Preview: Germany’s “Unser Song für Malmö”
For the past few years, Germany has been in a state of refining its formula for selecting an artist and song for Eurovision. A 2009 internal selection was followed by “Unser Star für Oslo”, which introduced the world to a then-unknown schoolgirl from Hanover named Lena Meyer-Landrut. When she returned to Eurovision as a champion the next year, the format was tweaked to find the perfect follow-up song for her. Following the successes of “Satellite” and “Taken By A Stranger“, “Unser Star für Baku” found another new talent, Roman Lob, who gave Germany its third Top-Ten placement in a row with “Standing Still“.
After so many years languishing near the bottom of the Eurovision scoreboard, Germany was finally becoming a bit of a powerhouse for the first time in what seemed like forever, and enthusiasm for the contest grew. Due to increased interest from established artists, the 2013 National Selection process would shift from a multi-week program aimed embracing at new talent to a one-night-only event where singers would come with songs at the ready and the national media would all get behind the contestants.
“Unser Song für Malmo”, to be held on February 14th, will pit a dozen songs against each other. Even before the curtain rises in Hanover, however, nine radio stations from across the country will put the songs on rotation and track online votes from the public. During the actual show, a five-member jury (including Roman Lob) and a public televote will also weigh in. The three scores are given equal weighting, and after all is said and done, one of the following acts (listed in alphabetical order) will get the ticket to Sweden:
- Ben Ivory – “The Righteous Ones“
- Betty Dittrich – “La La La“
- Blitzkids – “Heart On The Line“
- Cascada – “Glorious“
- Finn Martin – “Change“
- LaBrassBanda – “Nackert“
- Mia Diekow – “Lieblingslied“
- Mobilée – “Little Sister“
- Nica & Joe – “Elevated“
- Die Priester feat. Mojca Erdmann – “Meerstern, sei gegrüßt“
- Saint Lu – “Craving“
- Söhne Mannheims – “One Love“
Posted on February 13, '13, in 2013, Germany. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments.
The ESC Insider 
Ugh! Why did they have to hold it on a Thursday?! Don’t they know that the American audience is most important? 😉
Anyway, I’m calling this as the best NF of the season. All of the songs are average or above and if Mia (my favorite), Mobilée, or Blitzkids is selected, they would take my number one spot from Switzerland. Also, the voting system is smart and the one-night approach is quite appreciated amongst those of us who are exceptionally busy ;).
Can’t wait for the result! And the Slovene and Cypriot songs! According to the calendar, we’re getting (at least) six songs this weekend, the most of any weekend all year! I’m so excited! (Not that I needed to tell you. My exclamation marks probably did that).
It’s going to be a busy couple of days, that’s for sure! Ewan from ESCInsight and Luke from escXtra are actually taking a major NF excursion this weekend! From the UK, they’ll fly to Germany for “USFM”. The next day, they head to Vienna for their NF. The day after that, they’re off to Hungary!
(And lucky for us Americans with our penchant for instant gratification, the German National Final will be streaming at Eurovision.tv, likely on-demand after the show. 🙂 )
That sounds like an epic weekend. 🙂
Woohoo! I just hope it doesn’t end up like the 2011 Grand Final and I see who the winner is before I get to watch the contest.
This is another very high quality national final. We seriously need something like this in England. Instead of making songs for Eurovision, we should be trying to make songs that would become #1. I think this is what Germany has done this year and what they’ve been doing in the past couple of years. So far, I actually like Ben Ivory, followed closely by Blitzkids.