Introduction

• Participant(s): Vincent Bueno
  
• Song: Amen
  
• Writer(s): Tobias Carshey, Ashley Hicklin, Jonas Thander
  
• Composer(s): Tobias Carshey, Ashley Hicklin, Jonas Thander
  
• Broadcaster: ORF
  
• Social media:       
• Team review: 

Vincent Bueno, the Austrian representative belongs to the lucky singers this year, as he has been directly nominated by the Austrian broadcaster ORF for 2021, as the 2020 edition has been cancelled due to the corona pandemic. Hence Vincent Bueno is going to have a second chance with his new song “Amen”.

Vincent Bueno was born in Vienna in 1985 as a son of Philippine parents. As a child he loved to dance and sing. His father has been a musician in the 1970’s. Vincent studied acting, dancing and singing and attended the Vienna Conservatory in Musical Entertainment and specialized in musicals. During this time he appeared in musicals like “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “The Phantom Of The Opera” and “Casting”. In 2008 he participated in the TV show “Musical! The Show” and won it. Since this moment he became well known in Austria and appeared in several music and theatre shows. Vincent had various appearances in the Philippine television and even has a fan base there. By now he has released three albums, one EP and several singles.

Vincent Bueno, who is no stranger in the Austrian Eurovision world. He has attempted to represent Austria in 2016 with the song "All We Need Is That Love" , but Zoe made the race in that year. In 2017 Vincent Bueno joined the Austrian act in Kiev as a backing singer: Nathan Trent. Here Vincent could breathe Eurovision atmosphere, which is very helpful for his own song this year.

This year’s song from Vincent is called “Amen”. It’s a powerful ballad, instead of last year’s pop tune. When looking at the beautifully made video-clip, it becomes clear that the choice of the song is the right one. The song phrase

“It’s just another funeral to you”

can be taken literally and religious, but Amen is more about to says “it’s like that”. The tightness of the room and the relief after, accompanied by the black and colourful crow is nicely presented. Let’s cross the fingers that this atmosphere can be transferred to the stage in Rotterdam. Vince has a cool styling and charimsa. This will be well received by the TV spectators and juries.

History

• Debut: 1957
• Participations: 53
• Victories: 2
• Finals: 47 (7 since 2004)
• Top 10: 22
• Chances for Top 10: 42%
• Chances for Final: 54%

This year, it will be the 53rd Austrian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. The year 2020 will not be taken into account, even if there are all the 2020 songs, but they have not been in a contest, the ESC has been cancelled.

Thanks to Conchita Wurst, Austria could win the ESC for a second time. Vienna has been a wonderful host city in 2015. The Vienna ESC 2015 was truly magical and showed the city and the country in the best possible light, a very good atmosphere, friendly people and a real ESC enthusiasm throughout the city.

In the very beginning in 1957, the Austrian debut song “Wohin, Kleines Pony” by Bob Martin made the last place in Frankfurt. This should not be taken as bad omen, as there were quite a lot of successes over the years. 47 times the Grand Final could be reached and at least Austria could get a Top10 position for 22 times.

The biggest moments for Austria were of course Udo Jürgens’ entry “Merci Chérie” in 1966. Regrettably, Udo Jürgens passed away in 2015. He started a very successful career, not only in Austria and Germany, even beyond. He composed more than 1000 songs and released 50 albums and sold more than 105 million albums. He will always be connected with the Eurovision Song Contest. Luckily he was able to witness the second Austrian victory “Rise Like A Phoenix” by Conchita Wurst in Copenhagen 2015. This was a truly revival of the “Sleeping Beauty Austria”. Firstly criticised in its own country, later celebrated as hero - Conchita has shown what tolerance and freedom really means to the entire world. Conchita also become a kind of icon for the LGBTQ+ community and stands for equal rights.
After her victory she travelled around the world, has been invited to TV shows in Australia and performed in the UN headquarters in Vienna and produced many new songs and albums.

Austria has mainly participated on a regular basis, but in recent years they even had to pause due to unsuccessful entries in the early 2000’s. But the Austrians came back with more enthusiasm and new energy. Nadine Beiler sang “The secret is love”, she has qualified for the grand final in Düsseldorf and made the 18th rank with a stunning performance, the host country Germany awarded this with 12 points! The old twist between Germany and Austria regarding the voting has smoothened, in former years both countries have not been generous with their points to each other.

Biggest successes

• 2x 1st place
  “Merci Chérie” |Udo Jürgens (Luxembourg 1966)
  “Rise Like A Phoenix” |Conchita Wurst (Copenhagen 2014)
• 1x 3rd place
  “Nobody But You” |Cesár Sampson (Lisbon 2018)
• 1x 4th place
  “Sag Ihr, Ich Lass' Sie Grüßen” | Udo Jürgens (Naples 1965)
• 4x 5th place
  “Die Ganze Welt Braucht Liebe“| Liane Augustin (Hilversum 1958)
  “Falter Im Wind” |The Milestones (Edinburgh 1972)
  “My Little World” |Waterloo and Robinson (The Hague 1976)
  “Nur Ein Lied” |Thomas Forstner (Lausanne 1989)

Video Nostalgia

• “Boom Boom Boomerang” | Schmetterlinge
  Rank 17, London 1977
  
• “Die Zeit Ist Einsam” | Timna Brauer
  Rank 18, Bergen 1986
  
• “The Secret Is Love” | Nadine Beiler
  Rank 18, Düsseldorf 2011