Germany’s Eurovision 2019 selection is in full swing, with 15 candidates having recently attended a workshop and filmed candidate videos. NDR has already revealed the names of 11 of them (while the others have chosen to remain anonymous for now). Among those who didn’t make it through is the indie artist Drangsal — and he’s let the world know he isn’t happy about it.
Maybe you have heard of him: The easy-on-the-eyes singer has released two albums, several singles and numerous collaborations, including with Leslie Clio, who was one of Germany’s ESC jury members in 2015, and Casper, a successful artist with several number 1 albums in Germany. Drangsal himself reached 12 in the German charts with his second album “Zores”.
Those who didn’t know his music previously are getting to know him now, as he’s made a splash on Instagram. He made it clear he doesn’t believe that the most deserving artists advanced to the national selection workshop.
Earlier this month he shared a photo on Instagram that showed a black square and white letters saying, “RIP #Drangsal4esc2019”. Below that he penned a direct and emotional caption that begins with the words: “It was all a dream”.
And while being upset is fair enough — chasing dreams is an emotional business! — his criticism of NDR comes off like a case of sour grapes.
In his blistering criticism he says that NDR saw him “as a thorn in their eyes” because he thinks for himself and has his own ideas for the Eurovision Song Contest. He writes of the acts who did advance, describing them as “mostly former casting participants” — from shows like The Voice — and says they are unqualified both in terms of composing songs and representing Germany at Eurovision. Meoww!
As for his own ambitions at Eurovision, he said: “That my performance would have been monumental in nature is self-evident.”
As if this wasn’t enough, his post caused a storm of hashtags under the official Eurovision Deutschland Instagram feed. Drangsal’s community got triggered — they really love their boy — and commented non-stop on the latest Instagram posts with #Drangsal4esc2019. Eurovison.de is taking the high road and hasn’t reacted.
One positive to come out of the drama? Plenty of folks have discovered the edgy artist whose sound is definitely unique. You can check out his provocative video “Allan Align” below. He takes on the role of a priest…one who kneels shirtless before a crucifix before beating himself with a whip and getting kinky with one of his flock. Amen!
What do you think? Should Drangsal have been given chance to compete in the latter stages of the German national final? Should Germany consider him in the future? Let us know your opinion below!
I don’t know who he is… But he doesn’t seem like a very pleasant person. So sick of people being shady.
A lot of ESC winners are from talent shows. Like Måns and Loreen. Who both competed in a season each of Idol(Sweden). Many who compete in ESC has a conection to shows like Idol,The Voice and Xfactor. And they did really good. Many of them are also very good singers.
So why are you being so shady? C’mon give them a chance.
Hey – I have just found a podcast where Drangsal talks about his ESC rejection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1qp9UhaE5M
I did not know about Drangsal before I read about his ESC plans. Drangsal is doing his music completely by himself – writing the text, the music, playing the music on every instrument for the recording, singing… Here is an interview about his ESC plans from July: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZafnePQPczI
For example I would exchange the following candidate with Drangsal immediately.
She got through: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsW6Ge45vqI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CZHylAQ4xA
While I don’t understand the whole thing and maybe he sounds tooo pretentius while criticising other contestants, he might be right pointing this out. The song posted has personality and sounds very different to what we are used in ESC, but still interesting and full of potential. I think he could’ve composed a really good song for Germany.
It just occurred to me how fitting the name is, though. Clearly, NDR wants to “drangsalieren” us with nothingness once more.
And if the article is to be believed, Drangsal is “drangsalieren” is critics. lol
Well, facts are facts. They are mostly failed singing show contestants. NDR could have had the courage to give him and his unique sound a shot but they chose not to do so in favour of yet another bland singer with yet another bland song. Drangsal would have been a breath of fresh air with a German song, which Eurofans have been requesting for ages.
I can imagine the reason they kicked him out is that he’s not easy to work with. They don’t want any drama, they want a willing, easygoing (and manipulable 😉 person.
To be fair, it’s true. They are a bunch of unqualified singing show contestants. But so was that brat Lena. So you’ll never know. From the looks of this edition though, I think they are looking for another Levina to sing another “Perfect Life” aka anyone to sing anything.
Unless they’ll be allowed to be part of the creative process of the songs’ creations.
Sorry for offtopic, but Latvian singer and Eurovision participant at 2005 Valters today died. 🙁
And why always bring unrelated comments?
Come on, a member of our Eurovision family – which is full of love – died. So the comment is okay, I would say…
There are some points he has made. That German selection is basically a bunch of faceless singers who will be given whatever song and told to sing it.
The upcoming one, yes. The selection of 2018 had RYK who is an artist, not just a singer. He wrote his song himself, and he has written many other great songs. The televoters didn’t like him, of course. It’s Germany, after all.
The televoters liked Michael Schulte who also wrote his own song and, unlike RYK, wasn’t a boring snoozefest.
He and Waylon would get along great
If he is aggressive with critics is very wrong, this is bullying, he must pay by law.
Otherwise he is right, talent shows are a plague that will destroy esc. Imagine how many artists wouldn’t be in esc if talent shows would be used as selection. Like Knez from Montenegro 2015. Soon esc will become a place full of annoying teenagers with plastic songs.
It doesn’t make much of a difference if they weren’t on talent shows. If we think about it, songfests such as Festival i Kenges and Sanremo are televised competition shows, and are the early forerunners of the modern TV competition show with competitors showcasing their pipes vying for that top trophy.
Even before the onset of Pop Idol, Star Academy and The Voice, lots of great talent are discovered from notable festivals like WCOPA (World Championship of the Performing Arts), and radio-based competitions, and earlier ESC performers have likely have had a background of taking part.
Sobral was in a talent show, Il Volo were in talent show, and only after that they were created as a manufacturated trio, the beginning can be as weird as that, but Eurovision needs a national selection for itself, with the singer and the song and the whole package. This is just my humble opinion. Sanremo, FiK, FdC, are not like any other talent show with covers and personal stories that make audience cry.
It really depends on the format of those shows where it’s in the producers’ prerogative whether to tell stories about the artists or in the case of some, just the song itself, in pretaped segments to fill airtime or not, among others. Those stuff are very minor and while specific to recent talent shows, do not necessarily determine a desire positive outcome if one doesn’t have the talent to back up their story. Nowadays, a large pool of talented independent acts would have at least some experience being on the likes of X factor or Idol, whether they’ve stayed there… Read more »
Netta comes from a talent show and she won ESC with a song wrtten after that, but I don’t think is a winning formula forever.
Some countries say “we dont’t care about ESC”, or “in our country serious artists don’t take ESC seriously”, but look what happens when somebody with ideas want to go. The broadcaster is not ready to give the artist any responsibility / rights.
That is subjective to the situations and expectations of all interested parties in their respective countries. Oftentimes, there’s a lot to consider if one presents an idea or whatnot.
Again, as mentioned in an earlier post, the guy does have a legitimate concern but the way he worded his frustration as translated in the article above doesn’t come across as fully genuine for anyone here to take him seriously. It comes off as being a bad sportsman for not making the cut despite beating a hundred other applicants to reach that far in the selection process.
Sorry, but if he is right, then he is not necessarly a bad sportsman. Bottom line, I don’t want Eurovision to become just an international reality-talent show, with singers under 27 ( because in talent shows if you are above 27 you are in OVERS cathegory), with pretty boys voted by teenage girls, and with singers voted just because the father needs a new liver. I want countries, culture, national selections especially for ESC, no matter if the singers have been in a talent show at some point in life. I believe is important ESCto have its own national selections,… Read more »
“I believe is important ESC to have its own national selections” And that is exactly what Germany and several other countries have been doing right now, conducting their own national selections meant to choose an act for Eurovision. And the way he sent his message across does across as such, and that’s how bad sportmanship is like. If not, he would just move on and focus on the next thing that comes across in his life. There are those who have tried several times across many years to be able to get the chance to represent their country and never… Read more »
Yes, and I hope they make the right choices for Unser Lied final. This article was about having too many talent show alums.I really hope it will end well.
Who is this egocentric, self centred, confused man? Is he trying to get some attention? Poor human being, he should get famous by his music, not by his stupidity
ok…. but he is right: all are mostly former casting participants from the voice. It would be naive to think that the “eurojury” wont thought about that when they chose the 15 finalists. “Oh look that guy from the voice, lets pass it”
It’s more than probably just being featured in The Voice since many of those who come there to audition already seem to have prior musical experience, some having had professional careers before, so we can rule out them being mere amateurs. He may have a legitimate concern with the likely preference of reality singing competition alumni, but the way he’s going about it doesn’t come across well, if his reported background of encouraging online harassment is anything to go by.
I hope, wiwibloggs and this author here will be fine on social media, because Drangsal can’t accept critisism. As it has been written below, he attacked one of our German ESC community members just for stating that he don’t like the music. If I am making music, I have to deal with the fact, that not everybody will like me. Btw the best of this article was seeing a new author <3
Haha I hope so, too ;D
We’ll see if he replies on any way. I saw the drama with the german guy critizising Drangsal and I found it very questionable. But hey, no risk no fun:D
And thank you so much!:)
I understand why he’s angry. He’s a real artist who’s actually involved in making his music and doing creative stuff. The talent show contestants are just people who can sing, they’re not creative. Many years it has seemed like the German broadcaster prefers talent show singers with generic songs over actual artists (last year’s preselection was an exception).
He may have a point, though. As an artist who has had some level of actual success in developing their own style or indeed, writing their own music, it must be frustrating to get passed over for talent show contestants.
Considering that Germany have had some problems with their Eurovision songs being, shall we say, “similar” to other songs, foregoing someone with their own sound seems a weird way to go when making a shortlist.
Just a shame he had to be very rude about it.
Omg yaaaaas
I loved this entry but I didn’t know him or the name of the song … to be honest i thought this was one of the better submissions and a clear top 20 candidate for me …
Well I’m kinda sad the other didn’t like him that much?
Bitter lemon.
The only thing i noticed on here is has Wiwibloggs’ gotten another new member
I would have voted for him… this sounds very cure-ish, and I like The cure.
Thats what i thought. The Cure are one of my favourite bands i’d definitely would too. He sounds like a dick though
Agree with him.
Or as Latrice Royale said: “the level of unprofessionalism, far too much”
He tagged me in his insta story and said how boring etc i am. His fans bombared my Instagram account so i had to make it private. He didn’t care about it at all and just said it is my problem and not his responsibility… I was so happy when he announced is non “qualification”. Lol. Salty baby
Drangsal is a great musician and I’m a big fan of his work. But he’s not doing himself any favor with his behaviour. After he announced that he didn’t make it into the top 20 he got SO freaking salty about it… And from what I’ve heard from my dear friends at Prinzblog, he started to post some immature and insulting statements and his fans behaved like brats and so on and so on… At least that’s what I was told, from several people. Even a couple months ago he almost literally sent out his fans to hate on a… Read more »
I have never heard of you – and now I wish I hadn’t. Simple as that.
He has a point about there being too many singers from talent shows partaking at the German workshop.
But, at the end of the day, it’s a SONG contest. Let’s just see if the songs are good (or not)!
Well he must be fun to work with! wow so much anger for not progressing through to the live national final, he has his life and career still way ahead of him.
Would have been an interesting and more diverse and artistic choice for sure, but he’s such a sore loser and apparently full of himself. I can somehow understand why they didn’t want to work with him. He’s making some valid points but the general statement is ridiculous.
Monumental, eh? Sure
Well that is a good song