(#30) — Conchita performs ‘Blue Bloom‘ with the Janoska Ensemble at Wider Die Gewalt, October, 2016
A couple of times over the last few months Conchita WURST has mentioned she stopped writing her own songs after she handed over writing privileges for her upcoming third album to professional songwriters instead.
That album — Truth Over Magnitude — is due to be released in October, with the songs on it written by Eva Klampfer (Lylit) and Albin Janoska.
For some reason, however, Conchita seems to think those Truth Over Magnitude songs are better than anything she has written.
I disagree.
Because three songs Conchita had a hand in writing — ‘Blue Bloom’, ‘Waters Run Deep‘ and ‘Have I Ever Been In Love‘ — are beautifully written songs.
And a live performance of ‘Blue Bloom‘ is #30 on my Conchita WURST’s Top 40 Best Live Performances list.
Conchita sings ‘Blue Bloom’ with the Janoska Ensemble
Four days after Conchita performed ‘Blue Bloom‘ at Wider Die Gewalt, I bumped into her creator Tom Neuwirth in the middle of Vienna.
The second thing out of my mouth, after asking him if I could walk with him for a couple of minutes, was something to the effect of how I wasn’t a huge fan of ‘Blue Bloom‘, but that I had liked his performance with the Janoska Ensemble at Wider Die Gewalt.
He immediately commented that it was the first song he had ever written because, of course, his reaction was to defend himself and his songwriting.
I realized immediately I should have kept my mouth shut.
Not only because, even if you tell an artist 9,000 positive things, they will only remember that one negative comment you made. (Conchita, I would say I’m batting 999,000 positive things to about 20 negative. Ignore the latter. Please).
But also because ‘Blue Bloom‘ had already grown on me a helluva lot since I had first heard it when she/he gave a live performance of the song over Facebook a few months before. (See video below)
And, frankly, I liked her collaboration with the Janoska Ensemble for the Wider Die Gewalt performance of the song. A lot.
The performance itself was touching as well.
Not completely perfect vocals but, then again, I often prefer her not-so-perfect live vocals over those that are too pristine. Because often there is more emotion behind the imperfection than if she gave a performance that was as flawless as the recorded version.
But touching because she sang it beautifully, it was the first song she had written, and her first performance of it. And so it meant something to her.
Related reading: Conchita performs superb new version of ‘Blue Bloom‘ at Wider Die Gewalt
And so, I’m here to say, not only do I think Conchita’s ‘Blue Bloom‘ live performance is worthy of the #30 spot on my Conchita WURST’s Top 40 Best Live Performances list, but I also think she should sing the song live more often.
Because, as tends to happen with Conchita WURST, something she does I initially dislike ends up growing on me so much it becomes one of my favorite things.
And…because, more often than not, I am wrong and she is right.
With ‘Blue Bloom‘ that is definitely the case.
Watch Conchita’s ‘Blue Bloom‘ live at Wider Die Gewalt in both videos below. They are both lovely for completely different reasons.
Note: You will find #40 to #31 on my Conchita WURST’s Top 40 Best Live Performances list here.