Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
participated in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerb ...
with the song "
Woki mit deim Popo" written by Lukas Plöchl and Manuel Hoffelner. The song was performed by the duo
Trackshittaz. The Austrian broadcaster
Österreichischer Rundfunk
('Austrian Broadcasting Corporation'; ORF) is an Austrian national public broadcaster. Funded from a combination of television licence fee revenue and limited on-air advertising, ORF is the dominant player in the Austrian broadcast media. Aus ...
(ORF) organised the national final ''Österreich rockt den Song Contest'' in order to select the Austrian entry for the 2012 contest in
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...
, Azerbaijan. Ten songs competed in a televised show where a public vote first selected the top two entries to proceed to a second round of voting. In the second round, "Woki mit deim Popo" was selected as the winner after gaining 51% of the votes from a public vote. This was the first time that the Austrian song was performed entirely in the
Mühlviertlerisch dialect at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Austria was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2012. Performing during the show in position 16, "Woki mit deim Popo" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Austria placed eighteenth (last) out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 8 points.
Background
Prior to the 2012 contest, Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-four times since its first entry in . The nation has won the contest on one occasion: in with the song "" performed by
Udo Jürgens
Udo Jürgens (born Jürgen Udo Bockelmann; 30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014) was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, composed close ...
.
Following the
introduction of semi-finals for the , Austria has featured in only two finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on seven occasions, most recently in . Austria has also received ''
nul points
The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest is selected by a positional voting system. The most recent system was implemented in the , and sees each participating country award two sets of 12, 10, 8–1 points to their ten favourite songs: one set f ...
'' on three occasions; in , and 1991.
The Austrian national broadcaster, (ORF), broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest on 23 September 2011.
From 2002 to 2005, ORF set up public national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Austria. For the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest. In 2011, the broadcaster returned to selecting the Austrian entry through a national final. Along with their participation confirmation, the broadcaster announced that the Austrian entry for the 2012 contest would be selected through a national final.
Before Eurovision
Österreich rockt den Song Contest
''Österreich rockt den Song Contest'' (''Austria rocks the Song Contest'') was the national final that selected Austria's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The competition took place on 24 February 2012 at the ORF Center in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, hosted by
Mirjam Weichselbraun
Mirjam Weichselbraun (born 27 September 1981) is an Austrian television host and actress, best known in Austria for presenting ''Dancing Stars'', Life Ball and the Vienna Opera Ball. She is best known outside Austria for presenting the Eurovisi ...
and Robert Kratky with
Andi Knoll
Andreas "Andi" Knoll (born 11 June 1972 in Innsbruck) is an Austrian radio and television presenter. He is Austria's commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest each year.
Eurovision Song Contest work
Since the 1999 contest (with the except ...
hosting from the green room. The show was broadcast on
ORF eins
ORF 1 (''ORF eins'') is an Austrian public television channel owned by ORF. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955.
ORF 1 is one of four public TV channels in Austria. It is funded by a mixture of advertising revenue an ...
as well as streamed online via ORF's official website and the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''.
The first part of the national final was watched by 543,000 viewers in Austria with a market share of 20%, while the second part was watched by 709,000 viewers in Austria with a market share of 36%.
Competing entries
Nine of the ten artists were nominated by the radio channel
Ö3, while a tenth act was chosen through a wildcard selection. For the wildcard selection, ORF invited all interested artists to submit their songs to the broadcaster between 1 December 2011 and 31 December 2011. The broadcaster received over 100 submissions at the close of the deadline, which were reviewed by the Ö3 team. The nine nominated artists were revealed on 1 December 2011 during the radio show ''Ö3-Wecker'', aired on Ö3, while "How Can You Ask Me?" performed by Mary Broadcast Band was revealed on 9 January 2012 as the winner of the wildcard selection.
On 29 January 2012, ORF announced that "Crazy Swing" performed by !DelaDap had been disqualified from the national final as the song had been performed before 1 September 2011. The band would remain in the competition but with the song "Don't Turn Around" instead.
Final
The televised final took place on 24 February 2012. Ten songs competed in the first round where the top two were selected by a public vote to proceed to the second round. The top two were "
That's What I Am
''That's What I Am'' is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Pavone and starring Ed Harris and Chase Ellison. It received a limited release on April 29, 2011, and was later released on DVD on July 15, 2011.
Plot
Set in one of th ...
" performed by
Conchita Wurst
Thomas Neuwirth (born 6 November 1988) is an Austrian singer and drag queen who is known for his stage persona Conchita Wurst (or simply Conchita). Neuwirth came to international attention after winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 as with t ...
and "Woki mit deim Popo" performed by
Trackshittaz. In the second round, public televoting selected "Woki mit deim Popo" performed by Trackshittaz as the winner. Viewers were able to vote via telephone or SMS. "Woki mit deim Popo" became Austria's first entry in the contest to be performed entirely in the
Mühlviertlerisch dialect.
Promotion
Trackshittaz made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Woki mit deim Popo" as the Austrian Eurovision entry. On 21 April, Trackshittaz performed during the ''Eurovision in Concert'' event which was held at the
Melkweg
Melkweg (Dutch for "Milky Way") is a popular music venue and cultural centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is located on Lijnbaansgracht, near Leidseplein, a prime nightlife square of Amsterdam. It is housed in a former dairy and is divided into ...
venue in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
,
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and hosted by
Ruth Jacott
Ruth Jacott (born 2 September 1960) is a Surinamese-Dutch singer.
Jacott transitioned from musical theatre to popular music in 1993, when she represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 1993. Her song, "Vrede" (Peace), was one o ...
and
Cornald Maas
Cornald Maas is a Dutch television presenter who has been known for presenting talk shows in the Netherlands. He is the brother of Frans Maas.
Early career
He was an editor involved in ''The Scream of the Lion'' (VARA) with Paul de Leeuw, ''Son ...
. On 29 April, Trackshittaz performed during the ''London Eurovision Party'', which was held at the Shadow Lounge venue in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and hosted by
Nicki French Nicki is a given name, and may refer to:
Film and television
* Nicki Aycox (1975-2022), American actress best known for her roles as Syl on the series ''Dark Angel'' and Stella Vessey on the dramedy ''Ed''
* Nicki Chapman (born 1967), English tel ...
and
Paddy O'Connell
Guy Patrick O'Connell (born 11 March 1966 in Guildford, Surrey) is an English television and radio presenter, working mainly for the BBC. He presents BBC Radio 4's ''Broadcasting House'' programme each Sunday morning. He is also an occasional ...
. In addition to their international appearances, a farewell party was held for Trackshittaz on 9 May before they travelled to Baku for the contest, which was hosted by Andi Knoll.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2012, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Austria was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 22 May 2012, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 20 March 2012 and Austria was set to perform in position 16, following the entry from
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
and before the entry from
Moldova
Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...
.
The two semi-finals and the final were broadcast in Austria on
ORF eins
ORF 1 (''ORF eins'') is an Austrian public television channel owned by ORF. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955.
ORF 1 is one of four public TV channels in Austria. It is funded by a mixture of advertising revenue an ...
with commentary by
Andi Knoll
Andreas "Andi" Knoll (born 11 June 1972 in Innsbruck) is an Austrian radio and television presenter. He is Austria's commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest each year.
Eurovision Song Contest work
Since the 1999 contest (with the except ...
. The Austrian spokesperson, who announced the Austrian votes during the final, was
Kati Bellowitsch
Katharina "Kati" Bellowitsch (born 13 June 1974) is an Austrian radio and TV presenter.
Career
Born in Graz, Styria, Bellowitsch trained as a primary school teacher before becoming, in 1996, a presenter at a commercial radio station in Styria ...
.
Semi-final
Trackshittaz took part in technical rehearsals on 14 and 18 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 21 and 22 May. This included the jury show on 21 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.
The Austrian performance featured the members of Trackshittaz performing with three female pole dancers around the five poles on stage. The performers were in LED costumes attached with lines of white and yellow lights, with a tunnel effect with alternate flashing stripes and spotlights appearing on the LED screens. The three pole dancers that joined Trackshittaz were: Bianca Borghesi, Conny Aitzetmüller and Marie-Therese Leopoldsberger.
At the end of the show, Austria was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Austria placed eighteenth (last) in the semi-final, receiving a total of 8 points.
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Austria had placed seventeenth with both the public televote and the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Austria scored 15 points, while with the jury vote, Austria scored 27 points.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Austria and awarded by Austria in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Albania in the semi-final and to Sweden in the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Austria
Points awarded by Austria
References
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2012
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...