Meet Kaleen, Austria’s Eurovision 2024 singer competing with club banger We Will Rave
Singer and dancer has won over a hundred dance championships and is a longtime fan of Eurovision
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A decade after Conchita Wurst made history and won the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Austria, singer Kaleen is hoping for a repeat with her club anthem “We Will Rave”.
The 29-year-old singer and dancer is performing at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, which is being held by host country Sweden at the Malmö Arena.
Kaleen, who hails from Reid im Traunkreis in Upper Austria, has won more than 100 national and European dance championships, so expect to see some impressive moves when she competes in the second semi-final tonight (9 May).
She also has plenty of Eurovision experience, having supported countries including Austria, Armenia, Georgia and Germany with their stage performances in recent years.
Her song “We Will Rave” was written by Anderz Wrethov, Jimmy “Joker Thornfeldt, Julie Aagaard and Thomas Stengaard; Kaleen says the track is about “needing a place of refuge when your heart is broken, and finding it in music”.
“The rave is where the outsiders and wounded souls go to heal and dissolve their problems through music,” she told Eurovision. “It’s the sea of rhythm that washes the pain away and gives us salvation.”
Read our Q&A with Kaleen below:
Hi Kaleen, how are you feeling about being at Eurovision 2024?
Very excited! I can’t wait to be on the stage having this dream of mine come true. I feel like I’ve been dreaming this entire time, I’m constantly smiling or feeling nostalgic for little Kaleen who dreamed of being at Eurovision.
It means a lot to me. Music means a lot, because it can unite so many different people from all different backgrounds. I feel like Eurovision and its United by Music message, I feel like it brings this out in everyone, whether it’s the people working on production or the audience, everyone loves it so much. It’s crazy that you can spend six months working on a three-minute song, and we’re still working on it. It’s that love of detail, the love of music, love for our family and our Eurovision colleagues, that makes it such a special moment. It means everything to me.
Tell us about your club banger ‘We Will Rave’
It was always my dream to go to Eurovision with one of my songs. So last year in Liverpool I connected with some of the songwriters, and I said it was my dream to take a positive party song to the contest that people could sing and clap along to. I got on a plane to Copenhagen without even having a song, got a train and found myself standing outside the arena at Malmö! I recorded a song here, and now I have my full-circle moment which is really amazing.
What other Eurovision songs are you loving right now?
I have a different song in my head every single day when I wake up! This year it’s brilliant because I get to meet the people behind the songs and connect with everyone’s personality. It’s all becoming a blur, so I feel like I have 36 favourites.
The grand final will be held on Saturday 11 May from 8pm GMT and be broadcast from BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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