Headed into the final of Germany’s Unser Lied für Israel, the duo S!sters were last with the bookies. When they won both the televote and the jury vote on Friday evening, you could feel their surprise, which almost seemed like shock.
Sharing the joy was Laurell Barker, the Canadian songwriter who penned their entry “Sister”. Laurell, who is also a killer singer herself, caught up with us moments after the show. The stage was literally being dismantled, so that’s why you’ll see us scooting from stage to hallway to lobby in real time. Keep it moving, right?
So was Laurel, who already has at least one other song at Eurovision 2019, actually surprised to have won?
“I was completely in shock,” she says. “We had quite a week leading up to this and I just had no idea how the song was going to translate.”
“This competition is so fierce. All of these songs are absolutely amazing. All of the vocalists are mind-blowing. This is the toughest competition I’ve seen this year. By far!”
The staging saw the girls having to hit marks on a moving turntable — all surrounded by smoke and raised slightly from the stage. To be frank, they seemed lost at times and I was worried they might slip off the edge. Was Laurell concerned about the choreography and movement?
“That’s why I was so worried. They were thinking and thinking in the first few days. Trying to get all the steps right. We simplified some of the choreography. The stage was wobbly.”
Voting all over the place.
“I told myself if we lose to any of these people I’m OK with it. Makeda’s voice. Wear your love — hello, total bop! That’s why we’re a bit, ‘What just happened?’ We won the jury vote and the public vote. I literally cannot believe it.”
The song is all about the conflicts that emerge between women and the tendency for some ladies to shove their sisters down.
“When I wrote this song, I was feeling something….it struck a chord with other people in the same way it did with me.”
“I can relate to this song because I’m the youngest of three sisters. But it’s at large about women who, aren’t necessarily related, but who may feel intimidated or just thrown down by each other. It’s about making space for each other in the workplace and in life and in society. There’s room for all of us to be strong and powerful if that’s what we want to be. I’ve totally experienced the opposite. We’ve even experienced it here.
“I think anyone that’s marginalised is in a difficult position because there is so little room for us. This is not just about being a white, male with privilege. It’s really about rather than fighting for those spots, encouraging each other to fight for those places and make more space instead.”
Are you loving Laurell’s candidness as much as we are? Do you think she has a Eurovision winning song on her hands? Let us know down below!
I’m strong and powerful.
The song isn’t that bad. Sure, the vocals need to be polished more, but fix that staging!
This is meant to show love and forgiveness between family members, not some passive aggressive swordfight (without the swords).
NDR has just published the televoting figures which I’ve waited patiently for and Sisters won by the skin of their teeth and you won’t believe how close Makeda was going to Tel Aviv! as we saw in the international jury voting Sisters beat Makeda by one narrow point(then combined into 12-10-8 method) if either the Czech or Austrian jury member swapped their Top 2 around we would’ve seen a tie-breaker with Sisters & Makeda joint on 28 pts with televote taking precedence so I was curious to see the televote margin between Makeda & Aly Ryan(6 + 7 pts) how… Read more »
At the end of the day Sister won Televoting and by a very decent margin. Fair enough.
Also their calls were 93K vs Makeda’s 39K (And Aly) Double xd.
Don’t wanna imagine the scenario were Sisters won German televoting with that margin yet they lose due to fan voting xD
S!sters are great singers and they have a wonderful song! I would be happy if it won Eurovision. 🙂
That will never happen so be prepared
I really hope next year Germany will send something better
Something is very suspicious… S!sters were just thrown together at last minute. Those girls didn’t even know each other before. The national final was supposed to have 6 acts and not 7 which is a very weird number for a national final. All acts had to write their song in a songwriting camp but this song was given a wildcard out of the blue. Plus, this song was given the best place in the running order – the last place. And the big favorite Aly Ryan was given the 2nd place which is as all you know the unluckiest one.… Read more »
It was almost the same story last year when Laurell wrote “Stones”. Switzerland received almost 700 songs (including “Nobody but you” which was rejected) but Laurell was privileged because her boyfriend is a very trendy producer in Switzerland (he was a back vocalist for Michael van der Heide and this year he’s one of the songwriters of “Run with the Lions” for Lithuania) He is a good friend of the swiss head of delegation and worked in the Entscheidung show as an executive producer or something like this. I’m personally tired of this little business.? Germany, Switzerland and everywhere else… Read more »
I still think this song is the worst of the big 5 (along with France). There’s nothing memorable about this song and now Germany have dropped from 5th to 32nd in the odds.
ugh. worst song Germany chosen.
Kiss kiss bang bang (Germany 2009) was WAY worse
That was my guilty pleasure
Levina?
It’s not really bad, it’s just boring and colourless… which in Eurovision is the worst you can do… we Germans are experts in this, this is our fourth boring entry in five years…
I think we have made a right choice. I love the song. But lilly was my favorite that night.