What made you want to step up for Eurovision - Australia Decides 2020?
I feel like I've always, since I saw, I think the first time I saw it was Conchita Wurst when she performed, in 2014. It was just really cool to see someone doing something so different that I hadn't seen before. It was also before I came out, so it was just cool to see something like that. Now, since Australia started getting involved, I've definitely been giving it a lot of thought. Guy [Sebastian] was on The Voice as my coach and, seeing him do it and then Dami: she is like one of my favourite singers ever. So just seeing them, has definitely made it a goal of mine. So then having the opportunity to do it, I was like, 'Absolutely. There's no questions'.
I didn't go out and try to write a song specifically for Eurovision because it wasn't really in my peripheral at time. I had no idea that the opportunity was even there. So it was actually the first one that I wrote coming off the back of The Voice, and it was just me reflecting, and I just wanted to basically write my journal and just about my thoughts growing up and my internal struggles, which I think are parallel with a lot of people's. So that's how 'I Am King I Am Queen' came about and then the opportunity of Eurovision came up, and I think it's just about getting the right moments in the song and the right production around it: not having too much, not having too little, and just getting it right. I'm really, really happy with how it came out.
So can you give us some hints about how the staging
The creative conversation on my end has been that I didn't want too much. Even though I want it to extravagant and camp and big and beautiful - everything that Eurovision is! - I wanted it to still have the softness and the elegance that I feel like the song has. Because the song is very raw and vulnerable, so I wanted it to align with that. I think the colour palette is in line with that, and there's a beautiful, beautiful contemporary dance around me during the performance. There's a moment in the song where we come together , which connects to a lyric in the song as well. And I think it's going to really complement the song and the message within the story.
During rehearsals, I was dying for there to actually be an audience because it's so different. It makes the world of difference, connecting with people. In the show they're also close, so that'll be hectic. That'll be cool.
If Australia decides that it's you on Saturday night, what would representing Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest mean to you?
I mean, everything. I actually, I did a four-month backpacking trip when I was 18 and went to the Netherlands; I only planned to stay there for a couple of days, ended up staying there for a couple of weeks because I loved it so much.
So first of all, it'd be amazing to go back there, but to be representing Australia. Also, to the message in the song and my story: since the song came out, the messages that I've gotten from people who say that they are relating to it, and that it's helping people, is a really special thing. So to be able to take that and connect on a global scale would be pretty amazing.
I mean, I wrote the song for me, and it was a healing experience for me. So the fact that it's been taking on this journey is really, really, really nice.
And are you getting to know some of the other artists as well?
I've known Diana for six years now. She's a great friend of mine and we both did The Voice together. And I've known Casey over the years. I'm dying to meet Vanessa because I've been such a big fan of her my whole life. I just met Didirri. I met Jess one time this morning doing interviews. So it's cool, and it's a really good family vibe.
I feel like the competitiveness is taking a back seat, or at least at this point. I don't know what it's going to be like on the night! But no, it's been really cool. I've done quite a few shows now and they've all been amazing in their own ways, but this one just has such a chill, relaxed element to it.
Watch the Live TV Final at 8.30pm AEDT on SBS and On Demand tomorrow and cast your vote. Stay tuned to the SBS Eurovision website for updates: sbs.com.au/Eurovision
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