Perth Band Voyager Will Represent Australia At Eurovision 2023
Australia will send its first band, Perth-based Voyager, to the Eurovision 2023 competition.
The band members Simone Dow, Scott Kay, Danny Estrin, Ash Doodkorte and Alex Canion will take their song Promise to the Eurovision competition that will be held in Liverpool later this year. Voyager is the first band to represent Australia in the international music competition.
The 2022 Eurovision contest was won by the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra for their song Stefania.
This Is The Pinnacle
Voyager has been competing to represent Australia since 2015 when Australia was accepted into the Eurovision competition. Last year, they came close to winning when they came second with their song Dreamer.
“As a long-time Eurovision fan, this is the pinnacle – Voyager gets to play the greatest show on earth!” Danny Estrin said in a statement.
“Our song Promise is made for the Eurovision stage and collectively we feel it’s one of our best yet. We filmed the music video in both the city of Perth and beautiful parts of Western Australia to showcase the majestic beauty of our home state,” said Estrin.
80s Meets Catchy Lyrics
Promise is described as an “epic, progressive pop metal track that transports the listener on an emotive story of adventure and redemption.”
According to Emily Griggs, SBS Head of Entertainment, Voyager brings together a love of the 80s and catchy lyrics.
“I can’t wait to see Eurovision fans the world over embrace them as much as Aussie crowds have. Voyager has been determined to get centre stage for the biggest song contest in the world and SBS know they will bring that grit with them along with a whole lot of fun,” added Griggs.
Public Vote Axed
In November 2022, SBS axed the public vote and announced the artist chosen to represent Australia in the 2023 Eurovision competition would be via an internal selection process. The selection process ran from 2015 to 2018. Jessica Mauboy, Isaiah Firebrace, Dami Im and Guy Sebastian were the artists who were selected to represent Australia.
The process changed to a public vote and Eurovision – Australia Decides ran from 2019 to 2022. Kate Miller-Heidke, Montaigne and Sheldon Riley were chosen to represent Australia after a public vote.
SBS said it had made the “difficult decision” not to go ahead with the public vote in 2023. “Over the past few months, we have been exploring ways we could deliver the event to Australian audiences next year however, a variety of factors contributed to us coming to this decision,” SBS said.
