Already some months ago it was announced that Austria would come back to the Eurovision Song Contest and, being Austrian, from that moment on this thought made me rack my brain.
Austria's history in ESC is after all not that glorious: once winner, several places in the last third of the ranks, sometimes we were last or didn't even get into the finals. And the songs we were represented with?! Yeah, better not talk about that.
But after three years of not participating we're back. And could this have something to do with the fact that Germany won last year?!?! Well, that was my first thought - we love to compete with the Germans. And when it comes to sports, this works out fine for us - but music?! Okay, we're known for good music and great composings - no, wait, that was a couple of centuries ago.
Anyway - of course I would have wished for a good song that might have a chance to win to represent our country. But taking a look at our competiors in recent years I just wished for the least embarrassing one.
After a while, when the possible acts were announced I was surprised to find some good and solid artists and musicians among 30 songs/bands/musicians who were chosen by a jury. People could then vote via SMS for their favourites.
Of course one of my favorites were Excuse Me Moses which is a grounded and quite popular rock band from Vienna. Their song "Way Out" is a very nice rock tune and shows that it definitely is possible for Austrians to make good music on a professional level that you could bring abroad.
But I also took a listen on the other participants (some where completely unknown) and then I found this gentlemen here, a real jewel as it turned out: Axel Wolph (and The Feeltank Orchestra) with the song "My Little Reminder". A nice song, one could be proud of being Austrian.
But in first place I'm so stunned by Axel Wolph's voice and talent - he's a multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer- and songwriter. One of Austria's best and budding, probably.
Check out his cover of Johnny & Mary, which is, if you ask me, better than the original, or one of his own songs, like this one: Gravity. (BTW: Besides of his abilities as musician he's also looking smoking hot, I think!!! ;D )
But neither Excuse Me Moses nor Axel Wolph got into the TV-final which was held yesterday. Ten artists could proof themselves live in front of an audience and people in front of their TV-screens. Again, people could vote for their favourites and those ten artists were yet downsized to three: Trackshittaz, Klimmstein feat. Joe Sumner and Nadine Beiler.
I think in case of the Eurovison Song Contest, people should vote for something that could actually win this huge competition. It should be about personal preferences rather about something the whole Europe could like. And, honestly, it's not that hard to predict which song is going to win in this year's ESC: It's going to be something new, something pushing, something innovative, something fresh, something we haven't heard before.
And a perfect match to that would have been "Paris, Paris" by Klimmstein feat. Joe Sumner!! A funny song, easily to sing along, making you wanna move, sounding fresh and new and sung in English, Austrian dialect (which sounds actually quite charming) and partly in French. THE PERFECT song to represent Austria because of its connection to the country (due to the language the song is sung in) and its chances to win.
But have a listen for yourself and watch its official video:
When the host announced yesterday that they made the 3rd place in the pre-selection "Guten Morgen Düsseldorf" I was first of all deeply disappointed and started to send prayers to heaven so the Trackshittaz wouldn't make it!! About this constellation I can only say: They seriously make me wanna drown them in the Danube!!!!
And not sure if my prayers would help I started to think of a clever way to overwrite the nationality in my passport. Trackshittaz made the second place - so Nadine Beiler won and will represent Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011! This is indeed better than Trackshittaz but her song "The Secret Is Love" is a ballad - one like we heard it many, many times before in ESC. So even if we make it to the final in Düsseldorf (we of course have to pass the semi-finals first) we will probably stick to our somewhere-in-the-last-third-rank.
Why, Austria, why?!?!?!
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