When the curtain was finally drawn of Eurovision 2011 last year, we all knew that it was the last time we would see Lena at Eurovision, at least for a couple of years. So that meant that Stefan Raab had to find someone new for Eurovision. The big question was: Who? Raab decided to return to the same format that Germany had used in 2010. Step forward Roman Lob.
I think that Germany’s choice this year was a very safe one. Roman is a solid enough singer and should be reasonable at Eurovision. He is not Lena but instead, more what I would expect to come from the kind of talent show that Unser Star Fur Baku is. The song “Standing Still” is a safe bet. It reminds me a bit of The Fray’s song How To Save A Life, except it is a little duller. The songs faults is largely in the arrangement, which leads to it depending on Roman as a performer, which is not really a great idea. This should have been spotted early on in the USFB format which is very flexible in the arrangement of songs.
As with any of the big 5 countries or Azerbaijan, we don’t know the type of songs that will surround them in the final however because they are in 20th place we can safely say that this is not a bad position, regardless of what surrounds it. The final will have a very high standard this year – no doubt about that in my opinion. I think that Germany’s song will be seen as being a bit below the standard.
Verdict: While I am not writing this song off by any means, I still think that Germany is vulnerable due to the ballad being below standard in comparison to the better ballads in this year’s contest. They seem to have bitten off more than they can chew, choosing an average singing through a talent contest and then giving him a performer driven song. Lena could pull off that mix but Roman is far from Lena. Personally I think it is a nice song to listen to – a couple of times - and not any more than that.
Grade: C+
