Austria wins Eurovision Song Contest 2014! With a unique entry (seriously)

Austria has now brought another of its cutting-edge cultural figures to the world's attention. Conchita Wurst, the first transgender entry into the Eurovision Song Contest, won first place early Sunday morning. (Conchita Wurst gewinnt Song Contest Salzburg Nachrichten - reporting from Mozart's hometown - 11.05.2014) [Update: My Eurovision Song Contest history is a little weak, I'm afraid: a transsexual contestant from Israel, Dana International, won the contest in 1998.)

This is her winning song from the Gran Final, Conchita Wurst - Rise Like a Phoenix (Austria) 2014 LIVE Eurovision Grand Final 10.05.2014:

But my personal favorite this year was Spain's Ruth Lorenzo. She posted this affectionate spoof of Eurovision songs on her YouTube channel. Eurovision songs are known for being cookie-cutter pop. This song is composed of at least five songs, including three recent #1 winners and Ruth's 2014 entry, "Dancing in the Rain." There may be other song references I didn't catch.

I also think it was kind of a brave move for Ruth to post this when she was an entry this year. But it does include her 2014 song also posted below, it does show that she can render other top Eurovision songs well. What's also interesting in this kind of torch song arrangement is that the songs don't actually have to sound like "eurolites."

Ruth Lorenzo - Only Eurolites (Eurovision Medley) 04/16/2014:

Here are the Gran Final performances for the songs I identified in "Only Eurolites"

Lena Meyer-Landhut 2010 winner, Lena (Germany) performs winning 2010 Eurovision Song Contest song 06/04/2010:

The 2013 winner, Emmelie de Forest - Only Teardrops (Denmark) - LIVE - 2013 Grand Final 05/18/2013:

The 2012 winner from Sweden, Loreen - Euphoria - Live - Grand Final - 2012 Eurovision Song Contest 05/26/2012:

The 2012 entry from Cyprus, Ivi Adamou - La La Love - Live - Grand Final - 2012 Eurovision Song Contest 05/26/2012:

Here's Ruth's Grand Final performance of "Dancing in the Rain" in the 2014 Eurovision contest:

Here's another version, Dancing in the rain (A Capella Official Version) 04/17/2014. I'm pretty sure it doesn't count as "a capella" if there's music, which this version has. But it's still good.

Tags: conchita wurst, eurovision song contest, ruth larson