Australia’s entrant for the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in May in Turin, Italy, has finally been announced.
Sheldon Riley will be representing Australia with his original song ‘Not the Same’ at this year’s event.
The singer broke down in tears after learning he beat 10 other acts to secure the coveted spot to represent Ausralia at the singing contest.
Congratulations Sheldon Riley! #Eurovision #AusDecides pic.twitter.com/5bZEQiPPni
— SBS Eurovision (@SBSEurovision) February 26, 2022
11 acts performed at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre for SBS’ Eurovision – Australia Decides competition on Saturday night.
The finalists for this year were duo Isaiah Firebrace and Evie Irie with ‘When I’m With You’, girl group G-NAT!ON with ‘Bite Me’, Andrew Lambrou with ‘Electrify’, Jaguar Jonze with ‘Little Fires’, Charley with ‘I Suck at Being Lonely’, Seann Miley Moore with ‘My Body’, Voyager with ‘Dreamer’, Jude York with ‘I Won’t Need to Dream’, Sheldon Riley with ‘Not the Same’, Paulini with ‘We Are One’ and TikTok Wildcard Erica Padilla with ‘To the Bottom’.
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After the announcement of the winner, fans took to Twitter to congratulate Australia’s 2022 Eurovision entrant.
https://twitter.com/HerstonTeddy/status/1497690384679718913?s=20&t=tH35_vYdeWq-ya4MYF_L6A
Wow Australia🇦🇺 WOW! 👏👏👏
I was deeply moved by Sheldon Riley‘s performance!😭🥇😭
What an emotional morning and WHAT A FANTASTIC SHOW! 🎉🕺🎉 You hold that winning song in your hands this year. Good luck!🙏🍀🤞🥰#australiadecides 🇦🇺#Eurovision2022
pic.twitter.com/B7l4U9l0Eq— Wolfgang #TeamESC 💕 🇨🇭🇫🇷🇱🇹 (@Wolfgan36614313) February 26, 2022
Sheldon Riley ‘Not The Same’
• Won from running order 6th breaking winning streak 9th position in 19/20
• 2nd artist in a row to represent Aus with Filipino heritage 🇵🇭
• 1st Aus Eurovision entry written solely by artist
• 1st AD winner to come 2nd in jury and televote— Kyriakos Tsinivits (@KyriakoTsin) February 26, 2022
https://twitter.com/kardy_wuhuhu/status/1497532681856421889?s=20&t=tH35_vYdeWq-ya4MYF_L6A
Congratulations to @SheldRiley
The honour is all ours. #Eurovision #Ausdecides pic.twitter.com/vYRQUK8FxU— SBS Eurovision (@SBSEurovision) February 26, 2022
The popular contest made its return last year after a hiatus in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aussie entrant Montaigne was unable to attend in person after SBS decided not to send a delegation to the event amid the pandemic. As a result, the ARIA award-winner, real name Jassica Cerro, had to prerecord her performance of ‘Technicolour’, and was knocked out of the competition before the grand final.
Last year marked the first year Australia didn’t make the finale since we were inducted into the competition in 2015.
Italy’s entry, rock band Makeskin, won after scoring 524 points in the grand finale, earning hosting rights for their country.
The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest will be running from May 11 to May 14.
Check out Sheldon Riley’s performance of ‘Not the Same’ during Eurovision – Australia Decides 2022 here:
