ARD, the German national broadcaster, has released more details regarding their national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, Unser Song 2017, including news of an international opinion vote set to be featured in the country’s national final.

In a bid to escape from the bottom of the Eurovision scoreboard for a third year running, ARD has decided to introduce an international vote to the German national final for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, Unser Song 2017.

With the competing entries set to be unveiled on the 8 February, international viewers will be given the opportunity to watch the rehearsals via the official Eurovision app which will be followed by an opinion vote.

In total, the 5 competing artists will perform 3 songs each. One song will be a cover of a known hit, whilst the remaining 2 songs will be original entries bidding to become the next German Eurovision entry.

How will Unser Song 2017 work?

Unser Song 2017 will include a total of 4 rounds. Here’s how they’ll work!

• Round 1: The 5 candidates will perform a cover of a song of their choice; 3 will qualify to round 2.
• Round 2: The 3 qualifiers will perform the first of the 2 bidding Eurovision entries; 2 artists will qualify to round 3.
• Round 3: The 2 qualifiers will perform the second of the 2 bidding Eurovision entries; the public will then vote for their favourite performances. This could either be 1 performance per artist, or 1 artist with both entries.
• Round 4: The 2 remaining entries will battle it out for the right to become the next German entry at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

ARD released the names of the 2 official bidding Eurovision entries along with the lyrics of each song earlier today; Wildfire (composed by Tofer Brown, Marit Larsen and Greg Holden) and Perfect life (composed by Lindsey Ray, Lindy Robbins and Dave Bassett).

Introducing Eurovision Vibes!

Appearing under a new feature on the Eurovision app entitled Eurovision Vibes, the international votes will allow the viewing public to have their say on which competing act is their favourite.

The international vote will not have a direct impact on the final results, however the opinion vote will feature in the show and will give the German public an idea of which entry would appeal to the European audience.

More information regarding the new Eurovision Vibes feature will be released in due course.

Unser Song 2017 on the 9 February

Earlier this month, ARD released the names of the 5 shortlisted artists set to compete in Unser Song 2017 on the 9 February; Axel Feige, Felicia Lu Kürbiß, Helene Nissen, Levina and Yosefin Buohler. The show will once again be hosted by Barbara Schöneberger live from Cologne and will air on Das Erste and EinsFestival from 20:15 CET.

Although the 5 bidding acts will be performing to both the international public as well as a 3-member jury consisting of members Lena Meyer-Landrut, Tim Bendzko and Florian Silbereisen, it will be solely down to the German televote to decide which act will represent the nation at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.

Germany’s 2016 representative, Jamie-Lee, performing her entry Ghost.