Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020

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Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Country Austria
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 12 December 2019
Song: 5 March 2020
Selected entrantVincent Bueno
Selected song"Alive"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Vincent Bueno
  • David "Davey" Yang
  • Felix van Göns
  • Artur Aigner
Finals performance
Final resultContest cancelled
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2019 • 2020 • 2021►

Austria originally planned to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song "Alive" written by Vincent Bueno, David "Davey" Yang, Felix van Göns and Artur Aigner. The song was to be performed by Vincent Bueno. The Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) organised an internal selection in order to select the Austrian entry for the 2020 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Vincent Bueno was announced as the Austrian representative on 12 December 2019, while the song, "Alive", was presented to the public on 5 March 2020.

Austria was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which was to take place on 14 May 2020. However, the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background[]

Main article: Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2020 contest, Austria had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-two times since its first entry in 1957.[1] The nation had won the contest on two occasions: in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens and in 2014 with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst.[2][3] Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Austria had featured in only seven finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in the 2012.[4] Austria has also received nul points on four occasions; in 1962, 1988, 1991 and 2015.[5]

The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest on 25 May 2019.[6] 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 Eurovision Song Contest, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest. In 2015 and 2016, the broadcaster returned to selecting the Austrian entry through a national final. Between the 2017 and 2019 contests, ORF opted for an internal selection to select the artist and song, a procedure that continued for the selection of the 2020 entry.

Before Eurovision[]

Internal selection[]

Artists were nominated by the ORF Eurovision Song Contest Team, which collaborated with music expert Eberhard Forcher who worked on the selection of the Austrian entries between 2016 and 2019, to submit songs to ORF.[6] On 12 December 2019, ORF announced that they had internally selected "Alive" performed by Vincent Bueno to represent Austria in Rotterdam. Bueno previously represented Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 as a backing singer for Nathan Trent, and had previously competed in the 2016 Austrian national final with the song "All We Need Is That Love".[7] Before the announcement of Vincent Bueno as the Austrian representative, singer Thea Devy was rumoured to have been selected by the broadcaster.[8] Devy would later compete in the 2020 Serbian national final with the Serbian language version of her song "Judgement Day", which she later confirmed as being one of the three entries shortlisted by ORF.[9]

ORF confirmed in February 2020 that "Alive" written by Vincent Bueno himself together with David "Davey" Yang, Felix van Göns and Artur Aigner would be presented to the public in March 2020. The presentation of the song took place on 5 March 2020 during the radio show Ö3-Wecker, aired on Ö3.[10] In regards to the song, Bueno stated: "The song itself has undergone massive evolution and got a good push in the final sprint. I worked with very young producers and composers, who will definitely be involved in the Austrian music scene in the future. While the song was being created, everyone on the team was able to experience how much the song was evolving, especially when everyone freed themselves from their own egos and opened up to each other."[11]

At Eurovision[]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 28 January 2020, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Austria was placed into the second semi-final, which was to be held on 14 May 2020, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[12] However, due to 2019-20 pandemic of Coronavirus, the contest was cancelled.

References[]

  1. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1957". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  2. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1966". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  3. ^ "Austria wins Eurovision Song Contest". bbc.co.uk/news. BBC. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2012 Semi-Final (1)". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  5. ^ "History by Country – Austria". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  6. ^ a b Christou, Costa (25 May 2019). "Austria: ORF confirms participation for Eurovision 2020". escXtra. Archived from the original on 26 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  7. ^ Gallagher, Robyn (12 December 2019). "Confirmed! R&B singer Vincent Bueno will represent Austria with "Alive" at Eurovision 2020". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  8. ^ Granger, Anthony (28 November 2019). "Austria: Thea Devy To The Eurovision Song Contest 2020?". Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  9. ^ Granger, Anthony (12 January 2020). "Serbia: Thea Devy Confirms Beovizija Entry is Song Rejected By ORF For Eurovision". Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  10. ^ Granger, Anthony (21 February 2020). "Austria: "Alive" Song Reveal Confirmed For March 5th". Eurovoix. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  11. ^ "'Alive' is Vincent Bueno's song for Eurovision 2020". eurovision.tv. 5 March 2020. Archived from the original on 12 December 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  12. ^ Groot, Evert (28 January 2020). "Which country performs in which Eurovision 2020 Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
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