Australia’s participation in Eurovision had been in some doubt as 2023 was the last year we knew they had been confirmed for, and no public news was given on future participation. Yet, when this year’s countries were revealed, Australia’s name was there (as had been expected). Their performance at Eurovision continues to be strong, with a fifth top 10 place achieved last year in just eight appearances and just one non-qualification. Last year’s artists, Voyager had been a runner up in an earlier Australian national final, and so it is with this year’s internally selected artists, the 2019 national selection runners-up, Electric Fields will be going to Malmö.

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Electric Fields are a duo made up of Aboriginal Australian vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and keyboardist and producer Michael Ross. They’ve been together since 2015, though both had competed as solo artists (in different years) in the X Factor Australia. They fuse electronic pop and soul music with aboriginal influences, and that is certainly present in “One Milkali” (written by the duo), with the use of the didgeridoo and, for the first time at the contest, some lyrics in an Australian Aboriginal language, Yankunytjatjara.

I adored their first attempt at Eurovision, where they finished second in the national final in 2019, with “2000 and Whatever” and while this doesn’t quite hit those heights for me, I thoroughly enjoy what I think is an underrated and underappreciated entry this year. I really enjoy the positivity of the song, and the inclusion of the Australian Aboriginal elements – both musically and lyrically. I like Zaachariaha’s soaring vocals, and the musical genre overall, both that electronic pop sound but also the use of that 90s dance-house piano.

I mentioned this being underrated and underappreciated, and that’s borne out by the placing it has in the scoreboard app, in the 30s, and in the semi-final only version it’s not sitting in a qualifying spot. I do think one of the reasons is that we’ve heard very little from them or seen very little of them in the run up to the contest – no pre-parties (understandably) and the music video is not really much more than a lyric video. The betting odds are a bit more equivocal, and that reflects Australia’s strong record, and the live performance we know Electric Fields can do. I hope that will be the case when it comes to the contest and that this comes to life on stage, as it would be a nice landmark to have a new language sung in the grand final.

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Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest