🇦🇹 That Eurovision Review: Lasers and Ravers for Kaleen in her first rehearsal

Today the rehearsals for Eurovision 2024 continue in Malmö. Countries rehearsing on Day 3 include Malta, Albania, Greece, Switzerland, Czechia, Austria, Denmark, and Armenia. The sixth to rehearse today is Austria’s Kaleen.

Kaleen’s first rehearsal

The next to take to the Eurovision 2024 stage at Malmö Arena in Malmö was Austria’s Kaleen. Kaleen will be competing in this year’s competition with her entry “We Will Rave” following her internal selection by Austria’s ORF.

Following Kaleen’s first rehearsal a clip of what went on was posted on the official TikTok account of the Eurovision Song Contest. The clip showed her before and after she took to the Eurovision stage for the first time, as well as giving us some insight into how well her first rehearsal went.

What did we learn about Kaleen’s staging?

If you saw Maria Sur’s performance in Melodifestivalen this year, then some of this will look familiar to you, the lasers are very reminiscent of When I’m Gone. Kaleen has Eurovision experience as a stand in, so naturally has picked up on some of the traditions of the contest, and has an outfit change, quickly taking off her long white coat to reveal a sparkly leotard, with her dancers giving what can be described as yassified Men in Black with cargo pants and sleeveless jackets. Above the stage is an inverted scaffolding pyramid, with Kaleen going for warehouse rave vibes.

What we thought of Kaleen’s first rehearsal

After Austria’s first rehearsal, Tim gave his initial thoughts on the snippet that we saw.

Who is Kaleen?

Kaleen, is the stage name for singer Marie-Sophie Kreissl. In 2014, Kaleen’s career kickstarted when she took part in the German version of “Got To Dance”, Kaleen reached the final of this competition. Musically, Kaleen has had previous experiences both at Eurovision and Junior Eurovision. Since 2018, Kaleen has been a stand-in for numerous Eurovision entries. Creatively, Kaleen has also played her part in the Eurovision Song Contest. Kaleen has acted as a creative director at Eurovision for Spain, Bulgaria, Armenia, Georgia, Germany and her home country Austria. As Junior Eurovision she has acted as a Creative Director for Spain.

In terms of releasing her own music, Kaleen first released a single in 2021 which was entitled “Too Good to Not”. Following on from releasing a few more singles, Kaleen went on to release her first album. Kaleen’s album was entitled “Stripping Feelings”. This album contained the singles “What it Feels Like”, “Stripping Feelings” and “Taking Chances”.

Kaleen’s Eurovision 2024 entry, “We Will Rave,” was written by Eurovision hitmaker Jimmy “Joker” Thörnfeldt as part of a team of Swedish songwriters. The team included Andrew Wrethov, Julie Asgaard and Thomas Stengaard. Andrew, Jimmy and Thomas also produced the track.

Austria’s Eurovision Journey

In 1957, Austria made their debut into the Eurovision Song Contest, where Bob Martin represented the landlocked nation with the song “Wohin, kleines Pony?”. At the close of voting, it managed to place 10th overall. Since their debut, Austria has participated 55 times (being in the final 48 times), and have won the competition on two occasions in 1966 and 2014.

For 2023, Teya and Salena were internally selected to represent Austria with their song “Who the Hell is Edgar?”. In Liverpool, the duo qualified for the final, where they went on to finish in 15th place with 120 points. Of these, 16 points came from the televote and another 104 came from the juries.

What do you think of “We Will Rave”? Will this staging take her to the final? Let us know your thoughts! Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok as we prepare for Eurovision 2024!

News Source: That Eurovision Site / Eurovision.tv

Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU