Eurovision Q&A: Who the hell are Teya and Salena?

Every day this week, we're interviewing one of the favourites to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Today, it's the turn of Teya & Salena, the Austrian duo behind the high-concept pop stomper Who The Hell Is Edgar?

Lyrically, it finds the duo possessed by the spirit of gothic American poet Edgar Allen Poe, who ghostwrites their song from beyond the grave. Oh mio padre!

But the track's really about how the music industry treats female songwriters, something Teodora Špirić and Selina-Maria Edbauer have plenty of experience of.

We caught up with them in their Beatles-themed Liverpool hotel as they prepared for Thursday's semi-final.

Hey there! How are the rehearsals going?

Salena: A lot of fun. We're working on some details but the main structure is all done and we're happy with it.

You guys met on a talent show, right?

Salena: Yeah, exactly two years ago. It's called Starmania and we've been friends ever since.

But this is the first time you've performed as a duo.

Teya: Yeah, we went to a songwriting camp last year, and the whole task was basically to write a Eurovision song for Salena as a solo artist. We did that, and the song was amazing, but we had an hour left and decided to just write something fun and it turned out to be the best song of the day.

And that song was Who The Hell Is Edgar?

The lyric is about a spirit guiding you to write a song - is that something you've experienced?

Teya: [Norwegian singer] Elsie Bay was at the songwriting camp with us and, the night before we wrote Who The Hell Is Edgar, I had a conversation about exactly that thing. Like, how does it feel like when you write a good song? It kind of goes through you, through your hands and, at the end of the day, it doesn't feel like your work because it just flowed out of you. And that's what ignited the idea of this whole "ghostwriting" theme.

When we finished the song for Salena, our producer Ronnie was hungover as hell and he did not want to do any more songs. But I was like, "Oh, can we just, for fun, do a quick song about ghostwriting?" He played a guitar lick and I improvised the lyrics and it started flowing.

So basically, what we're singing about in the song happened while we were writing it. That's how the best songs are created.

It's actually quite subversive - you're using a songwriting contest to protest how little songwriters get paid. You even reference Spotify's $0.003 royalty rate.

Teya: It's just so heart-warming to see people care about the message. That's not what we expected at all. People that are not in the industry have never even heard about how much you get from Spotify. So the fact that people actually started analysing it has been incredible. We just hope that we are leaving, like, a small impact.

You also talk about how women are overlooked by the music industry. What have your experiences been?

Salena: I'm self-employed as a singer, so I have to deal with a lot of men in business and you always feel you have to prove yourself, or do more than men to get the attention and the respect.

Teya: You get recognised for your voice and your look, but not really your intellect or the expertise it takes to write a song. Songwriting camps are 90% male and you always get the feeling of, "I don't belong here". But that's such crap because of course there's enough space for everyone.

It's a very quirky song. Were you ever concerned that people might not get it?

Salena: Yeah, definitely. I was more afraid than Teya, because I always imagined myself going on the Eurovision stage with a big shimmery glitter dress. But now, we feel so authentic with that song because it's us in a nutshell.

Teya, I know you studied English and German at university. Is that where the Edgar Allan Poe reference came from?

Salena: It wasn't like, "Oh, I love his work and now I'm gonna have a song about him". It was just something that kind of happened.

Salena: It just Poe-ked out it's head.

Teya: His name fitted [the melody] better than Shakespeare. But also, it made sense, because Edgar was the first American writer ever to live off his work. He had a very financially difficult life. So it all intertwined.

Salena: There have been so many signs. Like, we're in a Beatles hotel right now and I didn't know they had a song [I Am The Walrus] that mentions Edgar Allan Poe. But we came into this hotel, and there's Edgar Allan Poe in big letters on the wall!

He was a big gambler. Have you put any money on yourselves to win?

Teya: No, we haven't. I don't feel like we should take any inspiration from his lifestyle. He was also big on alcohol.

Salena: We're maybe gonna keep that tradition until after our performance!

You've been talked about as one of the favourites to win. Does that get into your head when you're performing?

Teya: I swear to God, no way.

Salena: It's so surreal even to be mentioned in the same sentence as the top five but it's not going to change anything. We would have done our best even if we were last place in the odds. We already feel like winners just by being here. This whole contest thing is mostly just for entertainment.

What's the atmosphere like backstage?

Salena: It's really nice. There's no competition between the acts. We're all together on stage, feeling the same way and having the same vision. A Euro-vision.

Very good! Are you staying in the same hotel as any of the other acts?

Teya: Yes, Ireland and Serbia and France. La Zarra is so glamorous, even in the morning in the hotel canteen. She has no make-up on and rollers in her hair, and she was still beauty and grace through and through.

What's your morning look?

Salena: Not as glamorous. No make-up, joggers and hair messy as hell.

When the contest ends, will you stick together as a duo?

Teya: That's something we have to discuss when Eurovision is over, because I'm moving to Berlin and Salena's staying in Vienna.

Salena: I think, no matter what, we'll support each other afterwards. It doesn't matter how we're doing it.

Maybe you can be like the Jacksons - doing solo projects but coming back together for a joint tour every couple of years.

Salena: Teya's already booked as my songwriter, so she's not going anywhere at all.