Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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AustriaSong: 18 March 2014
| Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2014 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) | |||
| Country | Austria | |||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Announcement date | Artist: 10 September 2013 Song: 18 March 2014 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Rise Like a Phoenix" | |||
| Artist | Conchita Wurst | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (1st, 169 points) | |||
| Final result | 1st, 290 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Austria was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix", written by Charlie Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, and Julian Maas, and performed by Thomas Neuwirth under the drag stage persona Conchita Wurst. The Austrian participating broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), internally selected its entry for the contest. The broadcaster announced Wurst's selection in September 2013, with the song presented to the public in March 2014. Wurst had risen to fame after taking part in an Austrian talent show in 2011 and attempting to represent Austria in 2012.
After a promotional tour of several European countries, Austria was seen as one of the countries most likely to qualify for the grand final. In the second of the Eurovision semi-finals "Rise Like a Phoenix" came first of the 15 participating countries, securing its place among the 26 other countries in the final. In Austria's forty-seventh Eurovision appearance on 10 May, "Rise Like a Phoenix" became the sixty-second song to win the Eurovision Song Contest, receiving a total of 290 points and full marks from thirteen countries. This was Austria's second win in the contest, having previously won in 1966, 48 years prior; this is the longest gap between two Eurovision wins of a country to this day.
After the show, the song went on to chart in several European countries, reaching number one in Austria and the UK Indie Chart, as well as reaching the top 10 in a further 10 countries. Wurst's appearance in the contest brought about both criticism and praise: by some of the more socially conservative sections of European society her victory in the contest was condemned as a promotion of LGBT rights; conversely the international attention received by Wurst's victory firmly established her among the LGBT community, leading her to take an active role in promoting tolerance and respect, and resulted in several invites to perform at several European pride events, as well as performances at the European Parliament and United Nations Office at Vienna.
Prior to the 2014 contest, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Austria forty-six times since its first entry in 1957,[1] winning the contest in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens[2] Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Austria had featured in only two finals.[3] Its least successful result has been last place, achieved on eight occasions, most recently in 2012.[4] Austria has also received nul points on three occasions; in 1962, 1988 and 1991.[5]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ORF organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. From 2011 to 2013, ORF had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Austria, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. For the 2014 contest, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song. This method had last been used by ORF in 2007.[6][7]
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
ORF confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2014 contest on 6 September 2013.[8] On 10 September 2013, the broadcaster announced that they had internally selected Conchita Wurst to represent Austria in Copenhagen.[9][10] Wurst is the drag stage persona of Tom Neuwirth, who in 2007 finished second in the third season of Austrian talent show Starmania, behind Nadine Beiler, who represented Austria in 2011.[9][10] Neuwirth went on to join the boy band Jetzt Anders! along with other contestants from Starmania in 2007, which disbanded later that year.[9][10] Following this, Neuwirth, who uses masculine pronouns when referring to himself but feminine pronouns to describe Wurst,[11][12] developed his new drag persona and appeared on ORF's talent show Die große Chance (The Big Opportunity) as Wurst in 2011, achieving sixth place.[9][10] Wurst went on to compete in the Austrian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "That's What I Am", qualifying for the second round and finishing second with 49 percent of the public vote.[13]
ORF confirmed in October 2013 that the song to be performed by Wurst at the contest would also be chosen internally.[14] On 18 March 2014 at an ORF press conference in Vienna, the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" was announced as the Austrian entry for the contest. The song was written by Charlie Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski and Julian Maas, and was selected by Wurst and her team from more than 100 submissions from national and international composers and producers nominated by ORF.[15][16][17] Wurst's first live performance of the song was on 22 March 2014, during an episode of Dancing Stars, the Austrian version of international franchise Dancing with the Stars.[18]
Controversy
The selection of Wurst caused some controversy in Austria and the rest of Europe. A Facebook group which amassed approximately 38,000 members protested the decision by the publicly funded broadcaster ORF, to internally select the country's Eurovision act without a public vote.[19] In an interview with Austrian newspaper Kurier, Wurst defended her internal selection by ORF, noting that the broadcaster had the sole responsibility of making decisions regarding the contest and that the 2007 internal selection of Eric Papilaya received no backlash from the Austrian public.[20] Wurst also claimed that the criticism from the group surpassed protest against her as the selected artist and instead "displayed homophobic statements and discrimination", and she vowed to "continue fighting against discrimination" in response to the Facebook group.[19][20]
Wurst's selection for Eurovision also sparked outrage outside of Austria; in Belarus, a petition by more than 2,000 people petitioned the Belarusian Ministry of Information to prevent the contest from being broadcast in the country, claiming it to being "a hotbed of sodomy" and an attempt by European liberals to impose Western values on Belarus and Russia.[21][22] A similar petition of more than 15,000 signatures was also received by the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media from the "All-Russian parenting group", claiming that Wurst "leads the lifestyle inapplicable [sic] for Russians"[23][24] Wurst also received criticism from the Armenian representative, Aram Mp3, who claimed that her lifestyle was "not natural" and that she should "eventually decide whether she is a woman or a man". Aram Mp3 later apologised and insisted his statements were "a joke".[24][25] In response to petitions in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine asking for Wurst to be removed from the competition, some of the other 2014 participants gave Wurst their support. Irish representative Kasey Smith, said that "everyone should be allowed in" to Eurovision and that she "totally disagree[s] with what they are doing. It's homophobia."[26]
Promotion
Before her appearance at the contest, Wurst went on a promotional tour, performing in several European countries. Prior to her song selection, Wurst appeared at a Eurovision fan event in Vienna in October 2013 held by the Austrian branch of OGAE, an international organisation of Eurovision fan clubs across Europe and beyond, where she shared the stage with Anne-Marie David, who won Eurovision for Luxembourg in 1973.[27] On 28 March Wurst appeared at the 2014 Euroschlager Party, held by OGAE Spain, in Madrid.[28] On 29 March 2014, Wurst was a guest at the "Eurovision Pre-Party Riga" in Latvia, appearing alongside Donatan and Cleo (who would represent Poland in 2014) and PeR (who represented Latvia in 2013).[29][30] Wurst was also one of 26 acts from the 2014 contest to perform during the 2014 Eurovision in Concert, the largest gathering of Eurovision artists outside of Eurovision itself, held in the Melkweg, a popular music venue in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on 5 April 2014.[31] This was followed by an appearance at the London Preview Party alongside 15 other participating entries from 2014, held at the Café de Paris nightclub in London on 13 April.[30] Wurst also took part in several interviews and performances on Irish, Belgian and Dutch television networks.[32][33][34] In the run-up to the contest, Wurst asked her fans to take part in a campaign called "Knit for Tolerance", in which they would wear knitted beards in a display of tolerance and respect, also promising that she would take all beards that she received with her to Copenhagen.[32]
