Last December it has been revealed that Germany has already selected their representative at Eurovision 2021, In the beginning of February they presented that Jendrik is the one to wave the German flag to Rotterdam and by the end of the same month the audience got a chance to hear the German entry “I Don’t Feel Hate”.
In an interview for a German Eurovision portal ESC Kompakt, German Head of Delegation, Alexandra Wolfslast reflected on her first year as HoD and spoke about their selection procedure for the upcoming edition of Eurovision Song Contest. She said that NDR is reviewing their selection process which was first time used in order to select their entrant for Eurovision 2020. Jury which consists out of 100 members as well as a Eurovision jury formed of past acts and jurors voting for their favourite entry. Same method was used by Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR to determine their representative at Eurovision 2020, Gjon’s Tears, who was later on invited back to represent Switzerland at this years edition of the show.
When asked how come did this method gave good result to Switzerland and not for Germany Alexandra answered: “Any explanation would be pure speculation. The fact is that the same procedure obviously works extremely well in Switzerland, but has not earned us a good ranking“, she also added the following, “I think it is easy to understand why we are now critically reviewing the current selection process and considering what we can do differently in the future.” Switzerland is also going to use the same method to select their entrant for Eurovision 2022.
Jendrik made a great performance. Unfortunately, his song was not as well received in Europe as the songs of other acts. “I Don’t Feel Hate” is definitely a catchy tune, but also a title that polarizes and has a hard time in the mainstream. In any case, I have integrated the phrase “I Don’t Feel Hate” into my lexicon.
Alexandra Wolfslast, HoD for Germany
She added that they are reviewing the format, and that team will be meeting soon in order to discuss plans for Eurovision 2022.
I think it is easy to understand why we are now critically reviewing the current selection process and considering what we can do differently in the future.
Alexandra Wolfslast, HoD for Germany
Last year Ben Dolic was chosen to represent Germany with “Violent Thing”, the song was well received, but the result of it will never be known because of the cancellation of Eurovision 2020. In November it has been revealed that Ben Dolic won’t be back to represent Germany at Eurovision 2021. Germany received only 3 points from the judges at Eurovision 2021 which placed “I Don’t Feel Hate” second to last as 25th song. Prior to this result Germany has lately been in the bottom of the scoreboard with the exception of Eurovision 2018 when Michael Schulte scored 340 points with “You Let Me Walk Alone” which placed him on 4th place in Lisbon.
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