AUSTRIA

The Austrian entry was revealed on March 18th firstly on the radio station Ö3 then during an official press conference in Vienna and finally the video was revealed on the eurovision.tv website. Way back in September, ORF announced that they had chosen Conchita Wurst as their next Eurovision representative. The song she will be singing is "Rise like a phoenix".

This was a music video clip, so Conchita was not singing live. This said, there are a lot of clip of her singing live, in particular the Austrian National final of 2012. It would have been nice to see a live version in front of an audience to gauge the interaction with the fans with the some kind of reaction from the crowd.

The video takes pace in quite a plain white studio punctuated but chaise lounges, red drapes, rose petals and a bath! Conchita wears a number of different dresses (as well as none when in the bath) and sings to the camera. There is not really very much of a narrative but you do get a good idea of the type of character Conchita is and the kind of act you might get on the stage. The only voice heard is Conchita's and I would guess that she will be the only one on stage in Copenhagen.

The best way to describe is to say it a ballad in the style of a Shirley Bassey performed James Bond theme tune. There are lots of strings and drums and build up to a really dramatic finish. The verses are nothing special but the choruses really show off her vocal range - even more so in the very final key change. The lyrics really reflect her character and what she stands for and it certainly a song she can feel and hopefully emote to the audience and hopefully go down a storm in the hall.

Although I think that Conchita is an amazing singer I was slightly disappointed with the style of song as I was really hoping for something a little more uptempo and more engaging to the ears. The tune of the song is a little unpredictable and you have to listen to it a good few times before it stays in your ear. The start of the chorus (which just so happens to contain the title of the song) is not terribly legible. Finding out what the staging will look like will be interesting.

Let's be honest this has been a very controversial choice. Whether you like it or not many countries will find this act very shocking. There have even been petitions in Belarus and Russia to try and censure this act then it appears on the stage in Copenhagen. This kind of publicity will affect her vote in some countries but will increase it in others. Many people will look at the ideals that Conchita embodies and will find many groups of people will support her wholeheartedly.

Whichever way you look at it this will get a lot of publicity before the contest but I am not at all sure this will turn into votes. In a semi-final with many Eastern European countries this may well find itself on the cusp of the qualification and therefore in danger. That said, if it does go to the final it will get votes from all of the Big 5 so may do better in the final than semi-final.

Artist - Conchita Wurst

Song - Rise like a phoenix

Music - Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, Julian Maas

Lyrics - Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, Julian Maas