Too shrill, too loud, too much slapstick: pop star Nicole criticizes the development of the ESC

Teleschau Too shrill, too loud, too much slapstick: pop star Nicole criticizes the development of the ESC Thu, October 17, 2024 at 10:08 AM CEST Too loud and too shrill: Nicole criticizes today's ESC in an interview. Was everything really better in the past? When it comes to the development of the Eurovision Song Contest and after Nicole, then definitely: "It's sometimes frightening for me," said the German pop star, who was the first German to win the competition in 1982, in an interview. Nicole (59) has little to do with the way the Eurovision Sing Contest is currently presenting itself. When it comes to the ESC, she is "somehow out of the loop," the singer explained in an interview with "schlager.de". "My expertise is obviously no longer the same." On April 24, 1982, Nicole won the 27th edition of the competition, which was then still called the "Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson" in this country, in the northern English spa town of Harrogate. She brought the victory to Germany for the first time with the Ralph Siegel composition "Ein bisschen Frieden". She performed with a white guitar and a floor-length dress, the sequins of which sparkled like stars in the spotlight. Show? None. Nicole sat on a bar stool and sang her peace anthem innocently and sincerely out into the world. In her opinion, something like that would be unthinkable today and would have absolutely no chance. In April 1982, Nicole won the 27th Eurovision Song Contest in Harrogate and became a star. Today she is critical of the ESC. Nicole: At the ESC "it has to be belly-baring these days" "Today a high-necked dress like that would be out. It has to be belly-baring at least. A short skirt and a wig would also work. My hair was really like that back then," she said in an interview and criticized the fact that the competition entries today focus too much on the show. She couldn't get used to that. "It's shrill now, it's loud, it's sometimes scary for me. Songs win where I don't see any song material or great singing," complained Nicole. But the ESC is primarily a song competition: "It's about the best song, the best composition, the best text and the best interpretation. The whole thing has to be a unit." "They see it as a joke": Nicole complains about the lack of seriousness at the ESC Nicole also criticized the attitude of many participants, who lacked the necessary respect and seriousness. "I sometimes have the feeling that there are people on stage who see it as a joke," she said. She herself sees the ESC as "the biggest music show that exists anywhere in the world." However, she admitted that staging plays a role, of course - even in her surprising but clear victory (61 points ahead). Ralph Siegel chose her white guitar very deliberately, because they rarely appeared in show programs at the time. "It wasn't a black or brown guitar, but a white one." Quite deliberately: "As a sign of peace." Even 42 years after her performance that made her a star, Nicole is still in business. On October 25, on her 60th birthday, she will release her new single "Ich gratuliere mir." On November 15, a new and 30th studio album, "Carpe Diem," will be released. Her tour starts two days earlier in Plauen. The concert tour will take her through 13 German cities until the end of November.