Song Contest
German preliminary decision for the ESC live on ARD
Singer Marie Reim at a rehearsal for the German preliminary round “Eurovision Song Contest – The German Final 2024”. photo
© Christoph Soeder/dpa
Who will represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö? This will be decided in the preliminary round on Friday evening. The favorite is a singer-songwriter who wanted to go to the ESC in 2018.
The most prominent applicant is probably Max Mutzke – he has ESC experience. Exactly 20 years ago he sang “Can’t Wait Until Tonight” and took a respectable eighth place after he had proven himself in Stefan Raab’s “SSDSGPS” talent factory (“Stefan sucht den Super Grand Prix Star”) . This time the musician with the soulful voice is in the preliminary round with the pop ballad “Forever Strong”. He will appear last in the preliminary round.
Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Ryk is already considered the clear favorite by several betting providers. Betting statistics have often been a good indicator in ESC competitions in the past. Ryk performs the folky anthem “Oh Boy.” He had already taken part in the ESC preliminary round “Our Song for Lisbon” in 2018, but had to admit defeat to Michael Schulte.
Tailwind from the hit industry
Another participant with quite good chances is Marie Reim. She is the daughter of stars Michelle and Matthias Reim and is trying her luck in the preliminary round with the hit song “Naiv”. Many television viewers know her from Florian Silbereisen’s TV festivals. Greats like Beatrice Egli and Nino de Angelo are publicly calling for people to vote for Marie Reim.
Singer Floryan appears as a career changer with a ballad. Last week he appeared on the show “I want to go to the ESC!” prevailed against other musicians and got the last open starting place in the preliminary round.
Grater voice and electronics
The duo Galant is launching with “Katze” – an idiosyncratic song consisting of German vocals and electronic background music. The Dutch Bodine Monet sings her pop song “Tears Like Rain” with a throaty voice. With his grater voice, Isaak wants to assert himself with “Always On The Run”. Ninetynine – real name Daniel Leon Schmidt from Hamburg – joins in with the indie song “Love On A Budget”. The still relatively unknown Leona will break many hearts with her sweet song “Undream You”.
How is decided
By mid-October, almost 700 musicians had applied to compete in the ESC, according to the website. According to the information, the preliminary decision will have a two-part vote, as was the case with the ESC on May 11th. 50 percent of the votes come from the public vote, the other 50 percent come from the decision of an international jury.
In the recent past, the ESC has been a troublesome topic for Germany. Most of the time the German acts ended up at the bottom. In 2023, the dark rock band Lord of the Lost competed and came last. The last time Germany won an ESC was in 2010 with Lena Meyer-Landrut and her hit “Satellite” in Oslo, Norway. Maybe a performance in Scandinavia will bring Germany luck again this year.