Rise Like a Phoenix - Conchita Wurst

I have to admit that I didn’t find “Rise Like a Phoenix” particularly memorable when I first heard it a couple of days ago. But after having had the opportunity to hear it twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, that chorus became so etched in my brain that I hardly slept a wink that night. For me, the song only really showed its true quality in combination with the live performance of Conchita Wurst. You need more than just a big voice to successfully belt this song out, you also need a big personality – and Conchita has both by the bucketful. She totally owned the stage and delivered a sensational performance with no frills, which earned her a well-deserved landslide victory.

It’s a song that might have been conceived as a ballad for a diva like Shirley Bassey. Or that could have worked well at the beginning of Bridget Jones, when the heroine bawls out Celine Dion’s “All By Myself” in her pyjamas. The song can also withstand comparison with “Skyfall” by Adele: although these songs both have a certain James Bond vibe and are similar to a degree (starting with the orchestral chord at the very beginning), “Rise Like a Phoenix” is more deserving of the label “power ballad” and would have been a worthier Bond title song in my eyes. It is bigger, grander and, in my opinion, simply the better song.

Besides Conchita’s compelling and flawless performance, what I love about “Rise Like a Phoenix” is its full, orchestral playback track, especially from the second chorus onwards, with the entry of the low brass. And the last chorus, when the high trumpets join in, is a guaranteed goose bump moment. A bad arrangement would have ruined everything, possibly making it more like a cheap Ralph Siegel-style production (cf. San Marino’s song). But Austria managed to produce an elegant, high-class arrangement that had no equal in this year’s ESC.

Comparisons with James Bond songs from the John Barry era are understandable, although “Rise Like a Phoenix” is by no means just a cheap imitation. Any allusions to Bond, whether intentional or unintentional, are subtle. The typical Bond guitar, for instance, which figures prominently in “Skyfall”, plays a subordinate role in “Rise Like a Phoenix”, and the harp that would be indispensable in a parody of Barry is missing entirely.

But the thing I love most about this song is one small detail: The temptation to raise the key by a semitone in the last chorus must have been great, not only because it’s a musical device that would be appropriate for this genre, but also because it would make sense in combination with the lyrics (“I’m gonna fly / And rise like a phoenix”). But the songwriters found an elegant way to avoid this cliché. Even though we’re thinking “ok, here we go, now it’s coming” and the vocal melody does in fact go up that one semitone on the word “rise”, the key stays put. A nice surprise, and very tastefully resolved. Just classy – perfect for Conchita.

Die deutsche Version dieses Blogeintrages gibts auf Zartbitter.