Ahead of her participation tonight, I had the opportunity to speak to Vincent Bueno, who will be representing Austria in this year’s contest with the song “Amen”. On this occasion, we talked about his Eurovision experience, and briefly touched upon his Filipino heritage.
You can watch our full interview with Vincent right here:
Breaking the Ice
Before we started the interview, me and Vincent talked for a bit, he was eager to do the interview fully in Tagalog, but I mentioned that we should do it Taglish (a mixture of English and Tagalog). I asked him one quick fun fact about himself that not many people know about.
He replied that when there’s a lot of press, or if there’s a lot of people that want something from him, he becomes a bit introverted. Me and Vincent talked about it from experiences, especially in family gatherings, where you see relatives who you haven’t met or rarely seen, and you have to participate and talk to everyone.
His Eurovision experience
We then moved on to talk about his Eurovision experience. Vincent opened up to the fact he was unwell before he went to Rotterdam, and that at the time of the interview, he was on antibiotics, and was about to finish his treatment. He mentioned that he was grateful about the fact that he has tested Negative for COVID.
I then asked him how about his experience on the stage, and whether or not it elevated his emotions. He mentioned that the stage helped him to be “in the moment”, especially with the elements (lighting, fog) of the performance. He went on to mention:
This song is made to be on that stage. Every single Eurovision is made to be on that stage.
We then went on to talk about Michael Cinco, who had the opportunity to create the outfit that Vincent will be wearing on stage. I asked him how the opportunity came about, and that a teacher in Turkey, Bertrand Rodriguez Jr. was the bridge to making it happen. They successfully made it happen, and Vincent was starstruck when this became a reality.
His time in the Philippines
We rounded things off by talking about his time in the Philippines. Where during his time, he was featured in ASAP (All-Star Sunday Afternoon Party), the longest Sunday noontime variety show in the Philippines. He was also featured in the “Choose Philippines” tourism campaign and was even featured in the summer station ID for ABS-CBN in 2011 with Angeline Quinto and J.O.L.O.
I asked Vincent what was the most memorable memory from his time back in the Philippines, to which he mentioned he liked learning about his roots, but mainly it was meeting his wife.
As we round off the interview, Vincent thanked the fans who have supported him and also he has a message to his fellow kababayans (Fellow Filipinos/Filipinas) in Europe.
We would like to thank ORF for giving us an opportunity to talk to Vincent, and wish them the best of luck ahead of second semi-final
Are you excited to see Vincent’s performance at this year’s contest? Are you rooting for Austria this year? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify and YouTube to see our live streams in the run-up to Rotterdam!
