Dami ImTen years ago, Dami Im sat atop a glittering black box amongst a sea of adoring, flag-waving fans in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden.
Bedecked in her iconic silver gown of Italian organza with metallic piping – designed by Sydney’s Steven Khalil – Im made history that year as the highest-ever ranking Australian performer in the Eurovision Song Contest.
With her delectable belter, Sound Of Silence, Im became the first ever Australian representative to progress from the semi-final to the final, and eventually placed second in the competition overall.
“It’s crazy that it’s already been ten years,” Im exhales over an afternoon Zoom call. “Those three minutes really changed my life, and that’s not an overstatement.
“And I felt like Australia fell in love with Eurovision and they were so on board in my year, so I felt like the whole country was into it and with me and behind me onstage.”
Representing Australia in what is ostensibly supposed to be a competition between European countries is no easy feat.
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Dami Im was only the second ever Australian performer to enter into the Eurovision Song Contest – after Australian Idol-winner Guy Sebastian – and scepticism about the country’s inclusion was profuse. (BBC’s longtime commentator of the show Graham Norton called Australia’s involvement “nonsense” in 2015.)
“I did feel the pressure,” Im admits, laughing. “I felt like I was carrying Australia on my shoulders, so I was really keen to do well and deliver.”
Jokingly, she compares the process of preparing to perform in Eurovision as similar to that of an athlete training for the Olympics.
“I had to do a lot of hyping myself up and preparing myself physically, mentally, and spiritually to be able to go the distance,” she says. “As boring as it is, it was so important to become stage fit.”
And, unlike all of the other participants, who are from the surrounding areas, Im was grappling with major jet lag. “Everyone else flew a maximum of three hours to get to Stockholm, whereas my journey was at least twenty-four hours.”
2016 marked the first year since 1975 where the Eurovision Song Contest implemented a voting system: each country's professional jury points were announced first, while the results of each national televote were combined and announced in reverse order.
Im retained the top score from the jury votes, holding first place, until she was bumped down to second by the public voting. Ukraine leaped to first place, with their controversial entry, 1944.
Notably, political content in song is banned from the Eurovision Song Contest. Some feel that, as 1944 chronicles the persecution of the Crimean Tatars during Josef Stalin’s rule of the Soviet Union, especially in light of the rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia at the time, the entry was too politically charged.
Those detracting from Ukraine’s Eurovision win were, largely, conservative Russian politicians. As such, the phrase “Dami Im was robbed” was a common one at the time.
Im admits that she “crash[ed]” in the aftermath of it all. “I definitely felt that void and emptiness. It was months and months leading up to Eurovision and then I finally went through everything on the ground and did the performance, and the results came in, and we almost won.
“So it was such a rollercoaster of emotions and then suddenly it was over.”
After the competition, Im remained in Europe for a time to participate in songwriting sessions. “And I couldn’t focus,” she remembers. “I was so lost. I remember feeling pretty depressed, wondering what I was supposed to do with myself.
“But the thing is, that experience gave me the ability to find the strength to make some tough decisions with my career. After that, I decided to change my management and my label, change who I was working with. Eurovision made me realise that I had power, and that I deserved a better team. It’s what led me to start to take control of my career, so it was really important for me in that way.”
To mark the ten year anniversary of her Eurovision performance, Im has released a special remix of Sound Of Silence, featuring 2024 Australian Eurovision contestants Electric Fields. “When I knew it was ten years coming up, I wanted to do something special.”
She thought to herself, ‘Why don’t I make a new version of Sound Of Silence, and what could I do to make it different and interesting?’ “I’ve been singing that song for all these years. And every time I sing it, I get goosebump,” she admits.
“I still love it; it brings me right back to that moment. But I wanted to make something fresh so that people can experience it in a different way.”
Im “loves” Electric Fields, a duo made up of vocalist Zaachariaha Fielding and keyboard player and producer Michael Ross. “They are such creative, inspiring, and artistic people that I just wanted to see what they could bring to the song. So I asked Michael and Z to do whatever they wanted to do, to see what they came up with, and that’s where it began.”
The new remix boasts a thumping beat, jangling keys, and features a verse in the Yankunytjatjara language.
“When I first approached Michael about it he was like, ‘Are you sure? How much change do you want to make?’ He was very respectful,” she says.
“For me, I obviously wanted to keep the melody, keep the lyrics, keep the form so that it was still recognisable. But I didn’t feel afraid to just let them see what they came up with and see what twists they could put on it. I wanted to give them free reign, and I think that’s important sometimes, to give people the freedom to work.
“And I think that’s why they were able to come up with something so different and clever, because they felt free to express themselves through it and I didn’t try to gatekeep it,” she adds. “It was such a genuine collaboration and I feel so grateful that they were able to bring that kind of energy to it.”
She describes Sound Of Silence as a piece of music that has taken on a life of its own. “It’s a song that’s opened so many doors for me and allowed me to meet so many wonderful fans all over the world,” she notes.
“It still feels so special to me. I still get so many messages from people telling me what this song means to them and where they first heard it. People are still covering it. It feels like it’s such an important chapter of my life and my career.”
As Dami Im celebrates her special anniversary, this year’s Eurovision season is fast approaching, scheduled to kick off in Vienna, Austria, on May 12th. “I love Eurovision season. I’m so looking forward to watching Delta Goodrem compete this year. Each year it’s such a fun time – I’m literally still a Eurovision fan.”
It opened doors for her, it gave her opportunities, and it gave her a home. “I feel like I’m still a part of the Eurovision community.”
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
