Austria continues with internal selection as it sees this as a winning combination in recent years. I’m sorry they didn’t make it to the finals last year with the beautiful song Amen. After an emotional ballad, Austria chose a totally different genre.
This year Austria is represented by LUM! X and Pia Maria with the song Halo. A modern techno-pop song with the sound of the 80s of the last century. The song is very dynamic, fast, and great rhythm. But I can’t say I like it too much because this is a model of songs like we’ve heard many times before.
I’m glad Austria has tried this style of music but I think ballads dominate more this year and I also think some ballads will win in the end. The song Halo is really good but unfortunately, it didn’t win me over which doesn’t mean it didn’t win other Eurovision fans.
Austria is in the first semi-final group and I think it has a chance to enter the final. This year, I can’t single out the safe 10 countries that can make it to the finals because the competition is equally good (or bad). There are a couple of songs that stand out in the crowd, but the others are on average good and that’s why I think Austria can be predicted to make it to the finals.
A lot will depend on the staging and mood of the evening. I also think that the audience will mostly vote for the song Halo and that the jury will be more focused on ballads, as is usually the case. Regardless of my taste, Austria has a good song and deserves to make it to the finals. My rating for the song Halo is 6/10.