Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with the song "Standing Still" written by Steve Robson, Jamie Cullum and Wayne Hector, and performed by Roman Lob. The German participating broadcaster on behalf of ARD, (NDR), organised the national final in order to select their entry for the contest in collaboration with private broadcaster ProSieben. The national final featured 20 competing artists and consisted of five heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final held in January and February 2012 2012. Contestants were selected to advance in the competition via public televote. Two contestants qualified to compete in the final where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. "Standing Still" performed by Roman Lob was selected as the German entry for Baku after gaining 50.7% of the votes in the second round.
As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 20, Germany placed eighth out of the 26 participating countries with 110 points.
Background
Prior to the 2012 contest, ARD had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Germany fifty-five times since its debut in the . Germany has won the contest on two occasions: with the song "" performed by Nicole and with the song "Satellite" performed by Lena. 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.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, ARD organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. Since 1996, ARD had delegated the participation in the contest to its member (NDR). Between 1996 and 2008 as well as in 2010, NDR had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Germany. NDR internally selected both the artist and song for the contest in 2009, while in 2011, the broadcaster internally selected the artist and organised a national final to select the song. On 21 June 2011, NDR announced that they would continue their collaboration with private broadcaster ProSieben to organise a national final in the format of a talent show contest to select its entry.
Before Eurovision
Unser Star für Baku
Unser Star für Baku (English: Our Star for Baku) was the competition that selected Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The competition consisted of five heats, a quarter-final, a semi-final and a final that took place between 12 January 2012 and 16 February 2012 at the Köln-Mülheim Studios in Cologne, hosted by Sandra Rieß and Steven Gätjen. Like in the previous two years, the competition was co-produced by the production company Brainpool, which also co-produced the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf. The shows were broadcast alternatively on ProSieben and Das Erste; the heats and semi-final were broadcast on ProSieben, while the quarter-final and final were broadcast on Das Erste as well as online via NDR's official website ndr.de.
Format The competition consisted of eight shows: five heats between 12 January 2012 and 6 February 2012, a quarter-final on 9 February 2012, a semi-final on 13 February 2012 and a final on 16 February 2012. In each of the first two heats, 10 of the 20 contestants performed and five were eliminated from the competition. An additional two contestants were eliminated in each of the third and fourth heat, while one was eliminated in each of the fifth heat and quarter-final, respectively, and two were eliminated in the semi-final. The remaining two contestants proceeded to the final where they each performed their three songs bidding for Eurovision and the German entry was selected. The results of all eight shows were determined by public televoting, including options for landline and SMS voting.
Three music experts also provided feedback in regards to the contestants during each show. The experts were:
Thomas D.rapper Alina Süggelersinger Stefan Raabsinger-songwriter, co-presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Competing entries Interested performers aged over 18 were able to apply for the competition by submitting an online application and presenting themselves at casting shows held in the following cities and locations:
29 September 2011: Cologne (Köln-Mülheim Studios) 5 November 2011: Nuremberg (Franken Studios) 12 November 2011: Mannheim (Saarländischer Rundfunk Studios) 19 November 2011: Essen (Delta Musik Park) 26 November 2011: Hannover (NDR Studios)
By the end of the process, 20 contestants were selected by Thomas D. together with an expert panel consisting of representatives of ARD, ProSieben and Brainpool. The four candidate Eurovision songs were announced during the final. + Competing songs Song Songwriter(s) "Alone" Gary Go, Emanuel Kiriakou "Conflicted" Martin Mulholland "Quietly" Alex Geringas, Liz Vidal, Guy Roche "Standing Still" Steve Robson, Jamie Cullum, Wayne Hector
Elimination chart Color key: –Contestant received the fewest public votes and was eliminated –Contestant received the most public votes Contestant Heat 1 Heat 2 Heat 3 Heat 4 Heat 5 Quarter-final Semi-final Final Roman Lob 2nd14.9% 1st11.4% 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st Winner 50.7% Ornella de Santis 5th12.3% 3rd10.1% 3rd 5th 3rd 3rd 2nd Runner-up 49.3% Yana Gercke 2nd13.0% 4th 10.1% 2nd 3rd 2nd 2nd 3rd Shelly Phillips 1st15.5% 6th9.8% 4th 2nd 4th 4th Katja Petri 5th14.7% 8th9.6% 6th 4th 5th Céline Huber 3rd14.7% 2nd10.3% 5th 6th Umut Anil 4th 12.5% 7th 9.8% 7th Sebastian Dey 3rd12.7% 5th9.9% 8th Leonie Burgmer 4th14.7% 9th9.6% Rachel Scharnberg 1st13.3% 10th9.4% Vera Reissmüller 6th12.3% Andrew Fischer 7th9.4% Tina Sander 8th7.1% Jörg Müller-Lornsen 9th4.0% Polly Zeiler 10th3.4% Kai Nötting 6th14.5% Jil Rock 7th5.9% Yasmin Gueroui 8th2.4% Salih Özcan 9th1.7% Jan Verweij 10th1.0%
Shows Heats The five televised heats took place between 2 February and 2 March 2010. Five contestants were eliminated in each of the first two heats, while two contestants were eliminated in each of the third and fourth heats, and one contestant was eliminated in the fifth heat; the remaining five contestants proceeded to the quarter-final. + Heat 112 January 2012 Artist Song Televote PlaceResult 1 Katja Petri "Marry You" 14.7% 5Advanced 2 Jan Verweij "Closer to the Edge" 1.0% 10 3 Leonie Burgmer "Stronger Than Me" 14.7% 4Advanced 4 Yasmin Gueroui "Not Fair" 2.4% 8 5 Kai Nötting "More" 14.5% 6 6 Shelly Phillips "Valerie" 15.5% 1Advanced 7 Salih Özcan "Señorita" 1.7% 9 8 Céline Huber "Beautiful Disaster" 14.7% 3Advanced 9 Jil Rock "Moves like Jagger" 5.9% 7 10 Roman Lob "After Tonight" 14.9% 2Advanced
+ Heat 219 January 2012 Artist Song Televote PlaceResult 1 Andrew Fischer "Tears in Heaven" 9.4% 7 2 Polly Zeiler "Grenade" 3.4% 10 3 Sebastian Dey "This Love" 12.7% 3Advanced 4 Jörg Müller-Lornsen "Maybe Tomorrow" 4.0% 9 5 Ornella de Santis "Slow Motion" 12.3% 5Advanced 6 Rachel Scharnberg "My Baby Left Me" 13.3% 1Advanced 7 Tina Sander "Geronimo" 7.1% 8 8 Umut Anil "Straight Up" 12.5% 4Advanced 9 Yana Gercke "Price Tag" 13.0% 2Advanced 10 Vera Reissmüller "Fooled Me Again, Honest Eyes" 12.3% 6
+ Heat 326 January 2012 Artist Song Televote PlaceResult 1 Rachel Scharnberg "Like a Star" 9.4% 10 2 Leonie Burgmer "I Love Your Smile" 9.6% 9 3 Sebastian Dey "Amnesie" 9.9% 5Advanced 4 Katja Petri "Lego House" 9.6% 8Advanced 5 Umut Anil "Weitergehen" 9.8% 7Advanced 6 Céline Huber "How Come You Don't Call Me" 10.3% 2Advanced 7 Ornella de Santis "I Want You Back" 10.1% 3Advanced 8 Shelly Phillips "Forget You" 9.8% 6Advanced 9 Yana Gercke "Roxanne" 10.1% 4Advanced 10 Roman Lob "Easy" 11.4% 1Advanced
+ Heat 42 February 2012 Artist Song PlaceResult 1 Sebastian Dey "Hey, Hey, Hey" 8 2 Katja Petri "The '59 Sound" 6Advanced 3 Céline Huber "Right to Be Wrong" 5Advanced 4 Umut Anil "Someone like You" 7 5 Shelly Phillips "Waterfalls" 4Advanced 6 Ornella de Santis "Try" 3Advanced 7 Yana Gercke "Titanium" 2Advanced 8 Roman Lob "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" 1Advanced
+ Heat 56 February 2012 Artist Song PlaceResult 1 Katja Petri "Certain Someone" 4Advanced 2 Ornella de Santis "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" 5Advanced 3 Céline Huber "Russian Roulette" 6 4 Shelly Phillips "I Try" 2Advanced 5 Yana Gercke "We Found Love" 3Advanced 6 Roman Lob "Drive" 1Advanced
Quarter-final The televised quarter-final took place on 9 February 2012 where an additional contestant was eliminated and the remaining four contestants proceeded to the semi-final. + Quarter-final9 February 2012 Artist First song Second song PlaceResult 1 Katja Petri "All You Wanted" 6 "Stay" 5 2 Ornella de Santis "I'll Be There" 7 "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" 3Advanced 3 Shelly Phillips "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" 8 "Have It All" 4Advanced 4 Yana Gercke "Who Knew" 9 "Talking to the Moon 2Advanced 5 Roman Lob "You Give Me Something" 10 "Day by Day" 1Advanced
Semi-final The televised semi-final took place on 13 February 2012 where an additional two contestants were eliminated and the remaining two contestants proceeded to the final. + Semi-final13 February 2012 Artist First song Place Second song PlaceResult 1 Shelly Phillips "Das Astronautenlied" 4 2 Ornella de Santis "Eu vou ser mais eu" 3 5 "If I Ain't Got You" 2Advanced 3 Yana Gercke "Rolling in the Deep" 2 6 "Skyscraper" 3 4 Roman Lob "Bad Day" 1 7 "Use Somebody" 1Advanced
Final The televised final took place on 16 February 2012 where each of the two finalists performed three candidate Eurovision songs, including an individual song. The winner was selected through two rounds of public televoting. In the first round of voting, one song per finalist was selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, the winner, "Standing Still" performed by Roman Lob, was selected. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Frida Gold performed their song "Wovon sollen wir träumen?". + First Round16 February 2012 Artist Song Televote Result 1 Roman Lob "Conflicted" 6.5% 2 Ornella de Santis "Quietly" 70.0% Advanced 3 Roman Lob "Alone" 16.7% 4 Ornella de Santis "Alone" 17.6% 5 Roman Lob "Standing Still" 76.8% Advanced 6 Ornella de Santis "Standing Still" 12.4%
+ Second Round16 February 2012 Artist Song Televote Place 1 Ornella de Santis "Quietly" 49.3% 2 2 Roman Lob "Standing Still" 50.7% 1
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 Five", Germany automatically qualified to compete in the final on 26 May 2012. In addition to their participation in the final, Germany is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This would have been regularly decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 25 January 2012, however, prior to the draw, ARD requested of the European Broadcasting Union that Germany be allowed to broadcast and vote in the second semi-final on 24 May 2012, which was approved by the contest's Reference Group.
In Germany, the two semi-finals and the final were broadcast on Das Erste with commentary by Peter Urban. ARD also broadcast all three shows via radio on NDR 2 with commentary by Thomas Mohr, and on hr3 with commentary by Tim Frühling. The final was watched by 8.34 million viewers in Germany, which meant a market share of 36.7 per cent. The German spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the German votes during the final, was Anke Engelke who previously co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
Final