They’re Austrian A-listers who perform to sell-out crowds and who are known throughout the German-speaking world for their unique blend of rock and art pop.
But despite their massive hits like “Softdrink”, “Rosen zum Plafond”, and “Feinste Seide”, even Bilderbuch suffers from a “fear of failure” at Eurovision.
That’s just some of the tea from our hour-long interview with Austria’s Eurovision scout Eberhard Forcher, which we’ll publish in full in the coming week.
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Bilderbuch said no to Eurovision 2022 over “fear of falling”
Eberhard, who has worked with broadcaster ORF for several years to coax top talent to Eurovision, says he spent seven weeks speaking with the band’s manager.
“They’re like the Måneskin of Austria, with a different musical style, but they are so cool,” he says of his dream Eurovision act, who he thought might be interested after the global success of Italy’s most recent winners. “They are playing shows in Austria with 20,000 people. I thought, ‘This time I’ll get them.'”
Eberhard phoned up the band’s manager immediately after Eurovision.
“I had two long calls. He understood my arguments. I said, ‘What can you lose? What can you effing lose — you can only win!'”
Their manager understood the massive opportunity before them and kept the band in the mix for seven weeks. Ultimately, though, not even their management could win them over.
“He said, ‘I’ve done everything to convince them.’ As the lead singer said it, it’s the fear of falling.”
Want to know more about Austria’s Eurovision 2022 internal selection? Eberhard tells us about the four acts still in the running. Click here!
Are you excited about the scale of Austria’s ambitions? Would you love to see Bilderbuch at Eurovision in the future? Let us know down below.
the style of the song “bungalow” is very cool for the ESC in these days – måneskin & go_a have made it possible – there is a big red carpet on the ground for progressive acts like bilderbuch! 🙂
At this point time, according to another Eurovision news site I frequent, it is now down to four artists left who could represent Austria in 2022.
Eberhard tells Wiwibloggs about the four acts here: https://wiwibloggs.com/2021/11/12/eberhard-forcher-teases-austrias-four-remaining-eurovision-2022-candidates/267110/
Ok then it is clear that the act from southern tyrol is ANGER (they sing in german), the electro swing must be Deladap and the DJ Lumix.
I think he said one act is huge on Spotify. Anybody knows Austrian acts on Spotify with success????
austria is quite good at electronic/dance: parov stelar, limux, möwe, darius&finlay, camo&crooked, kruder&dorfmeister
Lumix, not limux 😉
mathea maybe ?
Mathea is my dream, possibly Fomins and Kleins for a quality joke act in the Little Big vein.
Don’t fear failure if you are willing to give this contest your best shot. Look at Anouk. She brought her A-game, and deservingly ended-up in top 10. Even band with more niche audiences, like Hooverphonic, moderately succeeded (I mean, they qualified) since they brought a song that feels like a big effort was put into it. The problem can occur when big names get too sure about getting votes, so they send ”album fillers” which otherwise wouldn’t be released as standalone singles.
If they are scared then they should wait later to participate
They may not feel like they are ready for Eurovision and that’s okay. Give it a little time.
Pity. Hope to see more and more original bands, projects and artists like Maneskin or this Austrian group in ESC.
Its almost 2022, are broadcasters for real thinking they will win by copying last years winner? For f shake…..
Bilderbuch aren’t even vaguely similar to Måneskin. Check them out and hear for yourself.
I’m not gonna be surprised if there are a lot of rock bands in 2022, but I really don’t want to see a bunch of Måneskin clones Littering up the contest. When you have an overabundance of a particular genre, you’re not gonna be successful And the votes would get split all over the place. It’s why I think a lot of fan favorite diva dance bops flopped in 2021. They were just too many of them to Vote for.
All true. However when Cyprus skipped the “diva dance bop” in 2020 the poor guy got slated and dropped. Personally I thought it would have qualified but sometimes you can’t win.
come on they went for a h&m playlist background song, the song had 0 impact
I don’t think Cyprus would have qualified in 2020. It was too weak and forgettable. I’m hoping Cyprus picks something different for 2022 other than another Diva dance bop. I’m worried that diminishing returns could get Cyprus their first elimination since 2013.
So any rock-oriented entry next year will be an attempt to copy Måneskin? Rock is not a niche genre, even if it is under-represented in Eurovision. It’s a broad genre with a million different interpretive styles and you need to understand that.
Not sure if they were going to do well in Eurovision but it’s weird that the manager wanted them to do it but the group didn’t want. It’s usually the other way around lol. Austria has so many talented artists. I am still dreaming of a Parov Stelar entry but i know he will never do Eurovision as he said so.. they can always find an artist with similar sound though! ZOE is a name I would love to see (again) for Austria as her recent music is much much better than Loid d’ici. More mature and catchy! I wonder… Read more »
I hope wiwbloggs can share some names that are in discussions with ORF. I hope it’s not boring acts again…
Leyya or Oehl would be perfect for Austria.
I love Bilderbuch (if you ever get the chance, go and see them live), but I’m afraid they’d be pretty alien to anyone outside the German-speaking countries.
If it is anything like Måneskin then it was a good choice to turn down. You dont get sucees by copying what worked last year
No, but they are like Falco’s funky psychedelic kids. It’s a bit … well … special.
Unless you are Ireland in the 1990s
Ireland’s four 1990s winners are all different to each other. Brendan Graham wrote two of them, and even with the same songwriter they are different.