Tonight the fifth heat of Unser Star für Baku took place. Six artists were left who competed for five places in the quarter final which will be held on Thursday, February 9th. The public finally decided that Céline Huber had to leave the show.

At the beginning we saw short introduction films about each of the six remaining singers which summarized all performances they had done so far. Afterwards the artists presented themselves again. The lines were opened to determine the running order. 

The songs:

1.) Katja Petri – Certain someone

For the first time in this competition Katja performs a song written by herself. Certain someone is a ballad which suits very well to Katja’s warm voice. On stage Katja plays the guitar, like she already did in the first two shows. Vocally she is again very good, but the song does not seem to have a real hightlight. The jury is quite positive about Katja’s performance. Thomas misses the special moment in her performances. Alina thinks it is brave to sing an own song on stage and Stefan praises the quality of Katja’s voice because she usually sings without making any mistakes.

2.) Ornella de Santis – You are the sunshine of my life (Stevie Wonder)

Ornella delivers another very charming and sweet performance. As usual her voice sounds very interesting and different, although she cannot really show all her power in this song. Stefan says that Ornella’s voice always sounds good and that she does not make any mistakes either. He is just waiting for a real highlight during Ornella’s performances. Alina especially likes the happiness Ornella shows on stage and Thomas does not have anything he wants to criticize.

3.) Céline Huber – Russian Roulette (Rihanna)

Céline is the queen of ballads during the Unser Star für Baku shows. Tonight she performs Russian Roulette by Rihanna. As usual she delivers a solide performance. During the verses she is very strong while during the chorus her voice sounds slighly weaker. Alina thinks it was brave to choose this song. Stefan criticizes that Céline did not hit every note. There was one note she consequently sang false. Thomas liked this performance more than her last ones. In his opinion Céline appeared too honest during the last three shows.

4.) Shelly Philipps – I try (Macy Gray)

Shelly chose again an r’n’b song to perform. Her vocals are very good again and she is very charming on stage. The jury likes her a lot. Alina calls her simply beautiful. Stefan admires her deep vocals and Thomas is enthusiastic about her charme. After her performance Shelly climbs to the top of the live voting.

5.) Yana Gercke – We found love (Rihanna)

During the last shows Yana has become one of the big favourites to win the ticket to Baku. Tonight she delivers again a very strong performance. The verses start slow, but the song builds to a powerful uptempo number. Yana manages to hit the notes in the quiet part as well as in the louder parts. The jury members all agree that this was a good performance, but she should be a little bit more self-confident.

6.) Roman Lob – Drive (Incubus)

Last on stage is Roman Lob. At the beginning of the song there are some problems with his microphone as he can hardly be understood. Roman seems to ignore this completely and delivers as usual a very strong performance. Like during the other shows Roman receives a very good feedback by the jury. All three members especially admired his coolness during the technical problems. And Stefan praises his vocal qualities as well.

The results:

The live voting was very exciting again and showed two groups – the first three placed artists and the last three. In each group the artists were close together. At the end the following artist had to leave the show:

Céline Huber

After five shows the line up for the quarter final is completed. It will be held on Thursday, February 9th and be broadcasted by ARD (Das Erste). Roman Lob, Yana Gercke, Shelly Philipps, Katja Petri and Ornella de Santis will compete to reach the semifinal.