Earlier this year, Leea Nanos was one of 10 performers selected to compete in Eurovision – Australia Decides to represent Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Though she wasn’t the final one selected, since getting her taste of performing on the big stage, she can’t get enough.

Now the 17-year-old has her heart set on representing the country of her heritage.

“All the traditions in my family have branched from Greece; it’s who I am. Australia is my home, but so is Greece,” Leea told Neos Kosmos.

Since her audition on the Gold Coast, the young performer has been busy juggling her final year of high school with time in the studio.

“It’s been quite tough, I’m not going to lie. I was actually going to drop out this year because I missed so much since Eurovision happened. But I don’t like to quit anything, even if I don’t like it. So I stuck it out, and I’ve finished my exams now. It actually gave me motivation and pushed me, because when I wasn’t at school I would get to do music. So now I feel very free and I can just follow my dream,” she says, unable to contain her excitement.

READ MORE: Leea Nanos could become youngest performer to represent Australia at Eurovision

The prospect of performing in front of thousands of people is certainly not for everyone, but Leea feels the stage is her domain, describing the experience as “electrifying”, and the “one place where I feel at ease”.

“It’s just my calling,” she says without skipping a beat, “It’s what I’m meant to do”.

Leea in her element. Photo: Supplied

With Year 12 done and dusted, now her focus is on her passion; writing songs and releasing music, in the hope that she will get the chance to travel to Rotterdam in the Netherlands to represent Greece in the 65th edition of Eurovision.

Aside from her own ambitions, she admits the drive stems from something very personal.

Leea’s yiayia has been unwell as she recovers from a battle with cancer. Representing Greece would be a chance to honour her yiayia, with whom she shares both a name and a close bond.

“Sorry I’m getting a bit emotional,” she says. “I really want to do it for her mostly. That’s where she comes from and her whole family, so she is very, very excited if I do get this opportunity, as it’s very close to her heart.”

READ: ‘The Greek mentality is still a free one,’ says world-famous Canadian pianist Alain Lefevre