AUSTRIA 2025

The Austrian song was revealed on March 6th with the song and video release on the Eurovision official youtube channels. Earlier in the year, ORF (the Austrian broadcaster) announced their singer had been chosen but the song would be not be revealed until March. Going to Basel is JJ with the song "Wasted Love" 

Johannes Pietsch - aka JJ - was born to an Austrian father and Filipino mother. He was born in Vienna, grew up in Dubai but the family then returned to Vienna in 2016. As well as German he speaks Tagalog, French and English. He auditioned for the successful talent show "Starmania" getting to the final 12 and in 2020 he was a contestant on The Voice UK getting to the knockouts round. Currently, he attends the Music and Arts University in Vienna  Although he has an operatic education and background, he enjoys mixing this with pop, especially as he is a countertenor and has wider upper range. This entry is his first single release proper.

The song starts almost immediately with a rather long verse then short pre chorus. This is sung in his pop voice which is still quite high. The short chorus that follows tunes into his operatic voice, which sounds extremely impressive, and in addition his diction is clear and audible. We then return with a verse and chorus but this time the verse is short and the chorus is much longer. The music video is rather moody; although not shot in black and white, the lighting and colour palette might suggest otherwise As the lyrics suggest, there is a lot of water based imagery from rain storms to puddles to full blown lakes. I like the way the use of the paper boat alludes scale and size. The song itself  hints are unrequited and unreciprocated love and his vocal tone suggests longing, despair, frustration and resignation. Just after the two minute mark JJ repeats the title of the song several times before a very string dance beat comes in under the singing and his voice starts to cut in and out. At this point in the video he is no longer drowning in the water but floating above people in a grand theatre.

This has a strong audio identity with nothing else leading up to this point feeling quite like this. The song seems to peak at the chorus which, although technically brilliant, are lyrically repetitive. The last 40 seconds or so are captivating although I wonder how this will go down on stage. I imagine the interrupted sound bite would be on the backing tape and JJ singing some other high jinks as another layer on top. The visual is also strong in the video and I can imagine with wind machines, some decent video projections (below & above) and maybe even some pulleys and winches, the video's feel could be replicated in the hall. This all said, there is something about this song that gets memory holed for me. I wish the verses were more memorable because I certainly cannot sing along with the chorus and the verses are too plain to remember. My hope for this entry is that as well as pulling this off vocally, the team also has an innovative or interesting staging to bring out the best of this song.

ARTIST - JJ

SONG - Wasted Love

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Johannes Pietsch, Teodora Špirić, Thomas Thurner

AUSTRIA 2024

The Austrian song was revealed on March 1st - with the audio available on youtube. An official video was scheduled to be premiered alongside but this was delayed until the 4th. In January, broadcaster ORF announced their act; the song title was released the following month. The Austrian song for Malmö is "We will rave" by Kaleen.

Kaleen (real name Marie-Sophie Kreissl) grew up around dance and at just the age of seven she won her first Austrian ballet championship. She did however study a wide range of dance and chorography genres and in 2015 took part - with her dance partner - in the German version of "Got to Dance" going all the way to the final. Since then she has worked closely with Austrian broadcaster as a choreographer and director for many ORF programmes. During the last 6 years she has also been involved in the background work of many Eurovision projects including: a rehearsal stand in for "Fuego", dancer/choreographer of the 2018 interval act, director of the Spanish and Bulgarian jESC entries as well as stage director for the whole 2022 jESC contest. In 2021, she founded Wifi Records where she released her debut album in 2023.

This a dance-pop song with more than a nod to the techno genre. Here, the instrumentation is really key as it is truly portrays that European electronic '90s sound that seems to be so popular right now. Because of this, the background is full of changes of tempo, beat and instrumentation and certainly keep you on your toes. The song follows a verse-pre chorus-chorus structure with lots of music breaks and bridges in between with a rather rare trope of a false finish and a chorus to end. Before the last chorus there is a sizable instrumental which will certainly be used as a dance break for Kaleen. There also seems to be some vocal processing during the pre-chorus and it will be interesting to see if the song can work without this, unless the processing can be enabled live. Alternatively this could be left on the backing track but this is a very large section to be left like this.

This may well be a fun, dancy and nostalgic song but it has a very honest and serious heart to it. The '90s revival is back in full effect at Eurovision this year and would be very easy to compare this to similarly nuanced songs already on the menu .However,unlike some entries that have an obvious performance level to it, "We will rave" is a straightforward song, performed straight down the line and without an obvious shtick that other songs may have. This will go down very big in the hall and I hope that the delegation use the audience and the lights to really keep that evocative feel. The video, to me, was a little disappointing as it didn't really add anything to the song or have much of a narrative - apart from sex sells! Although a staging like this might give a plateful of eye candy to the viewers at home and in the auditorium, one might see this as a low move in order to get votes. It would've been nice to have had more extended sections of dancing because we know that this is something she excels at. I am a little worried about the live vocal performance because if the visuals are not up to much there will be little to hide behind performance wise. The changes in vocal style in the different parts of the song may be a stretch to accomplish live if there is also a lot of dancing. The jury will be out on how successful this will be until we hear a live performance. 

ARTIST - Kaleen

SONG - We will rave

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Julie Aagaard, Thomas Stengaard, Jimmy "Joker" Thörnfeldt, Anderz Wrethov

AUSTRIA 2023

The Austrian song was revealed on March 8th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube and it's first play on Radio Ö3. On 31 January, ORF announced during the radio show Ö3-Wecker, that they had internally selected Teya & Salena to represent Austria in Liverpool. Their song is called "Who the hell is Edgar?"

Teya and Salena - Teodora Špirić and Selina-Maria Edbauer - met in 2021 when they were both contestants on the long running Austrian talent show Starmania. Salena had previously been on The Voice of Germany and was part of Samu Haber's team. Co-incidentally both of them had applied to represent Austria at ESC before their meeting. Teya made a submission under the name Thea Devy in 2020 with "Judgement Day". When this bid failed she then submitted this same song to the Serbian selection and came 10th in their national final with "Sudnji dan". Salena applied in 2019 with the song "Behind the Waterfall".

The song starts with a spoken intro before the beat clicks in. The bassline is quite funky but still straightforward. The verse is very staccato almost spoken then a rather spiritual, almost choral, section comes in before the repetitive 'Poe Poe Poe' chorus. This runs straight into the next verse where the girls' voices seem to be stronger, maybe even slightly angry, and the delivery certainly is more punchy. Once more the chorus comes in followed by the choral part again but this time still with the backing track behind it. This then makes way for a slightly sinister bridge with the repetition of the numbers. Finally the chorus and choral part are sang together before a final choral refrain and a farewell remark of the title of the song. 

This song is just plain madness. The lyrics are fun, if not slightly barmy, the video is bordering on absurd but the refrains are so very catchy. The song is quirky and rather unexpected which could throw a lot of people off but will also keep some people's attention from start to finish, for good or for bad! The hooks are so easy to catch and the use of a person's name - who most people will have at least heard of - is a clever trick. Whether on not people pick up on the digs about the music industry, the mechanics of song writing and the inability for artists to survive on the paltry remuneration from streaming services, it is a song that works on numerous levels.

On the other side there are concerns about the way this could be performed live. Will they bring in any of the themes in the video or will it be something brand new? How are they going to sing his live? Will they actually be able to sing the chorus? Will they have live backing singers? I would hope, after the floods of positivity after the video reveal, that some aspects of this are involved e.g. the typewriter (I can imagine the words being types on the backdrop), the 70s outfits at the start or even some of the additional cast members. The dance routine is a must to stay! This song has been eagerly awaited and I feel like this song is going to big, in particular this song is made for tiktok. No matter how successful this song may by in Liverpool, this will happily be revisited every year henceforth.

ARTIST - Teya & Salena

SONG - Who the hell is Edgar?

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Selina Edbauer, Ronald Janeček, Pele Loriano, Teodora Spiric

AUSTRIA 2021

The Austrian song was released on March 10th with its premiere play on Hitradio Ö3 followed by the video release online. Last year's representative Vincent Bueno had been reselected internally, as had his song., which is called "Amen"

The video mainly takes place in a number of different 'rooms'. There is some opening of doors which coincides with changes in the song. There is also a strange analogy going on with a crow which then morphs from a plain black crow to a multi-coloured one when Vincent finally escapes from his rooms and into the open air.

As you can probably tell from the pared down video the song is pretty straight forward too. The song starts off softly with piano and guitar backing. As the chorus starts the beat starts up and helps the chorus build from the rather sombre verse. This beat stays on during the second verse although his vocals are softer and breathy. I feel like this shouldn't quite work but actually helps the song keep its momentum. After this there is a short bridge which takes the beat away before the last rendition of the chorus. For this one though, Vincent sings the first bit slow and hushed before the beat comes in about this time with a choir helping with the chorus which feels like it is going for the big finish but finishes with Vincent singing the title of the song as the backing fades away,

Bueno started dancing at the age of 4 and later graduated in music and performing arts at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. His big break came in 2008 when he won the Austrian reality show “Musical! Die Show” showing that he could act sing dance and entertain. Over the weeks he performed a range of song from different musicals such as Hair, Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, Grease and Miss Saigon and in the end won over  two thirds of the phone in votes in the final. In 2009 he took part in Austria’s version of ‘Strictly’ coming 7th and had his first taste of Eurovision taking part in the Austrian national final in 2016.

This is rather awkward as there is already another song called "Amen" on the showlist, but for me is is by far the better. Even on a technical point of view, the title of the song is prominent in the chorus, repeated often as is also the first and last words that comes out of Vincent's mouth. The beat really builds and you get a real feeling that every word means something. The video is a little confusing but I could imagine the kind of black turning into technicolour vibe being quite clever or even something about opening and shutting doors on the backdrop. It's also nice to see something totally different from Vincent considering his 2020 song was a Justin Timberlake style up-tempo song and shows that he is really versatile. Last years one probably had its hopes pinned on televotes while this might be hankering after the jury vote and if I'm honest Imuch prefer this once.

ARTIST - Vincent Bueno
SONG - Amen
WRITING CREDITS - Tobias Carshey, Ashley Hicklin, Jonas Thander

24/02/12 AUSTRIA

The Austrian Final was held on February 24th at the ORF TV Studios in Vienna, hosted by Mirjam Weichselbraun, Robert Kratky & Andi Knoll. The winner was chose through two rounds of televoting. The first round would select the top 2 and then another round would select the winner from these two.

The final two were last years’ runners up, Trackshittaz and reality ex boy band contestant, now drag artist, Conchita Wurst. After a very close final round of voting, the winners, by a very small margin was Trackshittaz with “Woki mit deim popo” meaning “shake that ass”.

It must be said that last year’s runner up etry “Oida Taunz” is far superior to this song and  that way it is a little disappointing. The song is in a very strange dialect of German and does sound very strange to the untrained ear. The chorus is very brash and loud but it does get you involved, which is probably its only saving grace.

The band does its normal visual routine whilst they’re are backed by 3 ladies who send most of their time doing pole dancing. Close to the end they do part of their dance routine under ultra violet lights which shows of the highlighted bits of their catsuits/ The whole overall effect of this is that is all seems a little bit to rude. It just steps over the line a tad. Plus I am not quite sure how they are going to cart o and off three poles onto the stage in 45 seconds…

In addition to this the EBU will also probably have to make them change their name…

It’s an interesting song and certainly different to anything else we’ve heard this year. The juries won’t like it but will get the dirty old man vote.

SONG  -  Woki mit deim popo (Shake your ass)

ARTIST – Trackshittaz

COMPOSERS – Lukas Plöchl, Manuel Hoffelner

LANGUAGE – Central Bavarian/Mühlviertlerisch (dialect of German)

AUSTRIA

The ORF Studios in Vienna hosted the Eurovision pre-selection on the 25th February. After quite an extensive selection process involving web voting and a semi-final involving Radio Ö3, 10 songs made the final. After a first round of voting, three songs progressed to the super final. After extra time for voting the eventual winner of the ticket to Düsseldorf is “The secret is love” sung by Nadine Bieler.

Nadine stands in the stage alone in a spotlight. Visually, she looks not to dissimilar to the Albanian entrant, Aurela Gaçe, and seems to be styled in a very similar way. She also seems to be wearing a wig, which kind of suits her but looks a bit lopsided (let’s just say I hope it is a wig!) Later, revealed behind her are 5 backing singers, who come in during the gospel part of the song. Although the stagingof the song is a little sprace, I feel that this actually suits the song and the meaning of the song.

This song starts of with Nadine singing by her self acapella which in itself is very brave. Slowly the music comes in before the first chorus. The music builds throughout the song and eventually becomes quite a dramatic ballad. The song itself is OK, the gospel/bridge parts are probably the most memorable parts but it is not a song you could sing to yourself very easily. One could also say that the lyrics are a little on the cheesy side but I also think that this song will be a very big hit with the national juries. Saying this she does – by a very long way - have one of the best voices of this years Eurovision up to now.


SINGER – Nadine Beiler
SONG – The Secret Is Love
MUSIC –
WORDS –