Eurovision is an infamously wild ride for performers, who are required to navigate an increasingly political narrative, a packed schedule and a vast audience.
When commentator Graham Norton asked Olly Alexander what advice he’d give acts based on his own experience in 2024, Alexander’s reply was telling.
“Get yourself a really good therapist.”
Dara says professional help she received after her ADHD diagnosis prepared her for the contest.
“I work with a therapist and she helped me with how to feel in a place full of people,” she says. “I think she did a great job. I really felt in my zone wherever I went.”
Dara says breathing exercises, drawing, journalling and meditation helped “keep her in the centre”.
“Eurovision is so, so big – the biggest thing that artists can do,” she says. “But I’ve never felt more calm on stage, more secure.”
Vienna saved its biggest moment for Dara until last – one of the most emphatic wins in Eurovision history.
“I was just calm,” Dara says, recalling how she felt as points flowed in from across the world.
“I opened my heart and just kept repeating, ‘Thank you God for putting me on that stage and for these people around me.'”
