Gather ’round, friends! It’s the campest, most joyous time of year: the Eurovision Song Contest 2024!
Once again, Australia will throw its Akubra into the ring — inexplicably — to battle it out against the cheesiest musicians Europe has to offer to see who will emerge as the winner.
In the lead-up to the event, PEDESTRIAN.TV chatted to beloved Aussie singer Courtney Act who has been signed by broadcaster SBS as its backstage reporter, wading into the competition’s iconic cloud of blue eyeshadow in search of the story from the performers representing 37 competing countries.
“I’ve never been to Eurovision before, so I feel like I’m like the excited new girl on the team,” Courtney told PTV.
“I am looking forward to that first time experience, but also because I am doing interviews and things like that I’m going to be more amongst it and getting to watch all the performances.”
The glittery event marks the reunion of Courtney with her former Australia Decides stage-mates Electric Fields, and her close mate, Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst.
Courtney Act and Conchita Wurst. (Credit: Instagram)
Conchita reached international fame for winning Eurovision in 2014 with the song “Rise Like a Phoenix”.
Peep the gorg performance below:
Courtney met vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and keyboard player Michael Ross, the duo who make up Electric Fields, in the 2019 edition of Australia Decides.
“Conchita always shows me a good time, anywhere in the world, and if Zaachariaha and Michael aren’t busy focusing on the performance, hopefully we can have some nice lunches and some nice dinners in Sweden,” Courtney says.
“Maybe I’ve been to Sweden a couple of times, but I’ve really only ever seen, you know, airport, hotel, venue, hotel, airport,” she says. “So, I am looking forward to being in Malmö for 10 days, having days off and being able to go out and do things.”
Electric Fields in all their glory! (Credit: SBS)
In 2019, both lost out to Aussie singer Kate Miller-Heidke, who represented Australia at Eurovision that year.
“At Australia Decides, where Australia decided and it wasn’t on either of us, which is fine,” Courtney says, laughing. “But now we are both going to be in Malmö together, them on stage and me cheering from the sidelines.”
The 42-year-old Brisbane-born drag performer shared that she’s been obsessed with Eurovision since she was a kid so this is a ‘yuge dream come true for her.
“It first came into my consciousness when I was growing up, hearing about Eurovision, the colour and the camp and the excitement,” Courtney says.
“I remember when we were singing and dancing and [at] acting school where we would be on stage, wearing camp costumes and doing camp performances,” Courtney adds.
“Eurovision has those performances where there’s something so wrong that it’s right, and they’re in on that. And there is a lot of really serious, really good pop music as well.”
Although Australia’s involvement in Eurovision has raised eyebrows, the fact of the matter is that we bloody kill it in the comp!
In five of our eight years competing, we’ve ended up in the top 10 because “we come from a faraway land and we love overseas things and we work really hard,” Courtney says.
“We love Eurovision, we love that pop sensibility,” Courtney adds. “We love to put on a show and I know Electric Fields are such wonderful performers.”
As always, competition is fierce at Eurovision, and from the field of 37 countries there are already favourites emerging in the race, including Bambie Thug (Ireland), Gåte (Norway), Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil (Ukraine) and Nebulossa (Spain).
There is also, in a curious twist, another Australian performing: 17-year-old Sydney-born singer and dancer Silia Kapsis, who will be representing Cyprus.
As a former Eurovision contender herself – Courtney’s Australia Decides song, “Fight for Love”, placed fourth in that competition – she says she sees a future for herself singing on the Eurovision stage.
“I do, absolutely,” she says. “Think of this as reconnaissance. I’m going into the Eurovision arena to watch it and I am, only in my own mind, going to take notes and like see what it’s all about, see how it works so that when I get there in the future, I will be better acclimatised to represent Australia.”
The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will air on SBS, hosted by music buff Myf Warhurst and comedian Joel Creasey, between May 8 and May 12 so clear your schedule for abject musical mayhem!
