ARIA music award winner Jessica Mauboy has advanced Australia into the grand final of Eurovision 2018.
The 28-year-old pop singer delivered a powerful performance with her song We Got Love, which won the support and votes of the European television audience.
This is the second time Mauboy has participated in the singing contest, which is held in Lisbon, Portugal. The singer’s first appearance was in 2014 as a guest artist when she amazed the audience with her powerful vocals.
Mauboy credited the audience for her stunning performance and said the crowd helped her get through her nerves.
“It felt nerve-wracking but at the same time that crowd … it’s undeniable, there is so much love and what this represents is that,” Mauboy said after the show, reported Fairfax.
“The people in the crowd, the people watching at home, feeling this electricity … it’s meant to make you feel something.”
Along with Australia, other countries to qualify for the grand finals from the second round of the semi-finals were Serbia, Moldova, Hungary, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Slovenia, and The Netherlands.
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Austria, Estonia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Israel, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Albania, Finland, Ireland, and the hosting country Portugal qualified for the grand finals earlier in the competition.
Mauboy said she was improving at every rehearsal and was shocked by her own performance at the second semi-finals.
“It’s always completely changing at every stage of the rehearsal. You’re getting better at it, you’re moving and changing things,” Mauboy said.
“Bringing the song to life you never know, you write something, you feel it there but singing it on the stage tonight was beyond my expectations.
“I felt my heart was about to jump out of my body.”
The Darwin artist will be competing against strong contenders such as Cyprus’s fiery Eleni Foureira and Norway’s polished pop prince Alexander Rybak.
This is Eurovision’s 63rd competition with singers coming from all across Europe. Australia was a wildcard entry in 2015, which shocked Eurovision enthusiasts and fans from all over the world, reported SBS. Last year’s Australian contestant Dami Im came second in Sweden with her song Sound of Silence.
Australians have been watching the competition for over thirty years, with more than three million Australians watching the semi-finals and grand final in 2017, reported the news station.
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