She’s the Eurovision 2014 winner who made headlines around the world, rocking conservative politicians en route to becoming an icon of her generation.
And as we rush toward the semi-finals of Eurovision 2017, Conchita Wurst admits that she still gets emotional when she watches her winning performance of “Rise Like A Phoenix”.
Speaking to us at the London Eurovision Party earlier this month, the world’s most famous bearded lady said: “I cry each and every time — it never gets old to me. I never felt this intensity of emotions in my life before. That was something so unexpected and I never thought something beautiful like this could happen to me. Every time I revisit it, it’s just whew…it always gets me.”
Wearing a polka-dot blouse and showing off her stunning décolletage, she explained that her look is always evolving.
“It’s basically just because I feel like it,” she says of her noticeably thicker beard. “It’s like fashion — one day it’s the skinny jeans and the next day you better wear boot cut or you’re on the worst dressed list…I’m edgy now.”
And what about the recent news that Tom Neuwirth — Conchita’s alter-ego — plans to kill her off?
“He won’t make it that drastic, because we don’t like a mess. But as I’ve said: Life is a journey and one day I will definitely stop being Conchita, but not any time soon. In this interview I just said what is on my mind. I want to move forward and I have so many things I want to do that I know I won’t do with a wig.”
She’s already conquered the small screen — having appeared at Eurovision and on countless other TV shows. So will Conchita ever transition to the big screen?
“Hopefully one day,” she says. “It won’t be that soon because we need to wait a few years. Hopefully there will be some exciting things in the future. But there will come a day where I’ll be like OK, nobody wants me anymore. I gotta pay my bills. I’m going to write a script and I’m going to sell it and have a job for another two years.”
“I have so many plans and dreams — I want to write a musical one day. I want to create completely new music that’s not even pop. I have many things on my mind.”
We’re huge fans of her many songs, including “Firestorm” and “You Are Unstoppable”. But in her free time Conchita prefers to listen to other artists.
“I have to be completely honest: I hardly listen to my own music privately because I’m rehearsing constantly and giving concerts constantly, so I have these songs almost 24/7. It’s nice to listen to some other things and get inspired by other artists.”
Has Eurovision become more political since her win?
“That’s the spirit of time, isn’t it? We really live in very interesting times and there’s so much going on in this world. In 2014 you felt, and I said it back then, that there is a movement going on in every direction towards the people who believe in a society that is supporting each other and there is also a huge movement in the total opposite direction.”
“At the end of the day music is a reflection of the society, so of course it’s also a topic in Eurovision. We can say it as loud as we want that Eurovision isn’t political, but it’s just not true because we are all human beings interested in what is going on in the world and we’ve got to express it with what we’ve got — in our case music.”
Back then, Conchita was unsure about that collaboration with the BBC Concert Orchestra because nothing was signed yet. Now she & her team announced it will be a reality. On February 25th she will be at Palladium London.
http://london-palladium.co.uk/event/conchita/
Music is the key, even you must acknowledge that she performed impeccably in both semi-final and final in 2014. That was the main reason she won. I get emotional watching it back again, as I do with all Eurovision performers who sing their hearts out.
Yep. Even if I’m not a fan of the song, she did perform well. Especially in the semi final.
I remember watching Conchita’ music video ahead of the 2014 eurovision song contest. At that point I thought it was a good song….but nothing else tbh.
But as soon as I saw it Live on the Semi Finals evening – I still remember being throughly wowed! And all of a sudden the lyrics of the song fell into place.
It was an awesome feeling and for those couple of minutes I forgot it was a competition.
wow she’s a GabbaGurllll.
she’s so classy.
I agree with one of the former debatants. I have never been a fan of her participation / song either. But it seems somehow many people have just “decided” that she was good for the contest – full stop. Many of us fans actually think differently. To me the song is boring. Had little to do with modern Austrian pop music as such. And she probably just won due to the beard anyway. It would be more musical credible if she performed as himself – Tom N. Never a good sign when people remember the “act” more than the song.… Read more »
Preparation for the Eurovision as for war
https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/evrovidenie-2017-kievom-proshli-masshtabnye-1492788268.html
Love you both .Very inspiring .thank you
I cant wait to watch William & Deban record fun video in Kyiv this year.omg so exciting.
Abba-level was a bit much to expect, I think.
Conchita will live long in the memory, which is way more successful in itself than a lot of winners, or singers in general. Iconic is an overused word, but in this case I believe it’s fitting.
I remember folllowing her win at Eurovision she got a lot of great opportunities thrown her way, not the least of which was her fruitful relationship with Jean Paul Gaultier. She was such a promising pop export that the British media even labeled Conchita as “Europe’s next billion dollar brand”. It’s kind of sad for me to see that not having fully come true. Sad to see her having lost momentum relatively quickly. Would have been cool to have another ABBA-level Eurovision breakout star on our hands. Not only for Conchita but also for Eurovision longevity
I think what’s funny is it seems many people hold Conchita (even as a drag queen) up to the same standard as women in the entertainment industry—she has to be perfect, proper, and obedient. She may have just changed her look too quickly for everyone for all we know. I think she’s still got name recognition and is still the charismatic person we’ve come to know, but I think in this day and age it’s hard to really stay in the spotlight with so many new acts and media coming out rapid fire—it’s easy to look over someone or move… Read more »
Shell is so over