X Factor winner Isaiah Firebrace will be Australia's Eurovision entrant

While most teens mark their first trip to Europe with a backpacking trip or a Contiki tour if they are feeling particularly fancy, Firebrace will go to Europe for the first time to conquer it.

"I've never been to Europe," he told Fairfax Media. "I've only been to Bali for a holiday recently and to America."

In further evidence that the now-defunct X Factor has at least proven to be a fruitful training ground for Eurovision entrants, Firebrace, who took the X Factor top prize last year, now has a much bigger music competition on his hands.

The 17-year-old with the distinctive baritone voice from Moama in NSW, is heading to Kyiv??? as the third-ever Australian entrant for Eurovision which is watched by 200 million worldwide.

"I love the energy from a big crowd, I think any performer does," he said. "You can draw so much energy from a big crowd."

He'll be pitching up with power ballad Don't Come Easy, penned by David Musucemi and Anthony Egizii, the team behind last year's Australian Eurovision smash Sound of Silence by Dami Im, the 2013 X Factor winner.

And while it would be natural to think that following up from Im's 2016 success or playing to one of the largest television audiences in the world could cause him concern, it was something else entirely.

"I think the flight is 27 hours or something," he said. "I don't know how I'm going to sit down for that long."

Despite his relative youth, Firebrace was expecting to take the Eurovision experience in his stride.

"I think age is just a number," he said. "I don't know if it was the way I was brought up or what, but I try not to think about things too much, I think as a performer you need to keep your head clear.

"Coming into this announcement tonight, I was really excited but I tried not to let it get to me."

Firebrace, who appears to be fronting up to Eurovision just using the mononym Isaiah according to the SBS announcement, has thanked the network and his record label Sony for "the opportunity of a lifetime".

"Even though it has been a dream of mine, never did I think for one minute it would be a possibility," Firebrace said.

"To be able to share this news with my family and friends is unbelievable. I can't wait to go to the Ukraine to perform Don't Come Easy. I will make Australia proud."

SBS made the announcement live on Facebook, with a short showcase by Firebrace who performed Don't Come Easy, his debut single It's Gotta Be You and Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come.

He said he was "thrilled and so excited" to be competing in Eurovision and said he'd struggled to keep it quiet, telling his father and brother only earlier on Tuesday, who both cried when they heard the news.

He said he'd bumped into Im since the decision was made and she had given him advice to stay focussed and positive as "it can get really crazy over there".

He has been the bookies' favourite to step up for Australia, beating off a long list of rumoured candidates including fellow X Factor alumni Nathaniel Willemse???, Delta Goodrem, Jessica Mauboy and the Veronicas.

It was a highly likely path to Eurovision for Firebrace, who cites Mariah Carey as his biggest influence. His X Factor win gained him a contract with Sony - the same record company stable behind Australia's previous Eurovision entrants Dami Im and Guy Sebastian and Mauboy's performance at the 2014 contest.

Firebrace has big shoes to fill following the spectacular performance by Im last year, who ended up winning the jury vote and coming second overall.

He's already scored a measure of popularity in Europe with It's Gotta Be You, which went platinum in Sweden and charted in Denmark and Norway, and has hit 50 million streams of Spotify worldwide.

Firebrace will head to Kyiv for the contest which takes place May 9, 11 and 13 and will be broadcast live on SBS and repeated during prime-time hours.

The SBS managing director Michael Ebeid said this year's Eurovision theme "Celebrate Diversity" matched the network's own values.

"Isaiah is a young artist who beautifully embodies the Australian spirit with his passion, hard work and humility, not to mention immense talent at just 17 years old."

He took the X Factor crown in the eighth season of the talent show last November, on his 17th birthday, after being mentored by Adam Lambert.

Seven has since axed the show due to poor ratings, however, with 751,000 people tuning in to watch Firebrace win, down from the previous year's 1.2 million.

He's about to hit on the road supporting Mauboy on her All the Hits tour kicking off on March 30.

And he won't be the only Australian to compete in this year's Eurovision, with another reality talent show veteran, the 2014 The Voice winner Anja Nissen representing Denmark. Nissen, whose parents are Danish, is competing after winning the nation's contest to find a Eurovision candidate.

But there's still no word yet on the replacements for SBS Eurovision hosts Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang, who are bowing out after eight years of fronting the coverage.

SBS's Eurovision weekend runs May 12-14.