Germany's Michael Schulte takes us on a trip down memory lane

04 May 2018 at 19:04 CEST

Germany rehearsal Andres Putting

As one of the so-called 'Big Five', Germany's Michael Schulte rehearsed his song 'You Let Me Walk Alone' on the Eurovision stage for the first time today. During his rehearsal, Michael takes us on a trip down memory lane as he sings to projections of black and white pictures of children and their parents.

Michael was born 30 April, 1990. He started out in 2007 playing cover songs on YouTube. In February, Michael Schulte won Unser Lied für Lissabon, the German national selection for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, with his song You Let Me Walk Alone. This is perhaps his most personal song to date, as Michael opens up about his feelings after losing his father. He sings about the thoughts, emotions and problems one has to face when a parent passes away too soon – Michael was only 14 years old at the time. Now, 13 years later, he is stronger, more determined than ever.

The first rehearsal starts with an all-black background and a close-up of Michael as he starts singing You Let Me Walk Alone. Once the chorus starts, an LED screen with the lyrics appear in the background: 'one love', 'two hearts', 'three kids', and 'a loving mom'.

After the first chorus, the LED screens show pictures of children with their parents. Some of these pictures may even have been submitted by Eurovision fans online! The song builds in strength and the images change from black to red and white. Closer to the end of the song, the background turns black again and we see Michael's silhouette with the word 'Alone' on the screen.

The song was written and composed by Michael Schulte, Katharina Müller, Nisse Ingwersen and Thomas Stengaard. Katharina Müller is a Hamburg based film composer, songwriter, pianist and singer. Nisse Ingwersen writes his own music, as well as that for other popular acts from electronica to country. Thomas Stengaard is a multi-platinum selling Danish songwriter and producer and this is his second contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest: he was also a co-writer of the Danish entry Only Teardrops which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013.

After the show, Michael confirmed to Eurovision.tv that the personal photos appearing behind him were indeed sent in by fans, part of what makes the staging so special: "We decided to take them on stage, and I think it's really cool. I do really like them, and we even have a grand finale at the end."