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Category: AUSTRALIA

Jessica Mauboy wishes to return to the Eurovision Song Contest

AUSTRALIA – Back in 2014 she was invited to be the interval act of the Second Semi Final and hinted the entrance of Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest a year later. Jessica Mauboy expressed her wish to return to the Eurovision Song Contest this time competing.

SBS confirmed last week that Australia will compete in Eurovision 2018, with Joel Creasey and Myf Warhurst, returning as hosts.

‘It’s wonderful that we’re back! In the three years that we have competed in Eurovision we have achieved huge success, ranking second in the results overall behind Sweden,’ Paul Clarke said in a statement.

‘It’s an exciting challenge for us to find a competitor who can fly the flag high for Australia, and we can’t wait to begin that search,’ the Head of Delegation from Australia went on to say.

SOURCE: DAILY MAIL

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Listen to the brand new song by Guy Sebastian

AUSTRALIA – After spending the first half of 2017 bunkered down, putting the finishing touches on his 10th studio album CONSCIOUS, Guy Sebastian the multi-platinum super star has come out swinging with “High on Me”, the lead single. Taking it back to his upbeat soulful roots, it’s hard to take this one off repeat.

“High on Me poured out of me while I was in Bali on a writing trip, sitting back looking at the mountains, high on this life. I really wanted to create a soulful earworm that would make young and old want to get up out of their chair and enjoy the moment”, says Guy Sebastian

Guy was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003, and has been a judge on Australia’s The X Factor. He represented Australia at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in 5th place. Sebastian has worked with a number of notable American musicians, including Brian McKnight, Robin Thicke, Steve Cropper, John Mayer, Jordin Sparks, Eve and Lupe Fiasco. “Battle Scars”, a collaboration with Fiasco, spent 20 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 71 and achieved platinum certification. “Battle Scars” also reached number two in Norway and New Zealand. Sebastian has reached the top ten in New Zealand with an album and six singles, including two number ones, and gained six platinum and three gold certifications there. In 2015 his Eurovision song charted in the top 50 in five European countries.

How Guy Sebastian Went From Soft To Six-Pack In 8 Weeks

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Green light for Australia’s participation in Lisbon

AUSTRALIA – SBS has once again secured Australia’s participation as a competitor on the world’s biggest stage, at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Lisbon, Portugal.

The 2018 contest will mark Australia’s fourth year of competing in the event, following a remarkable record of three top ten finishes, with Guy Sebastian’s fifth place in 2015, Dami Im’s second place in 2016, and Isaiah Firebrace coming ninth in the 2017 contest, which was held earlier this year in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Eurovision will be broadcast on SBS in May 2018, and will be hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey, returning after their debut as hosts and commentators at the 2017 contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s largest television music competition and in 2017, the Semi Finals and Grand Final attracted 182 million* viewers worldwide and reached more than three million** Australians.

SBS has been the home of the Eurovision Song Contest in Australia for more than 30 years. Eurovision celebrates diversity and strengthens bonds between different cultures by bringing them together; united in a common passion for music.

SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid said: “SBS is proud to secure Australia’s return as competitors in the Eurovision Song Contest for the fourth year, as the country’s unique affection and passion for Eurovision continues to grow.

“In Guy, Dami and Isaiah, SBS has showcased the incredible talent of Australia’s musical performers on the world stage, and in turn, the wonderful diversity that makes up Australia today.

“It’s also great to be welcoming back hosts Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey after they perfectly captured the spirit of the contest in their debut this year. We’re looking forward to revealing more exciting news in the coming months.”

Australian Head of Delegation and Director of Blink TV, Paul Clarke, said: “It’s wonderful that we’re back! In the three years that we have competed in Eurovision we have achieved huge success, ranking second in the results overall behind Sweden. It’s an exciting challenge for us to find a competitor who can fly the flag high for Australia, and we can’t wait to begin that search.”

In 2018, the Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted for the first time ever by Portugal, in its capital city of Lisbon, after Salvador Sobral won the 2017 competition with his love ballad Amar Pelos Dois.

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Dami Im (Australia 2016) sings for peace in Korean Peninsula

AUSTRALIA – Korean-born, Australian singer-song writer Dami Im participated in a project song with Korean, and international musicians, wishing for the reunification of South and North Korea. The song titled ‘Korean Dream’ was released today, on Korea’s 72nd National Liberation Day. ‘Korean Dream’ is the second project song of One K Media’s ‘One K Global Campaign Song’ project. The first one, titled ‘One Dream, One Korea’ was released in 2015.

At a press conference in Seoul on Monday, Dami said she believes even issues that are uncomfortable and difficult to be solved through talks, can be conveyed through music, and that anger and sorrow can be dissolved. She added, the strength of music can especially prove its power in issues as complicated and sensitive as the reunification of the two Koreas.

The talented 29-year-old is the winner of Australia’s The X Factor, and has achieved the highest ever Eurovision score as an Australian representative.

Anticipation is growing on Big Bang member Taeyang’s solo comeback with his new album White Night. The teaser for title track ‘Darling’ was released on Monday, two days before the comeback. It’s been arousing huge curiosity about the full track. The 50-second video shows the soulful singer inside a sandstorm, with views of high buildings and even a vast landscape of Alaska. The teaser ends with Taeyang’s unique voice singing ‘Darling, darling you, all I got is you.’ According to Taeyang’s own description of the track, the lyrics in the beginning may sound like a break-up song, but in the end it’s about love, asking for people to listen to the very end of the piece.

And it’ll also be worth listening through to the end of the album, as rapper, producer, and boy group Block B’s leader Zico features in it. Taeyang reportedly made the offer to Zico to take part in the album, and Zico happily agreed.

Meanwhile, the offline album, coming out next week, is receiving much attention too, as the jacket is 100 per cent handmade with real flowers.

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Eurovision footage included in Isaiah’s latest video clip for “Streets of Gold”

AUSTRALIA – Former Eurovision finalist Isaiah Firebrace has dropped a new video clip to his latest single Streets of Gold, and wants fans to know it’s just a taste of things to come. The 17-year-old took home the X-Factor crown in 2016 before taking Australia to ninth place at this year’s Eurovision song contest. But the popstar has now confirmed he’s taking a step back from TV appearances to knuckle down on his second studio album. Despite only coming out just over a week ago, Streets of Gold has raked up more than 1 million streams on Spotify and Apple Music. Firebrace told Fairfax Media the response has encouraged him to keep working on his own original tracks, whether it be mellow pop songs or something more upbeat.

“It’s really encouraging,” he said. “It’s more personal [than my previous work]. But when I’m writing music, I can write songs about personal experiences or sometimes just a song for fun. So some of the music coming out soon will definitely be more fun and different to Streets of Gold.”

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How Guy Sebastian Went From Soft To Six-Pack In 8 Weeks

AUSTRALIA – How Guy Sebastian Went From Soft To Six-Pack In 8 Weeks
Looking in from the outside, you’d have thought Guy Sebastian had it all. The winner of the first Australian Idol back in 2003 had become, by sound criteria, our most successful male artist of all time. Judging roles on The X Factor showed him to be exactly the kind of man everyone guessed he was: smart, kind and impossible to dislike. Married to his childhood sweetheart and living comfortably in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, he and Jules have two robust and highly photogenic boys. On top of the world, yeah?

Pretty much. Well, sort of. But like you, Sebastian had his issues.

“I was in an unhealthy cycle,” says Sebastian, toweling off after a workout in his garage. “I was drinking too much. I wasn’t eating well. And everything I thought I was doing right wasn’t working.”

Earlier this year, aged 35, he resolved to get serious about his fitness. Had he embarked on this quest alone his chances of success – of looking and feeling anything like the way he does now – would have been slimmer than his new waist. Wisely, he teamed up with Transformation Coach’s crack husband-and-wife training duo of Chief Brabon and Em Brabon-Hames, who specialise in orchestrating life-altering transformations. Sebastian allocated eight weeks to the task, with the lovely Jules training right alongside him.

And the results? Well, judge for yourself. But here in the MH office we doff our caps to our September cover guy.

Juggling the recording of his ninth album, Conscious, while being a dad to Hudson, 5, and Archer, 3, Sebastian added 8cm to his chest, cut 7cm from his waist and slashed his body-fat percentage from 19.1 per cent to 7.7 per cent.

Want to enact a similar transformation? Sebastian did four workouts per week, each focussing on a particular body part (chest, back, arms, shoulders – core and legs were a constant focus). Here’s one of the workouts the Brabon duo prescribed

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Australian broadcaster to collaborate with Christer Björkman for national final

AUSTRALIA – Australia has great plans for its participation at Eurovision in 2018. Paul Clarke, chief of delegation and producer of the soon to be introduced, Eurovision Asia Song Contest, is already working on Australia’s song for 2018. The work will be carried out with Christer Björkman, the Swedish producer, something which Australia feels is essential in the selection of a good song.

There are questions about who will represent Australia, with many feeling that household names should be provided with an opportunity, something which could see Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem or Nick Cave appear on the Eurovision stage. The selection process for 2018 may copy the format of Melodifestivalen or the UK version, “You Decide”, something in-between both models, economical but of high quality.

The choice will be between six musical styles and artists, where one will be chosen to represent Australia, with other recording companies being provided with a platform to offer their services, since to date both SBS and Blink TV have only used Sony Music. It appears that Australia is looking to cement it’s place at Eurovision for the immediate future.

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