Eurovision’s Teya and Salena on huge support from the LGBTQ+ community: ‘We’re so proud’

Eurovision has got off to an almighty start this year, with plenty more still yet to come. 

We’ve already seen 10 acts put through to the Grand Final, along with the six countries who automatically qualify. 

But there is still another semi-final to come, and one favourite is Austria’s act, Teya and Salena, with their unlikely banger: ‘Who The Hell is Edgar?’

The pair sat down with Attitude in Liverpool to share the support they’ve had from the LGBTQ+ community, their journey to Eurovision and who the hell Edgar really is. 

The pair told us that the love from queer people played a “big part” in why they’re such fans of Eurovision. 

“For us when we were little kids, and we saw that Molitva won in 2007. This was our sign of “Okay, it does not matter where you come from, what you look like and who you love. You can be loved and have the success and be on such a big stage and be part of such a great community. 

“That was for both of us, the moment we were like, yes, we want to go there and we want to be part,” Teya began.

“We’ve never ever felt more accepted and more loved than by being at Eurovision”

They went on to share how they feel the Eurovision community and LGBTQ+ community have the “same values” in essence. 

“It’s the same realm of worlds where love and unity is the first thing that’s important for both of those institutions. 

“For us, just being a part of Eurovision has been so, so incredible. We’ve never ever felt more accepted and more loved than by being here.

“It’s the same sensation that we have when we’re with our friends who are from the LGBTQ+ community. It’s because of those same values that the communities hold dear and we’re just again, so proud to be a part of it,” Teya told us. 

The duo both have experience trying to get onto Eurovision in the past, and could be the first Austrian act to qualify since Cesár Sampson in 2018. 

They don’t seem phased at all, though. 

“Well, we’re just so looking forward to going on that stage. We’re not thinking about the ranking or which place we’re going to make. 

“Of course, it would be nice to be in the Finals. I want to be in the Final! But, that’s not the first thing that I’m thinking of. It’s like a dream is coming true, it’s so exciting to be there. Receiving all that love is already a big win for us,” Salena added. 

On what we can tease from their performance, it seems like there’s lots of exciting features to look out for. 

“We have four dancers on stage, dressed in red and black, we’re going to be in our colours. Our dance that we already have, since the beginning, in our music video will be on stage as well.

“The backing is multiplication of the dancers on the LED screens, that’s a big part of our performance,” Salena said.

Teya went on to explain a bit more about the poignant meaning of their song, too.

“It’s very important moment for us just to enhance our message”

“We kind of see it as a continuation of a criticism towards the music industry,” she shared. “Where individuality gets lost because of mass production. 

“The whole mindset of big labels, if something sells well, then they’re gonna sell it as much as they can. The whole individuality and songwriters get lost in that whole mass production feel of this industry right now,” she told us.

They explain the biggest part of their Eurovision performance comes with the lyrics ‘zero, dot, zero, zero, three.’

Teya continued: “I feel like that’s what sticks with you the most. We have the 0.003 on the LED screen. It’s also very important moment for us just to enhance our message. 

“We’re aware that people that will see it for the first time and probably won’t understand what we want to say.”

Instead, they just want viewers to question the song.

“If people have a question mark afterwards, and are interested in that, they start researching and maybe look into it. That’s what we want to do with our stage performance,” she added.

The pair’s song is actually about the feeling of ghostwriting. It came together in the last hour of a session they had at a Czech writing camp.

“It was definitely very random, and came from a conversation we had about how it feels when you write a good song, and it doesn’t feel like your work. The creativity goes from the back of your head through your body into your hands. 

“It almost feels like a divine feeling that somebody sends you instead of you coming up with something,” Teya said. 

They drew on their experiences as female songwriters in an industry that often doesn’t give women enough credit.

The concept of Edgar Allen Poe just “popped up” later, they say. We’re so glad he did, as it’s created one of the catchiest tunes of Eurovision 2023.