Eurovision 2013: Austria

Sunshine is a type of shine...

Austria is always a wild card when it comes to Eurovision songs.   Sometimes they're fantastic, some times they are horrible, but most of the time they're out of step with all the other countries of Europe, so finding out what they're going to send is always interesting.

Austria picked their representative to Eurovision on February 15th in the program Österreich rockt den Song Contest. (Which is less fun to say than some of the other national selection programs, but that's probably because I have a good grounding in German.)

The program was rather simple compared to others.  Five acts were asked to perform two songs--the first a previous Eurovision Song Contest winner, then the song they were to perform in Malmö.    Sadly, the cover songs aren't readily available on You Tube, because I'd like to post one or two of them up.  So all I can really do is move on to:

The Winner

Ladies and gentlemen, Austria has also sent an American to represent them at the Eurovision Song Contest.

 

Natália Kelly   "Shine"

 

Ms. Kelly, born in Hartford, Connecticut, handily won the contest by bagging most of the public voting and scoring well with the jury.  It quite obvious.  She has a powerful voice and a confident stage presence.  Combine that with a song that would sound quite comfortably coming out of the British singer Adele, and you have the makings for a winning song.

 

It's a solid choice, but I do hope they have a complete rethink on the staging of the song.  It currently feels like they're copying everything from this song.

 

 

Nadine Beiler  "The Secret Is Love"   2011

 

 

It worked quite well for Ms. Beiler back in 2011, but Ms. Kelly has a completely different look and feel, and the spotlight from above just makes Kelly look rather scary instead of sleek and sophisticated.  But that's a minor quibble.

 

 

My Favorite

 

 

I have to say that shine is quite a strong song for Austria to send, but I doubt I would ever go out of my way to find more of Natália Kelly's music.

 

However, I've discovered a contender for my Eurovision song of the year in the Austrian final.

 

 

 

Yela   "Feels Like Home"

 

 

While listening to the clip, I went out on Spotify and favorited this song.  Her honey-tinged vocals, combined with the drums and ukulele. hit my personal musical sweet spot.

 

 

I can't seen this having much pan-European appeal, though.  I think it would have played much like another song from 2011.

 

 









 

Anna Rossinelli   "In Love For A While"   Switzerland   2011

 

"In Love For A While" had a lot of love from the juries, but didn't score particularly well with the European voters, and I suspect "Feels Like Home" would have done the same thing.

 

But ask me which song from the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest has stuck with me, it's "In Love For A While". And which song from the Austrian final will stick with me?  It's going to be "Feels Like Home".

Countries in Review: Austria (part three)

It's taken me over a month to sort through and rate all of the Austrian Eurovision songs.  The sheer number made it difficult to place them in an order.  But after going over them, I'm confident of my placing and hope you enjoy my top five songs.

Doing this review, I finally figured out how I can be Austrian-American and Lutheran.

So let's start with the song I ranked as fifth:

Global.Kryner   "Y Asi"  2005

You've got to love a song that's completely out of the box, and this fusion of yodeling, Austrian folk music, and Latin rhythms is just infectious.  I admit their performance was a little flat and I can see how they didn't make it out of the finals, but I can't rank a future Eurovisionary entry anywhere less than fifth.

What came in fourth was a complete surprise:



Stella Jones  "Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt"   1995

I would never have thought that a very 90s light R&B song would be up on the top of my list, but Ms. Jones, who started performing with her mother in Germany when she was seven years old, has the stage presence and light touch with the lyrics that makes me want to listen to the song again and again.

And let's face it, the female saxophonist with the blowout and the lace gloves is pretty freaking awesome.

Third place was another fun discovery:



Marianne Mendt   "Musik"  1971

It's 1971, so the song is hip and happening, the orchestra is a little heavy on the piccolo, and Mendt's nerves are definately on full display, but I cannot get this song out of my head.   It a tragedy she had to sing first in the 1971 contest; I suspect had she drawn someplace later in the contest, she would have done much better.

Second place was another suprise.

Camilla Corren   "Vielleicht geschieht ein Wunder"   1963

The BBC did wonders when they put on the 1963 Eurovision Song Contest and this allowed Corren to shine while performing her song.  Instead of a live concert, 1963 was the only contest that looked and felt like a pre-recorded show, and the shots of Ms. Corren selling this romantic ballad help make this song even better than is. 

That said, Corren's voice is lovely, and even without the visuals, it's a compelling song to me, with a rudimentary understanding of German, and is definately fantastic.

And finally, my top pick:



Nadine Beiler  "The Secret Is Love"  2011

The biggest issue with Austrian entrants to Eurovision is that they alway seem flat in one way or another.  Even with some of the top five, there's usually something not completely pulled together. 

However, Beiler's performance in 2011 was perfect in every way.  I cannot find a flaw with her performance, and although it wasn't to Europe's taste--she came in 18th in the final, I consider this to be Austria's best Eurovision song.

And that's my take on the Austrian Eurovision songs.  I'd love to know your opinion on Austrian entries, so feel free to post below or e-mail me at eurovisionalaska@gmail.com.