Electric Fields ‘buzzed’ to be representing Australia in Eurovision
The duo, who hail from South Australia and came close to representing Australia at the song competition in 2019, will be taking their new track ‘One Milkali (One Blood)’ to Sweden.
South Australia’s dance-pop duo Electric Fields will represent Australia at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, in May.
Electric Fields, the first duo to represent Australia at the song contest, is spearheaded by vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding, who hails from the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in South Australia, and producer Michael Ross on keyboards.
Theirmusic weaves together English and the Yankunytjatjara language.
The duo were nominated for Best Australian Live Act at the 2019 ARIAs and have won eight prizes at the National Live Music Awards. Their 2023 single ‘We the People’ was the official theme song for Sydney World Pride.
Fielding, who is also a painter, won the $50,000 Wynne Prize for landscape painting at last year’s Archibald Prize for his rendering of Mimilil, the community where he was raised.
The duo will compete with their propulsive, synth-led new single ‘One Milkali (One Blood)’ released today.
“We are buzzed with euphoria at our chance to share this music with the world,” Electric Fields said in a statement. “Our music comes from the deepest place in both of us, and Eurovision is the most exciting opportunity to bring together our cultures and share the joy of our global connection.”
Electric Fields came close to representing Australia at Eurovision in 2019, when they came second to Kate Miller-Heidke in the televised competition Eurovision - Australia Decides. Miller-Heidke went on to finish ninth at Eurovision with her song ‘Zero Gravity.’
Paul Clarke, creative director for Australia at Eurovision, said in a statement that they had “always had our eye on” Electric Fields for Eurovision. “They came close to representing Australia in 2019, but they are far stronger a few years down the track.”
Australia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2015, with solo performers such as Guy Sebastian, Dani Im, and Jessica Mauboy serenading the international stage.
Last year saw a group represent Australia for the first time, with the Perth metal-pop act Voyager placing 9th in the competition.
2024 marks the seventh time Sweden will host Eurovision, after the artist Loreen took out the title at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, United Kingdom. It will also be 50 years since ABBA won the contest with their song ‘Waterloo.’
This year’s competition has been overshadowed by campaigns advocating for a boycott, with mounting calls for Israel to be excluded from the event.
Several artist-led campaigns argue that Eurovision’s decision to exclude Russia and Belarus set a precedent, and Israel should be banned for human rights violations.
Eurovision officials reject that comparison, saying that the cases of Israel and Russia are different. “Comparisons between wars and conflicts are complex and difficult and, as a non-political media organisation, not ours to make,” Noel Curran, the director-general of the European Broadcasting Union, said in a statement.
Sydney pop artist Montaigne, who represented Australia in Eurovision in 2020 and 2021, refused an offer to join the Eurovision World Tour later this year due to Israel’s involvement in the contest.
“It is, after all, a song contest that arose from the desire to unite nations in love and cooperation,” Montaigne wrote in an Instagram post in January. “You do not get to be part of such an event when you murder civilians and children in droves.”
In February, Israel warned that it may withdraw from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest if organisers reject the lyrics from its entry, Eden Golan’s ‘October Rain,’ as too political. Critics have suggested that the song, which is both in English with some Hebrew words, references the victims of Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel.
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