Blog Post Two: The Nation On Stage
Austria has become a staple participant in the Eurovision Song Contest. Although they are not one of the “big five”, they have appeared in 50 events since the contests creation in 1956 (Austria, 2019). Even with all these entries, they have found limited success, only winning the contest twice. The last time they won the show was in 2014, with Conchita Wurst’s “Rise Like a Phoenix” . After the win, they were given the host spot and hosted the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. In this post we will be taking a close look at two of Austria’s recent performances to hopefully extrapolate a deeper understanding of the Austrian attitude towards diversity. The first song we will analyze was Austria’s 2016 entry to the ESC held in Stockholm, Sweden. The song is called “Loin d’ici” performed by the 19 year old, Austrian performer, ZOË. She is the daughter of the band Papermoon’s founder, and has been surrounded by music her whole life, releasing her first single at a mee...