In general, Cesár Sampson is very happy with his first rehearsal for Austria at Eurovision 2018. Though he is still working on the vocal harmony with his backing singers. “I did not bring some of the best singers I know, for them to be so much in the background,” he tells ESCDaily.
Beware, the Austrian only want their backing singers to be heard better. They will not get a bigger part in the on-screen performance. “They are also on screen, if you pay attention. But we don’t want to make a concert out of it. Everybody on screen should be an ingredient to the story.”
Cesár would not have taken part in Austrian preselection of the past
Before the victory in 2014, Austria many times used a national final. But the big names in the Austrian music scene refused to take part, and thus good results at Eurovision stayed out as well. This has all changed in recent years, Cesár admits in our interview:
“There is a huge disconnection between the internationally orientated artists and the Austrian public. These artists might not feel comfortable taking part in a preselection. I would not have stepped in, in the old system before 2014 in Austria, to be honest.”
