EUROmission - dein ESC Podcast · Bernhard Schreiber, Johannes Breitkopf

ESC 2026: Interview mit BELA

·57 min·5 clips

EUROmission hosts conduct their first interview with ESC newcomer Bela, a German pre-selection participant for 2026.

1. EUROmission host Bernhard interviews Bela, a 23-year-old German artist competing at the 2026 German Eurovision Vorentscheid with his song Herz. 2. Bernhard conducted the interview solo; Bela is the guest, described as the youngest contestant at the 2026 Vorentscheid. 3. The core purpose of the episode is to introduce Bela's musical biography and explain the creative origins and philosophy behind Herz before the February 28 broadcast. 4. Bela grew up near Munich in a musical family — his mother danced and his father had musical interests — and began experimenting with production at age eight with a piano teacher who had a home studio. 5. He left school after the ninth grade, citing bullying and no enjoyment, and completed the German Mittlere Reife (middle maturity certificate) before starting to make music full-time. 6. He moved into a Munich videographer's studio basement, sleeping there nightly with a thin sleeping bag, spending every day making music — a period he explicitly describes as an escape from the outsider experience of school. 7. He says the studio environment gave him confidence because 'it was cool to be weird' and people celebrated his identity as a 16-year-old who made beats. 8. After producing other Munich artists, he worked for two years developing an artist project that reached Universal, before the project ended for reasons he chose not to discuss publicly. 9. A session with his mentor Shima was the turning point where Bela first seriously considered releasing his own music rather than writing and producing exclusively for others. 10. Herz was created during a single day at an ESC songwriting camp with producer Jonas and a co-writer; neither collaborator had worked with Bela before, and the beat arrived within about two hours. 11. The chorus melody required five attempts before the team settled on the final version; the song was recorded on a second camp day and finalized weeks later in Mannheim. 12. Bela notes that every other artist at the camp deliberated extensively over their songs with an ESC goal in mind — and none of those artists were selected for the Vorentscheid. 13. Bela defends the song's roughly two-minute length, saying he initially said it would not be extended but has since agreed to 'try again' — though at the time of recording his position remained that the song is 'great the way it is.' 14. He references a previous song, Vorstadt von Paris, as an example of over-editing a demo: the first rough take recorded in front of his ex-girlfriend was, in his view, better than the polished studio version that replaced it. 15. On Eurovision, Bela describes watching Lena's 2010 win as a childhood memory and cites her honest, unstaged performance as a role model for how he wants to carry himself on stage. 16. He states that his first substantial stage performance will effectively be the Vorentscheid itself; a prior Open Mike event placed him on the floor rather than a stage, with roughly 400 people present. 17. For the Vorentscheid staging, Bela confirms he will not wear a glitter dress, will perform 'as I am' in a slightly more elegant form, and will have one dancer with whom he interacts to tell the story of Herz. 18. The interview is warm and candid, with Bernhard and Bela sharing mutual admissions — Bernhard discloses a sweat spot from his own interview nerves, and both discuss bullying experiences. 19. Best for listeners who follow the 2026 German Eurovision pre-selection and want a personal, behind-the-scenes account of who Bela is before his February 28 performance. 20. Less suited for listeners who have no interest in German pop music or Eurovision, or who prefer analysis-focused coverage over artist biography.

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