Montainge competes by video with Europe's finest in person at Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest kicked off early this morning in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Representing Australia this year is Montaigne, who competed in the semi-final with her song, Technicolour, against 15 counties in semi final 1. She went up against competitors including 19-year-old Tusse from Sweden, Eden Alene who made history as Israel’s first Ethiopian representative, and fan favourite Maltese singer Destiny.

She competed via a live-to-tape recording of her song, and the Covid-19 pandemic meant that the decision was made not to go to Rotterdam in person. She was the only competitor in her semi-final to do so, as the rest of the countries competing were able to send a live performer.

See More: How SBS put together Australia’s Eurovision entry from across the globe

After her video was played back, she did a live cross to Rotterdam. Speaking about her performance, Montaigne said:

"I'm very happy with it. I'm very proud of it with the amount of time that we got given. I'm still really and I'm just really proud to be part of Eurovision."

On Friday the second semi-final will air, showing off the talent of 17 more countries, 10 of which will be going on to compete in the grand final.

The ‘big five’ of Eurovision — United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain and Germany — automatically qualify for the final because of the financial contributions they make to the European Broadcasting Union. Eurovision hosts Netherlands will also go through.

This year will have an expected global audience of 200 million for Sunday's grand final.

*****SPOILERS BELOW*****

Sadly, Montaigne hasn’t progressed to the Eurovision final. She’s the first Australian competitor not to reach the final since Australia first competed in Eurovision in 2015.

Going through to the next round are Lithuania, Russia, Sweden, Cyprus, Norway, Belgium, Ukraine, Malta, Azerbaijan and Israel.

Upcoming live early morning Eurovision 2021 broadcasts

Semi Final 2 – Friday 21 May, 5am (AEST) SBS

Grand Final – Sunday 23 May, 5am (AEST) SBS

Upcoming primetime evening Eurovision 2021 broadcasts

Semi Final 2 – Saturday 22 May, 8.30pm (AEST), SBS

Grand Final – Sunday 23 May, 7.30pm (AEST), SBS

SBS’s coverage of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, featuring Montaigne, will be broadcast until May 23