Michael Schulte to Represent Germany!

Germany haven’t always had the best of luck when it comes to Eurovision, and with another disappointing result in 2017, German broadcaster NDR changed approach for the 2018 selection in order to try turn things around. They decided to stick with a national final, but instead of focusing on the same song for different artists, they’ve stuck with a format letting each of the selected artists perform a song specifically written for them.

A panel of international experts were a big part of the selection, as they were involved with selecting the six participating artists. Then there was a song-writing camp which featured up to 15 national and international lyricists, composers and producers who worked with the artists to create their entries. It all concluded with the national final where these six artists presented their entries, all hoping to be the next Eurovision star for Germany!

Here are the participating entries:

• Natia Todua – My Own Way

• Ryk – You and I

• voXXclub – I mog Di so

• Xavier Darcy – Jonah

• Ivy Quainoo – House On Fire

• Michael Schulte – You Let Me Walk Alone

The voting was a mix of public votes, an international jury as well as a 100-member Eurovision panel so let’s go through the voting! Starting with the Eurovision panel, who gave their 12 points to Michael Schulte with the song You Let Me Walk Alone. In second was Ryk with the song You and I, and in third with the Eurovision panel was Xavier Darcy with the song Jonah.

With the international jury, again, the top points went to Michael Schulte. Ten points went to Xavier Darcy, and eight points to Ryk. Now to the televote, which once again put Michael Schulte in top place. With 10 points was voXXclub, and with eight points was Ivy Quainoo.

With all the points combined, the scores were all fairly on par, except for one, and that was Michael Schulte. With three sets of 12 points, it was easy to see that he would win the competition and go on to represent Germany at Eurovision with the song You Let Me Walk Alone.

Coming in second was Xavier Darcy with Jonah, and in third was Ryk with his song You and I. Watch the winning performance below, and listen to all the competing songs in our Spotify playlist.