Germany: Unser Lied für Israel to take place on 22 February

by Stratos Agadellis 1,107 views

It all seems that their success at Eurovision 2018 has set the ground for even higher expectations this year in Germany! The country will be hosting a national final again in 2019, which has been scheduled for Friday 22 February!

Group Sisters join the competing acts; song titles unveiled

Germany’s broadcasting service NDR has proceeded to announcements regarding their national selection format, which this year sees a total of seven acts fighting for the coveted Eurovision ticket to Tel Aviv. A further one act (group Sisters consisting of Carlotta Truman and Laurita) was decided to join the 6 artists that were announced in early November.

The seven participating acts will be the following:

  • Aly Ryan – Wear your love
  • BB Thomaz – Demons 
  • Linus Bruhn – Our city
  • Gregor Hägele – Let me go 
  • Sisters – Sister 
  • Lilly Among Clouds – Surprise 
  • Makeda – The day I loved you most

Four out of the seven songs were penned at the songwriting camp that was set up for the second consecutive year. For five days, 24 German and international musicians collaborated with the shortlisted artists in order to write songs with high potentials for success on the final scoreboard. The song Sister for the homonymous group added to the list of contestants, was composed by an international team that was especially created for the occassion and was finally offered to NDR.

ARD’s expectations

Obviously excited about the Eurovision project, the ARD coordinator of entertainment, Thomas Schreiber has stated:

Seven strong, very individual acts with their own, very special Eurovision songs: But only one of them can bring the points in Tel Aviv for Germany – Our song for Israel! After Michael Schulte’s great “You let me walk alone” and his 4th place in Lisbon, it is our incentive to return to the Top Ten at Eurovision 2019.

The event’s outcome will emerge in the same way as last year. The public’s vote, a Eurovision jury panel and a special appointed committee will all have a 1/3 stake.

The show will be broadcast from ARD – Das Erste and Deutsche Welle, live from the German capital Berlin at 20:15 CET. Linda Zervakis will be returning as a presenter in 2019, with Barbara Schöneberger joining her. Peter Urban will serve as the show’s commentator.

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.