pop star
Ikke Hipgold goes to the German ESC preliminary round
The Limburg singer Ikke Hipgold alias Matthias Distel sings in his studio. photo
© Thomas Frey/dpa/Archive
For the first time in German ESC history, Tiktok users were allowed to have a say in the German pre-selection. They chose an act that is different from the starters of years past.
The pop singer Ikke Hipgold is still in the running for the German ticket for the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). With 52 percent of the votes, the Tiktok community clearly voted for the 46-year-old and his ESC contribution “Song with good text”, as the Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR) announced on Saturday in Hamburg. The producer of the scandal song “Layla” is one of the nine music acts who want to travel to the ESC in Liverpool for Germany.
In addition to Ikke Hipgold, you can now choose from Will Church, Frida Gold, Patty Gurdy, Lord Of The Lost, René Miller, Anica Russo, Lonely Spring and TRONG. One of these acts will represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool on May 13th. Who that will be will be decided on March 3 (10:20 p.m./Das Erste) on the TV show “Eurovision Song Contest 2023 – Our Song for Liverpool”. The ESC is considered the largest music event in the world.
Tiktok community could decide
For the first time in the German history of the ESC, one of the starting places for the preliminary round was awarded via the social network Tiktok. According to NDR information, 912 videos were uploaded there under the hashtag #UnserLiedFürLiverpool. The NDR is responsible for the German ESC contribution. Six acts made it into the Tiktok final selection. The Tiktok community finally decided on the still open ninth starting place by Friday evening.
According to NDR information, more than 121,000 votes were cast within eight voting days, most of them for Ikke Hipgold. With his victory, Leslie Clio, who was also one of the well-known faces of the competition, is also out of the race. The singer/songwriter-artist (“I Couldn’t Care Less”) guest-starred on the TV show “The Masked Singer” in 2022 in the costume of the “Tooth Fairy”. Also in the Tiktok race were Betül, From Fall to Spring, Jona and Mitchy Katawazi with André Katawazi and Nashup.