At the start, the first 14 of the 28 “Starmaniacs” presented their singing skills on ORF 1, relying on hits by Pink, Billie Eilish and Marianne Mendt. They had to score points with a completely renewed jury. But the audience was also asked from the start. The 15-year-old Valentina Thoms from Altmünster (district of Gmunden) was particularly convincing, and was sent directly to the next round by the jury.
How do the colorful images of “Starmania 22” fit into the current overshadowing war in Ukraine? Between the hourly news reports, they also want to offer the opportunity to take a deep breath and “yes, also to distract a bit,” explained regular presenter Arabella Kiesbauer right at the beginning of the show. “In these dark times, let’s reach for the stars together.”
In any case, Philip Handzel would like to be one of the stars in the music business. He opened the dance with the song “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran – understandable, as his friends call him “Ed Sheeran 2.0” because of his voice, commentator Philipp Hansa revealed. Despite the “down” strong voice, with which he also dared to go up and an energetic appearance, as juror and singer Tina Naderer said, it was the only appearance on the show for him.
Because he didn’t get a “Star Ticket”. Each of the jury members can award one of them and send someone straight to the next round. With candidate number three, Daniel Fink, it was the first time. The 26-year-old performed with “Magneten” by Johannes Oerding and thus convinced Josh – even if the performance was “a little too much cover”.
Nadja Inzko from Klagenfurt didn’t have to wait until the end of the show to be sure about her advancement to the next round. She will appear again on stage in front of 22 cameras thanks to the Paul-Roncalli ticket. The artist said she was touched. Inzko succeeded with Pink’s soulful hit “Dear Mr. President”, which cannot be denied a certain topicality. Valentina Thoms’ performance was calm and impressive. The only 15-year-old student, who was away from home alone for the first time, impressed all three members of the jury with “idontwannabeyouanymore” by Billie Eilish. “I don’t think you’re aware of how good you are,” said Naderer, handing out the last “Star Ticket” of the evening.
Marco Spiegl, who performed “Living next Door to Alice” by Smokie, first heard that the show should open up to hits. “New folk music” including tuba was heard during the performance by Lukas Meusburger, who sang “From Mellau to Schoppernau” by HMBC and was able to fall back on his Vorarlberg dialect.
The jury’s criticism, which was often somewhat general, was little aggressive or tame. Josh went to work the most briskly. Like Paul-Roncalli, he will also be seen in the following weeks. Naderer, on the other hand, was only a guest once, since the third jury seat is occupied by a different person every week.
After the 14th number, the audience was asked. Within a seven-minute time window, three other candidates had to be promoted to the next round via televoting. Kiesbauer then announced the lucky winners with the notorious result tube, not without increasing the tension in the usual manner to the unbearable: Martin Furtlehner (“When she dances” by Max Giesinger), Marco Spiegl and Lukas Meusburger. The remaining 7th ticket was finally awarded by the two fixed jury members to Khira Ayers (“If you let me” by LEA).
The seven climbers will continue in two weeks. Next week, the other 14 candidates will take part in another qualifying show. Here, too, the journey for seven will come to an end again. The rest can continue to hope to succeed last year’s winner Anna Buchegger.
Source: Nachrichten
