After last year’s Disaster Von Teese, Germany decided to revamp its selection process. They went with a Your Country Needs You-type format called Unser Star für Oslo 2010, and they brought back into the fold Stefan Raab of “Wadde Hadde Dudde Da” fame to be the main judge.
Over a series of shows, the number of possible representatives was whittled down to two, Jennifer Braun and Lena Meyer-Landrut. During the finale, each performed three times. Their first two performances were their respective versions of the songs “Bee” and “Satellite.” Then Jennifer sang a song called “I Care For You” and Lena sang “Love Me” (which she co-wrote with Raab).
“Bee” was a very twee little song that suited Lena’s quirky speak-sing style more than Jennifer’s full-throttle soulful rocker style. Jennifer looked uncomfortable singing both “Bee” and “Satellite”. She clearly preferred “I Care For You,” so she gave it her best performance on the night.
Interestingly, Lena seemed to have a little trouble with her energy performing the song she co-wrote, although that could be chalked up to nerves. Where she really shined was her interpretation of “Satellite.” Jennifer had performed it as a ballad, which Raab noted was the way it was intended to be performed. (You can also watch Jennifer’s version at the Unser Star für Oslo 2010 website, because the Germans seem to be diligent about keeping videos from the final off of YouTube.)
Lena decided to take it at quicker tempo, and this version ended up edging “Love Me” as the song selected to represent Germany at Eurovision. Watch it now before it gets taken down UPDATED: Here is the official video, which of course is unembeddable since record companies refuse to listen to the lessons OK GO are teaching:
So the question is, did the Unser Star für Oslo 2010 find a good Eurovision song or just a new star performer for Germany? There’s no doubt that Lena is a naturally talented and charismatic performer, and her interpretation on “Satellite” casts the lyrics in a whole new light. But, as with Josh Dubovie from the U.K., she is only going to have one shot at Europe because she goes straight to the Eurovision final and won’t have a chance to promote the song on other national finals before then. She’s a perfectly charming person, but will that come across in the three minutes she’ll have? It may come down to where she’s slated to perform, but even then, I’m not sure this is going to be a song that Europe will cast its vote for. But I’ll still enjoy it.
UPDATE: As it turns out, “Satellite” has been one of the oddsmakers’ choices to win this year, alongside “Drip Drop” from Azerbaijan.
