Austria’s Eurovision scout and radio host Eberhard Forcher has spoken about Austria’s internal selection process for the 2019 process in Tel Aviv on the Eurovision podcast “Merci Chérie – Der Eurovision podcast”. He talked about several aspects of the process including when the process started and how Paenda was selected.
Scouting for acts
Every year, Austria’s selection process starts in May, when the previous year’s contest is taking place. At this point, Eberhard Forcher will look for potential candidates to be Austria’s act in the current Austrian music scene.
Eberhard then works with staff at ORF and a panel of around 15 to 20 experts in both the music industry and the Eurovision field, in particular. This year, he revealed that the panel did not, at first, agree on which act they believed should have been sent to Tel Aviv unlike in previous years where the decision was unanimous.
The selection of Paenda
Paenda first showed interest in representing her home country in an early Eurovision meeting and she wrote a song for the selection process. However, ORF were not convinced the song was right for Eurovision, so at this point, she was out of the running.
Eberhard then listened from Paenda’s second album, Evolution II, which will be released in April, and found the song “Limits” which stood out as a contender for the contest, and in the end, Paenda was selected to represent Austria in Israel with “Limits”.
He went on to add that “Limits” has a different feel to Paenda’s previous music and moves away from her electronic sound. He said it is not a song he would describe as a “radio-friendly” song, and he is sure it will divide audiences at the contest.
You can listen to Paenda’s most recent single, “Paper-thin”, below:
