Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Austria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Amen" written by Tobias Carshey, Ashley Hicklin and Jonas Thander. The song was performed by Vincent Bueno. On 26 March 2020, the Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) announced that they had internally selected Vincent Bueno to compete at the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, the Netherlands after he was due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Alive" before the event's cancellation, while "Amen" was presented to the public on 10 March 2021.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Country Austria
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 26 March 2020
Song: 10 March 2021
Selected artist(s)Vincent Bueno
Selected song"Amen"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (12th)
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2020 2021 2022►

Austria was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 20 May 2021. Performing during the show in position 5, "Amen" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Austria placed twelfth out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 66 points.

Background

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Prior to the 2021 contest, Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-two times since its first entry in 1957.[1] The nation has 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 contest, Austria has featured in only seven finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in 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 2021 Eurovision Song Contest on 26 March 2020. From 2011 to 2013 as well as in 2015 and 2016, ORF 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. In 2014 and since 2017, ORF has held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest.[citation needed]

Before Eurovision

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Internal selection

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On 26 March 2020, ORF confirmed that Vincent Bueno would remain as Austria's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[6] Several songs, two of them titled "Dumb Human Bias" and "Parachute", were submitted by Bueno and shortlisted by the ORF Eurovision Song Contest Team, which collaborated with music expert Eberhard Forcher who worked on the selection of the Austrian entries since 2016.[7] On 26 February 2021, the song "Amen" written by Tobias Carshey, Ashley Hicklin and Jonas Thander was announced by ORF as the Austrian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[8] The presentation of the song took place on 10 March 2021 during the radio show Ö3-Wecker, aired on Ö3.[9][10]

Promotion

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Prior to the contest, Vincent Bueno specifically promoted "Amen" as the Austrian Eurovision entry on 30 April 2021 by performing during the final of the talent show Starmania 21 on ORF 1.[11]

At Eurovision

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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. The semi-final allocation draw held for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 on 28 January 2020 was used for the 2021 contest, which Austria was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 20 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[12]

Once all the competing songs for the 2021 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Austria was set to perform in position 5, following the entry from Greece and before the entry from Poland.[13]

The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Austria on ORF 1 with commentary by Andi Knoll.[14] The Austrian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Austrian jury during the final, was Philipp Hansa.[citation needed]

Semi-final

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Austria performed fifth in the second semi-final, following the entry from Greece and preceding the entry from Poland. At the end of the show, Austria was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Austria placed twelfth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 66 points: 13 points from the televoting and 53 points from the juries.[citation needed]

Voting

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Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[15] Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members.[16] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form.[17][18]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Austria and awarded by Austria in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Austria

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Points awarded to Austria (Semi-final 2)[19]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points   Albania
2 points   Iceland   Portugal
1 point   Latvia

Points awarded by Austria

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the Austrian jury:[21][22]

Detailed voting results from Austria (Semi-final 2)[19]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points
01   San Marino 12 8 7 10 10 10 1 14
02   Estonia 14 10 13 12 13 13 11
03   Czech Republic 6 12 12 11 11 12 15
04   Greece 8 9 8 14 12 11 13
05   Austria
06   Poland 16 14 15 13 15 15 10 1
07   Moldova 9 11 11 5 14 9 2 5 6
08   Iceland 3 2 1 4 2 2 10 2 10
09   Serbia 4 5 6 9 7 5 6 1 12
10   Georgia 15 15 16 15 16 16 12
11   Albania 10 6 9 8 8 8 3 9 2
12   Portugal 2 4 4 1 6 4 7 4 7
13   Bulgaria 1 3 3 3 3 3 8 7 4
14   Finland 13 7 5 6 5 6 5 6 5
15   Latvia 11 16 14 16 9 14 16
16    Switzerland 7 1 2 2 1 1 12 3 8
17   Denmark 5 13 10 7 4 7 4 8 3
Detailed voting results from Austria (Final)[20]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Rank Points Rank Points
01   Cyprus 15 25 13 9 21 16 20
02   Albania 22 24 25 19 18 26 13
03   Israel 16 12 14 17 20 19 18
04   Belgium 20 17 16 10 14 17 21
05   Russia 17 20 23 3 12 11 12
06   Malta 3 6 8 22 11 7 4 9 2
07   Portugal 6 4 4 1 5 4 7 14
08   Serbia 18 11 19 18 10 14 1 12
09   United Kingdom 14 15 26 21 19 20 26
10   Greece 12 21 12 13 25 18 19
11    Switzerland 4 2 2 4 4 2 10 6 5
12   Iceland 1 5 1 8 3 1 12 2 10
13   Spain 8 23 15 12 13 12 25
14   Moldova 23 22 22 11 26 21 24
15   Germany 5 9 18 26 7 9 2 15
16   Finland 9 10 7 15 8 10 1 7 4
17   Bulgaria 2 3 9 7 9 6 5 11
18   Lithuania 21 13 11 14 15 15 8 3
19   Ukraine 25 14 21 25 16 23 4 7
20   France 7 1 5 6 2 3 8 5 6
21   Azerbaijan 19 19 24 20 22 25 17
22   Norway 26 18 6 16 24 13 10 1
23   Netherlands 10 8 10 5 6 8 3 23
24   Italy 11 7 3 2 1 5 6 3 8
25   Sweden 24 16 20 23 17 24 16
26   San Marino 13 26 17 24 23 22 22

References

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  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. ^ "Eurovision 2021: Austria confirms Vincent Bueno…and announces "ESC Video Edition"". Wiwibloggs. 26 March 2020. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Vincent Bueno releases "Parachute" and "Dumb Human Bias"". 26 June 2021.
  8. ^ Adams, Oliver (26 February 2021). "Amen! Vincent Bueno's Eurovision 2021 song title revealed by Austrian Eurovision scout". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  9. ^ "🇦🇹 Austria: "Amen" To Be Released on March 10". Eurovoix. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  10. ^ "Song Contest: Vincent Buenos "Amen" feierte Premiere im Ö3-"Wecker"". derstandard.at (in German). 10 March 2021. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  11. ^ Granger, Anthony (28 April 2021). "Austria: Vincent Bueno First Television Performance of "Amen" on April 30". Eurovoix. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  12. ^ Groot, Evert (17 November 2020). "2020 Semi-Final line-up to stay for 2021". eurovision.tv. Eurovision Song Contest. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Semi-Final running orders revealed". Eurovision.tv. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  14. ^ Granger, Anthony (6 May 2021). "Austria: Andi Knoll Confirmed as Commentator as ORF Reveals Eurovision Programming". Eurovoix. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Voting–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 16 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Fairness–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. 21 February 2018. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  17. ^ "Juries in the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  18. ^ "Juries in the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  19. ^ a b c "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Juries in the Second Semi-Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Juries in the Grand Final of Rotterdam 2021". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.