Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

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Germany was represented by Max and the song “Can't Wait Until Tonight”. The German representative for Istanbul itself was picked on March 19 in the ARD show "Germany 12 points!".

Contents

[edit] Germany 12 points!

Image:Germany 12 points 2004.jpg
The national final
Title: Germany 12 points!
Broadcaster: ARD, NDR
Venue: Treptow Arena, Berlin
Date: March 19, 2004
Time: 20:15 CET
Duration: ca. 140 minutes
Number of contestants: 10
Voting: There were two rounds of televoting. The first round selected the top two, the second round the overall winner.
Interval act: The Ten Tenours with a medley of songs by Ralph Siegel, Lionel Richie
Host(s):
Sarah Kuttner
Jörg Pilawa

The show was held at the Treptow Arena in Berlin and hosted by Jörg Pilawa & Sarah Kuttner. German record companies were still responsible for nominating the German finalists, however newcomers would no longer be allowed to participate - instead, the participating singers had to have at least one professional music video produced. The winner was chosen by televoting and SMS voting. A maximum of 12 songs participated and German TV Channel VIVA started playing videos of the songs in January 2004. The 'wild-card' was chosen at the last minute (this had to be someone who had been very successful in Germany during the early months of 2004). Max and Tina Frank were the chosen wildcards.

After the German national final, Sarah Kuttner stated that she and her co-host Jörg Pilawa did not get along very well. Actually, she stated that he took over some of her lines which led to confusion during the live broadcast without telling her[1]. Jörg Pilawa can also been seen doing faces when Kuttner announced contestant Tina Frank. Later, during a green room scene, Kuttner ironically states “When I am older, I will marry Jörg Pilawa. Jörg, I love you from the bottom of my heart”. Kuttner has also been citisised for using the German words for “crap” and “shit” during the live broadcast, which is usually not happening on a public channel.

[edit] Participants

# Singer Song
(Music and lyrics)
Translation Place
1 Patrick Nuo Undone
(David Jost, Dave Roth)
-
2 MIA. Hungriges Herz
(Gunnar Spies, Mieze)
Hungry Heart
3 Sabrina Setlur Liebe
(Moses Pelham, Martin Haas, Sabrina Setlur)
Love
4 Overground Der letzte Stern
(MIke Michaels, MM Dollar, Mark Tabak, Deema)
The Final Star
5 Tina Frank Ich schenk' dir mein Herz
(Jörn Christof Heilbut, Robert Schulte Hemming, Jens Langbein)
I Give You My Heart
6 Maximilian Mutzke Can't Wait Until Tonight
(Stefan Raab)
- 1st
7 WestBam feat. Afrika Islam Dancing with the rebels
(WestBam, Afrika Islam, Professor Klaus)
-
8 Laith Al-Deen Höher
(Laith Al-Deen, Götz von Sydow)
Higher
9 Wonderwall Silent tears
(Wonderwall)
-
10 Scooter Jigga Jigga!
(H.P. Baxxter, Rick J. Jordan, Jay Frog, Jens Thele)
- 2nd

[edit] Releases

Like every year since 1996, a compilation CD with all entries was revealed. As compilations cannot enter the album charts in Germany, only few can be said about the commercial success. The compilation CD also included the song “Right here” by Masha that was one of the eligible wildcards but did not make it to the national final after all because it did not reach the top 20 in the single charts. As a bonus track, the CD included “Every Way That I Can” by Sertab Erener, winner of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest.

[edit] Chart successes

For the first time ever, all entries in the national final managed to reach the German single charts. Furthermore, some of the songs also made it to the single charts in Austria and Switzerland. Max was the first German entrant topping the single charts since Nicole in 1982 and overall his song was the fourth German entry at number one.

Entry Flag of Germany Flag of Austria Flag of Switzerland
Undone 30 - 30
Hungriges Herz 24 58 -
Liebe 52 - -
Der letzte Stern 9 30 27
Ich schenk' dir mein Herz 98 - -
Can't wait until tonight 1 2 4
Dancing with the rebels 69 - -
Höher 81 - -
Silent tears 90 - -
Jigga Jigga! 10 9 45

Furthermore, “Jigga Jigga!” reached the single charts in the Netherlands (#50), Sweden (#24), Norway (#10) and Finland (#21).

[edit] At Eurovision

At Eurovision, Max delivered a simple performance with stools and a band surrounding him on the stage. During the performance, Max swapped between using English and Turkish and overall produced a memorable stage act. Max scored Germany 93 points and a successful 8th place.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Sarah Kuttner
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