Friday 12 February 2016

Austria 2016 - Zoë - Loin d'Ici


After the incredible highs and lows of the last two years, Austria really need to get back on track and reclaim their traditional mid-table position. But one quick skim down the finalists for tonight's big show yields a whole lot of lower order non-qualifiers and ne'er-do-wells - all bar one song. This song.

OK, so it might not be the most rock 'n' roll three minutes of the year so far, but it's quite possibly the sweetest, reminiscent of all those wide-eyed French chansons this contest used to spit out at the tag end of the sixties, but with a hip, contemporary underlay bubbling on beneath. 

"But wait a minute, you said French?", I hear you enquire. That's right, this song is delivered entirely in the language of love. And no, you haven't tuned into Switzerland by mistake. It's a big risk sending a song warbled in entirely the wrong language for your nation - even wronger than doing it in English. But good heavens, unless she sings like a coughing sealion in the live situation there's not going to be a lot to beat this in any language unless the Austrians have taken more of a dislike to their nearby neighbours than we ever imagined.

1 comment:

  1. I think your link description hits the nail on the head - "incredibly sweet", bordering on sickly? I thought that the song sounded like something a young girl would sing, almost better suited to JESC - I could imagine Vanessa Paradis singing this almost 30 years ago!

    12 points from France in SF1 is a given though - Austria must be wishing that Belgium and Switzerland weren't in SF2 now...

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