A symbol of tolerance and freedom with a stunning voice to boot or just another Eurovision entry fashioned into a poster girl for LGBT rights and hyped up by a gimmicky beard?
Love her or hate her, Austria’s bearded drag queen and undisputable winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, Conchita Wurst, made an impact on millions of viewers – and divided opinion in Malta as well.
“I am not really a fan of the song,” Malta’s singing doctor and former contestant Gianluca Bezzina told Times of Malta.
“Naturally, it’s just my own personal opinion but hers was not a song I would want to keep listening to. I’m very much anti-gimmicks – I love to just close my eyes and listen to the song. But Rise Like a Phoenix didn’t particularly strike a chord with me.
I’m very much anti-gimmicks – I love to just close my eyes and listen to the song. But Rise Like a Phoenix didn’t particularly strike a chord with me
“I feel it was her whole image which won her the title. My own personal favourites were The Netherlands, Denmark and Armenia.”
Songstress Ira Losco, who had placed second in the Eurovision, admitted Conchita’s power ballad was not her style but she still thought the song was brilliant.
“I’m very much a ‘live and let live’ type of person. If Poland felt they had to put up a raunchy performance if they thought that’s what it took to win, then why not?”
For a song to be a winning entry, Ms Losco continued, it needed to stand out from the rest. It needed an ingredient that made it memorable and, above all, it needed to be a crowd-thrilling song with powerful lyrics.
“I think Conchita had the whole package. Eurovision has always been, since its inception, very much inclined towards a gay audience. But I don’t think her win was solely related to this. She had a good song, despite her beard I thought she was stunning and she had great PR in the week leading up to the contest.”
Timesofmalta.com blogger Ramona Depares believes that the fuzzy-faced singer was a hands-down winner.
“Some people were saying that if she didn’t look the way she did, she wouldn’t have won. But her song and her powerful voice were entirely valid in themselves. Her image and her PR definitely helped because it got people talking about her. Maybe if she didn’t sport that look, she might not have made such an impact. But I think that would have been very unfair because she was very good.”
As Wurst flew in to a heroine’s welcome yesterday, Austrian President Heinz Fischer congratulated her, saying it was “not just a victory for Austria, but above all for diversity and tolerance in Europe.”
Meanwhile Malta’s entry Firelight placed a disappointing 23rd from the 26 countries in the final. Is there any hope that Malta will ever clinch the blessed title?
“I think Firelight delivered a very good performance,” Gianluca said. “I really liked it – I don’t think they could have done better. I always thought they had an excellent song – during the Malta Song for Europe, I knew they’d win it. I was naturally very disappointed with their placing. But the Eurovision is growing and there are now 37 countries participating. I couldn’t understand why Malta gave 12 points to Italy on Saturday. Perhaps it was because many people recognised the singer from Amici. But I think last year’s Italian entry was much more beautiful than this year’s.”
What would a winning Maltese entry look and sound like?
According to Dr Bezzina, Eurovision’s winning entries are very unpredictable and vary widely from one year to the next.
“If you look at [2010 German winner] Lena and [last year’s winner] Emmelie de Forest, they were both very different. I think if a song is good, it will work.
She had a good song, despite her beard I thought she was stunning and she had great PR in the week leading up to the contest
“We’ve got good results in the past by being who we are. I don’t think that we need to be funny or do something outrageously original to win. We can get there with exploiting our own, home-grown talent.”
Ms Losco also believes that there’s no winning recipe, except for having a good song at the right time.
“It must also appeal to a mass audience – from adults to a gay audience to children, because these are the people who will be voting for you.”
Ms Depares wonders whether we should make so much of an effort to win the title.
“Is it worth it? Many countries treat the Eurovision as a caricature. Should we be taking it so seriously?”
While it was impossible to predict the Eurovision mood, the winning entry had to be original and little bit out of the box.
Yet Malta’s Coming Home still managed to secure a big fan – British MP Ed Balls, who predicted that Malta would win.
“This may be a result of my Dixie Chicks/Bluegrass/Alison Krauss bias. But I really liked Malta,” he tweeted.