Austria have announced their singer for Malmö .
29-year-old Kaleen from Oberösterreich, a young singer who already has some experience with the competition, has been selected internally by ORF. The song, officially, remains a secret but they will only say that it will be a techno-inspired pop song.
Who is she?
Marie-Sophie Kreissl, Kaleen’s real name, has gained experience in showbusiness since her young days. She has danced to over 100 national and European championship titles as well as five world championship titles in various disciplines, founded her own music label “Wifi Records” in 2021 and released her first album “Stripped Feelings” in 2023. I wonder if she can do Chair and Ukulele or the Spoons as well?!
At the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon in 2018, Kaleen stood on the big stage for the first time, albeit as a stand in performer and also as a dancer and choreographer of the interval act. In 2021 and 2022, she was involved in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest as Creative Director, and in 2023 she supported Austria, Armenia, Germany and Georgia with their stage performances.
What we know about her?
Kleine Zeitung reported that her grandmother Hanneliese Kreißl-Wurth wrote around 200 hits and folk songs, including the evergreen “Steirermen san very good” for the Stoakogler.
Kaleen said in an interview with ORF: “I love this world of spotlights and cameras and the fact that you can take people with you into another world. These moments are very precious. I’ve worked hard for it and I’m proud to show the world what I can do. I’m really looking forward to it.”
For ORF, programme director Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz, Kaleen is “an artist who knows all the tricks of the trade – she sings, she dances, she choreographs and she is an absolute ESC insider. So we’re not going to miss a beat to set off a big fireworks display on the stage in Malmö.”