Time now for Eurovision’s most distant country – half way round the world, it’s Australia. Yes, they are back for their third year in the contest and seem now to be a permanent fixture among the list of contestant countries. Last year Dami Im won the jury vote by a good distance and overall Australia came as runners up to Ukraine. Who on earth can follow that? Step forward young Isaiah Firebrace – can he follow in Dami’s footsteps and deliver another top result for Australia?

It was certainly a tough ask to come after Dami Im, so credit to Isaiah to step up to the plate. He’s only 17 and is the winner of the most recent series of X Factor Australia. An Indigenous Australian, he hails from a large Aboriginal family in New South Wales.  The songwriters for his entry, “Don’t Come Easy”, also wrote last year’s “Sound of Silence” so there is a strong pedigree there, along with proven strong live vocals.

So, how will it do? My hunch is that this could well finish top 10, though I’m less sure of it being top 5. It’s not the most exciting or original song in the world, but within it I detect the elements that will play well on a Eurovision stage and on TV. I’m not the biggest fan of it I have to say but I’ve no doubt it will qualify. Australia, like Sweden and Russia, tend to score more highly for songs that if they were sung by other countries would not do so well. Staging will once again be ke

On a side note, as my mother also noticed without prompting, Isaiah bears quite a resemblance to Rafael Nadal, well, before Nadal’s hair started to thin!

Mum’s reaction: “He looks like Rafael Nadal. Better than the previous ones I’ve heard” (at that point she’d heard about 8 songs from first semi-final)

Official music video:

Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest:

First entered: 2015

Appearances (excluding this year): 2

Best result: 2nd in 2016

Last year’s result: 2nd