One victory, many defeats: German ESC contestants from 2007-2017

The German-language jazz-swing song "Frauen regier'n die Welt" (Women Rule the World) and a big band were what Cicero took to the ESC. Laid back and ironic, the song didn't do too well. Roger was no newcomer to show business, but he was to the ESC, and he placed 19th. That didn't impair the star's career back home though. Cicero unexpectedly died in March 2016 and is still mourned by his fans.

No Angels was the first girl band to win a German television casting show. The very successful group sold millions of CDs and scored four No. 1 hits. Parting ways after three years, the girls later tried a comeback with lukewarm results. They placed their bets on an ESC win, but "Disappear" landed third-to-last. The evening went down in German ESC history as the "embarrassment in Belgrade."

The song "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" was supposed to make amends for the previous year's debacle. Beau Oscar Loya was sent onstage shirtless, while songwriter Alex Christensen sat at the piano. The high point of the act was burlesque dancer Dita von Teese, stretching lasciviously on a sofa and yielding her whip to make the singer dance. The gimmick fizzled; the song placed 20th.

Now it was TV multi-talent and producer Stefan Raab's turn. Having successfully contended at the ESC years earlier, he organized an elaborate television casting show in which the energetic young singer Lena Meyer-Landrut emerged victorious. With her song "Satellite," she enchanted the entire ESC audience. A decisive victory - and Germany finally snapped out of its Eurovision doldrums.

There was no alternative to this girl, so in a daring experiment, Lena was sent back into the fray the following year. But she'd changed meanwhile. Now a superstar in Germany, there was little left of her perkiness and quirky English in her reserved rendition of the song "Taken by a Stranger." Yet even then, she placed a respectable 10th.

The pleasant auto mechanic Roman Lob and his pop ballad "Standing Still" took a respectable eighth place at the ESC. Back home, some people grumbled, not knowing at that point to what depths German ESC contestants were to sink. Lob went on to very successfully sing in the musical revue "The One" in the Friedrichstadt Palace in Berlin, with stage decoration by Jean Paul Gaultier.

Cascada was an attempt to replicate the success of the previous year's winner, Loreen of Sweden - and "Glorious" did sound a lot like the winning song of 2012. But many ESC watchers wondered: Why a bad copy of a good idea? Natalie Horler of Cascada placed 21st. Cascada, incidentally, is one of the world's most successful dance acts and delivers the song for the 2017 Ice Hockey world championship.

After the famous dance act Cascada flopped in 2013, the pendulum swung back to an unknown band. In "Is It Right," the female trio Elaiza brought a bit of folk, some pop and a smidgen of ethno into play. Not a bad concept for an ESC entry? Wrong again: They ranked 18th. The ladies didn't give up though. They continue to release albums with music they call neo folk.

Lots of body movement and a mighty voice. Add self-discipline and a great stage presence. With Ann Sophie, nothing could go wrong, could it? But that song! Nobody remembers "Black Smoke" anymore. Earning a sensational zero points, Ann Sophie ranked last - a status she shared with host country Austria.

Another very young, unknown act: 18-year-old Jamie-Lee, clad as a manga figure, sang the song "Ghost" in a dreamy stage landscape. Here, at the latest, they might have asked why German ESC contenders get such boring songs. Jamie-Lee's sweet performance was of no help. Once again, it was bottom of the heap for Germany.

Traumatized German Eurovision fans had placed all their hopes in Levina. After the German nationals in February, she went on an ongoing tour of ESC participating countries and made a very positive impression everywhere: She's congenial, poised, authentic and can really sing. Yet the deception was huge, once again. She only came in second-to-last with "Perfect Life."