Austria was number 1 in my countdown last year, and to my surprise and delight (and many other people’s surprise), Cesár Sampson’s “Nobody But You” won the jury vote and came 3rd overall. That was Austria’s best performance in the contest outside of their two victories. Can they keep up recent success?

Once again, Austria’s broadcaster opted for an internal selection with Paenda (or PÆNDA) chosen to represent them in the contest with the song “Limits”. While Paenda’s background is in electropop, this song is no party banger, being a very slow example of the genre and heavy on Paenda’s vocals. It’s a very subtly, pretty classy affair, but like Latvia’s “That Night”, it doesn’t rise to any real crescendo and could be too quiet that it is passed by in the contest.

Staging is unknown at the time of writing and I just think this is going to need “something”, whatever that something is, to elevate it within its semi-final. It does have authenticity – Paenda writes, composes and produces all her music herself at her home studio. It’s conceivable the juries will appreciate this more than a public vote and it has a reasonable place in the running order (end of the first half) but I think this is more likely not to qualify than qualify I’m afraid.

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Official music video:

Live acoustic version:

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My preview video:

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Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest