Germany was represented at the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria (Loreen song), Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the Europea ...

with the song " Glorious" written by Yann Peifer, Manuel Reuter, Andres Ballinas and Tony Cornelissen, and performed by

Cascada Cascada (, Spanish language, Spanish, 'Waterfall'), is a German dance music act founded in 2004 by singer Natalie Horler and DJs/composers/ producers DJ Manian and DJ Yanou. They functioned as a trio from 2004 to 2021, with their last track ...

. The German entry for the 2013 contest in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Sweden was selected through the national final ''Unser Song für Malmö'', organised by the German broadcaster ARD in collaboration with

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened to NDR (), is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, ...

(NDR). The national final took place on 14 February 2013 and featured twelve competing acts with the winner by the votes of a five-member jury panel, a radio vote and a public televote. "Glorious" performed by Cascada was selected as the German entry for Malmö after gaining the most points following the combination of votes. As a member of the " Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 11, Germany placed twenty-first out of the 26 participating countries with 18 points.

Background

Prior to the 2013 contest, Germany had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-six times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in . Germany has won the contest on two occasions: in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

with the song "

Ein bißchen Frieden Ein or EIN may refer to: Science and technology * Ein function, in mathematics * Endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia, a lesion of the uterine lining * Equivalent input noise, of a microphone * European Informatics Network, a 1970s computer ne ...

" performed by

Nicole Nicole may refer to: People * Nicole (name) * Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor'' * Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977) * Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Euro ...

and in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

with the song "

Satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

" performed by

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

. Germany, to this point, has been noted for having competed in the contest more than any other country; they have competed in every contest since the first edition in 1956 except for the 1996 contest when the nation was eliminated in a pre-contest elimination round. In

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, the German entry "Standing Still" performed by Roman Lob placed eighth out of twenty-six competing songs and scoring 110 points. The German national broadcaster, ARD, broadcasts the event within Germany and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the regional broadcaster

(NDR). NDR confirmed that Germany would participate in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 27 May 2015. Since 2010, NDR had set up national finals in collaboration with private broadcaster

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

to choose either the song and performer or both to compete at Eurovision for Germany. On 22 November 2012, the broadcaster announced that they would not continue their collaboration with ProSieben but would still organise a multi-artist national final to select the German entry.

Before Eurovision

''Unser Song für Malmö''

''Unser Song für Malmö'' (English: Our Song for Malmö) was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The competition took place on 14 February 2013 at the

TUI Arena ZAG-Arena (formerly Preussag Arena and TUI Arena) is an arena in Hanover, Germany. The arena opened in 2000. It holds 10,767 during hockey or handball matches and up to 14,000 during concerts. It is the biggest indoor venue in the Hanover Region, ...

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, hosted by

Anke Engelke Anke Christina Fischer ( Engelke; born 21 December 1965) is a German comedian, actress, voice actress and television presenter. Personal life Born in Montreal, Canada, Engelke moved to Cologne, Germany in 1971 with her German parents. Early ...

. Like in the previous three years, the national final was co-produced by the production company Brainpool, which also co-produced the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

and the

2012 Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by Ell and Nikki. It was the first time Azerbaijan ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

. Twelve acts competed during the show with the winner being selected through a public televote. The show was broadcast on

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

as well as online via the broadcaster's Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.de'' and the official Eurovision Song Contest website ''eurovision.tv''. The national final was watched by 3.24 million viewers in Germany with a market share of 10.4%.

Competing entries

The twelve competing entries were selected by a seven-member panel consisting of Thomas Schreiber (ARD entertainment coordinator, head of the fiction and entertainment department for NDR), Jörg Grabosch (Brainpool managing director) as well as representatives of record companies

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, Warner Music Entertainment,

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

and Embassy of Music. The first eleven participating acts were announced on 17 December 2012, while the twelfth act (Mia Diekow) was announced on 21 December 2012.

Final

The televised final took place on 14 February 2013. The winner, " Glorious" performed by

, was selected through a combination of votes from an expert jury (1/3), radio voting (1/3) and public televoting which included options for landline and SMS voting (1/3). The jury panel consisted of

Tim Bendzko Tim Bendzko (born 9 April 1985) is a German singer-songwriter. He achieved nationwide recognition with his song "Nur noch kurz die Welt retten" and becoming the winner of the 2011 Bundesvision Song Contest. Career Bendzko grew up in the Köpen ...

(singer-songwriter), Roman Lob (singer, German Eurovision entrant in

), Anna Loos (actress and singer),

Mary Roos Mary Roos (born Rosemarie Schwab on 9 January 1949) is a German singer and actress. Biography 1949–1970 Schwab was born in Bingen am Rhein, Bingen. At the age of nine, she recorded her first song "Ja die Dicken sind ja so gemütlich" as ''Di ...

(singer, German Eurovision entrant in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

) and Peter Urban (radio host and German commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest). For the radio vote, listeners were able to vote online via the websites of the nine ARD radio channels between 7 and 14 February 2013. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 2010 German Eurovision Song Contest winner

performed her new songs "Dynamite" and " Neon (Lonely People)", while 2012 Swedish Eurovision Song Contest winner

Loreen Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui (born 16 October 1983), known professionally as Loreen (), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, Representing Sweden, she won the Eurovision Song Contest in Eurovision Song Conte ...

performed her entry "

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

" and the song " My Heart Is Refusing Me". More than 837,000 televotes were cast during the show.

Controversy

Following Cascada's victory at the German national final, "Glorious" has come under investigation by NDR following allegations that the song is a copy of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 winning song "

" by Loreen. On 19 February, NDR spokeswoman Iris Bents reported that the results of the study would be published when they were available but played down the allegations, stating that "every year there are attempts to create scandals around the Eurovision Song Contest and the participants". On 25 February, it was announced that "Glorious" was cleared of plagiarism and would remain as the German entry for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final on 18 May 2013. In addition to their participation in the final, Germany is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This was decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 17 January 2013, and Germany was assigned to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 16 May 2013. In Germany, the first semi-final was broadcast on EinsFestival and on delay on

NDR Fernsehen NDR Fernsehen is a German free-to-air regional television channel targeting northern Germany, specifically the states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hamburg and Bremen. It is broadcast by both Norddeutscher Rundfun ...

, the second semi-final was broadcast on Phoenix and on delay on EinsFestival and NDR Fernsehen, and the final was broadcast on

. All broadcasts featured commentary by Peter Urban. The final was watched by 8.2 million viewers in Germany, which meant a market share of 33.8 per cent. The German spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the German jury during the final, was 2010 contest winner

Final

During the German delegation's press conference on 15 May 2013, Cascada took part in a draw to determine in which half of the final the German entry would be performed. Germany was drawn to compete in the first half. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Germany was subsequently placed to perform in position 11, following the entry from

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and before the entry from

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. The German performance featured the lead singer of Cascada

Natalie Horler Natalie Horler (born 23 September 1981) is a singer, songwriter and television presenter, best known for being the lead singer of the Eurodance group Cascada. Early life and family Natalie Horler was born in 1981 in Bonn, West Germany, to Eng ...

performing on stage wearing a champagne beige glittered dress designed by Katja Convents. The performance also featured a glass staircase which Horler stood at the beginning, as well as flames and shots during the first chorus and a pyrotechnic waterfall effect during the last chorus. The two backing vocalists that joined Horler on stage were Elli Azuro and Rayla Sunshine. Although the song was widely tipped to do well, being the second favourite to win with the British Bookmakers and also being number 6 in Austrian Airplay and number 21 in British Airplay in the week leading up to the contest, Germany placed twenty-first in the final, scoring 18 points.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding points from 1-8, 10 and 12 based on the results of their professional jury and televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The members that comprised the German jury were Lena,

(singer-songwriter), Alina Süggeler (singer), Carolin Niemczyk (singer) and

Florian Silbereisen Florian Bernd Silbereisen (born 4 August 1981) is a German schlager singer and television host. Since February 2004, Silbereisen has been a television presenter of the show ''Feste der Volksmusik'' on German broadcaster ARD. He was in a rela ...

(singer and television presenter). Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Germany and awarded by Germany in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest:

Points awarded to Germany

Points awarded by Germany

Notes

References

External links

Official NDR/ARD Eurovision site
{{Cascada

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...