Michael Schulte to represent Germany with 'You Let Me Walk Alone'

After several disappointing results in the Eurovision Song Contest, German broadcaster NDR overhauled its national selection for 2018. A panel of international experts were comissioned for the 2018 national selection. The experts were involved in the selection of the six participating artists as well as the songs. In addition to this, a special songwriting camp was held which was attended by up to 15 national and international lyricists, composers and producers who developed songs together with the participating artists.

It all came to tonight's national selection show Unser Lied für Lissabon, which was won by Michael Shulte and his song You Let Me Walk Alone.

About Michael Schulte

Michael Schulte (27) appears in front of a huge audience – online: His YouTube channel has had more than 50 million views and has nearly 200,000 subscribers. A large portion of his more than 1.2 Spotify stream-accessings each month comes from Sweden, Norway, England and the USA. The singer-songwriter has successfully released seven albums and EPs. He grew up on the German-Danish border in Dollerup and now lives in Buxtehude near Hamburg.

The song for Eurovision, You Let Me Walk Alone, is written by Thomas Stengaard, Nisse Ingwersen, Nina Müller and Michael himself, in memory of his deceased father.

How was the winner decided?

The winner of the German national selection for Eurovision 2018, Unser Lied für Lissabon (Our Song for Lisbon) was decided through a combination of public votes as well as votes from a 100-member Eurovision panel as well as an international jury comprised of music experts. 

The international panel featured a range of music professionals including artists that have previously participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. Members included Margaret Berger who finished fourth in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest for Norway with her song I Feed You My Love and Ruth Lorenzo Pascual who represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 with Dancing In The Rain.

The class of 2018

Over 4000 hopefuls entered the German national selection for Eurovision 2018 following the call for applications. The final six that performed were:

• Xavier Darcy - Jonah
• Ivy Quainoo - House On Fire
• Ryk - You and I  
• Michael Schulte - You Let Me Walk Alone
• Natia Todua - My Own Way   
• voXXclub - I mog Di so

Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest

Germany is the only country in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest to submit a song every single year since the competition began in 1956. The only time the country did not appear in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest was in 1996 when the song Planet of Blue failed to qualify following an audio-only pre-selection.

Germany has finished last on several ocassions but has won the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1982 and in 2010. The country has finished inside the top three more than 10 times and scored dozens of top ten placings. As part of the so-called Big Five, Germany is automatically for the Grand Final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday 12th May.