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Who will follow in Levina's footsteps? Six acts revealed in Germany

03 January 2018 at 00:01 CET
Levina represented Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017 EBU / Andres Putting
German broadcaster NDR has revealed the six names that will participate in the forthcoming national selection for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.

Germany is planning an ambitious search for its 2018 Eurovision Song Contest entry. Three broadcasters will air the national selection, Unser Lied für Lissabon (Our Song for Lisbon) on Thursday 22nd February at 20:15 CET; Das Erste, ONE and Deutsche Welle.

100 members of a special Eurovision Panel and 20-member international jury of experts voted for the six participants. The whole selection process began with 4,000 hopefuls.    

Thomas Schreiber, Head of Entertainment at ARD said: "Congratulations and thanks to our six acts! In a multi-stage process, they were selected by the members of our international jury and the 100 women and men who represent the international Eurovision Song Contest viewers. They found six participants that promise to deliver a very exciting and diverse show. The goal is to find the best song for Lisbon now."  

Who is in for 2018?    

The following six participants stand a chance of representing Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon: 

  • Xavier Darcy 

Singer/Songwriter Xavier Darcy (22) is from Munich has British and French roots. This year, he released his debut album Darcy, which was in the Top 50 of the iTunes charts. Before this, he had already launched two EPs. He has performed at numerous festivals and was a guest on TV show Inas Nacht on the First German Television channel among other things. He was also the support act on the tours of Rea Garvey and Joris.

  • Ivy Quainoo

For her debut album Ivy Quainoo (25) from Berlin received a Gold Award. In 2013 she received the German Music Industry Award ECHO as “Best Artist Rock/Pop national”. She toured Germany with her band for the third time in November 2017. Since 2012, Ivy has been the most successful winner of the first German season of The Voice of Germany up to now. She has been living in New York for the most part for the past two years and is studying at the renowned acting school The American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

  • Ryk

Ryk (Rick Jurthe, 28) studied popular music at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. Since completing his studies, he has been working as a composer, singer and producer for projects reaching from film to variety shows. In recent years, he released several EPs, until 2015 under his old stage name, FOXOS. Since 2016, Ryk has been the musical director and composer for the most successful Europe-wide acrobatic show: Fireworks of Gymnastics. He has won several renowned newcomer prizes and has played at numerous international and national festivals.

  • 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.

  • Natia Todua

Natia Todua (21) came to Germany from Georgia to fulfil her dream of living her life as a musician and as a singer. She worked as an au-pair and lives now in Bruchsal. Two weeks ago she won the 7th season of The Voice of Germany by a landslide and is currently touring the country.

  • The voXXclub band 

The style of the Munich band voXXclub is referred to as “new Volksmusik”. voXXclub consists of five singers from three countries. Its members, Florian Claus, Stefan Raaflaub, Korbinian Arendt, Christian Schild and Michael Hartinger mix traditional with modern music and back it up with groovy beats and sounds. Their videos have been clicked on millions of times on the Internet. Their debut Alpin went Platinum and they have already been nominated for the German Music Industry Award ECHO three times. Their third album came out in 2016. 

What happens next?

A three day Song Writing Camp will be held in Berlin during which up to 15 national and international lyricists, composers and producers will develop songs together with the six acts. On the basis of this material a decision will then be made as to which song is right for whom, and how the performance shall be staged.    

For additional information about the German national selection go to the official website, Eurovision.de.