Could Guy be our Eurovision star?
KYLIE has ruled herself out, Jessica Mauboy could do it again, Megan Washington wants to do it but the smart money is on Guy Sebastian to be announced today as Australia’s entrant to the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest.
SBS will reveal the artist and song to represent Australia at the world’s most prized music competition at the Sydney Opera House this morning.
Minogue was a strong contender among fans, who organised a petition campaign on her behalf, and organisers with SBS managing director Michael Ebeid joking that she would be our best bet to gain a boost in votes from the UK.
But the 46-year-old pop superstar is just a tad busy on her own world tour to be able to devote the weeks of rehearsals required for a Eurovision performance.
“That’s not going to happen,” Minogue said.
“It’s amazing how everyone is getting behind it and I’m very touched they all thought I could do it. I think it’ll be amazing to have someone else do it and I’ll be supporting them 100%,” she said.
“It’s such a huge event. I think Australia will be in with a shot of doing really well. We had prawns on bicycles at he Olympics I’m sure we can do something as spectacular as that for Eurovision.”
Having represented us at last year’s event in Copenhagen with Sea Of Flags, Mauboy seemed to firm in the running because of her experience and the fact she is currently writing new songs for her next album.
Washington made herself available via social media, announcing her desire to represent her country with ‘JUST LET ME DO EUROVISION OK’
She would be an extremely viable choice considering she can pull off a grand Broadway-style performance, as demonstrated when she was about the only great moment at the plagued 2010 ARIA Awards.
It is believed representatives for Kate Miller-Heidke were approached to gauge her desire to take on the challenge.
The prodigiously talented pop star who is currently celebrating the success of her score and performance in new opera production The Rabbits would be the perfect candidate for Eurovision.
But it is believed her independent status ruled her out as SBS required the artist or their representatives to contribute to costs associated with travelling and performing in Vienna.
Organisers met with the bosses of the four major labels based in Australia — Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner — to discuss the availability of their artists.
Publishers were also sounded out to find the perfect song for the contest.
Former The Voice winners Karise Eden and Anja Nissen are believed to have been considered in the early stages of casting.
But the short odds remain on Sebastian, who was spotted meeting with his manager Titus Day and SBS bosses at the headquarters of his label Sony just days after the announcement Australia would be going to Eurovision.
Sebastian is not only adept at big event gigs — a prerequisite for the drama demanded by the multi-million dollar Eurovision production — but he has just finished his national tour and always has new songs in his vault.
He would also have the required backing of Sony who would be keen to use the performance to launch his career in Europe.