We have been exploring Australian artists who we would love to see compete at 'Eurovision - Australia Decides' and get their opportunity to represent Australia at Eurovision.
Today we look at Jael Wena, best known for getting one of Australia’s best results at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Minsk, Belarus. We explore reasons why Jael would make an outstanding artist to compete at 'Eurovision - Australia Decides'!
Who is Jael Wena?
Jael Wena is a 15 year old singer from Melbourne, and is of Congolese decent.
Junior Eurovision fans will remember that she was Australia’s representative at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018. She finished third place with her pop-power anthem ‘Champion’, and in doing so achieved our equal best result at Junior Eurovision to date after Isabella Clarke achieved the same result the year before.
She has gone on to compete in 'Australia’s Got Talent' in 2019 and most recently she sang the National Anthem at the 2021 A-League Soccer Grand Final. She has been releasing covers of songs from various artists on YouTube, including 'Stay’ by Rhianna and ‘Husavik’ from the Eurovision movie, 'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'.
Jael is the oldest of four children and grew up around music. She was singing and writing her own songs at the very young age of four years old.
At nine years old Jael was recording songs in her fathers music studio. Her father is a talented musician who emigrated from the Congo 20 years ago.
Big show experience
Jael might only be 15 years old but she has had a lot of experience in front of the camera showcasing immense charisma and stage presence.
As previously mentioned, she has competed at Junior Eurovision, Australia’s Got Talent and sung the national anthem at the A-League Grand Final. In particular her Junior Eurovision experience will come in handy at Australia Decides and potentially at Eurovision.
After Jael’s third placed result for Australia at Junior Eurovision, Director of Blink TV and Australia’s Head of Delegation for Eurovision at the time, Paul Clarke, said: “Jael has done so well and touched lots of hearts. I think we can expect great things from her in the future. A very deserving person to represent Australia. Well done Jael, we are all really proud of her.”
At this years Eurovision Song Contest we saw previous Junior Eurovision contestants Destiny and Stefania both earn top 10 finishes, which shows that experience at the Junior contest comes in handy.
On Australia's Got Talent Jael made it to the semi finals at just 13 years old. She competed in the same year as 'Eurovision - Australia Decides 2020' artist Mitch Tambo who made it to the AGT grand final. Jael impressed the judges with her popstar qualities.
She is also very confident in front of the camera. In 2019 Jael shared host duties on the children's show 'Stacked!' which was televised on ABC ME. In the show a team of kids showcase fun new videos on various topics. As shown above in a segment of Jael top favourite things she shares singing tips.
Youthful inspiration
It would be great to see more young artists compete at ‘Eurovision - Australia Decides’.
Our youngest Eurovision representative was Isaiah Firebrace who was 17 years old when he represented Australia in Kiev, Ukraine at Eurovision 2017.
If Jael were to compete at ‘Eurovision - Australia Decides 2022’ and represent Australia at Eurovision she would officially be 16 years during the 2022 contest and hence be eligible to compete. Per the Eurovision rules “All Contestants and artists competing in a Semi-Final must be aged at least 16 on the day of the Final.” She would also be Australia’s most youngest artist yet.
Australia also has a great record of diversity with our Eurovision representatives. Having an artist from the African-Australian community would further enhance this.
She would inspire a new generation of young Australian talent from diverse backgrounds to represent us at Eurovision into the future.
Article written by Ally and Kyriakos