69th Song Contest

Viennese duo Abor & Tynna represent Germany

(Bild: RTL/Raab Entertainment/Willi Weber)

The Austrian duo Abor & Tynna will compete for Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). The siblings from Vienna won the preliminary round co-organized by Stefan Raab on Saturday evening.

With their song "Baller", they came out just ahead of the singer Lyza. This is the first time since 2007 that Germany has taken part in the world's most highly regarded music competition with a German-language song. The ESC final will take place on May 17 in Basel.

The musician was chosen by a narrow margin in the show "Chefsache ESC 2025 - Wer singt für Deutschland?": Abor & Tynna received 34.9 percent of the votes in the public vote among the remaining five finalists. Lyza received 31.1 percent. The singer had only been discovered for the German ESC preliminary round and the performances in the show were her first stage appearances ever.

Viennese siblings with classical genes
The winning siblings from Vienna - whose real names are Tünde and Attila Bornemisza - can point to their musical genes. Their father Csaba Bornemisza is a cellist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and both played classical instruments from an early age. The brother and sister recorded their first song together in 2016, and in 2024 Abor & Tynna were the support act on Nina Chuba's tour.

Their ESC song is less classical. "Baller", as the title suggests, combines pop, hip-hop and electronics. The beat is fast-paced and the whole song feels very contemporary. Raab also recognized this early on. It was "the youngest song" in the competition, he had said during the selection process. He now has big plans for the sibling duo. Raab has set his sights on winning the ESC.

New selection procedure in Germany
Abor & Tynna secured their ESC ticket step by step. In the very last round on Saturday evening, they still had to win over the audience, who could choose between five acts. The siblings collected enough votes. In the previous rounds, Raab had made the decisions together with his team and a jury.

The selection procedure was newly established this year. The clear goal: to find a potential ESC winner. Germany's record in the music competition has been dramatically poor in recent years. Since 2015, it has hailed last or penultimate places. The only bright spots were Michael Schulte (2018, 4th place) and last year's singer Isaak (12th place).

3300 applications for the ESC 2025
ARD, Raab and Raab's new home channel RTL formed an alliance to cast suitable musicians. Three of the four shows in the format "Chefsache ESC 2025 - Wer singt für Deutschland?" were broadcast on RTL, with the final on ARD. At the beginning, there were around 3300 applications. Raab and his team gradually reduced the number of candidates.

The 58-year-old has been regarded as an ESC specialist at least since Lena Meyer-Landrut's victory under his aegis in 2010. No one had achieved this since Nicole and Ralph Siegel in 1982 ("Ein bisschen Frieden"). To this day, it remains the last German ESC victory. After a long break, Raab is now once again jointly responsible for the German contribution to the major music competition.