High-flying Kate Miller-Heidke’s thanks as she makes Eurovision final
After catapulting Australia into its fifth Eurovision final in five years, Kate Miller-Heidke had a message.
With an extraordinary performance in which she appeared to float above the earth, Brisbane-born singer-songwriter Kate Miller-Heidke needed only three minutes to impress viewers of the Eurovision Song Contest’s semi-final, thereby vaulting Australia into the grand final for the fifth consecutive year.
Wearing a sparkling white skirt and spiky crown, Miller-Heidke gave an eye-popping show in Tel Aviv yesterday, with two black-clad back-up dancers balanced on acrobatic poles five metres above the stage.
The out-of-this-world digital backdrop reflected the song title, Zero Gravity, which she co-wrote with husband Keir Nuttall after experiencing depression following the birth of their son in 2016.
“Thank you so much for voting for me,” she said in a video shared on Instagram. “I’m totally overwhelmed right now. I’m so thrilled to be going through to the final. I’m over the moon, literally and metaphorically.”
On Sunday morning, Australian time, the Melbourne-based artist — who studied classical voice at the Queensland Conservatorium for four years before pursuing a pop music career — will represent Australia in the grand final against 25 other nations, including Serbia, Estonia and Iceland.
As per Eurovision rules, six countries have automatically qualified: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain and host country Israel.
In the 64th iteration of a contest where bigger productions and artistic gestures are often perceived as better, a buzz of interest surrounding the Australian entrant began during rehearsals last week.
“What I have to try to pull off in terms of staging is like nothing else I’ve ever attempted before — there’s an element of athleticism which is frankly quite scary,” she said on ABC’s Australian Story on Monday.
As her semi-final performance of Zero Gravity built towards an operatic climax that showcased Miller-Heidke’s remarkable three-octave vocal range, the singer and her two offsiders from the Strange Fruit performing arts company began swinging in tandem, a spectacle that thrilled voters.
Since Australia was invited to join the contest in 2015, all four prior entrants — Guy Sebastian, Dami Im, Isaiah Firebrace and Jessica Mauboy — have progressed to the grand final, with Im coming closest in 2016 to place second in Sweden.
Miller-Heidke plans to spend Thursday in complete silence to rest her voice ahead of the final performance.
“I hate for it to sound trite or cliche, but I’m just happy to be there, and be involved,” she said on Australian Story. “I know the drill: I’ve just got to stay disciplined, and when the moment comes, be in the song.”
Michael Jackson — how Hollywood’s biggest biopic went off the wall
The Thriller star’s estate has made billions since his death despite unresolved allegations about child abuse. So why has the movie about his life been thrown into disarray?
How Countdown saved Aussie music
Fifty years ago today it seemed the local music scene was doomed, and those who appreciated good rock music believed the Sunbury rock festivals were the salvation – but the Countdown was on.