Source: SBS
Last night, SBS united music fans in honour of the world’s biggest live music event with Eurovision 2020: Big Night In! Hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey, Australians were invited to vote for their favourite 2020 acts and watch as the results were revealed over three big hours to crown a virtual winner.
Iceland’s Daði & Gagnamagnið were crowned winner of Eurovision 2020: Big Night In! with their synth-pop track Think About Things. The song became a viral sensation after winning Iceland’s national selection show Söngvakeppnin 2020, gathering more than seven million views on YouTube, and a personal endorsement from Oscar-winner Russell Crowe.
Russian band Little Big took out second place with their kitschy song Uno, while Lithuania’s The Roop came in third with their indie-pop entry On Fire.
SBS Commissioning Editor and Australian Head of Delegation Josh Martin said:
“Move over Bjork, Australians have voted Daði og Gagnamagnið as our new favourite Icelandic artists with a beautiful song honouring a parent’s love for a newborn. SBS is proud to have given Eurovision fans some sort of closure to this year’s contest and, although we’ll never know who might have won the song contest this year, Montaigne’s performance tonight was incredible. I have no doubt she would have done Australia proud and finished high on the leader board!”
As per the official Eurovision rules, Australians couldn’t vote for Montaigne, but audiences were treated to an exclusive studio performance of Don’t Break Me, in which she revealed the concept behind her new staging planned for the Rotterdam stage.
Montaigne said:
“To bring a song to life on the Eurovision stage takes a lot of hard-working creative people, and though we don’t get the real stage, I’m grateful that we get to show off our baby — in which we are very proud — to the public. The core team at Blink TV & SBS did an amazing job of finding recruits who understood my niche interests (dungeons & dragons, fantasy, anime & animation) and could fuse that with the emotional content as well as a “popular” aesthetic. Now it’s back to the drawing board. I’m excited to cook up something fresh and new for 2021!”
Eurovision 2020: Big Night In! was jam-packed with special guest appearances from Eurovision royalty and performances throughout the night. Eurovision alumni banded together, virtually, for a rousing rendition of Jessica Mauboy’s 2018 Eurovision hit We Got Love featuring Kate Miller-Heidke, Electric Fields, Courtney Act, Jack Vidgen, Jaguar Jonze, Isaiah, Ella Hooper and, of course, Jessica Mauboy.
After performing at the inaugural Eurovision – Australia Decides last year, Alfie Arcuri went on to lead the song writing team behind Cyprus’ entry for Eurovision 2020. Alfie gave a stunning acoustic performance of Running, which was due to be performed by Sandro in Rotterdam this month.
But the final performance of the evening was reserved for a brand-new Eurovision act, Lars Erickssong (Will Ferrell) and Sigrit Ericksdottir (Rachel McAdams) with their music video for Volcano Man. SBS treated audiences to the world exclusive of the full clip from Netflix comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga written by Will Ferrell.
Rounding out an epic line-up of Eurovision programming, SBS will broadcast the special two-hour program from the Netherlands Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light at 8.30pm tomorrow. Hosted by Dutch Eurovision presenters Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit with commentary from Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey, Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light will honour all 41 songs in a non-competitive format and provide plenty of surprises for fans at home.
