Austria goes for feel good radio pop with Nathan Trent
After Austria won the contest in 2014 with Conchita Wurst, they had to swallow the feared 0 points the next year when they were hosting. Last year Zoë represented the country with the cute French ‘Loin D’Ici’ and ended up in a respectable 13th position after the televoters placed her in top 10. This year the Austrian broadcaster opted for some catchy radiofriendly pop with Nathan Trent’s ‘Running On Air’. Will this be enough to be a part of the final for the fourth year in a row?

According to the bookmakers, the odds for Austria to qualify from the second semi final are not very high. At the same time, the press that is reporting about the rehearsals in Kiev at the moment, are a bit more positive after seeing him on stage for the first time. The thing with a song like ‘Running On Air’ is, that it absolutely needs an eye catching staging to stick in the viewers memories. Pleasant as it is, it is also easily forgettable. It would probably work better in the background on the radio than on centre stage in a song competition.  Having said that, similar tracks, like Malta in 2013, have showed that laidback radiofriendly feel good tunes sometimes do work for Eurovision. Moreover, Nathan is a charismatic performer with a likable attitude which will definitely gain him some votes. If Nathan and his team will pull of a perfect visual and vocal performance, ‘Running On Air’ might still stand a chance in the competition, but last year’s 13th place seems a bit of a stretch.

UPDATE – Review on semi final performance:
Austria brought a lot of happiness and bright colours to the stage with Nathan Trent’s performance of his radio pop song ‘Running On Air’. The half moon on stage is a nice touch and the pink skies in the background definitely work with the upbeat vibe of the song. He is a charismatic performer with a likable attitude on stage and this definitely helped him in reaching that spot in the final. Vocally it was decent enough, until the last minute where he missed the big note leading towards the final chorus. Personally, I would not have missed ‘Running On Air’ on Saturday had it failed to qualify, but I would not go as far as saying their spot was undeserved. Hopefully Nathan will nail his vocal performance on Saturday and secure a spot outside of the bottom 5.

UPDATE – Review on final performance and result:
Austria’s 16th position with Nathan Trent’s ‘Running On Air’ was solely thanks to the juries, as the televoters did not award him a single point in the final show down. To be honest, I was a bit surprised when he even made it into the final as his radio pop song is easily forgettable and his vocals weren’t perfect. He missed the same big note in the final, but managed to at least convince the juries with his charismatic stage presence and beautiful staging.

Check all Eurovision 2017 reviews: Albania – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Belarus – Belgium – Bulgaria – Croatia – Cyprus – Czech Republic – Denmark – Estonia – Finland – France – FYR Macedonia – Georgia – Germany – Greece – Hungary – Iceland – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Latvia – Lithuania – Malta – Moldova – Montenegro – The Netherlands – Norway – Poland – Portugal – Romania – San Marino – Serbia – Slovenia – Spain – Sweden – Switzerland – Ukraine – United Kingdom