of Poland, who are surprisingly ranked back in 13th with their entry ‘Colo[u]r of your life’ by Michal Szpak, in spite of their song video being overwhelmingly the most popular on the official . A lot of this could be to do with Szpak’s unique appearance – his impressive curly-haired mane puts Kenny G to shame!
Dami Im song poll Source: SBS
With ‘Sound of Silence’ accruing over 380,000 views on the official Eurovision YouTube page just since its Friday debut soaring well above the majority of the other countries entries, it’s clear that Europe’s intrigue with their new Southern Hemisphere competitors shows no sign of waning. Here’s hoping the votes favour us for a grand final finish!
