Germany 2026: Sarah Engels with ‘Fire’

One year of sending something identifiable as German and being praised for doing so was plenty apparently so here’s Fire:

It’s an unwritten rule of Eurovision there must be at least one entry like this every year and it’s Germany’s turn to supply it. Unfortunately this might be the most clichéd and unoriginal of the lot. It’s lazy to say this is just Nutsa’s ‘Firefighter’ (Georgia 2024) and Silia Kapsis’ Liar (Cyprus 2024) mashed together but it’s also not entirely inaccurate.

Germany as the source doesn't really fit audience expectations or stereotypes (which can play a part) and increase the inautheticity concerns and Sarah doesn't 100% convince in this. Going the dance break route, one really needs to nail the choreography and that was a bit of a weak link in the national final, which visually was staged about as well as you can ask for.

There's just not a lot new or different or exciting here and Germany frequently have a very hard time on the Televote. Without the points in the bank that Cyprus '24 had (and competing against the more characterful Cyprus this year) this is just inevitably going to struggle.

This isn’t a jury song typically but that side of the vote could spare Germany’s blushes if the performance is improved. The vocal is strong in places but does need some tidying up too. Ultimately though, we’re again talking about scraping in to top 10s, getting a few points from neighbours and a random 8 from Israel etc rather than anything to lift this up significantly. Think like 25 on the jury, 5 on the Televote…

As I’m publishing this Austria have also just drawn 25th in the running order making this a real day of 🧐. The relevance here being the battle to avoid last. I don't particularly think that helps Austria much or at all, but it doesn't hurt either. Potential accidental last place.

Personal Rating: 11/20

Televote Potential: 4/20

Jury Potential: 7/20

Staging Potential: 12/20

Track Record: 6/20

Overall Rating: 40/100

Early Prediction: 22nd-25th in the final

Volatility Factor: 1/5 - We have seen glow ups from this genre before and I do think Germany and Sarah will try hard with this but even then we’re probably looking at 18th place at best - it’s just how these things go.