A few months ago, Conchita Wurst gave an interview in Helsinki where she talked about people coming up to her saying, “Well, I didn’t really like your style before, and I don’t like it now, but you’re not stupid”. What she was meaning by this, although she didn’t say it outright was, once you meet her, even if you didn’t like her before, chances are you’ll like her now.
The reason for that is Conchita Wurst has a gift. (Well, she has many gifts but today I’m talking about one in particular). It’s a gift I’ve noticed in every interview she does, and every ‘Conchita Answers‘ video she produces. She has the gift of being able to relate to everyone she talks to, a gift that makes the person talking to her always feel comfortable, and a gift that makes you like her.
Watch Conchita’s interview at the Swiss Eurovision National Final on Saturday night, as it’s a perfect example of how beautifully she does what she does. In fact, in Switzerland, she was astounding, with a ‘presence’ that is growing and growing.
In Switzerland, just like in every interaction she has with anyone, this conversation starts with that gorgeous smile, followed by one of those cute head tilts she does. At other times, it will be a shoulder shrug, or some other quirky mannerism that makes you immediately want to know more. None of this, of course, is done deliberately. It’s all just instinctual. But, God, it makes you like her.
At some point soon after, she will make a joke. It lightens the atmosphere even more, it’s sometimes self-deprecating and now……. you’re beginning to fall in love.
And with Conchita, as I keep saying, it’s one thing when she makes a joke in German, as she did in Switzerland, but when she does it in English and it’s funny, and smart, and quick-witted, and never mean or ever nasty, it floods me with admiration. (And Conchita, if I can drum one thing into your head, it should be this. I’m around people who speak English as a second language all day and every day, and I know very smart people, yet I don’t know anyone as smart as you. The quickness you have in joking in that second language is rare, because it’s not only funny, it’s astoundingly intelligent, and done with such grace. Besides, you always make me laugh).
Now, if you just sit back and watch that Swiss video, and let who Conchita Wurst is just flow over you, by the end of it, I promise, you will love her. Even if you don’t speak German. It’s because her personality is warm and kind and sweet and funny and alternately quirky and elegant and smart. And the gift she has that makes her able to connect to people means, no matter which language she is speaking, you know immediately that who she seems to be is who she is. 100 percent genuine.
Her gift is also why, I am completely sure, Conchita Wurst’s fans are only going to grow in number, and why so many now are so determined in their defense of her.
It’s that “I’d walk through fire for you” mentality many of us have. Even me. And, hell, I’ve never even met her, and I am so not the ‘fight for you’ type. Not when it comes to celebrities. But her personality makes you not only want to, it also makes you feel like walking through fire for her wouldn’t be any big deal at all.
As for if my sense of Conchita Wurst is correct here? Oh, yes. Absolutely correct. No doubt in my mind.
Which is funny, as a friend of mine keeps saying, when I meet Conchita Wurst, am I going to be like Conchita herself when she thinks about meeting Victoria Beckham? Worried she won’t like me and afraid I won’t like her?
Hell, no. Because first of all, I know she’ll like me (I’m sorry, Conchita, but, for some mysterious reason, people always do 🙂 ) But more importantly, I will like her. In fact, I fully expect to like her even more than I already do, as I have always had a good ‘sense’ of people.
And my sense of Conchita Wurst? She’s nothing less than spectacular, and becoming even more so every day.