Australia: SBS introduces Isaiah Firebrace’s duet partner!

A few minutes ago, the Australian broadcaster SBS revealed the artist that is going to perform along with Isaiah Firebrace on their duet, at Australia Decides. It is the 20-year-old Evie Irie.

Their song called “When I’m With You” will be released on the 4th of February, alongside the TikTok Wildcard winner.

Who is Evie Irie

Evie Irie, born in 2002, is an Australian pop singer and songwriter from the Central Coast, New South Wales. She released her debut extended play 5 Weeks in LA in 2019 through Republic Records, after travelling to the United States to pursue becoming a singer. In 2020, she released the EPs “The Optimist” and “The Pessimist”, and collaborated with producer Dillon Francis on the song “Be Somebody“.

Hailing from just outside of Sydney, Irie started performing in area cafés and restaurants at a young age, writing her own songs from the age of 12. She turned to the life experiences of her older sister for material on some of her earliest material. In her mid-teens, in lieu of doing an exchange program like many of her friends, her parents agreed she should take some time off to visit Los Angeles (and, ultimately, New York and Nashville) to take writing sessions and shop labels.

Irie not only found interest in her songs in the U.S. but reportedly started a bidding war in Los Angeles that ultimately led to her signing with Republic Records. She was 16 years old when they released her first EP, “5 Weeks in LA”, in mid-2019. Irie opened shows for the likes of Sigrid and Bastille before returning with “Over Him” and “Worst Enemy” in early 2020. Her sophomore EP, The Optimist, arrived later that fall.

Evie Irie said:

If there’s one thing I like as much as creating music for my own projects, it’s writing with other artists for their projects: it’s not work, it’s just fun!  So when Isaiah and his team asked me to do Eurovision with this random wonderful song called, When I’m With You, that we had such a great time writing together, I was seriously shook. I never EVER thought I’d have the chance to play at Eurovision and I just can’t say no to Isaiah.

And Isaiah Firebrace commented:

Sometimes life takes you on a very unusual journey. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined doingEurovision – Australia Decides with Evie Irie but I am so thankful that our planets aligned and we get to do this together.  We wrote the song together, we jumped out of a plane together and we want to represent Australia together. Being together is what the song is all about and what the world needs right now. I’m incredibly proud to being doing this with Evie – she’s so unique and so special… wait until the world gets to know her like I have!!!

Already known song titles

Mid of January, in a previous article we had reported that the first song titles for Australia Decides 2022 had been revealed, as some candidates had announced the title of their songs that will compete to represent Australia in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The song titles already revealed are:

• Seann Miley Moore – “My Body”
• Charley – “I Suck At Being Lonely”
• Sheldon Riley – “Not the Same”
• Isaiah Firebrace, Evie Irie – “When I’m With You”

Known acts competing at Australia Decides 2022

Eleven acts will compete to be the next Australian Eurovision representative.  The participants for the next Australia Decides are:

1. Isaiah Firebrace, Evie Irie
2. Jaguar Jonze
3. Paulini
4. Andrew Lambrou
5. Sheldon Riley
6. G-Nat! Ion.
7. Sean Miley Moore
8. Voyager Australia – “Dreamer“
9. Charley
10. Jude York – “I Won’t Need to Dream“

The eleven acts will compete at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Center on February 26 to represent Australia at Eurovision 2022. Australian broadcaster SBS decided to use Australia Decides as their national final after the success of  their national final.

Radio producer and presenter Myf Warhurst and comedian Joel Creasey will present the Australian national final.  Moreover, Creasey will be the SBS Eurovision commentator in May 2022.

Montaigne won the most recent edition of Australia Decides with the song “Don’t break me”.  Unfortunately her entry could not participate in Eurovision due to the cancellation of the competition in 2020.  She represented Australia in 2021 with “Technicolour”. You can watch her 2021 performance in the video embedded below: