Overview
- Germany’s national final takes place on 28 February in Berlin, with SWR staging one of the largest editions before more than 1,300 attendees.
- SWR says it used songwriting camps and Europe-wide testing with Kantar to whittle roughly 400 submissions to nine finalists: Bela, Dreamboys The Band, Laura Nahr, Malou Lovis, Molly Sue, Myle, Ragazzki, Wavvyboi and Sarah Engels.
- The broadcaster prioritizes show-driven staging, with veteran designer Florian Wieder creating a set that promises visual opulence.
- Thorsten Schorn will again commentate Germany’s broadcasts from Vienna, with the Eurovision grand final set for 16 May.
- Early coverage includes sharp criticism of several German entries by Merkur, and t-online reports that the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia have withdrawn over Israel’s Gaza policy.