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’ย 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’.
Love Pop?
Get the latest Pop news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
After the announcement of the winner, fans took to Twitter to congratulate Australia’s 2022 Eurovision entrant.
Eurovision Australia Decides was fantastic! @SBSEurovision
Congratulations to @SheldRiley who will represent Australia at @Eurovision 2022 in Italy. ๐ฎ๐น#ausdecides pic.twitter.com/UjP4wuwnF4
— Herston Teddy (@HerstonTeddy) February 26, 2022
Wow Australia๐ฆ๐บ WOW! ๐๐๐
I was deeply moved by Sheldon Rileyโs performance!๐ญ๐ฅ๐ญ
What an emotional morning and WHAT A FANTASTIC SHOW! ๐๐บ๐ You hold that winning song in your hands this year. Good luck!๐๐๐ค๐ฅฐ#australiadecides ๐ฆ๐บ#Eurovision2022
pic.twitter.com/B7l4U9l0Eq— Wolfgang #TeamESC ๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ซ๐ท๐ฑ๐น (@Wolfgan36614313) February 26, 2022
Sheldon Riley โNot The Sameโ
โข Won from running order 6th breaking winning streak 9th position in 19/20
โข 2nd artist in a row to represent Aus with Filipino heritage ๐ต๐ญ
โข 1st Aus Eurovision entry written solely by artist
โข 1st AD winner to come 2nd in jury and televote— Kyriakos Tsinivits ๐ฒ (@KyriakoTsin) February 26, 2022
SHELDON RILEY is SUCH an icon โค๏ธโจ #AusDecides pic.twitter.com/AMqDIFIIW6
— ๐บ๐ฐ๐๐ณ๐ โจ๐โค๏ธ (@kardy_wuhuhu) February 26, 2022
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:
