Eurovision 2019 spotlight: Austria's Pænda with "Limits"...

It's time again for my daily Eurovision spotlight leading on to this year's Eurovision Song Contest being held in Tel Aviv, Israel. You can catch up on the whole series so far by clicking here. And now we go on to the country that gave what I feel is the best Eurovision song of all time...

For the amount of years that Austria has been taking part in the competition, they have had a really spotty record of late. Besides that win in 2014, which I will get to later, the country had been in a sort of slump, either making the bottom of the finals if not qualifying at all. But last year Cesár Sampson turned that around with his soulful pop through a sonically Hozier homage of "Nobody But You", which actually won the finals jury vote but came in third overall due to a lackluster televote result. With a winning template that could be improved on, and no national finals to worry about a left-field entry, would the central European nation find victory again?

Austria - "Limits" from Pænda

Gabriella Horn, who records under the moniker Pænda, hails originally from the southern town of Deutschlandsberg, but moved to Vienna as an adult. She has released two albums, Evolution I and Evolution II, but has been under the radar until now. Her song, "Limits", was written by her, and is a sparse and ethereal track of losing love...

Personally, I don't feel much difference between this song and the current betting favorite, "Arcade" from Duncan Lawrence from the Netherlands. But that's mostly because they are both overtly emotional songs about romantic loss that are backed up by layers on layers of spacey sounds and have only mere whispers of a chorus. I mean the hook here is the "ooohs" in the you in there. And while it's very much a pretty number, this isn't exactly any more than a break-up song trying to be much more poignant that what it is. Just like "Arcade". And being in the same semi-final, I think the people drawn to this will choose either to vote for, and definitely not both. Although having strength of neighbors Switzerland, Germany, and Italy to vote for it, as well as reliable voters United Kingdom, Ireland, and Sweden, based where it is in the running order, and its banal similarity to "Arcade", I feel this most likely will stay back in the semi-finals. (Rating: 5.5/10)

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Austria has been a part of Eurovision since 1957, where it placed last out of ten entries. In fact, the country took last place three times in its first six years, and eight times overall. But they have also done well when they haven't done bad, and have won the contest twice. The first victory came in 1966 with local hero Udo Jürgens, who on his third consecutive appearance at Eurovision took first place with "Merci, Chérie" ("Thank You, Darling")...

It took until 2014 for the country to "Rise Like A Phoenix" and win Eurovision again, thanks to the James Bond Theme pastiche of the song of that name by gender-bending singer Conchita Wurst. A much deserved winner beyond any mention of Conchita's appearance, this remains my all-time favorite Eurovision song...

As for my second-favorite after Conchita, that would be Sampson's triumph from last year with "Nobody But You"...

But the country, maybe realizing their track record, have repeatedly taken the piss out of Eurovision, sending in obvious trolling songs like this one from 2003, "Weil der Mensch zählt" ("Because People Matter") from comedian Alf Poier, which included cut-out animals and non-sequitur lyrics in the Styrian German dialect, yet still came out in sixth place...