Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Country  Germany
National selection
Selection process Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision
Selection date(s) March 7, 2003
Selected entrant Lou
Selected song "Let's Get Happy"
Finals performance
Final result 11th, 53 points
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2002 • 2003 • 2004►

Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 by Lou with the song "Let's Get Happy", written by Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger. Germany's representative was chosen during a national final called Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision.

Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision

Countdown Grand Prix Eurovision
Date: March 7, 2003
Presenter: Axel Bulthaupt
Venue: Ostseehalle, Kiel
Voting: Two rounds of televoting
Interval Act: Modern Talking, Marie N
Winner: Let's Get Happy performed by Lou

The national final was held at the Ostseehalle in Kiel on 7 March 2003.

Before the show

After Germany has finished 21st in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, head of delegation Jürgen Meier-Beer wanted to renew the national final. In an interview, he told:[1]

“ This defeat gives me the chance to make people separate from the old image of the song contest in Germany too. Ethetically, we want to make a huge jump from old-fashioned schlager to modern pop music. ”

Nevertheless, the formula was similar as in recent years - the best known record labels in Germany were again asked to submit entries for the national final. Furthermore, five well-known newspapers and magazines were asked to submit one song each:[1][2] Tabloid BILD submitted Elmar Brandt's project Die Gerd Show with a parody on Gerhard Schröder to Kiel, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung submitted DJMDG, die tageszeitung Senait, who was also supported by politician Claudia Roth, Freistil were submitted by teenager magazine Yam! and Tagträumer feat. Aynur by Turkish newspaper Hürriyet. Actually, 15 songs were supposed to be presented, but Joachim Deutschland and his song “Marie” were disqualified, because the singer has insulted the Bavarian minister-president Edmund Stoiber in one of his other songs and because of inappropriate lines in his entry.

Ich Troje took part as Troje in the German national final although they had previously already won the Polish national final with “Keine Grenzen-Żadnych granic”.[3] They would have not been allowed to take part in the competition for two countries according to the rules. Later in Riga, the band would receive its only twelve points from Germany. Two of the acts have previously taken part in a German national final: Lou and Tagträumer, both in 2001.

The show

For the sixth time in a row and for the last time so far, Axel Bulthaupt hosted the German national final. In the first round of televoting, 601809 votes were cast and Die Gerd Show was the winner of that round with 98455 votes and would enter the second round along with Lou (second place, 85984 votes) and Beatbetrieb (third place, 66418 votes). In the second round, 367415 were cast and the results changed dramatically: Die Gerd Show now has only finished third with 111601 votes, Beatbetrieb came second with 116214 votes and Lou won the national final with 139600 votes exactly.[4] Actually, only the top three of the first round were supposed to be revealed, but BILD has published the results shortly after the competition after all[4] (see below).

The interval act was performed by Modern Talking. Furthermore, Renārs Kaupers, host of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest appeared in the show and so did Marie N, his co-host and winner of the 2002 Eurovision Song Contest, who performed her own winning song “I Wanna” again.

Participants

# Singer Song
(Music and lyrics)		 Translation Place
(first round) 		Place
1 Sascha Pierro Wenn Grenzen fallen
(Sascha Pierro, Patrick Benzer, Peter Hoffmann) 		When borders fall 10th
2 Charlemaine Life
(Peter Ries, Charlemaine)		 - 12th
3 DJMDG Die Seite, wo die Sonne scheint
(DJMDG, Octopussy) 		The side, where the sun shines 13th
4 Lou Let's Get Happy
(Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger) 		- 2nd 1st
5 Elija Somehow - Somewhere
(André Franke, William Lennox)		 - 9th
6 Beatbetrieb Woran glaubst Du?
(Theo Eißler, Michael Janz, Derek von Krogh, Tobi Wörner) 		What do you believe in? 3rd 2nd
7 Isgaard Golden Key
(Jens Lück, Sabina Lück)		 - 7th
8 VIBE Für immer
(Daniel Biscan, Philipp Palm, Julian Maas)		 Forever 8th
9 Troje Liebe macht Spaß
(André Franke, Joachim Horn-Benges)		 Love is fun 6th
10 Lovecrush Love Is Life
(Sabine Mayer-Foster, Peter Bischof-Fallenstein)		 - 14th
11 Die Gerd Show Alles wird gut
(Elmar Brandt, Peter Burtz, Dieter Müller-Christ, Frank Kurt-Meyer, Michael Kernbach)		 Everything will be alright 1st 3rd
12 Senait Herz aus Eis
(Senait, Frank Ramond, Oliver Pinelli)		 Heart of ice 4th
13 Freistil Hörst Du meine Lieder?
(Nico Sukup, Philip Schmid, Simon Schmid, Fabian Keitel, Dieter Falk)		 Do you hear my songs? 11th
14 Tagträumer feat. Aynur Aydın Living in a Perfect World
(Andy Jonas, Arno Brugger)		 - 5th

Releases

Again, a compilation album of the national final was released. Apart from the 14 competing entries, it included the German entry of 2002 “I Can't Live Without Music” and the winner of that year, “I Wanna”. As compilations cannot enter the album charts in Germany, only few can be said about the commercial success.

Chart successes

For the first time since 1999, the German entry would not enter the German single charts. From the 14 competing songs, only two reached the top 100: Alles wird gut was the most successful one peaking at #18. The disqualified entry Marie by Joachim Deutschland also reached the single charts.

Entry Germany Austria Switzerland
Woran glaubst Du? 80 - -
Alles wird gut 18 - -
Marie 32 - -

At the Eurovision Song Contest

In the Eurovision Song Contest, Germany finished joint 11th with 53 points. The highest vote came from Sweden - 10 points. Iceland was the first country to vote and gave eight points to Germany, which put the country in third place after the first points announced.


Voting

Points Awarded by Germany

Final

12 points Poland
10 points Turkey
8 points Russia
7 points Norway
6 points Belgium
5 points Greece
4 points Romania
3 points Sweden
2 points Austria
1 point Iceland

Points Awarded to Germany

Points Awarded to Germany (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

After the Eurovision Song Contest

In an interview at the aftershow party of the Eurovision Song Contest, Lou was asked why she did not reach a better position. She answered that she was “too old, too fat and too ugly”.[5] That quote made it to the front page of BILD the Monday after the contest. Previously, Lou had made it to front page of that newspaper stating that she lost weight for Riga and reduced her wrinkles with Botox.[5]

Sources and external links

References

  1. 1 2 aufrechtgehn.de - Deutsche Vorentscheidung 2003
  2. ↑ de:Deutsche Vorentscheidung zum Eurovision Song Contest 2003
  3. ↑ POLISH NATIONAL FINAL 2003
  4. 1 2 GERMAN NATIONAL FINAL 2003
  5. 1 2 aufrechtgehn.de - Eurovision Song Contest 2003
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