GERMANY

The German Final was held on March 5th at the Expo Plaza Arena in Hanover, hosted by Barbara Schöneberger. Before the final there was a clubkonzert round when a wildcard was given the 8th place in the final. After being declared the winner, Andreas Kümmert singing "Heart of Stone", announced that he did not want to go to Eurovision and gave the victory to Ann Sophie. She will be singing the song "Black Smoke".

ARD used the exact same structure to select the song as they did last year. During the Klubkonzert round, newcomer Ann Sophie won the 8th place singing "Jump the gun". In the first round of the main final the 8 singers performed one song and 4 singers were eliminated. In the second round the 4 remaining singers performed a second song but both songs sung could be voted for. Finally, the top 2 songs were chosen to compete in the superfinal where a winner was chosen.

The song is a mid tempo song with edges of jazz and urban style. The structure of the song is very clear, with distinct differences between the verses and the chorus. About 2 minutes in the song has a broken down bridge which catapults the song into the very last chorus where she does a little bit of free styling. It certainly feels like a song that would not feel out of place on the Radio 2 playlist. Although not an unpleasant song its main downfall is that it has take multiple listens to really get going in my head and for the regular one night viewer of Eurovision it might not be immediate enough to get votes.

As Ann Sophie won the klubkonzert round, very little was known about her before this time. Her talents seemingly range far beyond singing as she has danced since she was little and studied acting in New York after leaving school. She has quite a distinctive tone and clearness to her accent. At times she can go a little overboard and the end of the words which can make her seem a little Lena-cockney-esque. She has a really good range, which is particularly shown off in the chorus however she much make sure she doesn't come across as too shouty and big mouthed.

Part of me quite likes the monochrome feel of the backdrop and outfit however it feels a little nondescript and even a bit cabaret for Eurovision. One might even say that there are slight "Satellite" overtones in terms of style and  stage layout with the backing singers. It might be nice to see her in something a bit more fitted and modern, she may even be better off wearing the quite eye-catching red outfit she wore for "Jump the gun" Something like that against the monochrome would be quite noticeable and classy. She is a good natural mover and just need to be more aware of her angles and know where the camera is going to be.

Although not the true winner of the German ticket she will certainly do a good job in Vienna. It is a shame the song is straight through to the final because gaining more familiarity with the song will make it easier to vote for. I think that the song and performance is a good one and is probably going to be favoured by jury members that the televoting public. This is a steady midfielder neither appealing or offending anybody.

ARTIST - Ann Sophie

SONG - Black Smoke

MUSIC - Michael Harwood, Ella McMahon, Tonino Specialea

LYRICS - Michael Harwood, Ella McMahon, Tonino Specialea