Jamie-Lee Kriewitz has just won Unser Lied für Stockholm – Germany’s national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 – with her song Ghost and is going to represent the country in the Swedish capital on May 14th.

The German broadcaster NDR picked 10 different acts to compete at tonight’s national final in Cologne, looking to find its best possible representation for the competition in Stockholm.

The songs

Ella Endlich – Adrenalin

A song which seems to resume the tradition of schlager songs at the Eurovision Song Contest, a tradition that has been maintained until the late 90’s at the competition and disappeared completely in the last couple of years. Ella’s love-ballad Adrenalin is a typical German schlager with a constant rhythm and melody. She included three dancers in her live performance.

Joco – Full Moon

The sisters Josepha and Cosima Carl competed with a dreamy pop ballad which has been written by themselves. The musical arrangement largely consists of a piano that creates this dreamy atmosphere. Their song Full Moon has a modern, but unusual style and is not a typical, commercial Eurovision song. The two sisters brought and played the drums and a keyboard live on stage.

Gregorian – Masters Of Chants

Probably the most uncommon song in the selection. The music project Gregorian consists of six tenors from three different countries. The song they competed with can’t be classified in a genre. It sounds like a choir song from the Middle Ages, a fact that made it memorable and special. The tenors were wearing black habits that monks were usually known for to support the sound of their song and to make it authentic. Additionally, they worked with a mystical fire and LED lights live on stage.

Woods of Birnam – Lift Me Up (From The Underground)

The band, which comprises of a singer, a bass player, a drummer, a guitarist and a keyboard player, unites commercial pop with indie sound in their song for Eurovision 2016. It slowly builds up and ends in a danceable chorus, but also consists of a small portion of melancholy. The high voice of the singer Christian Heidel makes it memorable and interesting.

Luxuslärm – Solange Liebe In Mir Wohnt

The German pop-rock band consisting of a singer, a bass player, a guitarist, a keyboard player and a drummer competes with a slow pop ballad about the power of love. Their authentic Eurovision song was not connected to a big show and was kept simple on stage.

Keøma – Protected

Kat Frankie and Chris Klopfer are the two musicians behind the duo Keøma. Before the final started, they announced not only to aim for a win of the national selection, but even for a win of the big event in Stockholm. The two musicians competed with the indie pop song Protected, a song which does not really build up and has a constant rhythm during the full three minutes.

Avantasia – Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose

The rock band, which consists of the singer Tobias Sammet, a guitarist, a keyboard player and a drummer, turned out to be one of the biggest fan favourites of the German national final. Their metal-rock song Mystery Of A Blood Red Rose builds up quickly and finally comes to a powerful chorus. It is not a typical Eurovision song, a reason why it stood out from the selection.

Alex Diehl – Nur Ein Lied

The 28-year old songwriter from Bavaria wrote the song immediately after the terrorist attacks in Paris back in November 2015. It is trying to spread a strong message around Europe – we all have to live together in peace and should not use violence or hate in order to counteract terrorism, a message that perfectly fits this year’s Eurovision slogan, Come together. The song itself is a slow ballad which consists only of his voice and a guitar. Apart from the biggest part in German, Alex also sang in English and French in order to make his message understandable for everyone.

Jamie-Lee Kriewitz – Ghost

The 17-year old singer who has just won The Voice Of Germany seemed to be the big fan favourite before the national final started. Her melancholic pop song Ghost has a commercial, radio-friendly sound which appeals especially to the younger audience. She tried to create a spooky manga world around her performance and was further dressed like a figure from an anime.

Laura Pinski – Under The Sun We Are One

After a 13-year break, the German songwriter Ralph Siegel returned to the national selection of his own country, accompanied by the 19-year old singer Laura Pinski. Their anthem for equality and peace is a typical Eurovision ballad consisting of a slow build-up and a powerful chorus.

The show

Unser Lied für Stockholm – the German national final for Eurovision 2016 – kicked off at 20:15 CET in Cologne. The presenter Barbara Schöneberger hosted the two-hour show, which was completely sold out weeks before the event started.

The show opened with a short video that summed up the history of Europe’s biggest music competition. It especially focused on the most memorable songs, voices and acts that took part in the 60 years of Eurovision.

Then, every participant was introduced by a short postcard video and brought their performance on stage within three minutes. After all the ten participants had presented their song for Eurovision, the three super-finalists were announced and had to perform their song a second time live on stage.

Next The BossHoss feat. The Common Linnets took part as an interval act with their own version of Dolly Parton’s song Jolene, the latter known for their Eurovision entry Calm After The Storm, which finished second at the contest back in 2014.

The show finally came to an end after the winning song was declared.

The result

The winner has been chosen 100% by televote within two voting periods. First the televoters selected the three super-finalists, which turned out to be Avantasia, Alex Diehl and Jamie-Lee Kriewitz

Then Jamie-Lee Kriewitz was announced as the winner after a second voting period. Avantasia came third while Alex Diel finished in second place.

See what you think of this year’s German entry in the video below.

Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest

Germany has accumulated two wins in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest so far, the last one in 2010 with Lena and her up-tempo pop song Satellite. In the last three years, the country always finished on the right hand side of the scoreboard, even coming last in 2015 with a score of zero points.

The first participation of Germany dates back to 1956, when the first Grand-Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européene kicked off in Switzerland. In the 60 years of Eurovision history, the country failed only once to qualify for the Grand Final (1996), being a Big-Five member after the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004 and therefore having an assured place in the final of the contest.