Eurovision: German acts vying to become the 2019 national entry

Unconventional, cosmopolitan, habitually contrary: Meet Aly Ryan. The German-born 21-year-old has lived in the US since she was 15. In Los Angeles, she says, she "met the right people," and her musical career took off. At the German Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) finals, she'll be competing with the ballad "Wear Your Love."

Like so many in his generation, this 20-year-old is active on Instagram and Youtube. And like most of the contenders in the German finals, he is no stranger to the stage, either. He has also participated in numerous TV casting shows. Bruhn says he greatly admires Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber; with those musical role models, he can't really go wrong.

She's a musician, fitness coach and mother of a 2-year-old son. Born in New York, the 34-year-old Thomasz has been living in Germany since the age of 10. She has worked in theaters and musicals, and performed as the opening act for major bands including U2. For Friday's national final, she has promised "emotional fireworks" along the lines of "Queen meets Pop R&B."

Barefoot on the stage, her head in the clouds: that is Elisabeth Brüchner, aka Lilly Among Clouds. To write her music, she prefers to be alone and secluded, but when a song is ready to go, she at home on stages throughout Europe, or even the South by Southwest festival in Texas. On Friday, Germans nationwide will get a taste of her talent in the national finals.

At age 18, he is the youngest of the German contenders hoping to represent the country at the ESC this year. Hägele likes small, intimate venues for his concerts. When he received an invitation to join the list of German ESC contestants he first thought it was a joke. The ballad "Let me go," a song about leaving home and conquering the world, is his entry on Friday.

Carlotta Truman, 19, teamed up with Laurita, the young soul singer with the raspy voice, just for the ESC, presenting the only number composed especially for the song contest. Their entry, they say, is "so cool, the best song you will ever hear."

Makeda has already made a career as a musical singer, often taking on the lead role of Rachel Marron in "Bodyguard." She twice before threw her hat in the ring for the ESC, and this time, she is among the shortlisted lucky seven. Soul singer Alicia Keys is her role model, she says, a woman she saw on TV who played the piano "and looked like me. — I was really able to relate to that."