It’s the new national final on the block that has taken inspiration from Sweden’s Melodifestivalen. Now Australia‘s broadcaster SBS has confirmed that Swedish Eurovision star Måns Zelmerlöw will be coming down under to perform at the grand final of Eurovision: Australia Decides 2020.
The “Heroes” singer has been booked to make an appearance in Australia’s grand final on 8 February. He will both take to the stage to perform and also serve on the show’s expert jury.
Talking to SBS, Måns was bursting with enthusiasm, saying: “I’m so excited to come back to my favourite country to perform, and to be a guest judge on the National Eurovision selection show! Australia has sent great songs ever since they joined the Eurovision Song Contest and I think 2020 could be THE year. I might sing a line or two from my winning song from 2015 and from my newest single, “Walk with Me”, featuring the wonderful Dami Im. Can’t wait to see you all!”
As well as performances from Måns and Dami, 2019 champion Kate Miller-Heidke will return to the Australia Decides stage to reprise her winning track.
This won’t be the first time Måns has headed down under. In 2016 he made an appearance at the Australian Open. The avid tennis fan performed at the event and enjoyed being amid all the sporting action.
Jon Ola Sand also heads down under
Also making an appearance at Australia Decides as a special guest (although not as a jury member) will be outgoing Eurovision Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand. Making the most of his last months in the job, Jon Ola told SBS, “I’m very happy to be down under and a part of Australia Decides this year. Since first taking part in 2015, SBS has made a huge contribution to the success of the Eurovision Song Contest. Their excellent national selection show, which showcases the country’s best singing talent, underscores SBS and Australia’s place as valued members of the Eurovision family.”
Måns and the rest of the expert jury will help decide who Australia will send to Rotterdam. Casey Donovan, Diana Rouvas, Didirri, iOTA, Jack Vidgen, Jaguar Jonze, Jordan-Ravi, Mitch Tambo, Montaigne and Vanessa Amorosi will compete to follow Kate Miller-Heidke to Eurovision.
The grand final of Eurovision: Australia Decides will be held on Saturday 8 February at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.
What do you think? Who are you backing in Australia Decides? Tell us your thoughts below!
Jon Ola Robot Sand and his “I can confirm we have a valid result” line 😀
I didn’t know people hated Måns here :)) The audacity of this man to graciously accept an invitation to appear and work for a show!
Anyway, what exactly will Mr. Sand do in the show? Present the points?
Oh… How original!…
He really won’t go away, will he? He’ll probably show up in mello again soon
You got anything againsthim:)
I don’t mind him, I liked him since Idol. He should be everywhere!
Genuine question, does this man have a career outside eurovision-related events?
Geuine answer: he had a no 1 song in Germany, another no 1 song in France and recently had a 15 date sold out show (none of them esc-related) so I guess yes. Then there’s ofc all his Swedish hitsongs and his many companies.
Another genuine answer:
New album out, new singles on repeat, a sold out show, acting projects, sold out show. Nothing ESC related..
Excellent question!
I think Jan Ola & Christer Bjorkman etc should not appear in local preselections or appear in all. Just not to have the rumours starting they are not impartial.
En every article when its about a swede. There are 300 comments and in others there are like 90 comments. Thats nice you like us so much <3. If Måns goes to the bathromm he will also get 300 comments by you only because hes swedish, A normal person would get 0 comments
Cause half the comments are yours , duh !
There are 21 comments on this article by my count
Stop being a prick
Not everything revolves around sweden
there will be 300 like always. ps i DONT want everythting to revolve around Sweden. That was my point. But it always do
he’s truly the cockroach of eurovision. he just won’t go away
If he goes away. Can ypu promise to never watch ESC again then? Its the same silly statement. If you like something then you should do it
omg here comes the cockroach of the wiwibloggs comment section
i got you. I hope you see how silly it is to stop someone for doing something they like.
I’m not a fan of Mans but it’s time for a sour Italian like you to let go of the result of 2015. Hating him won’t change the result.
it’s more about him being boring and not having had a hit since horrors (which even then was a semi-hit, fell off the charts quickly and is now forgagatten), yet sneaking his way into every eurovision selection. you know… the public has said “no! nein! nej! hayir! net! ohi!” too many times already.
He is also behind the Twitter account @HotTopicsESC, which he specifically started to trash artists like Netta, Duncan and Mans, because they had the audacity to win,
I wouldn’t go that far, but I know what you mean. If I were him I’d take a few years off. Don’t do another cameo in Rotterdam, leave the limelight to Duncan, Getty, Lenny and hopefully Milly Scott. Come back in 2025 for the 10th anniversary of Heroes.
Hasn’t Australia suffered enough recently?!
Exactly what do you mean by that?
Your negativity about EVERYTHING is not healthy. i hope it wil be better. I will pray for you 🙂
Shocks. All the more reason to save money to book a flight down under to watch the show. Sadly, it won’t happen this year at the very least.
How environmentally friendly.
Did you want James to swim all the way to Australia then? LOL
I’m amazed that mans’ favourite country is Australia
I thought Sweden or UK might have been it !!!
His favourite country to perform in, not necessarily his favourite at Eurovision.
He didn’t say his favourite at Eurovision or favorite country to perform , he said it’s his favorite country !! I’m like duh
I’m sure Moldova will be his favourite country if they ask him to perform at their national final!
Exactly Paul ! When people say stuff just for the sake of saying , it pisses me off
I guess his favourite country is Croatia.
He made engagement, honeymoon there.
That’s because Croatia has nice beaches and is easier on the wallet
The stupidity here is HIGH as usual. Im from Sweden and i was on vacation in Greece. Is Grecce my new fave country then to live in haha? As usual you guys make me laugh. thanks.
Atleast you like sweden more than Mans does , good on you
Well you are here , the stupidity is bound to be high rasmus
thanks. i love you to 🙂
So Måns and Jon Ola will join the jury consisting of 5 (like last year) or? So that means the jury members are Måns, Jon Ola, Kate, their own HoD and one more?
Josh Martin, (head of SBS). He was on the jury last year.
Jon will just be visiting to check out the part down under. As the article says: “Also making an appearance at Australia Decides as a special guest (not as a jury member) will be outgoing Eurovision Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand.”
The article has been edited it seems James.
When preuss had commented , the article explicitly said Jon would be a jury member and even the subscript to the headline on the main page was ‘Jon would be on Jury duty’
Yes, the article said so, that’s why I stated so