Germany has decided—and boy was it complicated! Between guest performances from Emmelie de Forest and Italy’s 2014 entry Emma Marrone, Germany went through three rounds of voting at Unser Song für Dänemark. They eventually choose Elaiza with “Is It Right”. Quite the fairytale story for this talented group who were basically unknown just a few weeks ago.
Germany’s state broadcaster NDR announced seven finalists last December, and the eighth spot was filled a few weeks ago when Elaiza won the wildcard round competing against other relatively unknown artists.
Tonight, the competition pitted neofolk newcomers Elaiza against neo-50s rock The Baseballs, adult contemporary eletropop Das Gezeichnete Ich, harp-based “Folktronic-Pop” MarieMarie, pseudo-Irish pirate Santiano, sublimely cheesy soft rock Unheilig, acoustic sweetheart Madeline Juno, and soul hip-hop Oceana. The competition came down to a face-off between Elaiza’s “Is It Right” and Unheilig’s “Wir sind alle wie eins” – in the end Elaiza prevailed with their Balkan-flavoured, folk-infused crowd-pleaser.
http://youtu.be/RNMFBWVTD0g
The performers had to go through three rounds of voting. First, each group performed one song, which the audience then voted on. The four with the most votes moved on to the second round, where they each performed a different song. The public then voted on their favourite of the eight songs from the first and second rounds. The two groups whose songs received the most votes went to the final round – where the public again voted for their favourite. Talk about thorough!
What do you think – did the overly thorough competition help Germany make the right choice?
The best song is the winner.
I like the song very much and so our many Betty MacDonald fan club ESC fans from all over the world.
Poor choice due to an error in the system. Germans love Casting Shows. Stefan Raab knew how to manipulate the audience who picked sweet Lena, but Raab picked the song – more or less :-). Well done! Using the stupidness of the crowd and the mechanisms of producing “Darlings” and then dragging the crowd into the right musical direction. The unknown artist always reaches hearts. Elaiza cashed this in. Moreover, the German TV-viewers voted for Elaiza in the Wildcard show. If you vote for someone in the Wildcard Show you tend to support the artist again in the main “Song… Read more »
*strongly
Thanks, jj . That does seem to explain why some felt so stringly about it.
It was unfair to Elaiza as well, to have that kind of negativity associated with their victory. Tabloids love trapping newbies with awkward questions and twisting their answers.
I give it a try for an explanation to the boo-ing of Unheilig. Which I was not too happy about, but I kind of see why. You could hear it in the second voting round when all songs’ snippets were repeated while displaying the respective phone numbers. Unheilig’s two songs were almost as multifaceted as those Ralph Siegel wrote or Modern Talking performed throughout their career. The songs were German pop-songs (“Schlager”) for suicidal teens. They didn’t transport real emotion and sounded as calculated as one is used to hear from German music industry. And I’m pretty certain that Unheilig… Read more »
I know how many people loved Cascada, I didn’t. Well done Germany, back to young fresh talent and an up to the minute song.
@Bav
Better than Cascada? BETTER THAN CASCADA? Bitch please!
It’s boring. Don’t see the hype.
This will be an Anouk redux… Song is a bit of a snoozefest, but artistry will shine and the jury will love it – will probably place on the left side of the board.
This is better than Cascada.
This song is great. I remember watching the wildcard round and wanting is it right to win but I didn’t think that it would. And I again wanted this to win the whole thing but expected Madeline or Unheilig to win. I’m so glad that a unknown artist beat all the professional artist. That must sting. 🙂 Good luck Germany from the UK.
Unheilig was better but at first hearing this is not a bad choice either.
All in allreat songs in the final (especially Marie Marie and Unheilig). “Wir sind alle wie eins” would be the natural choice and a definite winner in Copenhagen.
Too bad german voters still have hang-ups about sending a song in their proper language.
This makes me appreciate Cascada even more…
I love it! great job Deutschland 🙂
@Avat I’ll try find one later. She was very poor though. In hindsight, she was probably 50/50 to go through.
It made me think about france last year when I hear and see this.
i’d like to see madeline’s performance last night, could somebody give me a link ?
This is great. Lyrics are a little bit hard to discern, but apart from that it’s a nice, casual song with a skilled vocalist.
Jaj…that is one disappointing song! The singer is working her hardest, and its a heartfelt performance but the song put me to sleep.
Well, to be honest, I’m not very thrilled about the song. I prefer Das Gezeichnete Ich or Madeline Juno among all the other acts, but this means that Elaiza’s song is much more appealing to the public. And to be fair, it is a nice song as well and very unique on it’s way, can’t wait for their performance in Copenhagen. Good luck Germany!
Oh, and by the way, the similarities with Latvia 2010 are there. Latvia finished dead last then.
Madeline’s song is better, but I have not seen the live show.
Good luck, Germany. Top 20 for me :/
It’s an OK song. “Glorious” (2013) was better!
Terrible! I liked the singer’s style but the song sucks. 0 points to Germany.
Oh, and I thought the voting process was excellent.
Very efficient compromise between jury-based preselection and public artist and song choice in a single show format.
The superfinal was perfect, a contest between strong and contrasting performances. But the audience got ugly; a case of advanced underdog-itis, perhaps. Who didn’t enjoy Elaiza’s reactions?
I liked both acts, but Unheilig projected a confidently German aura that particularly impressed me. I take solace in the fact that the televote was close.
Elaiza were good too — A mixed bag that I still have to work through.
The Clockwork Orange outfits were a nice touch. Perhaps the supporters who booed Unheilig will adopt that as their uniform.
And the award for the most complicated NF goes to Germany! Congratulations. See you next year with more (hopefully) complicated procedure.
On the winning song – it’s simple and Norah Jones-alike. I’m OK with it.
I may listen to it after ESC so that’s certainly a good sign.
I think it won´t end high… it´s not that bad, it´s just… nja. Dunno. I prefered Unheilig anyway.
I agree Dhani, overall it was very weak. I do think Portugal, Belgium and France have or had weaker NF’s than this one.
@ dhani who should have won then ??
i think this nf was the weakest this year
This is eh for me. Madeline would’ve been better followed by Oceana, followed by Unheilig (don’t know why everyone’s giving them so much hate). I don’t think this will be in the Top 10, but will place from 20th-15th, a little higher than last year’s result. I am happy for Elaiza though.
And you could see the joy in their faces as they performed. They cried with happiness every time they progressed to the next round.
Very happy right now. At first I was behind Madeline, but her live vocals were weak. After that I was behind Elaiza all the way, and every time I hear Is It Right it just gets better and better!
And I was happy that Unheilig didn’t win. I would have had a new bottom song.
this song sucks, sorry last place for germany.