Interview: Sheldon Riley as he prepares for Eurovision 2022 in Turin

Image credit / SBS

A week after Sheldon Riley’s win at ‘Eurovision - Australia Decides’ 2022 on the Gold Coast the young singer songwriter sat down with us at Aussievision to talk about the his win and his preparations for Eurovision 2022 in Turin.

Sheldon Riley went on to win ‘Eurovision - Australia Decides’ 2022 with 100 points performing his entry ‘Not The Same’. He delivered an epic performance filled with emotion and drama, where he wore his heart on his sleeve, and shared with Australia one of his most personal songs.

Sheldon explains how he feels about his Australia Decides win:

“It sunk in the day that I found out how quickly we need to be ready and push everything out. And it's not just send a song... it's so much more than that. So it's definitely sunk in and I'm just so honoured. I'm so proud and, and we're working so hard and I'm just really excited for everything to start unveiling itself.”

When it comes to the next step after Sheldon’s Australia Decides win, well it’s full steam ahead preparing for Turin:

“I know exactly what I need to do now that I understand the stage, now that I understand what's possible, the people that we get to work with… It’s gonna be huge, it's gonna be really huge. And I'm not just saying that... I mean, huge, huge, huge, huge.”

“Looking at the stage designs over the last few days, I've just been mind blown. It’s gonna be incredible. I'm excited for people to see the elevation of my performance, because a lot of people have said far out that outfit you wore was so big, or this or that, like how are you going to top it and I'm already discussing with certain people. I'm really, really excited about what's gonna come next.”

Check out our full interview below (with time stamps for each section) where we talk to Sheldon on how ‘Not The Same’ is about his experience with Asperger's Syndrome, the reasoning behind the mask in his performance, his favourite Eurovision 2022 entries, whether he believes there are legitimate comparison with Ochman's 'River' and much more.

Sheldon will be representing Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy in the second semi-final on May 12 2022.

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