We are an international website with visitors from all over the world, but having our heartlands in the United Kingdom and Germany, the countries from which our most active editors also come. No wonder, then, that we allow ourselves to write a bit more about what’s happening in the Eurovision world of those heartlands.

With a new format for the German final just around the corner, editor Felix from Germany thinks this deserves a special feature all of its own.

Ein Lied Für Malmö 2.0

“Unser Song Für Malmö” will be held on Thursday evening. The show with the 12 competing entries will be broadcast live from TUI Arena in Hannover – a place that has been the venue for a German final before (in 2001, when Michelle won the ticket for Copenhagen).

Of course, the show’s name, “Unser Song für Malmö”, seems to be the logical step in the sequence that has been established since 2010 (“Unser Star für Oslo” 2010 / “Unser Song für Deutschland” 2011 / “Unser Star für Baku” 2012) – but that’s just about the only thing it has in common with the previous formats for the German final. USFM isn’t another search for new and unknown talents, but rather it represents – finally – a return to a colourful mix of songs, established and less established artists, and an entertaining showcase of different musical styles.

The name “Unser Song Für…” can actually be seen as a modernised throwback to the legendary title format “Ein Lied für…”, under which German ESC finals were known for many years – and which ironically also had the full title “Ein Lied Für Malmö” the last time it was used, back in 1992, when Wind booked their place in Sweden with the Siegel/Meinunger composition “Träume sind für alle da”.

The most complex voting system in a German Final – ever

The concept of the preselection is a lot more complicated than in previous decades, and the highlight will be the first open voting with points for a long, long time. Again, this takes us back to “Ein Lied Für Malmö”, which had a very basic voting: 11 juries were called up and announced only their favourite song, which received 1 point. It almost doesn’t get any simpler! In recent decades, it is quite possible that many potential entrants for the German final were too shy to accept the challenge presented by a more detailed voting system, and hence to take the risk of going home – no, staying home – with 0 points, and all the damage that could mean for their career. But now, the desire to provide an exciting voting procedure for TV viewers and fans has evidently won over the shyness of recent years, as the voting is as complex and detailed as never before in the history of German finals.

The results will be made up of 3 equal parts: televoting/SMS, the expert jury, and – again harking back to older editions of “Ein Lied für…” – the resurrected and modernised radio vote. Back in the early 1980s, the finalists for the German preselection were chosen by a panel of randomly selected radio listeners. Now, in 2013, radio listeners will have their say again.

1. The radio voting 

9 radio stations are taking part in the 2013 radio vote. The number is based on the fact that ARD has 9 regional public broadcasters. Each of them has several radio stations, one of which is a so-called “pop channel”. These, then, make up the 9 regional radio stations that are currently holding online votes on their respective websites. But although the songs are being introduced on-air as well as online, it is not only radio listeners in Germany who can vote – fans from around the world can make their voices heard and submit their votes to each of the 9 radio station websites.

In the show on Thursday, the results will be revealed by a representative of each radio station, giving points “ESC-style” from 1 to 12. After the 9 spokespersons are finished with their announcements, these results will be summarised to form a single set of points from 1 to 12, meaning that 2 songs will get 0 points.

2. The jury

The jury for the German final has 5 members: Roman Lob (Germany 2012), Mary Roos (Germany 1972 and 1984), Peter Urban (German commentator since 1997), Tim Bendzko and Anna Loos (both singers).

Again, each of them will vote from 1 to 12, and the total jury result will be summarised as a single set of points from 1 to 12. And again, 2 songs will get 0 points.

3. The televoting (and SMS)

Of course, the TV and venue audience will have their say as well. And – you guessed it – the result of this voting will be transformed into points from 1 to 12, again meaning that 2 songs won’t get any points from the audience.

The total result is a combination of the radio vote, the expert jury and the televoting.

The three sets of ESC-style 1 to 12 points will then be combined, meaning that 36 points is the maximum that any song can get. Needless to say, there’s also the chance that a song might end up with no points at all in the overall standings.

The candidates

12 songs will be performed by 12 more or less popular candidates. Check them out in our slideshow!

[thethe-image-slider name=”USFM”]

So who are the favourites? 

Cascada is the biggest name on the list for those outside Germany. We have no experience yet as to how much the international fans will have an influence on the radio vote (the only part of the voting procedure they can take part in), but her  international popularity may indeed leave an impression. However, Söhne Mannheims is the biggest name on the list for those inside Germany, having had 15 songs in the German single charts, many of them in the top 10. They are also popular in the country’s culturally closest neighbours, Austria and Switzerland. They tend to land very high in listener charts on the pop radio stations. However, they don’t seem to be at all popular among Eurovision fans, unlike Betty Dittrich, a previously totally unknown singer (born near Malmö), who is getting massive support from German and international ESC fans on social networks, and Ben Ivory who – just like Betty – is also placing very high in the fan polls.

Of course, predictions often turn out wrong, and what one can see in rehearsals would usually shed further light on matters – but as we don’t have any insight into the rehearsal process, let me give some general points that could apply to the favourites.

Cascada will get some default votes from both international and German fans, simply because she’s the biggest international star in the line-up. Söhne Mannheims can be dangerous in any of the three votings, but the fact that their superstar singer Xavier Naidoo is not taking part in the collective’s entry and the song has only a few lines in German (unlike most of their hits) might speak against a landslide victory. Betty Dittrich will surely get some points from each of the three parts of the vote, bearing in mind that many German fans and normal TV viewers wish to have a German-language entry once again. And if Ben Ivory delivers a good performance, and if he indeed stands out as the opening act in the line-up, he is not totally chanceless either.

Who’s missing? Probably the best-known international Eurovision star of them all:

Anke returns to the Eurovision world

Many fans hoped for it, some even started an internet campaign for it. At first it seemed unsure, but it turned out to be a dream come true: Anke Engelke will be the host of “USFM”. Every reader of our website will probably know that she co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, along with Judith Rakers and Stefan Raab. As she is often mentioned as one of the most popular ESC hosts in history, a lot of fans will be happy about her return.

Wind of Change

Speaking personally, I expected a new format for the German final immediately after Lena won in Oslo. The talent search format was needed at the time, as the poor results of the German entries in the years before made it hard to justify continuing with a normal national final, and the internal selection of Alex Swings! Oscar Sings! turned out to be an expensive mistake. I am sure “Unser Star Für…” was originally intended to be a long-term format, and the fact that it brought a long-awaited ESC victory in its very first year came as quite a surprise. Lena (and thus Eurovision) dominated the media, and the resulting hype, along with the fact that Germany was set to host the 2011 contest, would have been a perfect backdrop for the relaunch of a big new format for the German final. Artists now knew that you can still win Eurovision if you’re from Germany – something that had been an obstacle in the past. It probably had to be someone fresh and unknown who broke that ice (hence the entirely justified talent search format). However, it took the rather uninspired “Unser Song für Deutschland” and the unentertaining (and, in terms of viewing figures, disastrous) “Unser Star für Baku” for those in charge to realise that the German audience and fans have been longing for the resurrection of a classic National Final with an exciting voting system, an entertaining show, and a colourful showcase of different artists and styles. And now we have exactly that with “Unser Song Für Malmö”.

Having recently won the Eurovision Song Contest, if only to be reassured that we (and other Big 5 members) can still win, I think it’s no longer all that important to achieve a great result. We made it. Sure, no one wants to bomb at Eurovision, but now we have the freedom to simply have an entertaining National Final and build up the public interest again (which disappeared along with USFB), the freedom to just enjoy Eurovision without any pressure for success – and with these aims in the back of our minds, everything else and (at least) mid-table results might come automatically. The focus should move away from the results in favour of the joy of an entertaining and exciting show.

The responsible German broadcaster NDR now has the chance to establish a new, exciting, entertaining, colourful, successful, long-term format for the German final that welcomes any style. I have the hope that in the future it will be open towards anyone who wants to submit a song, like in Melodifestivalen, which is in any case already a model for the new “USF…”. Thomas Schreiber, ARD’s entertainment coordinator, recently revealed that he originally planned a format with two semi-finals and a final, and that only the fact that not enough venues were available led to a change in the plans for this year. So one can expect more for 2014, especially if this year’s event proves successful.

And so, “Unser Song Für Malmö” is just the beginning of this hopefully long journey.

A very happy fan from Germany.

“Unser Song Für Malmö” will be aired on Das Erste (and online on eurovision.de) on Thursday, February 14th, at 20:15 CET. The livestream on eurovision.de will begin with a special programme at 18:45, and after the final the same stream will show the first reactions of fans and artists, as well as broadcasting the winner’s press conference.

image: NDR / EBU