Singer Isaak has to rewrite his ESC contribution “Always On The Run” for the show in Malmö.
For years, the ESC has presented itself as a great celebration of love and peace. Hatred and vulgarity should have no place at the pop event. Did Isaak, the German participant in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, violate this?
His song “Always On The Run” needs to be changed before it is performed in Malmö on May 11th. According to the organizers, one line is not compatible with the ESC rules. Specifically, it is about the term “shit”, which is found once in the text.
The first verse of Isaak’s song says: “No one gives a shit about what’s soon to come”. Translated: “Nobody cares about what’s coming soon.” This of course loses its offensive appeal in German. And yet: strong expressions, no matter how harmless they seem, are forbidden at the ESC, as are political messages.
This is how Isaak reacts to the ESC censorship
This is also why the swear word is already muted in the singer’s ESC video on YouTube. For Isaak, none of this is really worth worrying about. “We thought about it, we also censored it. We can manage that, no problem,” said the 28-year-old, according to “schlager.de”. Instead, “somehow you get a ‘sh…’ or something like that.”
Isaak prevailed in the preliminary round a few days ago against top-class competition such as EX-ESC participant Max Mutzke and is now representing Germany with a really loud power anthem at the music event, which has not been a big story for many participants in recent years . Last year there were zero points.