Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

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.

Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Country Germany
National selection
Selection processUnser Song für Dänemark
Selection date(s)13 March 2014
Selected artist(s)Elaiza
Selected song"Is It Right"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Elżbieta Steinmetz
  • Frank Kretschmer
  • Adam Kesselhaut
Finals performance
Final result18th, 39 points
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2013 2014 2015►

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.

Background

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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

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Unser Song für Dänemark

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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

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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]

Club Concert – 27 February 2014
Draw Artist Song (Original artists) Televote Place
1 Elaiza "Is It Right" 23.6% 1
2 Nicole Milik "I See Fire" (Ed Sheeran) 8.2% 5
3 Simon Glöde "Blame It on the Boogie" 7.5% 6
4 Melanie Schlüter "Run" (Snow Patrol) 4.9% 10
5 Cassie Greene "Not This Time" 6.6% 8
6 Valentina "Love Is Gone" 7.3% 7
7 Caroline Rose "Amber Sky" 17.2% 2
8 Max Krumm "Home" 8.6% 4
9 Ambre Vallet "Siehst du mich?" 6.3% 9
10 Bartosz "Walk Away" 9.8% 3
Artist Song Songwriter(s)
The Baseballs "Goodbye Peggy Sue" Håkan Glänte
"Mo Hotta Mo Betta" Beatzarre, Gareth Owen, Konstantin "Djorkaeff" Scherer, Rüdiger Brans, Sebastian Rätzel, Sven Budja
Das Gezeichnete Ich "Echo" Das Gezeichnete Ich, Sebastian Budde
"Weil du da bist"
Elaiza "Fight Against Myself" Elżbieta Steinmetz, Frank Kretschmer, Adam Kesselhaut
"Is It Right"
Madeline Juno "Error" David Jost, Dave Roth, Madeline Juno
"Like Lovers Do" Madeline Juno, Dave Roth
MarieMarie "Candy Jar" MarieMarie, Anya Weihe, Johannes Vogt, Maximilian Spindler, Alexander Rapp
"Cotton Candy Hurricane" Thies Mynther, MarieMarie, Juri Kannheiser, Thomas Rainer Berthold
Oceana "All Night" Oceana Mahlmann, Sir Darryl Farris, Andre Harris, Joseph "joblaq" Macklin
"Thank You" Joseph "joblaq" Macklin
Santiano "The Fiddler on the Deck" Frank Ramond, Mark Nissen, Hartmut Krech, Lukas Hainer
"Wir werden niemals untergehen"
Unheilig "Als wär's das erste Mal" Der Graf, Henning Verlage, Markus Tombült
"Wir sind alle wie eins"

Final

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Elaiza performing at Unser Song für Dänemark

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 winner Emmelie de Forest performed her entry "Only Teardrops", 2014 Italian Eurovision entrant Emma Marrone performed her entry "La mia città" and Adel Tawil performed his new song "Weinen".[16][17]

First Round – 13 March 2014
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Das Gezeichnete Ich "Weil du da bist" Eliminated
2 Oceana "Thank You" Eliminated
3 Santiano "The Fiddler on the Deck" Advanced
4 MarieMarie "Cotton Candy Hurricane" Advanced
5 The Baseballs "Mo Hotta Mo Betta" Eliminated
6 Elaiza "Is It Right" Advanced
7 Unheilig "Als wär's das erste Mal" Advanced
8 Madeline Juno "Like Lovers Do" Eliminated
Second Round – 13 March 2014
Draw Artist Song Result
1 Santiano "The Fiddler on the Deck" Eliminated
"Wir werden niemals untergehen" Eliminated
2 MarieMarie "Candy Jar" Eliminated
"Cotton Candy Hurricane" Eliminated
3 Elaiza "Fight Against Myself" Eliminated
"Is It Right" Advanced
4 Unheilig "Als wär's das erste Mal" Eliminated
"Wir sind alle wie eins" Advanced
Final Round – 13 March 2014
Draw Artist Song Televote Place
1 Elaiza "Is It Right" 55% 1
2 Unheilig "Wir sind alle wie eins" 45% 2

Ratings

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Viewing figures by show
Show Air date Viewing figures Ref.
Nominal Share
Club Concert 27 February 2014 360,000 6.3% [18]
Final 13 March 2014 3,950,000 13.3% [19]

At Eurovision

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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

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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

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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:

Points awarded to Germany

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Points awarded to Germany (Final)[31]
Score Country
12 points
10 points
8 points   Poland
7 points    Switzerland
6 points   Armenia
5 points
4 points   Albania
3 points
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Germany

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Detailed voting results

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The following members comprised the German jury:[33]

Detailed voting results from Germany (Semi-final 2)[34]
Draw Country J. Weist M. Juno K. Sommermeyer Sido A. Bourani Jury Rank Televote Rank Combined Rank Points
01   Malta 6 3 15 7 13 8 8 8 3
02   Israel 5 14 8 14 14 11 7 9 2
03   Norway 2 4 3 4 4 3 6 4 7
04   Georgia 4 15 14 1 3 6 13 10 1
05   Poland 3 8 2 3 1 2 2 1 12
06   Austria 12 6 10 15 12 13 1 7 4
07   Lithuania 7 13 7 13 15 12 11 12
08   Finland 1 1 1 2 2 1 9 6 5
09   Ireland 14 10 11 11 10 15 14 15
10   Belarus 15 9 9 12 11 14 12 14
11   Macedonia 11 12 4 10 7 9 15 13
12    Switzerland 9 2 12 5 6 5 4 2 10
13   Greece 8 7 5 9 8 7 3 5 6
14   Slovenia 13 11 13 8 9 10 10 11
15   Romania 10 5 6 6 5 4 5 3 8
Detailed voting results from Germany (Final)[35]
Draw Country J. Weist M. Juno K. Sommermeyer Sido A. Bourani Jury Rank Televote Rank Combined Rank Points
01   Ukraine 20 20 18 14 16 18 14 16
02   Belarus 24 23 19 20 25 23 21 22
03   Azerbaijan 10 17 9 15 4 9 25 20
04   Iceland 19 9 15 16 18 14 8 9 2
05   Norway 4 6 6 3 10 5 9 6 5
06   Romania 12 14 16 21 22 16 17 18
07   Armenia 5 7 8 4 9 6 6 5 6
08   Montenegro 23 22 21 22 24 24 24 25
09   Poland 6 4 4 5 3 4 3 2 10
10   Greece 16 21 20 24 19 22 4 14
11   Austria 9 13 11 13 12 11 1 4 7
12   Germany
13   Sweden 11 8 5 6 6 7 16 11
14   France 21 10 17 25 20 20 20 21
15   Russia 17 16 23 12 21 19 5 12
16   Italy 22 18 10 17 11 15 18 19
17   Slovenia 15 24 22 23 14 21 23 23
18   Finland 3 2 3 7 5 3 12 7 4
19   Spain 7 19 14 10 8 10 13 10 1
20    Switzerland 18 5 12 11 13 12 7 8 3
21   Hungary 14 12 24 19 17 17 15 17
22   Malta 13 11 13 9 15 13 11 13
23   Denmark 1 1 1 1 1 1 10 3 8
24   Netherlands 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 12
25   San Marino 25 25 25 18 23 25 22 24
26   United Kingdom 8 15 7 8 7 8 19 15

References

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  1. ^ "Germany Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (4 September 2013). "Germany: NDR confirms participation in Eurovision 2014". Esctoday. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  3. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (6 September 2013). "Germany: Unser Song für Dänemark on March 13". Esctoday. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Adel Tawil sucht junge Talente für Deutschland" (in German). eurovision.de. 22 November 2013. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  5. ^ Brey, Marco (13 December 2013). "Germany: Well-known acts to compete in national final". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  6. ^ Fisher, Luke (17 January 2014). "Germany: Barbara Schöneberger to host national final". escXtra.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  7. ^ Krei, Alexander (17 January 2014). "ESC-Vorentscheid: Schöneberger löst Engelke ab" (in German). DWDL.de. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  8. ^ "Germany: Well-known acts to compete in national final". Eurovision.tv. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  9. ^ "ESC-Vorentscheid: Diese Sieben sind dabei". hna.de (in German). 13 December 2013. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  10. ^ Fisher, Luke (12 February 2014). "Germany: 2240 wildcard videos submitted". Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  11. ^ Brey, Marco (10 February 2014). "Germany: Qualifiers for club concert announced". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  12. ^ Brey, Marco (27 February 2014). "Elaiza gets German wildcard". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  13. ^ "Deutscher ESC-Vorentscheid: Das sind die zehn Teilnehmer für das "Clubkonzert"". NDR (in German). 10 February 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Die Kandidaten von Unser Song für Dänemark". eurovision.de (in German). Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  15. ^ Leon, Jakov I. (13 March 2014). "Germany: Elaiza wins Unser Song für Dänemark!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  16. ^ "Songs für deutschen Vorentscheid: Reinhören!". Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  17. ^ Brey, Marco (13 March 2014). "Watch tonight: The German final!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  18. ^ "ESC-"Clubkonzert" mit 360.000 Zuschauern". ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  19. ^ "ESC-Vorentscheid drückt "Topmodels" auf Tiefstwert". DWDL.de. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  20. ^ Escudero, Victor M. (20 January 2014). "Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  21. ^ "Der TV-Fahrplan für den ESC 2014 und weiteren Specials" (in German). ESCfans.de. 4 April 2014. Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  22. ^ Quotenmeter; AGF; GfK. "TV-Reichweite des Eurovision Song Contests in den Jahren 1976 bis 2023 nach der Anzahl der Zuschauer". Statista. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  23. ^ Quotenmeter; AGF; GfK (14 May 2023). "Durchschnittlicher Zuschauermarktanteil der Übertragungen des Eurovision Song Contests in den Jahren 2001 bis 2023". Statista. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  24. ^ "8-10-12: Helene Fischer verliest die deutschen Eurovisionspunkte 2014 aus Hamburg". blog.prinz.de/grand-prix. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
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  27. ^ Storvik-Green, Simon (9 May 2014). "Running order for the Grand Final revealed!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  28. ^ Brey, Marco (4 May 2014). "Elegant Elaiza on a colourful stage". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  29. ^ "Paper streamers and cheerful sounds with Elaiza". eurovision.tv. 6 May 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  30. ^ "Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  31. ^ a b "Results of the Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
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  33. ^ "Das ist die deutsche Jury 2014". Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  34. ^ "Full Split Results | Second Semi-Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  35. ^ "Full Split Results | Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 13 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
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