Germany is still the most recent Big 5 country to have won the contest. After Lena’s victory in 2010,  the central European nation managed to score two further top 10 results, but it was less lucky last year, when its result wasn’t as glorious. Was the bad result connected to the fact that the cooperation between public broadcaster NDR and private Pro7 (Stefan Raab’s channel) ended after Baku?

Many German viewers immediately wanted Stefan Raab’s involvement back at the national selection, but that can’t seriously be the sole key to a better result. Unser Song Für Dänemark was a great, entertaining show for both viewers and visitors in the arena of Cologne, and the new format – despite causing confusion beforehand – really managed to achieve both aims: making the viewers familiarised with the songs, and creating suspense throughout the night. To achieve all that in one show is quite genius – my compliments to NDR – and on top of it all, the newcomers from Elaiza won the hearts of the audience, and thus the final duel against the big seller Unheilig.

Elaiza only got the right to take part in the USFD final a few weeks previously, when they won the “Clubkonzert”, where 10 unknown newcomer acts competed for a wildcard. The three girls combine folk music, Eastern European sounds, soul and chanson with a fresh but romantic mix. Within weeks, they went from being totally unknown to top 10 artists, as their ESC entry became a hit and stormed from 40 to 4 in the German singles chart.

Is It Right might not convince everyone in the verses, but both the chorus and the middle eight are strong and memorable. The biggest danger for a bad result in Copenhagen is singer Ela’s own propensity for varying her vocals too much, which might come across as “shaky vocals” and make it harder to distinguish the notes in the chorus. They need to get this right by May, and I am sure they can. But do they want to? 

My verdict isn’t easy in Germany’s case, partially simply because I am also German and might be biased. But I also really don’t know how Europe will react to this one. At least, I think it’s memorable, likeable and outstanding enough to land on the left side of the scoreboard.

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