Phil: I didn’t see enough Germany to comment
I was getting sustenance in the form of an overly priced Ham and Cheese Kornspitz and a Coke light for 8 Euro. Thankfully the pub at the end of the road is much much cheaper!
Rosé: Ann Sophistication for Germany
Ann Sophistication for Germany and she’s oozing class and has toned down the slight arrogance she had at the German final. This is cool cabaret and lounge chic and is a totally competent and classy (did I use classy already?). Huge golden spotlights and a backdrop of big dollops of, suprise surprise, black smoke. Oh and some white smoke too! Did the Pope die already?
She’s channeling Servilan from Blake’s Seven in a black pant suit hippy chick tassly earring only on one side. She knows where the camera is and is singing the pant suit off this song. Slightly severe pulled back hair but the Germans will be happy with this. Andreas who?
Nick: German wallpaper.
I like this song a lot, and I like Ann Sophie, so I’m thoroughly disappointed to see such a featureless rehearsal. Such visuals as there are – yellow arc lights, black background smoke – don’t combine to form interesting camera shots. She does at one point demonstrate that she has a nice bottom, but it’s kept well under wraps, don’t worry, nothing to scare your granny.
It’s almost like ÖRF have texted their neighbours and said “Look, we need something dull to put in the running order after the probable winners. You were absolutely great at performing that function last year, so is there any chance that you could… You know, only if it’s not too much trouble?”
Absolutely crying out to be thrown under a bus in the running order, and might accordingly be an interesting shot at accidental last in the final if it’s not Poland. Disappointing.
Germany is competent. I disliked this to start with but it’s really grown on me. Whether that’s a good thing for a Eurovision song to not be so instant is another thing. This is a simple performance, with five large stage lamps behind Ann Sophie who’s in a black cat suit and large gold belt pouting and smouldering around the stage. She’s got plenty of sass and attitude, and has managed to tone down the earlier cockiness we saw in the German final. This works for me, and I can see this being supported by both juries and televoters alike and could be a very big result for the Germans. Wow, that’s a complete volte face for me, as I originally had this in the bottom 7.