Conchita Wurst – You Are Unstoppable

‘Every member of the the team got this right.’

Tim: I’m writing the morning after a somewhat hefty night in the pub; I need this track to live up to its title.

Tom: I suspect it’s going to.

Tim: Oh and yes, yes it does. The sudden stop and start and the end of this clip annoy me a tad, but the song itself is EXACTLY the right sort of pickup track.

Tom: I’m going to guess that this is recorded off the radio: at least they removed the DJ’s chatter.

Tim: With this title and Conchita’s history the lyrics were always going to be on point, but it’s great here that the music provides everything it can as well – the strings get us off to a good start, then then when that drumbeat introduces the chorus with those long vocal notes, everything falls properly into place. And as for that return from the middle eight? Oof.

Tom: It’s not surprising in the least, but it doesn’t have to be: it’s very very good. There’s some really nice subtle production techniques on here: dipping the backing volume before punching it back up at the start of a bar; an “oh” sample half way through that, as far as I can tell, never returns; it’s not just the composer, songwriter or vocalist here, every member of the the team got this right.

Tim: It’s a while since I’ve heard anything quite so perfectly suited to its task. Top work all round.

Conchita Wurst – Heroes

“It comes off as a second-rate version of her Eurovision hit.”

Tim: Despite being thoroughly disapproved of by Russia and my grandfather alike, Conchita’s not going anywhere from her victory six months ago, and has come up with this to prove it.

Tim: A song about how we can all be heroes, just by doing little things to make other people feel better, according to Conchita, though the lyrics imply a more romantic idea; either way, it’s a nice track, with a big chorus.

Tom: Big?

Tim: Well, fairly big – it seems to come in with a massive drop, but that’s in comparison to what’s come before, which is basically nothing.

Tom: I just don’t hear it: there’s no massive drop here, and to me it comes off as a second-rate version of her Eurovision hit. Rise Like a Phoenix was a fairly dull song made much better by the performer, the staging, the context, and the MASSIVE instrumentation: here we’re lacking all of that.

Tim: Hmm. I don’t mind that this time, though – the fact is there’s nothing much there to take attention away from the vocal that’s clamouring for, and deserving of, your considerable attention.

Tom: That’s true: I can’t fault that vocal.

Tim: Because we can be heroes. We can do things for other people. We can improve lives. We can, dammit, BE GREAT PEOPLE. And listening to this track makes me think I should. I probably won’t, because I have to go to work in a few minutes and I’ll probably be grumpy within ten minutes of arriving, but right now is what counts, and right now WE CAN BE HEROES.

Conchita Wurst – Rise Like A Phoenix

“Eurovision isn’t just about the song.”

Tim: Well, here we are, with Saturday night’s victor, a drag queen from Gmunden in Austria, performing for the second time.

Tom: And we were there. We have the photos to prove it. But enough bragging: let’s see the show.

Tim: Big question, though: what won it? Because, let’s be honest, while it’s a good song, it’s not amazing. It’d certainly make the shortlist for a new Bond theme, and she’s definitely got a great voice, but outside that, the music’s not that special.

Tom: That’s true, but we know that Eurovision isn’t just about the song. It was a fairly weak field this year, there was full-on politics involved — particularly given the boos for Russia — and yes, perhaps the best song didn’t win, but the best performance did.

Tim: Absolutely: her as a singer and the message it provides (complete with that phoenix wing camera shot), combined with all the issues going on in eastern Europe at the moment, bring together one hell of a performance. You and I were there in the stadium, Tom, and the massive, massive amounts of cheering were arguably far more for that than for the sound.

Tom: Agreed. That said: it’s not a bad song. If it were a bad song, no amount of politics could have saved her.

Tim: True. And let’s be honest: that’s a great thing, for Eurovision fans. Because it’s finally become political. When the most Catholic country in Europe gave twelve points to a drag queen, and even Russia (Russia!) gave it five points, this is a time that we fans can point at and say: this is the liberalisation of Europe. What a great moment.

Saturday Reject: Conchita Wurst – That’s What I Am

My word that’s quite a voice.

Tim: This came an incredibly close second in the Austrian race, and we’ll discuss this for a few reasons, not least of which is that it gives me the chance to point out that the winning entry is by the group Trackshittaz.

Tom: Well, that’s going to be an interesting name for Graham Norton to handle. Anyway, on with the show!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDuHTfFVCig

Tim: I’m not too sure of what Conchita’s all about – the internet seems evenly split between drag act, entire fictional personality or genuine transsexual.

German Wikipedia and the official website indicate the second one, but as far as the song goes, this is very definitely passing along a Born This Way style message that accompanies the third.

Tom: The papers won’t have to deal with another Dana International, then. If it wasn’t for the beard, they wouldn’t care or notice – but this is prob… whoa. Okay, half way through writing this, the first chorus kicked in, and my word that’s quite a voice.

Tim: Isn’t it just? Whatever the act’s about, it’s a bloody powerful song, the chorus especially.

Tom: I feel the verses let it down a bit too far – there’s more than just contrast with the choruses, there’s actually a bit of buzzkill there.

Tim: I’m hard-pressed not to agree with you there, but even so, once those lights are going off over the place, it’s hard to shake the feeling that THIS IS DRAMA. Just a slight shame the cameraman tripped up at the end, really.

Tom: I wonder if that was enough of a blip to affect the voting, if it really was That Close?