Delta Goodrem reveals how Olivia Newton-John is guiding her
On the evening of April 6, 1974, Australian legend Olivia Newton-John walked up the stairs from the backstage area of England’s Brighton Dome in a voluminous light blue silk and taffeta ruffled gown and onto a stage of concentrically tiered circular platforms surrounded by soft folds and a bright palette of blue, pink and gold. Hey, it was the 1970s.
Not yet an Australian icon, the 25-year-old Cambridge-born, Melbourne-born singer was representing the UK with her singing. Long live love. He was second in the final line-up on stage, just half an hour before ABBA followed suit. Waterloo and they will change the fate of Eurovision and their careers in one blinding moment.
In less than two weeks, some 1250 kilometers and 52 years removed from Newton-John’s Eurovision challenge – where she finished fourth – another Australian singer Delta Goodrem will take to a vastly modernized stage and Newton-John will attempt to recreate the spark of magic that ABBA, Celine Dion wrote about. I’m DamiJulio Iglesias, Katrina and the Waves, and Maneskin have entered the pop culture history books.
What binds these two women is a unique and tender friendship born of a chance encounter, parallel cancer journeys, an unexpected and lasting friendship, and Goodrem’s role as Newton-John in the biographical miniseries. Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to YouWith Newton-John’s approval.
The third element in Goodrem’s journey from Australia to the 70th annual Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, is fellow alumnus Celine Dion, for whom Goodrem wrote the song (along with Kristian Lundin and Savan Kotecha). Eyes on Me, recorded by Dion for her 2007 album Trying a Chance.
Goodrem says that when she steps onto the Eurovision stage, the presence of these two women, whom she calls “my friends” (Dion) and “my mentors” (Newton-John), will be deeply felt. “Whatever it is that has led my journey to this moment, I am truly honored and grateful, and I hope I can continue those things and keep them in my heart.”
Reflecting on her memories of Newton-John, Goodrem adds: “I definitely have a different way of thinking about him now, like I’m imagining all the different questions I would probably ask.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about how I would love to be able to talk to him about this and this moment. I feel for the angels… and I pray and hope that they are with us through this. I still do, but of course this is a unique moment to step in and celebrate.”
I don’t want to exaggerate the complexity of Eurovision, but it’s still fair to say it’s more than its decades-long reputation for feathers and sequins would suggest. Australia is just one of 35 countries competing in the world’s toughest music competition. Dancing grandmas and heavy metal orcs may come and gobut professional careers have risen (and fallen) thanks to Eurovision.
Australia’s greatest weakness is that we are a rival country with no political voting bloc. So many countries tend to fall in line with their European neighbors. So the Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) tend to rate each other well. There are also some former Balkan countries: Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. And Greece and Cyprus.
Australia’s scoring advantages sometimes come from countries whose diasporas are well represented on our shores: Italy, Malta, the United Kingdom. And the insistence of some Australian Eurovision participants, including Goodrem, on attending pre-Eurovision “parties” in Europe, including major events in Amsterdam and Oslo. “It was really incredible to get an idea of how much was going on,” Goodrem said when she returned from her European “pre-tour” last month.
Geopolitics, voting and intra-European tensions are nothing new for Eurovision. In fact, the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest promises to be a geopolitical disaster, as is said in the corridors of power. First of all, the competition is down to five countries; Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovenia and Iceland withdrew over the European Broadcasting Union’s decision to allow Israel’s participation.
The fact that the EBU moved quickly to suspend Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 but failed to condemn Israel for its crackdown on Gaza is a thorny issue. Spain’s absence will be felt especially deeply. This country is among the “Big Five” countries that write the biggest checks to the EBU every year.
These absences will also have an impact on the competition’s complex scoreboard. For example, Ireland and Iceland are consistent in giving countries such as Poland and Lithuania above-average scores. The return to competition of several recently absent countries (Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova) can be seen as a points increase for the Eastern European voting blocs.
While some artists took strong political stances, Goodrem kept himself completely out of the political arena. In fact, the music is in the realm of soft diplomacy: the art of building silk-gloved bridges in rooms that politicians and government leaders cannot easily or comfortably access.
When I asked Goodrem about the geopolitical complexities of the event, she said she focused on cultural connection and her performance. “From the first day I got involved in music, from my first single in my youth, I got into this business for love, connection, healing and unity,” Goodrem says. “In my shows, wherever we are, whether we’re in the arena or the theater, we’re there for unity, for a universal language, for hope and healing. And that’s our main focus, being on stage.”
Goodrem comes to the concert well-established as a 12-time ARIA Award-winning singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. The song she will sing is a pop anthem titled EclipseCo-written by Goodrem, Ferras Alqaisi, Jonas Myrin and Michael Fatkin, the film is already generating strong excitement among Eurovision fans, an unusually effective group of rusty diehards.
Fans rate it as a top five or top three song; It’s a bold call, but it’s a song that’s consistent and based on its past form and will likely evolve into something closer to reality. This happened before Goodrem had even seen the staging planned for her performance in Vienna next week.
Typically the production design for a Eurovision performance is not revealed until the first rehearsals this weekend. What is known is that Goodrem’s inclination was towards less flashy staging, and that her competition among professional juries, who awarded half the final score, would be her success as an instrumentalist.
Historically speaking, the wilder end of the performance spectrum doesn’t fare as well as the casual observer might think. Even ABBA, known for its flashy costumes, reflected the disco pop of the period. In reality, groups only win one in five. The 1970s were big for bands (ABBA, Bucks Fizz, Brotherhood of Man) but no band won between 2007 and 2020, for example.
Similarly, camp and high-concept acts (the weird, loose-living category into which you could put Ireland’s Dustin the Turkie, monster rocker Lordi, or Scooch in a stewardess costume) don’t fare as well, despite many people considering these acts to dominate Eurovision. They win less than 10 percent of the time.
This is actually good news for Goodrem: Female soloists with minimal staging and vocal- or instrument-focused performances win six out of 10 times. When you add men to the mix, the soloist total approaches 70 percent. And between 2012 and 2020, every winner was a soloist. From where? Judges, in general, tend to value vocal talent, and this is best revealed when there are no distractions on stage.
Her status as a multi-hyphenate singer-instrumentalist is central to Goodrem’s identity. “I would say it’s very central,” he says. “First of all, my songwriting has always come from composing. I would consider myself a composer even before a songwriter. I was a composer first and foremost. That’s how I started writing songs. And as a pianist, my instrumental side is incredibly important; it’s the flow of a story.”
Goodrem acknowledges that these factors will play a role in staging choices. “I was very excited to be able to play, paint, and be the conductor of my own instrumental,” he says. “It’s really important that the show includes things that I would do on normal tours and has a story. I can say that it all stems from the pianist in me. I can say that it’s my DNA.”
The Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast live and prime-time on SBS and SBS On Demand from 13 to 17 May.
