[LMBTO] A complicated Eurovision path for Germany - Unser Song 2017...

Well, wasn't this week a busy one?  Especially for the "Big 5", two of whom have already chosen (UK and France, who have already been covered in this blog) but mainly for the three that hadn't, up until last night (Saturday 11th February).  Germany, Spain and Italy all had NFs (of sorts) and all picked soloists to represent them in Kyiv - two going all traditional on us, the third providing what might be the stand-out entry this year (at least visually).  I'm going to start with Germany - partly because it was the first of the three to air (Thursday 9th) and partly because I watched it all the way through.  Five relatively unknown singers, all trying out an unusually complicated NF process, all being chaperoned by an irresistible force of nature:

I suspect many other Eurovision fans might disagree with the two gentlemen being called thorns!  Anyway, enough of the peripheral fluff, onto the artists - they were the most important components of this NF, seeing that they were whittled down to the last singer through three rounds of singing.  If you want to watch the whole show and see how this was done, here you go...

If you feel the moment has passed and you want the summarised version, here goes!  First up was the Covers round - what we learnt here was:

1)  There's a reason why no-one ever covers "Folsom Prison Blues" - a Eurovision fan filled audience will never have the same connection with the artist as Johnny Cash's audience did:

Maybe the younger audience had never heard the original because it is not a fun song and Helene's voice just grated on me all the way through her version, probably as I was continually comparing it with the Cash classic.   The German audience were more generous than I - I was surprised to see her into round two, to be honest, as I felt she totally murdered this song.  That's the reason why you'll have to watch the whole show to see it again - I don't want to listen to it  a second time!
2)  Being kooky and doing funny walks can detract from your singing - if Yosefin had stayed in one place more and had not made so many random movements that the camera couldn't keep her in frame, she might have made more of an impact.  That and the fact that she chose one of Beyoncé's less 'iconic', even mediocre, tracks to cover probably explained why she didn't pass into round two:



3)  I wasn't sure if Felicia Lu had a 'distinctive singing style' or whether she just didn't have that great a voice, as a lot of her performance of Robyn's "Dancing On My Own" sounded very weird, almost off key during some points of the song.  As her performance was very static, not sounding great puts you at a massive disadvantage and I wasn't surprised at all to see her leave at this stage:

4)  Being the only guy in a NF does make you stand out from the start and singing a Bond theme doubly so.  Axel Feige had a superb voice but I felt that his cover of "You Know My Name" lacked something, not sure what.  His vocals were excellent but he didn't seem to have that much emotion in its delivery until the end of the song, as though he was freewheeling through the performance, perhaps saving himself for the later rounds?  In the end it was more than enough to see him through to round two:



5)  Sometimes there is one singer who vocally stands out from the rest, who hits every note perfectly, who gives everything they sing all the right nuances and just make you want to watch, listen and marvel that there is at least one candidate in a NF that might do a decent job at Eurovision.  In Germany, it was obvious from the first few bars of "When We Were Young", the Adele song that Levina was covering in round one, that we were listening to the winning artist of Unser Song 2017 - at least it was to me!

Spot on, eh?  In my eyes, it was obvious that she would be in for the long haul and the German public agreed:

Revealed after the show ended, these results show how overwhelmingly Levina had won round one.  It was more of a surprise to me that Helene had finished second ahead of Axel but neither were in any danger of going out at this stage.  A result I could live with, although I would have put Yosefin ahead of the "Folsom Prison Blues butcher"...

Onto round two - the "Wildfire" performances.  Now down to three singers, singing the same lyrics, it would all depend on which version the public prefered.  The singer order was the same as the first round, Helene up first:



Still going for the kooky fun angle, I could at least tolerate this a lot more than her cover song but this sounded screechy at times - unfortunately I wasn't a great fan of her voice.  Bobbing around and swaying continually reminded me of Rykka from Stockholm so nothing of her delivery of this song appealed to me.  I wasn't surprised when it was announced that she was next to go...

Next up was Axel with a version that was totally at odds with Helene's as far as delivery was concerned.  Going for the "Westlife Stool Approach", he looked relaxed and gave a superb vocal, looking down the camera to great effect and giving a nice connection with all watching and listening:



I am sure that his 'eyeballing' the tv viewers during the almost spoken part of his version gained him some extra votes!  I had Axel down as a definite to sing "Perfect Life"...

Talking of the next round, the best singer on the night was up next with her version of "Wildfire".  Levina gave a slower version of this song compared to the other two before her - this almost gave a nod to Amy Winehouse vocally at times, this effort giving a hint of jazz.  It was perfectly paced and suited her voice really well - this also showed that Levina could sing anything and deliver it superbly, picking up on all the camera angles but still including the venue crowd in her performance:



The only thing that didn't work that well was the 'false ending', something that always leads to fans in the crowd applauding early and spoiling the climax of the song.  Still the best version of the three for me though and easily sending her en route to the next round:
You thought Levina was miles ahead in the Cover round?  Still going strong although the main surprise again was Helene's showing, being only 6000 votes behind Axel.  Even though it was closer, it meant we said goodbye to Miss Nissen (hopefully I won't be saying that in DMGP this year) and we moved onto the "Perfect Life" round...

By this stage, it was obvious how each of the two remaining artists were going to sing - Axel reverted back to something like a Bond theme with his version (Axel Feige - Perfect Life) whereas Levina gave a potentially NF winning performance with hers:



Axel's sounded powerful but a bit downbeat and drab compared with his rendition of "Wildfire" - Levina gave this more life, made her version more upbeat and watchable and proved that she was the better and most adaptable vocalist on the night.  It had come down to the final two artists and both had sung both songs - who would be in the Final shoot-out?  Which song?
As it was, Germany decided that Levina was the artist to go to Kyiv with either of the songs.  It was getting to be a long old night for her and she was now going to be singing FIVE times over 150 minutes (six after the reprise)!  Having said that, Axel almost got into the Final two with one of his efforts:
Levina's "Wildfire" was a clear favourite with the German public, whilst her version of "Perfect Life" was less well received - ironically it was the reverse situation for Axel!  Personally I prefered his "Wildfire" and Levina's "Perfect Life" on first listen but what do I know?  Obviously none of us knew these voting patterns at the time apart from a privileged few - at this stage, "Wildfire" would have been odds on to go to Kyiv...

After Levina sung both songs AGAIN, much in the same vein as her previous renditions (go to 2:05:00 on the "Whole Show" video above to see them if you wish), we got to hear what the German public wanted to go to Kyiv.  Surely it would be "Wildfire", based in the previous round?
Amazingly, the results were totally reversed!  I didn't really notice any difference in how she performed or sung each song  the second time round but maybe put next to each, sung by the same singer, the German public saw what I saw the first runthrough, that "Perfect Life" was a more inspiring, livelier, brighter song and Levina gave this the best staged performance of the night, probably as she was totally relaxed by this time!  She knew she was going to Kyiv to represent Germany at Eurovision and so she could just give everything to each song and possibly the 'oh wow, I'm the winner' had gone a little from her mind and she had switched back into being the consummate performer.  To be honest, she delivered both songs brilliantly but I would have still gone with "Perfect Life" and I therefore believe that Germany voted for the right singer AND song.  Needless to say, Levina had to give a reprise of the winning song - I don't think that anyone at ARD had really taken in that the winner would end up singing the same song THREE times:



It had become the Isabella "Levina" Lueen concert!  Of course the glitter has to fall and immediately social media went to work dissecting the chances of Germany in May.  There were some very negative views about this song going the same way as Ann-Sophie and Jamie-Lee in the two Contests past, which is quite ridiculous talk at this early stage of the season - here's what I think...