Eurovision 2021: 50 years since debut, it's time for Destiny to deliver Malta their first victory!

Not too long ago in 2017, Portugal finally tasted victory since their debut in 1964.

Salvador Sobral's winning entry 'Amar pelos dois' broke the longest drought among Eurovision nations at the time - 53 years!

Now Malta has hit the big 5-0 and they are well overdue for a Eurovision Song Contest win.

So look out France and Italy, Malta is here to win the Contest this year and Destiny Chukunyere is their best shot at it!

The 18-year-old is, as the Maltese promotion says, #Destintinedforgreatness

Before we run through the reasons why she will win, let's look at Malta and their relationship with Eurovision.

Malta and the Eurovision Song Contest

The island nation located in the centre of the Mediterranean made their Eurovision debut back in 1971.

Unfortunately they finished last in their first two attempts. They then took a two year break from the contest and after finishing 12th in 1975, they again withdrew from the contest.

Malta returned 16 years later in 1991 and has competed every single year since. They have never won the contest but have made the top 10 on 13 occasions. They have also finished in the top three four times, being the only non-winning country to do so.

Their best result was second place which they achieved twice. Firstly in 2002 with Ira Losco's ‘7th Wonder’ and the last time in 2005 with Chiara’s ‘Angel’.

Both outstanding female singers returned to represent Malta after their Eurovision runner-up results (overall Chiara’s third attempt representing Malta), without being able to take out the Contest.

Destiny is a child prodigy superstar

First and foremost, Destiny is a superstar!

From the age of 12 she began competing in various singing competitions around Europe, placing third at both Malta’s Independence Song Contest (Kanzunetta Indipendenza) and the Asteriks Music Festival in North Macedonia. She later went on to represent Malta at the international grand finals of Sanremo Junior where she won the competition.

She won Junior Eurovision back in 2015 with the song ‘Not My Soul’ when she was only 13-years-old.

It was Malta's second Junior Eurovision win after Gaia Cauchi won two years earlier with the song 'The Start'.

In honour of this achievement Destiny and her team were awarded a Medal for Service to the Republic, one of the highest Maltese civilian honours.

She also received a recognition award from The Igbo Development Union in Malta which said that Destiny had become an inspiration to all of the Nigerian community in Malta.

In 2017 a 15-yea- old Destiny travelled all the way to the United Kingdom to compete on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, where she made the semi-finals.

Destiny is no stranger to the Eurovision stage. In 2016 she appeared on stage alongside host Måns Zelmerlöw as the winner of the Junior contest from the previous year. Then in 2019 she was a backing singer for Maltese Eurovision entry ‘Chameleon’ by Michela.

There was no question that she was destined to represent Malta at Eurovision one day.

In 2020 Destiny won X Factor Malta, which doubled as a national selection for Eurovision and earned her right to go to the Eurovision stage. She was set to sing ‘All of My Love’ before the contest’s cancellation. In May of that year she was internally selected to represent Malta again for the Eurovision 2021 contest.

Destiny has excelled in this years contest already! She has been improved immensely on every performance and has come a long way from her first rehearsal to her amazing semi final 1 performance, and we cannot wait what she has install for the final!

'Je Me Casse' hits the zeitgeist this year

Previous Australian Eurovision commentator Julia Zemiro is known for saying that most of the time the Eurovision winning song of each year hits the zeitgeist. It means "spirit of the age", so technically a song that resonates with the happenings of the world at the time of the contest.

'Je Me Casse' is a song all about female empowerment. A topic that resonated back in 2018 with the #metoo movement when Netta's 'Toy' won the contest. The topic resonates even more now in 2021, dealing with the empowerment of women and society’s pressures on women, but I am going to let Destiny speak for herself as she “stands” to explain the meaning behind the song in the press conference after semi final 1 this week:

Video source: EBU

The video is taken from the first semi-final press conference where the ten qualifiers are interviewed after the show, for Destiny's full press conference go to the 32 minute mark.

It's important that a song like this wins and will most likely resonate well with the televoting audience.

Well overdue for more winners of diverse backgrounds

Another reason why its is important for Destiny to take out the contest is representation. We are well overdue for a person of colour to win the contest as a solo artist!

Destiny was born in Birkirkara, Malta, and is the daughter of a Nigerian footballer and Maltese mother. Showing more representation in the contest is important to show future generations that anyone can be a Eurovision winner. She is undoubtably talented and deserves to be recognised on the big stage for that.

Destiny will not be alone in possibly being the first solo artist of colour to take out the contest. There is Tusse from Sweden, Eden Alene from Israel, Jeangu from The Netherlands, and Senhit representing San Marino that are also competing this year in the final.

The last person of colour to win the contest was 20 years ago in 2001 when Dave Benton won along with Tanel Padar and 2XL for Estonia with the song 'Everybody'.

What is more significant if Destiny wins this year is that she will be the first person of colour to win the Eurovision Song Contest outright!

We wish Destiny and Malta the best of luck in the final, which you can catch on SBS on Sunday morning at 5.00am AEST in Australia.

Also check out our interview with Destiny where she shares her favourite Australian Eurovision entry and has a special message for the Maltese people of Australia.