The votes for Australia Decides 2020 are in, and the nation has chosen Montaigne—aka Jessica Cerro—as the representative for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.
The Sydney singer, who won over the audience with her soaring song ‘Don’t Break Me’, came in first place with an overall of 107 points. The jury awarded her with 53, the highest among the contestants, while the remaining 54 came from the audience televote. She will represent Australia at Eurovision Song Contest 2020, which takes place in Rotterdam from May 12 to 16.
Former Australian Idol winner Casey Donovan came in second with ‘Proud’, which garnered the highest score from the televote with 60. Melbourne singer-songwriter Vanessa Amorosi rounded out the top three with ‘Lessons of Love’.
Australia has decided! We have a WINNER! @actualmontaigne will fly the flag for Australia at #Eurovision 2020. See you in Rotterdam! #AusDecides pic.twitter.com/O8lzUepOkl
— SBS Eurovision (@SBSEurovision) February 8, 2020
Cerro co-wrote ‘Don’t Break Me’ with David Musumeci and Anthony Egizii of production company DNA Songs. The duo have also worked on other Australian Eurovision Song Contest entries, such as ‘Don’t Come Easy’ by Isaiah Firebrace in 2017 and ‘We Got Love’ by Jessica Mauboy in 2018.
Australia Decides also featured a performance from Australia’s Eurovision 2016 representative Dami Im and Swedish singer Måns Zelmerlöw, who was a contestant in Eurovision 2015. The duo debuted a new duet titled ‘Walk With Me’. After their performance, Im also announced that she’ll be taking part in next year’s edition of Australia Decides, for a chance to represent the country at Eurovision again.
Last year, Montaigne released her sophomore studio album, ‘Complex’. The record, which peaked at number 19 on the ARIA charts, featured the singles ‘For Your Love’, ‘Ready’ and ‘Love Might Be Found (Volcano)’.