Firstly, a huge congratulations to all the qualifying countries in Eurovision 2021 semi-final 1.
This semi-final was the most competitive this year (and potentially of all time) and out of 16 competing countries there can only be 10 qualifiers.
For the first time in our short Eurovision history Australia has become a non-qualifier.
We may be disappointed as Eurovision fans, but we will never forget the amazing experience following Montaigne’s two-year journey to perform at Eurovision.
And despite the huge obstacles, Montaigne and Australia managed to get to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest (even if it was the live-on-tape) and nothing can take that away from her.
Montaigne has done Australia proud
We want to congratulate and to say a huge thank you to Montaigne and her team (including the broadcaster SBS and Blink TV) for representing us with a package that all of Australia can be proud of.
Montaigne has delighted us with two amazing Eurovision entries. She has given us a taste of hyper pop with ‘Technicolour’ and delivered one hell of a performance for Europe this morning.
We wish Montaigne the best of luck with her music career in the future in Australia and across the globe.
'Technicolour' has already been streamed 1.4 million times and has become a part of Australia's Eurovision history.
Support for Montaigne
There has been a huge amount of support for Montaigne since this morning including from Eurovision artists themselves.
Many of the other artists at Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam have been showing their support for Montaigne to try and not let her feel left out of the Eurovision experience.
Montaigne also tweeted that the support she has received has been her favourite part of her Eurovision experience.
Who knows we might see a future collaboration between Montaigne and other Eurovision 2021 artists.
Additionally, in the press conference after the semi-final Kateryna from Go_A representing Ukraine had voted for Australia and said if Ukraine didn't qualify she would to have liked to see Australia get through.
Montaigne also let fans know she was doing ok, and that we can expect some new music from Montaigne soon!!
(Give us 'JC Ultra'!!)
Ways to show your support
It doesn't stop here! Keep showing your support for Montaigne, stream 'Technicolour', and buy her merch, she currently has available a LIMITED EDITION Rainbow Tie Die, with classic Montaigne logo T-shirt, which you can find here, it's very 'Technicolour'.
So what does this morning mean for Australia in Eurovision?
Breaking our 100% Eurovision grand final qualifying streak, so?
It seems that competing in the semi-final with the live-on-tape, quite possibly had an impact on our result. We won't know the full results until after this weekend's Grand Final.
We unfortunately broke our 100% qualifying record that we held with Ukraine (who still keep theirs), but it's not the end of the world for Australia.
In a way this is another experience for us as a Eurovision nation.
In 2015 we got to compete, in 2016 we had to qualify, in 2018 we finished last in the televote, in 2019 we held our first national final and in 2021 we missed the Grand Final.
It's all about maturing as a true Eurovision nation with a rich and complicated history.
Will Australia still compete at Eurovision?
Of course that has not changed. It’s not all doom and gloom!
We are guaranteed to compete at the Eurovision Song Contest until 2023.
In recent interviews we did with Australia's Head of Delegation and SBS Commissioning Editor Josh Martin and Creative Director in the delegation and Director of Blink TV, Paul Clarke have indicated that it’s likely we will have a ‘Eurovision - Australia Decides 2022’ national selection show.
So that is something worth looking forward to.
Keep watching Eurovision even without Australia there!
And finally, Eurovision had a long history in Australia before we started competing in 2015, we've been watching it on SBS since 1983.
So make sure you tune in to the second semi-final on Friday and the Grand Final on Sunday morning. Just because Australia isn't competing, doesn't mean we shouldn't be there in spirit.