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Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

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Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country Germany
National selection
Selection processUnser Song 2017
Selection date(s)9 February 2017
Selected artist(s)Levina
Selected song"Perfect Life"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result25th, 6 points
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Perfect Life" written by Lindsey Ray, Lindy Robbins and Dave Bassett. The song was performed by Levina. The German entry for the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine was selected through the national final Unser Song 2017, organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The national final took place on 9 February 2017 and featured five competing artists and two candidate songs with the winner being selected through four rounds of public voting. "Perfect Life" performed by Levina was selected as the German entry for Kyiv after placing first in the top three during the first round of voting, first in the top two during the second round of voting, both first and second in the top two during the third round of voting and ultimately gaining 69% of the vote in the fourth round.

As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 21, Germany placed twenty-fifth out of the 26 participating countries with 6 points.

Background

Main article: Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2017 contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956.[1] Germany has won the contest on two occasions: in 1982 with the song "Ein bißchen Frieden" performed by Nicole and in 2010 with the song "Satellite" performed by Lena. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for the 1996 contest when the nation was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In 2016, the German entry "Ghost" performed by Jamie-Lee placed last out of twenty-six competing songs scoring 11 points.

The German national broadcaster, ARD, broadcasts the event within Germany and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the regional broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). NDR confirmed that Germany would participate in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 23 May 2016.[2] Since 2013, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. On 14 September 2016, the broadcaster announced that they would organise a multi-artist national final to select the German entry in the format of a talent show similar to 2010 and 2012, which resulted in a first place and a top ten result respectively at Eurovision for Germany.[3]

Before Eurovision

Unser Song 2017

Unser Song 2017 (English: Our Song 2017) was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The competition took place on 9 February 2017 at the Köln-Mülheim Studios in Cologne, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger. Like in the previous seven years, the national final was co-produced by the production company Brainpool, which also co-produced the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf and the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. Five artists and two candidate songs competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote.[4][5] The show was broadcast on Das Erste, One and Deutsche Welle as well as online via the broadcaster's Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.de. The national final was watched by 3.14 million viewers in Germany.[6]

Format

The winner was selected through four rounds of public voting, including options for landline, SMS and app voting. For the first time, international viewers were also able to vote via the app entitled Eurovision Vibes with the results made known during the show, however the results had no direct influence on the results.[5] In the first round, the five finalists performed a cover of a song of their choice and the top three artists were selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the top three artists performed their versions of "Wildfire", the first of the two songs bidding for Eurovision, and the top two artists were selected to proceed to the third round. In the second round, the top two artists performed their versions of "Perfect Life", the second of the two songs bidding for Eurovision, and the top two combinations of artist and song were selected to proceed to the final round. This could result in either one song per artist, or one artist with both songs.[5][7] Three music experts provided feedback in regards to the performances during the show. The music experts were: Lena (singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 for Germany), Tim Bendzko (singer-songwriter) and Florian Silbereisen (singer and television presenter).

Competing entries

Interested solo artists were able to apply for the competition by submitting an online application along with a performance clip of either a cover song or a self-created song via YouTube between 14 September and 18 November 2016, or by presenting themselves and performing in front of a live camera at casting shows that were held at the Köln-Mülheim Studios in Cologne on 5 November 2016 and at the Hamburg-Lokstedt Studios in Hamburg on 12 November 2016.[8][9] By the end of the process, it was announced that 2,493 applications were received by NDR and 33 artists were shortlisted by an expert panel consisting of NDR, ARD, Raab TV representatives and musical director Wolfgang Dalheimer.[10][11] Nathan Trent was automatically eliminated from the shortlist after he was announced as the 2017 Austrian Eurovision entrant on 19 December 2016.[12][13] The five participating acts were selected during a final casting round and were announced on 6 January 2017.[14][15] On 17 January 2017, it was announced that Sadi had withdrawn from the competition and was replaced by Yosefin Buohler.[16] On 1 February 2017, NDR announced the two selected candidate songs to be performed by the five finalists during the competition.[5]

Shortlisted artists
  • Alessandro Capasso
  • Alex Scuderi
  • Anja Mann
  • Axel Feige
  • Beccy
  • COOPA
  • Elvira Michieva
  • Felicia Lu Kürbiß
  • Florian Brückl
  • Helene Nissen
  • Jo Marie Dominiak
  • Kai Schernbeck
  • Leonie Krakowski
  • Levina
  • Luisa Skrabic
  • Makeda
  • Marvin Schloßhauer
  • Mary-Anne Bröllochs
  • Max-Antoine Meisters
  • Meg Pfeiffer
  • Nathan Trent
  • Nila
  • Patrice Gerlach
  • Paul Köninger
  • Philipp Ostendorf
  • Sadi
  • Susanna Okonowski
  • Sihna Maagé
  • Sina Rösener
  • Sven Lüchtenborg
  • Taylor Luc Jacobs
  • Yosefin Buohler
Shortlisted songs
Song Songwriters(s)
"Perfect Life" Lindsey Ray, Lindy Robbins, Dave Bassett
"Wildfire" Tofer Brown, Marit Larsen, Greg Holden

Final

The televised final took place on 9 February 2017. The top two entries were: "Wildfire" and "Perfect Life" performed by Levina. In the fourth round, the winner, "Perfect Life" performed by Levina, was selected.[17] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, former winners of the Eurovision Song Contest Nicole (1982), Ruslana (2004) and Conchita Wurst (2014) performed a medley of Eurovision winning songs, while German singers Matthias Schweighöfer and Tim Bendzko performed their respective new songs "Supermann und seine Frau" and "Immer noch Mensch".[18]

First Round – 9 February 2017
Draw Artist Song (Original artists) Televote Place Result
1 Helene Nissen "Folsom Prison Blues" (Johnny Cash) 49,964 2 Advanced
2 Yosefin Buohler "Love On Top" (Beyoncé) 12,748 5 Eliminated
3 Felicia Lu Kürbiß "Dancing On My Own" (Robyn) 13,139 4 Eliminated
4 Axel Feige "You Know My Name" (Chris Cornell) 39,242 3 Advanced
5 Levina "When We Were Young" (Adele) 89,156 1 Advanced
Second Round – 9 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Helene Nissen "Wildfire" 41,459 3 Eliminated
2 Axel Feige "Wildfire" 47,639 2 Advanced
3 Levina "Wildfire" 79,811 1 Advanced
Third Round – 9 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Televote Place Result
1 Axel Feige "Perfect Life" 57,631 3 Eliminated
2 Levina "Perfect Life" 60,474 2 Advanced
– Axel Feige "Wildfire" 36,266 4 Eliminated
– Levina "Wildfire" 124,326 1 Advanced
Final Round – 9 February 2017
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Levina "Wildfire" 45,285 2
2 Levina "Perfect Life" 100,407 1

Controversy

Several news sites and blogs had discussed a possible plagiarism of "Perfect Life" from the songs "Titanium" by David Guetta and "Young and Wild", a song composed by Aleksandra Kovač for the 2014 German film of the same name.[19][20][21] "Perfect Life" was written by Lindsey Ray, Lindy Robbins and Dave Bassett, and it had been claimed that their composition predates the film, and hence could not have plagiarised the soundtrack to "Young and Wild".[21]

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 took place at the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine and consisted of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2017.[22] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, Germany is also required to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[23] Germany placed 25th with 6 points in the final.[24]

Voting

Points awarded to Germany

In the final, Germany received three points in the televote from Switzerland and 3 points in the jury vote from Ireland.[25]

Points awarded by Germany

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the German jury:[27]

Detailed voting results from Germany (Semi-final 2)[26]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Nicole J. Denalane A. Tawil W. Weiss Boogieman Rank Points Rank Points
01  Serbia 10 2 6 6 3 4 7 13
02  Austria 5 5 7 8 4 5 6 7 4
03  Macedonia 12 18 18 17 14 17 14
04  Malta 6 8 8 7 11 8 3 16
05  Romania 17 17 17 18 13 18 4 7
06  Netherlands 2 3 5 3 5 3 8 6 5
07  Hungary 13 14 9 11 10 11 2 10
08  Denmark 14 7 10 9 8 10 1 18
09  Ireland 7 10 4 5 7 7 4 15
10  San Marino 16 13 12 16 17 16 10 1
11  Croatia 1 6 13 4 6 6 5 5 6
12  Norway 3 1 1 1 1 1 12 9 2
13   Switzerland 11 12 3 10 9 9 2 12
14  Belarus 18 11 15 15 12 14 11
15  Bulgaria 4 4 2 2 2 2 10 1 12
16  Lithuania 15 16 14 13 15 15 17
17  Estonia 8 15 11 12 16 12 8 3
18  Israel 9 9 16 14 18 13 3 8
Detailed voting results from Germany (Final)[25]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Nicole J. Denalane A. Tawil W. Weiss Boogieman Rank Points Rank Points
01  Israel 18 22 22 25 21 25 16
02  Poland 19 7 13 14 17 15 9 2
03  Belarus 20 20 19 20 13 18 18
04  Austria 10 6 12 6 12 9 2 14
05  Armenia 21 21 20 18 20 20 19
06  Netherlands 6 4 7 7 4 4 7 10 1
07  Moldova 12 23 17 21 22 19 4 7
08  Hungary 11 9 8 9 11 10 1 8 3
09  Italy 2 19 3 16 23 13 7 4
10  Denmark 13 13 9 10 10 11 25
11  Portugal 1 1 2 5 3 2 10 1 12
12  Azerbaijan 14 24 21 22 25 23 23
13  Croatia 4 12 16 8 5 8 3 3 8
14  Australia 5 8 11 3 9 6 5 15
15  Greece 23 18 23 24 14 22 11
16  Spain 22 17 25 19 24 24 24
17  Norway 3 3 1 1 1 1 12 20
18  United Kingdom 16 5 4 4 6 5 6 22
19  Cyprus 17 14 24 17 18 17 17
20  Romania 24 25 14 23 16 21 5 6
21  Germany
22  Ukraine 15 11 18 12 8 14 21
23  Belgium 7 15 10 15 15 12 2 10
24  Sweden 9 10 6 11 7 7 4 12
25  Bulgaria 8 2 5 2 2 3 8 6 5
26  France 25 16 15 13 19 16 13

References

  1. ^ "Germany Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (23 May 2016). "Germany: NDR confirms participation in Eurovision 2017". Esctoday.com. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  3. ^ Weaver, Jessica (14 September 2016). "Germany: Back to basics in German national final". Esctoday. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  4. ^ ""Unser Song 2017": Tickets für Generalprobe erhältlich". ARD (in German). 6 December 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d Weaver, Jessica (1 February 2017). "Germany: International viewers to have their say in Unser Song 2017". Esctoday. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  6. ^ Niemeier, Timo (10 February 2017). "Schwächster ESC-Vorentscheid seit fünf Jahren". dwdl.de (in German). Retrieved 7 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "So funktioniert der deutsche Vorentscheid". Eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  8. ^ "FAQ - Unser Song 2017". Brainpool. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  9. ^ Knoops, Roy (18 October 2016). "Germany: Casting shows for Eurovision 2017 in Cologne and Hamburg". Esctoday. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  10. ^ Cobb, Ryan (22 November 2016). "Germany: 2,493 applicants for "Unser Song 2017"". Escxtra. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  11. ^ Weaver, Jessica (6 October 2016). "Germany: 33 artists continue their Unser Song 2017 bid". Esctoday. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  12. ^ "Speed-Dating mit den Kandidaten für "Unser Song 2017"". ARD (in German). Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  13. ^ "Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest". eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  14. ^ ""Unser Song 2017": Wer schafft es in die zweite Runde?". ARD (in German). 6 December 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2016.
  15. ^ "Diese fünf nehmen am Vorentscheid teil". Eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
  16. ^ ""Unser Song 2017": Sadi zieht Kandidatur zurück". Eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  17. ^ "Vorentscheid: Kandidaten im ARD-Morgenmagazin". Eurovision.de (in German). ARD. 4 February 2017. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  18. ^ "Die musikalischen Gast-Stars bei "Unser Song 2017"". Eurovision.de (in German). ARD. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  19. ^ "ESC 2017: Plagiats-Vorwürfe gegen Levinas Song". HNA (in German). 12 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  20. ^ "ESC 2017: Heftige Vorwürfe gegen "Levina" - ist ihr Song nur geklaut?". The Huffington Post. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  21. ^ a b Davies, Megan (2 March 2017). "Germany: "Perfect Life" hit by plagiarism claims". Eurovoix. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  22. ^ Jordan, Paul (9 September 2016). "Kyiv to host Eurovision 2017!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  23. ^ Jordan, Paul (21 January 2016). "Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday, pots revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
  24. ^ "Grand Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  25. ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  26. ^ a b "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  27. ^ Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
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