Here they are! Preparations of the German public broadcaster NDR for the crown of Michael Schulte’s successor on the Eurovision stage are in full swing, with the songwriting camp in Berlin being in full progress. Before its conclusion tomorrow, the broadcaster is now unveiling who are the six artists which have been selected to fight for the German ticket to Tel Aviv.

Who’s going to fly to Israel?

A total of 965 artists had applied in order to claim the German representation at the 64th Eurovision Song Contest. From all of them, only 6 have now made it to the live show, set to take place in February. However, NDR is still in talks with other artists who are eager to take part in the competition too, as a maximum of 8 acts are able to enter the final German national selection. Further information is expected in the weeks to come.

The 6 candidates were chosen by a 100-member jury, as well as by the 20 members of an international jury panel of music experts. Thus, the ones that will be competing live next February are Aly Ryan, BB Thomaz, Linus Bruhn, Gregor Hägele, Lilly Among Clouds and Makeda. But let’s go through them one by one:

Aly Ryan

Aly Ryan was born in Oberursel, Germany, but now lives in Los Angeles. At the age of 16, the multi-instrumentalist decided to move to the United States in order to go further with her music career. An indie-pop artists, who earlier this year she released her debut single No Parachute, which successfully landed in the Top 10 in Germany.

BB Thomaz

BB Thomaz comes from Düsseldorf. Last year, she was among the finalists of The Voice of Germany reality show, where she eventually placed 4th. The singer, songwriter and producer has taught herself piano and guitar, while also working as a fitness trainer. In 2016, she received the “German Rock and Pop Award” for her song Don’t go missing.

Linus Bruhn

Linus Bruhn is a singer and songwriter from Hamburg. For three years he played The little Tarzan at the homonymous musical in his city. One more participant of The Voice of Germany, he was coached by singer Stefanie Kloß in 2015. Since then, Linus has been running his own YouTube channel, where many guitar cover are featured. The channel has had more than three million clicks.

Gregor Hägele

And the list goes on with Gregor Hägele from Stuttgart. Gregor reached the semi-finals of the show The Voice of Germany in 2017, where he performed successful Ed Sheeran covers. His is a passionate of German and English pop songs.

Lilly Among Clouds

Lilly Among Clouds lives and works in the city of Würzburg. Apart from being a successful political scientist, she also plays the piano, the guitar and writes pop songs in English. In 2014, the singer, composer and songwriter received the Prize for Young Culture from her city. One year later, she released her debut extended play (EP), while 2017 saw her first album Aerial perspective. Lilly has appeared at the renowned SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, and at the Australian Music Week in Sydney.

Makeda is a German artist of Caribbean origin. The singer and songwriter, who also plays the guitar, the bass and the piano, traveled with her band Steal A Taxi as a cultural ambassador to China, where she was admitted to the young talent program Popcamp. In addition, Makeda has starred in the musical Bodyguard in Cologne. In a video message in June, Christina Aguilera talked about Makeda’s YouTube cover of her song Fighter, and characterized it beautiful and Makeda as very talented.

Hosting the Unser Lied für Israel show in a few months will be Barbara Schöneberger and Linda Zervakis.

Germany at Eurovision

Germany has had a record number of 62 Eurovision appearances since their debut in 1956. The country has only missed one contest (1996), after their elimination from the pre-selection process that took place that year.

The Germans have experienced a mixture of results over the years, including 12 Top 3 placings – including 2 victories (1982, 2010) – as well as 7 last places, 2 of which were accumulated in the current decade.

The central-European country has seen relatively poor results over the last editions. However, these poor fortunes were reversed last year, as the winner of last year’s selection Unser Lied für Lissabon (Our song for Lisbon), Michael Schulte with his ballad You let me walk alone, became one of the contest’s surprises, coming 4th with a total of 340 points, from both the public and national juries.

Following Netta’s victory with Toy, the 64th Eurovision Song Contest will take place on 14, 16 and 18 May at the Tel Aviv Convention Center in Tel Aviv, Israel.