Song Contest: Can Austria keep up with this competition?

Measured by the bare numbers, the Austrian dance-pop song “Halo” is at the top of the ESC squad. The music video already had more than three million clicks on the video platform YouTube at the end of April – and was thus on a par with the contribution from the host country Italy.

After last year’s victory of the Roman rock band Maneskin, the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Turin this year. While five countries (Germany, France, Great Britain, Spain and host Italy) are already qualified, the other 35 nations will sing in the two semifinal shows on May 10th and 12th and for the entry into the grand finale on May 14th.

Austria’s chances of a ticket to the final are good, insiders predict. The readers of nachrichten.at also agree. The majority – almost 65 percent – expect DJ LUM!X and Pia Maria to have great potential in the song contest. However, among bookmakers, Ukraine, represented by the band Kalush Orchestra, is the favourite. “Stefania” is also ahead on YouTube with 3.6 million views. Of course, it is not the clicks that are decisive, but the evaluation of the individual nations at the shows.

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From the Tiktok star to the school band

Which artists are the competitors sending to Turin? From the Tiktok star to the jazz school band and a twerking Latina, everything is there. So much in advance: In addition to the Ukraine, the Italians and Sweden are also favourites.

Listen – all 40 songs in one video:

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Austria has to deal with these competitors

• Italy: The singer duo Mahmood and Blanco will be at the start for the neighboring country. The two had won the last edition of the Sanremo Song Festival with the song “Brividi”. (YouTube: more than three million clicks)
• Sweden: The proud pop nation is represented this year by Cornelia Jakobs. “Hold Me Closer” has a bittersweet note inspired by US star Lana Del Rey. (around 1.8 million clicks)
• Ukraine: Despite the war, Kalush Orchestra wants to travel to Turin. International betting providers see the band, which will perform the song “Stefania”, in the lead – and thus also predict a declaration of solidarity from Europe in the Ukraine-War. (around 3.6 million clicks)
• Great Britain: Tiktok star Sam Ryder is in the race for the British with his song “Space Man”. The 32-year-old with the distinctive voice likes hard rock, but competes with a pop song. (around two million clicks)
• for Germany the German-American singer Malik Harris will appear with “Rockstars”. Pop meets rap. (around 600,000 clicks)
• France: A trio of women from Brittany and an electro musician represent France. Alvan & Ahez want to score with the audience with an unusual mixture of folk and trance. (around 1.7 million clicks)
• Spain: Spain wants to win over viewers with a song about twerking. Cuban-born actress Chanel will heat up with the Latino pop number ‘SloMo’. (around 1.4 million clicks)
• Finland: One of the better-known names in the field of participants is the Finnish band The Rasmus (“In the Shadows”) with the song “Jezebel”. (454,000 clicks)
• the Netherlands send the singer S10 to Turin with the song “De Diepte” (“The Deep”). (around 2.9 million clicks)
• Czech Republic: Electro-pop band We Are Domi will perform ‘Lights Off’ in 2022. The group is known for energetic performances and a sound that combines dance, electro and scandi influences. (around 1.1 million clicks)
• Switzerland: “Boys Do Cry” is the title with which Marius Bear wants to win the Eurovision Song Contest for his home country. (around 617,000 clicks)
• Slovenia: With “Disko”, the young band LPS bring a genre that is rarely heard at the ESC to the stage: jazz. The group was founded in 2018 by high school students. (around 526,000 clicks)
• In Iceland the sisters Sigga, Beta and Elín made the race to represent their island at the ESC with their quiet song “Med hækkandi sól” (With the rising sun). (around 428,000 clicks)
• for Portugal the artist Maro, born in 1994, starts. Mariana Secca, as her real name is, will perform the title “Saudade Saudade”. “Saudade” stands for the typical Portuguese feeling of nostalgia, longing and melancholy.
• Romania: The singer WRS presents the song “Llámame” (“Call me”) with a summery club sound. It is the third time that the country has taken on a song that also contains passages in Spanish. (1.2 million clicks)
• Poland: American-born artist Ochman represents the country with ‘River’. He won the final of “The Voice of Poland” in 2020. (around two million clicks)
• Greece: Medical student Amanda Tenfjord sings “Die Together”. Her first album was already attracting attention: the song “Troubled Water” was already used as film music in the Netflix series “Spinning Out”. (around 990,000 clicks)
• Denmark sends the band Reddi into the race with the pop-rock title “The Show”. The band was specially put together for the Danish preliminary round. (around 365,000 clicks)
• Albania: Singer Ronela Hajiti wants to set the mood with her rhythmic love song “Sekret”. (around 2.6 million clicks)
• Serbia: Singer Konstrakta sings “In corpore sano” (“In a healthy body”) in her mother tongue. The song also contains some phrases in Latin. (around 1.8 million clicks)
• Georgia: The artist collective Circus Mircus performs the song “Lock Me In”. Only the audio version is currently available. According to their own statements, the release of the colorful and happy music video doesn’t feel right because of the war in Ukraine. (around 172,000 clicks)
• for Cyprus Andromache sings the title “Ela” (“Come”) – it’s a pop song with folk elements in English and Greek. (around two million clicks)
• Norway: The duo Subwoolfer will sing their contribution “Give That Wolf A Banana” with masks. (around 618,000 clicks)
• for Latvia the band Citi Zeni will be on the song contest stage. Her song “Eat Your Salad” is an ironic hymn to vegan living. (around 1.3 million clicks)
• Lithuania: For the first time since the ESC debut in 1994, the nation has once again decided on a song that will be sung entirely in Lithuanian. It’s called “Sentimentai” (Feelings) and was written by the singer Monika Liu herself. (around 990,000 clicks)
• Estonia this year tries the western song “Hope” by the Armenian singer Stefan. He had previously tried in vain three times to represent Estonia at the ESC. (around 385,000 clicks)
• girly rock off Ireland: Singer Brooke Scullion drives to Turin with the song “That’s Rich”. (around 498,000 clicks)
• North Macedonia try it with catchy R’n’B this year. The song “Circles” by the artist Andrea is about a toxic relationship that keeps going in circles. With her first hit “I Know”, Andrea has already inspired millions of people on YouTube and TikTok. (around 621,000 clicks)
• Croatia: Mia Dimšić performs her guitar pop song “Guilty Pleasure” on the ESC stage. The Croatian singer has already released three studio albums and an autobiography. (around 430,000 clicks)
• Bulgaria Try Hard Rock this year. “Intention” is the title of the song with which the six-piece band Intelligent Music Project will be starting in Turin. This is the third time that drummer Stoyan Yankulov has represented Bugarien at the ESC. (around 746,000 clicks)
• Belgium: Jérémie Makiese is Belgium’s candidate with “Miss You”. Even before it was even certain that the competition would take place in Turin, it was clear that he would be there. (around 1.1 million clicks)
• Malta: Emma Muscat, who also models, will sing the pop ballad “I Am What I Am.” Muscat have shared the stage with Eros Ramazotti and have good connections with host country Italy. (around 560,000 clicks)
• Moldova: Zdob si Zdub are taking part in the Song Contest for the third time – this year together with Fratii Advahov and the song “Trenuletul”. (around 615,000 clicks)
• Montenegro: The country did not take part in the ESC for two years. This year Vladana should judge with “Breathe”. (around 833,000 clicks)
• Armenia: “Snap” is the name of the song with which Armenia is hoping for success. Artist Rosa Linn has already garnered 1.7 million views on YouTube for her music video.
• San Marino: The punk rock song “Stripper” is sung by the Roman Achille Lauro. In addition to making music, Lauro works as a presenter, film producer and performance artist. (around 779,000 clicks)
• Israel: Michael Ben David is the name of the Israeli starter. His song “IM” is about accepting yourself. David was bullied at school because of his high-pitched singing voice and his mother had trouble accepting his homosexuality. (around 848,000 clicks)
• Azerbaijan: Nadir Rustamli performs “Fade To Black” in Turin. (around 916,000 clicks)
• Australia: Sheldon Riley wants to tell his own story for Australia with his ballad “Not The Same”. The 22-year-old singer suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and is not entirely unknown. Through his appearances on the casting shows “X Factor”, “The Voice” and “America’s Got Talent” he presented himself to a large audience and drew attention to himself with dazzling outfits and masks. (around 817,000 clicks)

Russia has been excluded from this year’s competition because of the Ukraine war.