Australia: First acts of ‘Australia Decides’ announced

Australia’s national broadcaster, SBS, has clearly been hard at work on delivering a national selection to remember, and this evening (or morning, if you’re reading from Australia, afternoon in the US) the first four acts taking part in the selection were confirmed, with some familiar faces!

Sheppard, Kate Miller-Heidke, Mark Vincent and Electric Fields will take part in the national selection in February.

Sheppard scored an international hit in 2014 with “Geronimo”, charting in 19 countries including #1 in their native Australia and the Czech Republic, #2 in Poland and #3 in Austria and Italy, and with over 37 million views on YouTube and 200+ million streams on Spotify. The indie pop group also achieved success with “Coming Home” and “Let Me Down Easy”, both with over 4 million views on YouTube.

Kate Miller-Heidke is a singer-songwriter who has released four albums since she burst onto the scene in 2007, three of which reached the Top 5 in the Australian charts. Mark Vincent is a tenor who is most known for winning Australia’s Got Talent in 2009 and releasing a string of successful albums in Australia.

The last act, Electric Fields, is a duo consisting of former X Factor participant Zaachaariaha Fielding and Michael Ross. The duo’s songs often feature the indigenous Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara language of the area of Australia that Fielding grew up in in aboriginal South Australia – certainly one for the language column on Wikipedia!

SBS also tease that more acts will be revealed soon. Who could be joining these four acts in Gold Coast for Australia Decides?

What do #YOU think of the first acts announced? Share your thoughts with us on our forum HERE or join the discussion below and on social media!