Australia: Sheldon Riley signs up with creative director Sacha Jean-Baptiste

• The Australian Eurovision 2022 hopeful, Sheldon Riley, is teaming up with creative director Sacha Jean-Baptiste for the staging of his song 'Not the Same' in Turin. 

  During an interview to Aussievision, Paul Clarke from Australia's Eurovision Delegation, confirmed that Sheldon will be setting up his performance in Turin under the guidance of  Sacha Jean-Baptiste.

  Paul Klarke,Head of Blink TV also,  stated about the collaboration: 

  "We've signed up with creative director Sacha Jean-Baptiste, who is working with us this year, I'm really excited about that.At the moment they are just doing choreography sessions… they are just doing uniform hand movements, they are in a creative fever, they absolutely love each other!”

   

  About Sacha Jean-Baptiste

  Sacha is no stranger to the Eurovision family, as she has contributed to the staging of 17 entries of seven countries the last ten years. Some the stagings she had created and stand out were, Loreen's performance of "Euphoria" in ESC 2012 for Sweden  which won the competition, Kristian Kostov‘s Beautiful mess for Bulgaria which came 2nd in Eurovision 2017 and of course the explosive performance of Eleni Foureira's "Fuego" for Cyprus in Eurovision 2018. In 2019 she had taken care of the Luca Hanni's staging in Tel Aviv , which finished in the honordable 4th placing, while last year she teamed up with Switzerland's Gjon's Tears. 

  Sacha was also behind the staging of the Australian entries in 2017 and 2018. 

   

  The Australian Eurovision 2022 entry

  Sheldon Riley is representing this year Australia with the song 'Not the same' after winning the national final Eurovision: 'Australia Decides". The song has been penned by Sheldon while behind the music is the Australian hopeful himself along with Cam Nacson. 

  Sheldon will be performing 'Not the same' in the 8th position of the Second-Semi final on May 12, 2020 in Pala Olimpico, Turin. 

   

  A few words for Sheldon

  Riley was born on March 14, 1999, to an Australian mother and a Filipino father. His real name is Sheldon Hernandez. He recalls a childhood that was “lots of fun” but also quite difficult. He is now 22 years old.

  Sheldon Riley, then 19, made it to the Grand Finale of The Voice Australia on the first try and again in The Voice, All-Stars 2019. His bold, original sound won the hearts of coaches Delta Goodrem,  Boy George, and Kelly Rowland,  Joe Jonas. He performed Boy George’s hit “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” on The Voice. 

  Sheldon Riley was on the season 8 of The X Factor, as a member of Time and Place, who were eliminated on the first live show. Celebrities like Sam Smith, Adam Lambert, and different drag queens follows Sheldon on Instagram and got some really cool exposure from different people.

  Sheldon also sailed further in international fame by taking part at 'America's Got Talent Show ‘AGT’ Season 15.

   

   

  Australia In Eurovision 

  Australia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest five times since their debut at the 2015 contest in Vienna. Although Australia’s first participation in the 2015 contest was set to be a single time participation, the country was invited to take part in the following years successively. Last year after an agreement with EBU, Australia secured its participation up to 2023.

  The country’s best result in the contest is Dami Im’s 2nd place in 2016. Australia has also finished in the top ten in three of its other appearances in the contest, with Guy Sebastian finishing fifth in 2015, and Isaiah Firebrace finishing ninth in 2017 . In 2019 , Kate Miller Heidke won the first national final to take place in the country and represented the land of Down Under at Tel Aviv with her song “Zero Gravity”. Kate achieved a 9th placing marking the country’s return back in the top 10.

  In 2020 Montaigne  won the country’s 2nd national final in history. Eurovision: Australia Decides 2020, held in Gold Coast , Queensland last February. Her entry “Don’t Break Me” achieved to top the jury voting and came second in the public vote. However due to the covid-19 outbreak the contest was cancelled and Montaigne never had the chance to compete in Rotterdam. 

  Nevertheless, SBS internally selected Montaigne to represent the country in Eurovision 2021 with her song "Technicolour". The Australian hopeful once again wasn't able to travel to Rotterdam because of the ongoing travel restrictions. She competed in the first semi final with her live on tape performance but failed to qualify to the Grand final. 

   

  News Source: Aussievision

  Image: musikindustrin

   

   

   

   

   

AUTHORS

Angelos D.
Loyal follower of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1987, I've made the competition one of the stories of my life. After attending as accredited press the event for 13 consecutive years along with the 2017-2024 JESC editions, I also enjoy the last three years sharing more Eurovision music through the Eurofans radio's project.