Germany

Germany
Artist - Lena
Song - Taken By A Stranger
Draw - Final, Place 16

Lena Meyer-Landrut, born in 1991, rose to fame last year when she won the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Satellite". She decided to take part in the German National Selection in 2010, "Unser Star für Oslo", even though she had had no previous singing experience. She shot through the qualifying rounds, to end up in the final of the show with Jennifer Braun. In the final, she sang three songs, "Bee", "Love Me" and "Satellite". Lena was the clear favourite of the show and on the 12th March 2010, it was announced that she would be flying the German Flag in Oslo. During the lead up to the Final of Eurovision 2010, she was one of the favourites to win, along with Denmark and Azerbaijan, yet on the night she fought off the competition and won the ESC, with 246 points.


In Late 2010, an unusual thing happened. It was announced that Lena would represent Germany yet again at Eurovision. In February 2011, "Unser Song für Deutschland" took place, and in the final, the song "Taken By A Stranger" won.


Taken By A Stranger was written by Gus Seyffert, Nicole Morier and Monica Birkenes, and composed by Reinhard Schaub and Stefan Raab. The song has reached number 45 in Switzerland, number 32 in Austria and number 2 in Germany.


Current Betting Odds (William Hill) - 12/1
My Prediction - Definitely top 8.



                                    Viel Glück Deutschland!

A New Top Ten??

Betting agents across Europe have been sticking to the same pattern this year when it comes to who they think will be in the top ten.

Unusually, normal Eurovision favourites such as Turkey, Greece and Ukraine, have all been ranked fairly low, with Turkey at 40/1 and with Greece and the Ukraine at a rather suprising 100/1. Also the tope ten is being largly dominated by Western countries this year. Are we starting to see a comeback for the Western nations, after wins from Norway and Germany?

Take a look at the new top ten (William Hill) -

France 5/1
United Kingdom 6/1
Estonia 6/1
Norway 10/1
Azerbaijan 10/1
Bosnia-Herzegovina 10/1
Sweden 12/1
Germany 12/1
Hungary 14/1
Denmark 14/1

Just missing out on the tope ten are Ireland, Russia and comeback nation, Austria.

Yet again, Portugal are dominating the bottom of the leaderboard, with a rather dismal 250/1.

So what do you think of these predictions? Will we be saying Bonjour Paris in 2012??

Check back later today when we'll be taking a look at Nina and Caroban from Serbia!!

Who are the favourites so far??

After a few weeks of knowing all of the participating songs in this years Eurovision, betting agents and Eurovision websites have been quick to reveal who they think has the winning formula to win this year.

Amaury Vassili, the
French
Representative

        

 
William Hill (A UK bookmaker) favours France to win, with the UK, Estonia, Azerbaijan, Sweden and Germany close behind. They also predict FYR Macedonia, Malta and Portugal being at the bottom. A prediction that I don't think will be far wrong!!

Eurovision fan site, The Eurovision Times, favour Estonia to be the front runner, with Amaury Vassili from France in a close second. Eric Saade of Sweden is in third with the UK in a steady fourth with boyband, Blue. Last years winner Lena, completes the top 5.

Estonian, Getter Jaani, is
one of the favourites on
ESC Nation 

ESC Nation, has a poll running for each country to award points to others, in the traditional Eurovision fashion. Since the poll opened a few weeks ago, the top three have not yet changed, with Kati Wolfe, Eric Saade and Getter Jaani, from Hungary, Sweden and Estonia respectively, changing from positions 1 to 3. The UK are in fourth with Germany and France battling it out for the 5th place.

 


ESC Today have their tradtional "Big Poll". Here is whats predicted by the European public, as to which ten countries will make it through to the final.

Semi-final 1 (participants in alphabetical order)

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Russia & Turkey

Semi-final 2 (participants in alphabetical order)

Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Israel, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden & The Netherlands


So do these predictions match what you think will happen?

Stay tuned for Croatia's profile blog, later today.