Album Review: Conchita Wurst – Conchita
2 min read
Austrian singer Conchita Wurst rose to fame with her winning Eurovision single Rise Like A Phoenix at last year’s Eurovision. With a strong performance and climactic Bond-esque song, Wurst sang with thrilling vocals and sparkling enthusiasm. With her self-titled debut album arriving right before this year’s Eurovision, Wurst’s debut encompasses everything that made her Eurovision performance great – drama, striking vocals and a bundle of uplifting messages.
The introductory track You Are Unstoppable is inspirational and rising with an abundance of string arpeggios paired with Wurst’s powerful vocals. When the song reaches its climactic point and Wurst belts like no tomorrow, it is clear that this album is one of many surprises. The following track Up For Air steers away from this traditional string instrumentation towards an electric feel with a punchy guitar accompaniment and EDM beat. Put That Fire Out begins with a slow tempo and builds to a soldier march style song that really showcases Wurst’s vocal ability. With a staccato vocal style, the vocal jumps and leaps make for an expressive track.
Colours of Your Love starts off with the vulnerability of Mad World by Tears For Fears and builds to a dramatic deep house drop in the chorus. The drop is a really unexpected surprise and adds interest into the piece. The ethno-sounding string instrument at the end of this track is alluring and a real introduction to the following track. Out of Body Experience is mysterious and rather sensual. The string accompaniment is dissonant and strangely sultry. In Where Have All the Good Men Gone Wurst changes things up with a musical and jazzy style. It’s melodramatic and highly entertaining.
Firestorm is an ultimate dance track that is no doubt going to be played in clubs around the world. The following track Pure yet again shifts the style with a raw and mesmerising ballad. Wurst’s vocals pair with a soft piano accompaniment and the result really is simply magic. The song is one of the best on the album as it is highly emotive and delicate. The inclusion of Rise Like A Phoenix is simply a delight and it demonstrates how far Conchita has come from her Eurovision days.
Overall, this album is quite simply pure delight. This album isn’t just generic pop – it hosts genres of electro, ethno sound, jazz and balladic form. This is ultimately what makes this album such a winner – it is diverse and filled with musical variety. Each song tackles a different sound and has a different sense of interplay. The only downfall would be the abundance of corny, uplifting metaphors – however, this is what Conchita does best. Within her debut album she is strong, powerful and flawless.
