Before taking to the stage at the London Eurovision Party, Tim spoke with Kaleen for an interview. Kaleen represented Austria at Eurovision 2024 with her song “We Will Rave”.
Check out our interview with Kaleen here!
Together, Tim and Kaleen reflect on last year’s LEP when Kaleen suffered a wardrobe malfunction mid-performance. The pair also chat about the technical mishap during her final Eurovision performance, as well as her love for the Contest. She also speaks on her musical projects after Eurovision, and how she was able to decide her own creative direction.
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 56 times (being in the final 49 times), and have won the competition on two occasions in 1966 and 2014.
For 2024, Kaleen was internally selected to represent Austria with their song “We Will Rave”. In Malmö, Kaleen qualified for the final, where she went on to finish in 24th place with 24 points. Of these, 5 points came from the televote and another 19 came from the juries.
Are you excited to see what’s next for Kaleen? Should she return to Eurovision in the future? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads TikTok and Bluesky as we prepare for Eurovision 2025.
News Source: That Eurovision Site
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That Eurovision Site