Last month Austrian broadcaster ORF announced the electronic-pop artist Pænda as their representative for Tel Aviv. And now Eberhard Forcher, Austria’s musical scout, has revealed in a podcast that Pænda was almost ruled out!

Eberhard is a radio host at ORF and since 2016 has been the scout responsible for finding suitable candidates for Austria at Eurovision. Thanks to him we’ve seen Zoe, Nathan Trent and Cesár on stage.

Austria wants to go in a different direction this year and he says it was looking “for something special, but at the same time radio friendly.”

“If there was a recipe to win the contest, it would be one of the most wanted. But there is none. Every year is different and what might have worked two years ago, can be boring today.”

Talking about Pænda and “Limits”

Forcher did not share many details about the song itself, but gave insights about Pænda and the selection process.

“Paenda is an artist who knows exactly what she wants. And this led to some conflicts with us who know more about Eurovision. But conflicts are there to be solved.”

Of course Pænda wasn’t the only artist who had negotiations with ORF and he confirmed contact with Hyäne Fischer, the long rumoured satire group. At one point Pænda was already out, because she originally competed with a different song. Forcher then contacted her team again to listen to her new album Evolution II for suitable tracks, finding the divisive “Limits”.

“The album is amazing, with wonderful sounds and extremely long instrumental parts, which aren’t suitable for Eurovision. But there is this one song that doesn’t fit in this context. Some people will shake their heads when they hear the song for the first time.”

It has not been announced when we will hear “Limits” for the first time, though her album will be out on April 26th.

What do you think? Are you excited to hear Pænda’s song? Tell us what you think in the comments section below!