Austria yet to confirm entry for Eurovision 2019 but have begun to shortlist entrants

After a surprise third place result for Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, ÖRF are yet to confirm their participation for the 2019 edition of the competition but are reportedly already looking at names to internally select as their representative in Israel to build on the success of Cesár Sampson in Lisbon, Portugal.

Continuing with an internal selection?

Since 2017, Austria has selected their Eurovision entrant internally, allowing the artist and songwriters a lot of time to perfect their song for the contest. Qualifying twice consecutively, Nathan Trent and Cesár Sampson both profited from being selected early in achieving strong results for the Central European nation.

Although rumours are beginning to appear that ÖRF have started shortlisting potential artists for 2019, it must be remembered that both Trent and Sampson were officially announced in December – so there are plenty of weeks ahead before we can begin to expect any official confirmation on which artist will represent Austria.

Fellow Eurovision fansite, wiwibloggs, have picked up that on social media, Joe Traxler has been publicising his name in regards to a potential Eurovision selection – thanks to an Instagram post that Nathan Trent himself has liked!

https://instagram.com/p/BmBGM8VlAiQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_loading_state_control

Traxler’s style is guitar-playing singer-songwriter with real, truthful stories told through his lyrics, such as his April release Assymetrical Life in which he details his struggles with Bell’s Palsy. 

Austria continue to impress at the Eurovision Song Contest

The last five years of participations have been the most consistent for Austria since the 1960s. Conchita’s win in 2014 followed two consecutive non-qualifications and since then, Austria have been in the final for the past five years. Albeit the host entry from the Makemakes finished last in 2015 but this was followed by three consecutive qualifications to the final by Zoë, Nathan Trent and Cesár Sampson.

Who would you like to see represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Israel? Let us know your ideas in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA!