Germany participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Is It Right", written by Elżbieta Steinmetz, Frank Kretschmer and Adam Kesselhaut. The song was performed by Elaiza. The German entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark was selected through the national final Unser Song für Dänemark, organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). The national final took place on 13 March 2014 and featured eight competing acts, one of which was selected through a Club Concert wildcard round. The winner was selected through three rounds of public televoting, and "Is It Right" performed by Elaiza was selected as the German entry for Copenhagen after gaining 55% of the votes in the third round.
As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 12, Germany placed eighteenth out of the 26 participating countries with 39 points.
Prior to the 2014 contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-seven 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 2013, the German entry "Glorious" performed by Cascada placed twenty-first out of twenty-six competing songs scoring 18 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 2014 Eurovision Song Contest on 4 September 2013.[2] Since 2010, NDR had set up national finals in collaboration with private broadcaster ProSieben to choose either the song and performer or both to compete at Eurovision for Germany, while in 2013, the broadcaster had set up a national final with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. On 6 September 2013, NDR announced that they would again organise a multi-artist national final to select the German entry.[3]
Before Eurovision
Unser Song für Dänemark
The logo of Unser Song für Dänemark
Unser Song für Dänemark (English: Our Song for Denmark) was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The competition took place on 13 March 2014 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger with Janin Reinhardt reporting from the green room. Like in the previous four 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. Eight acts, one of them selected through a wildcard round, competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote.[4][5] The show was broadcast on Das Erste as well as online via the broadcaster's Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.de and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[6][7]
Competing entries
Seven competing artists were selected by a panel consisting of representatives of NDR, youth-oriented and pop radio stations of ARD, Brainpool as well as record companies Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music Entertainment and other independent labels. The seven participating acts were announced on 13 December 2013, while an additional act was selected through a wildcard round.[8][9] For the wildcard round, interested performers were able to apply by uploading a performance clip of an original or cover song via YouTube between 25 November 2013 and 22 January 2014.[4] Musician Adel Tawil headed the campaign to encourage artists to apply. By the end of the process, it was announced that 2,240 applications were received and ten performers were selected by the panel.[10][11] The ten participating artists performed during a Club Concert show that took place on 27 February 2014 at the Edelfettwerk in Hamburg, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger with Janin Reinhardt reporting from the green room and was broadcast on NDR Fernsehen and EinsPlus as well as online via eurovision.de and eurovision.tv. The winner, Elaiza, was selected solely by public televoting, including options for landline and SMS voting, and proceeded to the national final.[12][13]
The televised final took place on 13 March 2014. The winner was selected through three rounds of public televoting, including options for landline and SMS voting. In the first round of voting, each artist performed their selected first of their two songs and the top four artists were selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the four remaining artists performed their second song and the top two artists with one song each were selected to proceed to the final round. In the final round, the winner, "Is It Right" performed by Elaiza, was selected.[14][15] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2013 Danish Eurovision Song Contest winnerEmmelie de Forest performed her entry "Only Teardrops", 2014 Italian Eurovision entrantEmma Marrone performed her entry "La mia città" and Adel Tawil performed his new song "Weinen".[16][17]
Elaiza presenting themselves and "Is It Right" at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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 on 10 May 2014. In addition to their participation in the final, Germany is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This would have been regularly decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014, however, prior to the draw, ARD requested of the European Broadcasting Union that Germany be allowed to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 8 May 2014, which was approved by the contest's Reference Group.[20]
In Germany, the two semi-finals were broadcast on Phoenix as well as on delay on EinsPlus and Einsfestival, and the final was broadcast on Das Erste. All broadcasts featured commentary by Peter Urban.[21] The final was watched by 8.9 million viewers in Germany, which meant a market share of 34.3 per cent.[22][23] The German spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the German votes during the final, was Helene Fischer.[24]
Final
Elaiza during a rehearsal before the final
Elaiza took part in technical rehearsals on 4 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. This included the jury final on 9 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[25] During the German delegation's press conference on 6 May 2014, Elaiza took part in a draw to determine in which half of the final the German entry would be performed. Germany was drawn to compete in the first half of the final.[26] Following the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Germany was subsequently placed to perform in position 12, following the entry from Austria and before the entry from Sweden.[27]
The German performance featured the members of Elaiza performing on stage in outfits with flower patterns; Yvonne Grünwald played the accordion, Natalie Plöger played the contrabass and Ela Steinmetz performed vocals. The stage colours were predominately red, purple and yellow with the LED screens displaying the band name and purple tents and the stage floor displaying a chessboard. The staging presentation also included paper streamers dropping onto the stage and covering the band members during the last chorus.[28][29] Germany placed eighteenth in the final, scoring 39 points.[30]
Voting
Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Germany had placed twentieth with the public televote and fourteenth with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Germany scored 31 points and in the jury vote the nation scored 61 points.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Germany and awarded by Germany in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:
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