The gothic rock band prevailed against seven other acts in the German ESC preliminary round with “Blood & Glitter”. This time it was clear: mainstream was not wanted!
“Our song for Liverpool ” – Lord of the Lost will represent Germany at the ESC
The German fans had two favorites beforehand: the gothic band Lord of The Lost and the party pop singer Ikke Hipgold. Both were celebrated by the German audience for their originality – something that was simply missing in the ESC selection of German acts in recent years.
Lord Of The Lost – or LOTL for short – torched with their song “Blood & ; Glitter” literally took the stage. They were allowed to do that with relish, because they were the last act of the evening. The gothic band from Sankt Pauli has already been on tour with Iron Maiden and has performed at relevant festivals such as “M'era Luna”, “Summer Breeze” or Wacken.
The musicians won with a clear lead over the two runners-up: Ikke Hipgold (real name: music producer Matthias Distel) came into this round of participants via a TikTok voting and delivered a party hit in German, which the international jury met with incomprehension Voices of the German audience but reached the second place. The jury's favorite received the same total number of points: Will Church, a singer-songwriter who convinced with his great voice and a strong song, but was not quite as popular with the German audience.
And again a new selection procedure
The audience votes and the votes of the eight juries from eight different countries each accounted for half of the number of points. This year's result showed that the tastes of other countries do not necessarily meet the tastes of the German audience – neither LOTL nor Ikkehihigold had good rankings with the international juries, but the pop songs of the other applicants did.
Presented his “song with good lyrics”: Ballermann star Ikke Hipgold
Every year the responsible television broadcaster NDR fine-tunes the voting system for the Eurovision Song Contest, and over time the process has become more and more complicated. But this time it was simple: there were the audience votes and the jury votes and both had the same weight. And so it became clear what had been clear for a long time: the German ESC fans want something special and not shallow pop songs from unknown young talents.
Is the big yawning over now?
In recent years, the ESC has been a fiasco for Germany by and large. The audience always yawned at the German act. “Germany, sorry, zero points” became a dictum and a synonym for Germany's poor performance in the competition, which attracts around 200 million viewers every year.
Jury favorite: Will Church with his song “Hold On”
This could change now. Because Lord of The Lost has potential to break the curse of last place. Loud rock bands are popular with the ESC audience – and sometimes they even win the contest, like the Finnish monster rockers Lordi 2006 or the Italian rock band Måneskin, who have enjoyed an impressive international career since winning the ESC in 2021.
Finland is a big favorite so far
Not only in the betting shops, but also in the fan bubble there is great enthusiasm for “Cha Cha Cha”. The song is wonderfully crazy and trashy. The singer Käärijä presents a rap in Finnish in a crazy outfit, accompanied by a mixture of EBM (Electric Body Music) and metal. The change of style after two minutes is particularly appealing: Then the song suddenly gets a melody and becomes a cheerful pop song without losing its pumping beat.
Wonderfully trashy: Käärijä from Finland with “Cha Cha Cha”
Norway's entry could become the most-streamed song of the qualifying season on Spotify. Singer Alessandra surprises in her powerful “Queen Of Kings” with an unexpected vocal interlude towards the end and has thus won her ticket to Liverpool.
With La Zarra, France is sending a chanson singer who presents herself in the style of the 1940s , but the song “Évidemment” has a very special fascination with its electro beat and bridges the gap between chanson and dancefloor.
Spain interprets flamenco in a new way
Self-confidence from Spain: Blanca Paloma
Spain presents itself with a new interpretation of classic flamenco by singer Blanca Paloma. She sings the original lullaby “Eaea” in a traditional way, the modern arrangement makes the whole thing an exciting melange. Even if the singing sounds a bit unusual – traditional sounds are always well received by the ESC audience.
With the duo Tvorchi, the Ukraine is sending an act to Liverpool which is extremely different from last year's Ukrainian winner “Stefania” (Kalush Orchestra). “Heart Of Steel” has nothing traditional and is not sung in the local language, but is a pop song tailored to the international market. The artists emphasize that they were inspired by the perseverance of the Ukrainian people and especially the soldiers in the Mariupol Steelworks.
Underground: Tvorchi will represent Ukraine in 2023
Preliminary decision at a depth of 100 meters
< p>The Ukrainian preliminary round took place in the 102 meter deep subway station at Maidan, the central square in the capital Kiev. To ensure that all artists, the audience and the production team were safe from the Russian bombing raids, the show was moved to the metro station – and every now and then a train even rattled by.
Tvorchi are already in their homeland big stars and looking to defend last year's title at Liverpool. Due to the Russian war of aggression, the ESC 2023 could not take place in Ukraine. For security reasons, the competition was moved to Liverpool – the UK had finished second last year and immediately after Ukraine's ESC victory offered to take over the show – working closely with Ukraine.