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 meer 4 years of age. Her performance in particular is unique for Austria because it is sung in French, rather than Austria’s official language of German. This is a typical thing from ZOË, who usually sings her songs in French. Lyrically, the song is about a search for paradise. Paradise in the context of her song is not a foreign place, but rather an inner place inside everyone, which some have simply yet to find. ZOË’s song is about being willing to help an unknown “you” find their own inner peace. Her performance is a solo performance, but she is far from the only thing on stage. Consistent throughout the whole performance is a brick road under her feet, extending all the way back and up the LED wall behind her giving the illusion of a very long road. The road perhaps is meant to simulate the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz. In this sense, the road would be leading to a journey's end, perhaps connecting back to the lyrics and the journey of finding inner peace. Eurovision is known for its incredible technological shows, and ZOË’s performances was sure to utilize the entirety of the massive LED screen behind her. Throughout the performance, pink and yellow flowers are shown on the screen, further promoting this idea of inner peace. The flowers represent tranquility one would find along with their inner peace. Her performance has three main colors, all positive and happy. The lighting of the show stays fairly constant and colorless throughout, leaving the color to the massive LED screens behind her and under her feet. The first colors after the introduction of the song are beautiful shades of pink and yellow, and with her upbeat song, the colors are difficult to perceive in any way except a happy one. The very beginning of her song is a deep blue, and matches the very end when the blue comes back. This was an interesting choice of color, because blue can often be perceived as a negative color, unlike the yellow and pinks shown. In this case however, the blue has a happy feel to it due to the happy song. However, if the shw is viewed without sound, one could assume that this blue plays a deeper, possibly more negative role. Without the lyrics or sound, the blue could be the sad or unhappy part of the song, and plays a fantastic role in juxtaposing the beautiful and happy pinks and yellows we see throughout the performance. Another interesting aspect of ZOË’s performance is the distinct lack of props, or anything, on the stage. Even the graphics on the LEDs with their vibrant colors are simple in nature and not distracting from the main focal point of the song, which is ZOË and furthermore the lyrics she’s singing. The song was received well, placing 13th in the 2016 Grand Final.

The next song we will be taking a look at is Nathan Trent’s “Running on Air” from the 2017 Grand Final held in Kyiv, Ukraine. This song, much like ZOË’s, is a happy and feel good song. “Running on Air”, according to its cowritter and performer Nathan Trent himself, is about “...hope, believing in yourself and reaching your goals, by embracing the good and the bad moments in your life” (Trent, 2017). These ideas are expressed lyrically by lines such as “I’m taking all that struggle, Reminds me what I’m fighting for” (Trent, 2016) and “If you push me down, I’ll get up again” (Trent, 2016). The performance itself matches well with the lyrics and meaning of the song. There is a single prop on the stage, which is a massive disco ball-esqe moon, right in the center of the stage. The ground is covered with low hanging haze, coming up to about ankle height. Trent is alone on the stage until the very end, when the camera zooms in on him, then a couple seconds later zooms back out to reveal 4 backup singers, 2 on either side of him. They are there to back Trent up on some of the happier, positive notes in the ending chorus of the song. In terms of color, the show is very basic, while still being quite effective. There is only a few colors shown, the main one being a beautiful shade of blue in between a royal and deep blue. It’s used as a background for the clouds shown on the LEDs, and spills out onto the stage. The other color used is a warm, constantly transitioning pink orange. Also like ZOË’s performance, the colors are displayed almost entirely by the massive LED screens, rather than the stage lights. The biggest exception to this is a row of stage lights above the LED screen, showing the shade of orange pink. This small detail is huge, because it is the defining factor for what the entire stage represents, which is a morning sunrise. The clouds on the LED screens are lit up pink and orange, just like a brilliant sunrise in early morning light. This idea of a sunrise fits perfectly with the idea of persevering through adversity and believing in yourself, because it simulates getting up in a new day, and leaving the negativity behind you. In both 2016 and 2017, the songs are very similar and present interesting ideas about Austria as a country.

Austria is relatively homogeneous, with roughly 81% of its 8.8 million people being Austrian (CIA, 2019). They however are seemingly open to diversity as a nation, inviting in refugees from struggling nations. This possibly stems from their desire to distance themselves from the xenophobic ideals of the Nazi party, who occupied the nation in the mid 20th century. Both of the songs presented by Austria push ideals of self love and confidence, which are ideas that are be positive towards diversity. The notion of getting up after you’ve been knocked down, presented in both songs but especially in “Walking on Air”, could be welcoming to the immigrants seeking refuge in Austria in 2016 and 2017. Overall, through the the lens of the Eurovision Song contest, the people of Austria are welcoming and willing to accept diversity.





Works Cited


Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest. (2019). Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/country/austria
Central Intelligence Agency. (2019). Austria. The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/au.html
Nathan Trent - Eurovision Song Contest Kyiv 2017. (2017). Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/nathan-trent
Nathan Trent. (2017). Running on Air (Austria). Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Kyiv
[DVD] Los Angeles, CA: ORF-Enterprise Musikverlag.
ZOË - Eurovision Song Contest Stockholm 2016. (2016). Retrieved from https://eurovision.tv/participant/zoe
ZOË. (2016). Loin d’ici (Austria). Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Stockholm [DVD] Vienna, Austria: Global Rockstar Music.


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