Eurovision has seen Aussie-born contenders many time
There are plenty of Australians and Europeans who remain bemused and even outraged that we have been contestants at the Eurovision Song Contest for almost a decade.
But singers from Down Under have been gracing the stage of this kitsch cultural Olympics for 50 years.
Back in 1974, Olivia Newton-John, representing her birth country of the UK, finished fourth behind future Swedish pop superstars
ABBA.
Eurovision legend Johnny Logan, born in Frankston, won the contest twice for Ireland in 1980 and 1987.
Gina G hit the top of the UK charts with Ooh Aah … Just A Little Bit in 1996, the song that landed her in eighth place at the 1996 contest representing the UK.
Sydney singer-songwriter Andrew Lambrou was tapped to sing for Cyprus at Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool, finishing a credible 12th in the grand final.
So 17-year-old Silia Kapsis, from Sydney’s eastern suburbs, held out little hope that the same Mediterranean island nation would engage another Aussie to compete for it this year.
But it did; thanks to Instagram.
Kapsis, who has been pursuing a career as a dancer, singer and television presenter since her first dance lesson at just four, started following
Greek songwriter
Dimitris
Kontopoulos.
The successful producer has composed 13
Eurovision song entries since 2007 and co-wrote Liar, which has landed
Kapsis a muchcoveted spot among this year’s
26 grand finalists who will sing for the Eurovision crown in
Malmo, Sweden, this weekend.
Kapsis, whose singer father Giorgos is of Cypriot heritage, and whose former dancer now lawyer mum Rebecca is
Greek, was shocked when Kontopoulos reached out to her mother about them working together.
“They found me on Instagram. I had followed Dimitris, the producer of my song, because he is super talented and he’s Greek and my mum loves him, my grandparents love him,” she said.
“He reached out to my mum, because we go to
Greece often, and said there was a chance I could represent the country at Eurovision and we were like ‘Wow’. So we went back there and recorded the song and mum and me, we were 50/50 about the chances but we really had no clue.” Kontopoulos, who has a powerful network of Eurovision contacts, lobbied on behalf of the talented teen to the Cypriot delegation, but still Kapsis thought she might have to wait for a few more years before her shot at performing on one of the world’s biggest music stages.
“An Australian went last year so I didn’t think Cyprus would pick another Aussie so soon, but they did. Funnily enough, Andrew (Lambrou) and I live five minutes away from each other in Sydney; he’s like my big brother and he’s given me so much advice.”
Lambrou’s first-hand experience of the unique Eurovision experience – two weeks of daily rehearsals, interviews and performances at official parties to court fan votes – would be invaluable. The contest is an exhausting campaign for just three minutes of singing on the arena stage.
Some in the Eurovision fan and critic community mistakenly assumed her youth equalled a lack of experience. As she proved with her flawless performance of Liar at the first semi-final earlier this week, this pocket rocket knows what she’s doing.
“Now, which is good, everyone is ‘Oh, it’s great she’s so young’. But at the start people were saying they thought I might be inexperienced, that because I am young, I might have stage fright, whatever,” she said.
“But I’ve been doing this since I was four years old. It’s in me, I’ve got it, I’m in control. They’re now realising I’m a professional.”
Kapsis is a triple threat. She is in the Nickelodeon stable as a presenter for Nick News.
She has been writing her own works since she was 12 and released four singles in the past two years. But Liar is by far her biggest performer on streaming and social media platforms, with more than five million plays. Her strongest skill may be dancing as evidenced by her nextlevel moves on the stage in Malmo.
A desire to perform at Eurovision was seeded when she watched Cyprus singer and dancer Eleni Foureira almost win the 2018 contest in Lisbon, but Kapsis also has her sights on making it in the US. Inspired by the dances in her favourite music videos, Kapsis and her mother have been making regular trips to Los Angeles to train with some of America’s most influential choreographers. “I’ve been going to LA since I was 10, 11 for training; everything happens in LA.
The opportunities there are crazy and I’d only been there for two weeks and got offered jobs but I couldn’t do them because I don’t have a visa yet. America is just a whole different ball game.”
The teen’s style of dancing, finely honed during her LA training sessions and countless hours of practise, is called popping.
And it stands out on the Malmo stage against a strong field of female pop artists incorporating high-energy choreography into their three minute shot at Eurovision glory.
“It's more hip-hop style; it looks like you’re electrocuting yourself,” she said, laughing.
“I don’t think anyone has tried that kind of style there before.”
Nor will they have had to block out time to devote to HSC studies which
Kapsis is juggling in between setting her sights on becoming
Australia’s hottest new music export.
Watch the
Eurovision final live on Sunday from 5am on
SBS and SBS on demand, and again at 7.30pm
AEST