South Australia’s ethereal dance pop duo Electric Fields will represent Australia at Eurovision in May, after missing out on the honour in 2019.
The duo is led by vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding, who grew up in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in South Australia, and often blends English with the Yankunytjatjara language in his lyrics. He’s joined by producer Michael Ross on keyboards.
In 2019, the pair’s performance of 2000 and Whatever came second to Kate Miller-Heidke in a televised competition to represent Australia at that year’s contest. Miller-Heidke went on to finish ninth at Eurovision for her song Zero Gravity.
“We have always had our eye on Electric Fields for Eurovision,” creative director for Australia at Eurovision, Paul Clarke, said in a statement on Wednesday. “They came close to [representing Australia in 2019] but they are far stronger a few years down the track.”
Electric Fields is taking One Milkali (One Blood) to Sweden: a new single that name-checks Janet Jackson, Fleetwood Mac and the Golden Ratio, and incorporates Yankunytjatjara.
“We are buzzed with euphoria at our chance to share this music with the world,” the pair said in a statement. “Our music comes from the deepest place in both of us and Eurovision is the most exciting opportunity to bring together our cultures and share the joy of our global connection.”
Fielding is a painter as well as a performer; his depiction of Mimili, the small community in which he was raised, won the $50,000 Wynne prize for landscape painting at last year’s Archibald prize.
The pair were nominated for best Australian live act at the 2019 Arias, and have won eight prizes at the National Live Music Awards; their 2023 single We the People was the official theme song to Sydney World Pride.
There have been calls to boycott Eurovision from Finnish, Icelandic and Swedish artists among others, who are demanding Israel be banned from this year’s contest due to the country’s ongoing assault on Gaza. Pop artist Montaigne, a former Australian Eurovision contestant, has refused an offer to join the Eurovision World Tour later this year, due to Israel’s involvement at the 2024 contest.
In January, a Eurovision spokesperson told the Guardian the song contest “remains a non-political event … It is a competition for broadcasters – not governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has participated in the contest for 50 years”. In February, more than 400 celebrities and entertainment figures, including Gene Simmons, Helen Mirren and Boy George, signed an open letter supporting Israel’s inclusion.
On Sunday Israel agreed to revise the lyrics of its potential submission, by artist Eden Golan, whose song October Rain includes apparent allusions to the 7 October attacks. Contestants deemed to have breached Eurovision’s rules of political neutrality can be disqualified.
