Eurovision 2016: Dami Im second for Australia as Ukraine wins
Dami Im scored the most jury votes but fell short on the public vote, losing to Ukraine in a nailbiting Eurovision finale.
Australian singer Dami Im has just missed out on winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm after scoring the most jury votes but falling short on the public vote which gave the contest to Ukraine’s Jamala.
Im came second with Russia’s Sergey Lazarev, who had been favoured to win, coming in third.
Im and her song Sound of Silence won the most votes from professional music juries in the 42 competing countries but lost out on the count of votes from Eurovision fans phoning in.
Bookies had picked she would come second and Jamala would come third with her song 1944.
Jamala won a total of 534 points to Im’s 511, with Lazarev well back on 307.
“I just loved performing tonight, the crowd was incredible, I was just enjoying the moment rather than thinking about everything else,” said Im.
“When I finished that last note, I was like, ‘yep, no regrets whatever happens because I’ve given my 150 per cent, that’s all I can do’.
The 27-year-old Im impressed with a powerful performance of Sound of Silence in a packed Globe Arena theatre in the Swedish capital on Saturday night (Sunday morning AEST).
The show was watched by an estimated global audience of more than 200 million.
Australia was invited back to the contest this year after being granted a wildcard entry in 2015 when Guy Sebastian came in fifth with his song Tonight Again.
Im performed in a glittering white dress in front of thousands of flag-waving fans including a strong cohort of Australians and received huge applause when she powerfully finished on a high note. Halfway through the jury voting, when Australia was shown well ahead on the chart, Im was asked in the Green Room how she felt and she said her heart was beating “non-stop, going, going, going.” She thanked Europe for inviting her to “such a fun event” and said that after the show she would be having a lemonade with her crew.
After the 26 contestants performed and before the votes were counted, American music superstar Justin Timberlake took the stage as a special guest to sing his song Rock Your Body.
Swedish hosts Petra Mede and Mans Zelmerlow, who was last year’s winner, performed a take-off “ideal” Eurovision song called Love, Love, Peace, Peace, poking fun at the recurring themes and props of the contest’s songs.
Saturday night’s Eurovision audience vote by phone, SMS or Eurovision app counted for 50 per cent of the grand final outcome, with the other half determined by the votes of five-person juries of music professionals from each of the 42 competing countries. Fans and juries could not vote for their own country’s entrant. Im’s Sound of Silence was created by songwriting team Anthony Egizil and David Musumeci of Sydney-based DNA Songs.
Australia’s five-person jury awarded its points to Belgium’s Laura Tesoro, as announced by SBS presenter Lee Lin Chin on the show.
AAP
Stunning sounds of silence, and emphatic joy, at Billie’s tour debut
Now 23, and having ridden the wave of fame to its highest crest, it’s undoubtedly an older, wiser Billie Eilish who began her fifth Australian tour in Brisbane on Tuesday.
NSW to trial pill-testing at Wollongong’s biggest music festival
For the first time, a government-run pill testing service will operate at a music festival. The trial, announced in December by the Minns government and led by NSW Health, aims to reduce drug-related harm by allowing attendees to check substances for purity and potency.