The evening of April 6, 1974, an Australian story Olivia Newton-John she ascended the stairs from the backstage area of England’s Brighton Dome in a pale blue silk and taffeta gown, and walked onto the elaborate circular dais stage, draped in soft curves and bright blues, pinks and golds. Hey, it was the 1970s.
Not quite an Australian icon yet, the 25-year-old singer born in Cambridge, Melbourne was representing England, singing. Long Life Love. He was second in the last row, on stage just half an hour before ABBA took the same steps, to play. Waterloo and changed the fate of Eurovision, and their careers, in a blinding moment.
In less than two weeks, some 1250 kilometers and 52 years from Newton-John’s brush with Eurovision – he took fourth place – another Australian singer, Delta Goodremhe will go to a highly developed platform and try to recreate the magic sparks that wrote Newton-John, ABBACeline Dion, Damien meJulio Iglesias, Katrina and the Waves and Maneskin in cultural history books.
What unites the two women is a unique and gentle friendship, which stems from a chance meeting, parallel cancer journeys, an unexpected and lasting friendship and Goodrem’s performance as Newton-John in the biological industry. Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to Youwith the blessing of Newton-John.
The third element in Goodrem’s journey from Australia to the 70th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, is fellow alumnus Celine Dion, for whom Goodrem wrote (along with Kristian Lundin and Savan Kotecha) the song. eyes to me, which was recorded by Dion for her 2007 album Taking Chances.
When he takes to the Eurovision stage, the presence of those two women – whom he calls “my friend” (Dion) and “my mentor” (Newton-John) – will be felt strongly, Goodrem says. “Whatever has guided my journey in this moment, I feel very honored and grateful, and I hope that I can bring those, keep them in my heart as I go.”
Reflecting on his memories of Newton-John, Goodrem adds: “I definitely have a different kind of presence to think about it this time, kind of to think about all the different questions that I might have asked.
“I’ve thought a lot about how I’d like to be able to talk to him about this, and this time. I feel the angels … and I pray and hope that they’re with us throughout this. I always do, but of course, this is a special time to step in and celebrate.”
Not to exaggerate the difficulty of Eurovision, but it is still fair to say that it is more than its reputation of decades of feathers and sequins would seem to suggest. Australia is just one of 35 countries taking part in the world’s toughest music competition. Ladies who dance with heavy metal orcs may come and gobut professional careers have risen (and fallen) off the back of Eurovision.
Australia’s biggest weakness is that we are a competitive country without a political voting bloc. That is to say, most countries tend to keep up with their European neighbors. That is, the Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – tend to score well with each other. Some old Balkan countries, too: Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. And Greece and Cyprus.
Australia’s closing profits have sometimes come from countries whose diaspora is well represented on our shores: Italy, Malta, England. And the continuation of some Aussie Eurovision contestants – including Goodrem – in attending pre-Eurovision “parties” in Europe, including big events held in Amsterdam and Oslo. “It was very surprising, to get a sense of how much is going on,” Goodrem said, when he returned from a “preliminary tour” of Europe last month.
Questions of geography, voting and intra-European tensions are not new to Eurovision. In fact, the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest already promises to be, as they say in powerhouses, a geographical doozy. First of all, the competition is five countries down, with Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia, and Iceland. removed on the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to allow Israel to participate.
The issue – that the EBU took swift action to stop Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but failed to criticize Israel for its push into Gaza – is a thorn. And the absence of Spain, in particular, will be greatly felt. The country is one of the so-called “Big Five”, which write the biggest checks to the EBU every year.
That absence will also have an impact on the complex scoreboard. Ireland and Iceland, for example, are similar in giving countries like Poland and Lithuania above average scores. And the return of the tournaments of several recently absent countries – Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova – can be seen as a plus point for the Eastern European voting blocs.
While other artists have taken strong political stances, Goodrem has kept himself out of the political arena. Indeed, music is in the realm of soft diplomacy: the silk glove art of building bridges in rooms where politicians and government officials cannot easily, or comfortably, enter.
When I asked Goodrem about the geographical problems of the event, he said his focus was on the cultural relationship, and its performance. “From day one, when I got into music, from my first song as a teenager, I got into this for love, connection, healing, unity,” Goodrem says. “My shows, when I’m on the field or if we’re in the theater, wherever we are, we’re there for unity and in the language of the world, hope and healing. And that’s the main goal, to be on stage.”
Goodrem comes to the festival well-established, as a 12-time ARIA Award-winning singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. Eclipse of the sunco-written by Goodrem, Ferras Alqaisi, Jonas Myrin and Michael Fatkin – is already creating a buzz among Eurovision fans, an unusually influential group of diehards.
Fans are recommending it as a top-five or top-three hit – a bold call but a solid one, and one, based on old form, that will probably translate into something closer to reality. That’s without seeing Goodrem’s planned performance in Vienna next week.
Naturally, the production structure of the Eurovision performance is not revealed until the first rehearsal this weekend. What is known is that Goodrem’s tendency is to play with low skill, and that his friendship with the professional judges, who give half of the final scores, will be his success as an instrumentalist.
Historically, the more insane end of the performance spectrum doesn’t do as well as the casual observer might think. Even ABBA, who are remembered for their flamboyant outfits, were just showing the disco pop of the era. In fact, groups win about one out of five times. The 1970s were big on groups – ABBA, Bucks Fizz, Brotherhood of Man – but between 2007 and 2020, for example, no groups won.
Likewise, camp shows and high concept – a category of curiosity, without boundaries in which you can insert Dustin the Turkiye of Ireland, monster-rockers Lordi or Scooch dressed as a lawyer – do not do well, despite the fact that many people think that such acts rule Eurovision. They win less than 10 percent of the time.
In fact, the news is good for Goodrem: female soloists, with fewer performances and vocal or instrumental-oriented performances win six times out of 10. Add men to the mix, and the total for soloists moves closer to 70 percent. And between 2012 and 2020 every winner was a soloist. Why? Judges – broadly speaking – have the ability to add value to the voice, and it is best displayed when there is nothing on the stage to distract from it.
That he is a singer-instrumentalist of many songs is central to Goodrem’s identity. “I’d say pretty much in the middle,” he says. “First of all, my composition is always based on composition. I would consider myself a composer before even a songwriter. I was a composer first and foremost. That’s how I got into songwriting. And as a pianist, my instrumental side is very important; it’s a story line.”
Goodrem admits that those factors will play a role in his choice of platform. “I’ve felt so happy playing and being able to paint and be the conductor of my own instrument,” he says. “It is very important that the show has what I would do on my regular tours and have an arc. The pianist in me is where all this, I can say, comes from. I would say that is my DNA.”
The Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast live and in prime time from May 13-17 on SBS and SBS On Demand.
