"Satellite" is a song written by American songwriter

Julie Frost Julie Frost is an American songwriter, singer, guitarist and record producer. She is the recipient of Golden Globe and Eurovision Song Contest awards for songs written, as well as a Parent's Choice Award for album production and performance. She ...

, and Danish songwriter John Gordon. It is best known as

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

's winning entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, performed by German singer

Lena Meyer-Landrut Lena Johanna Therese Meyer-Landrut (; born 23 May 1991), also known by the mononym Lena, is a German singer. She rose to fame after representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, winning the contest with her song "Satellite". ...

. Meyer-Landrut's version of the song was chosen via

televoting Televoting, telephone voting or phone voting is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone. Broadcast contest televoting Televoting ...

during the national Eurovision pre-selection show '' Unser Star für Oslo'' (''Our Star for Oslo'') on 12 March 2010. It was made available for digital download the following day, becoming Germany's fastest selling digital release ever. It debuted at

number one Number One most commonly refers to: * 1 (number) Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to: Music Albums * ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song * ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song * ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC * ''n.1 ...

in the

German singles chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindust ...

and has since been certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. On 29 May 2010, it won the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, scoring 246 points. Following its Eurovision victory, "Satellite" went on to be a commercial success across Europe, topping the single charts in six countries and receiving a number of Gold and Platinum certifications. A version by

Jennifer Braun Jennifer Braun (born 28 April 1991) is a German singer. She was runner-up at the talent show '' Unser Star für Oslo'', Germany's national pre-selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Her first music single was " I Care for You". B ...

, the runner-up of ''Unser Star für Oslo'', was also released as a single, and charted in Germany.

Production and song selection

"Satellite" is a

pop song Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

written by American songwriter Julie Frost and Danish songwriter John Gordon. Frost told

HitQuarters HitQuarters was an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It was noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song ...

that the song is about "unconditional love". The

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

describe the thoughts of a woman in love ("I got it bad for you"), who is frustrated at being ignored ("I went everywhere for you/ I even did my hair for you/ I bought new underwear they're blue/ And I wore it just the other day.") and compares herself to a lonely traveller ("Like a satellite I'm in orbit all the way around you/ And I would fall out into the night/ Can't go a minute without your love."), but on the other hand seems to draw a kind of masochistic pleasure from her pain. Gordon has said it is a "bubbly" song, "pretty easy and sweet with cheerful lyrics" and " three chords". Frost, the song's

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

, explained, "It deals with all the crazy hidden things a girl does and feels when she is in love. A man can make her feel everything at once, joyful but also tormented and helpless." A couple of years later Gordon's publisher Iceberg Publishing decided to send the song to Valicon, a large German production company, and the producer André ‘Brix’ Buchmann, who then submitted for consideration to

Universal Music Germany Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, Dutch law. UMG's cor ...

. The song was one of approximately 300 titles for the talent show ''Unser Star für Oslo'' (Our Star for Oslo), a newly created national television programme to select the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. "Satellite" was eventually chosen as one of four songs (alongside "

Bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

", " I Care for You" and " Love Me") to be performed in the final of ''Unser Star für Oslo'' on 12 March 2010. A ballad version was sung by contestant

. Through

, the audience chose "Satellite" to be Meyer-Landrut's designated song in case she won the show. In a second round of voting, Meyer-Landrut with "Satellite" was picked as Germany's entry for the 55th Eurovision Song Contest. The recording of "Satellite" was produced by John Gordon, André "Brix" Buchmann, Ingo Politz and Bernd Wendtland. It was remastered by Sascha "Busy" Bühren.

Release

On 13 March 2010, all six songs performed in the final of ''Unser Star für Oslo'' were made available for digital download on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

Germany and Musicload.de. The

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, " In the Summertime" was t ...

of Meyer-Landrut's "Satellite", which also includes her other two songs from the final, "Bee" and "Love Me", was released three days later on 16 March 2010. All songs were released on the specially created

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

USFO, a cooperation between Universal Music Germany and Raab TV/ Brainpool, the production companies of ''Unser Star für Oslo''. "Satellite" sold over 100,000 downloads in its first week, becoming Germany's fastest selling digital release ever. It debuted at

in the

, and was eligible to be certified gold after the first week and platinum after the fourth week of its release. The song has remained at number one for five consecutive weeks in Germany. After winning the Eurovision Song Contest on 29 May 2010, "Satellite" regained its top position in Germany for one week and also peaked at number one in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It also topped ''Billboard'''s

European Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

singles chart, being the first Eurovision song to achieve this. With 464,000 downloads sold, "Satellite" is the second-best selling download single in Germany since 2006, when such records began being kept. It is behind Lady Gaga's hit " Poker Face", which was downloaded more than 500,000 times. "Satellite" is included on Meyer-Landrut's debut album ''

My Cassette Player ''My Cassette Player'' is the debut studio album of German singer Lena Meyer-Landrut. It was released under her stage name Lena on 7 May 2010,Klier, MarcusGermany: Lena's debut album released on 7th May ESCtoday.com. 1 May 2010. Accessed 7 May 20 ...

'', which was released on 7 May 2010. It is also available on the Kinect Xbox 360 game,

Dance Central 2 ''Dance Central 2'' is a music rhythm game for the Xbox 360 and is the sequel to ''Dance Central''. It was released in October 2011. Plot Dr. Tan is monitoring the status of the area in The Airship, laughing while doing so. The player first ...

and the PAL (European and Australian) version of ''

Just Dance 3 ''Just Dance 3'' is a 2011 dance rhythm game released on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 with Kinect and Move support respectively for the latter two. It is part of the '' Just Dance'' video game series published by Ubisoft originally on the ...

''.

Music video

The music video for "Satellite" was shot during the night of the final on the television stage of ''Unser Star für Oslo'' in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. It features no story line or any change of scenery, but instead focuses entirely on Meyer-Landrut as she sings and dances on a darkened stage with some spotlights behind her. On 16 March 2010, the video premiered on public broadcaster

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...

right before Germany's most-watched evening news bulletin ''

Tagesschau (German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationalit ...

''. Shortly after, it was simultaneously shown on four private stations ( Sat.1,

ProSieben ProSieben (, ''sieben'' is German for "seven"; often stylized as Pro7) is a German free-to-air television network owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media. It was launched on 1 January 1989. It is Germany's second-largest privately owned television company ...

, kabel eins, N24) before the start of their evening

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

programmes. The video reached 67 million views on YouTube as of May 2021.

Eurovision Song Contest

"Satellite" was Germany's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. By representing a "Big four" country, it was automatically qualified for the final. Germany received a wild card during the running order draw, which allowed the German representatives to pick the country's position for the final. They chose position 22 out of the 25 spots. Meyer-Landrut arrived one week before the show in Oslo, Norway, where she completed five rehearsals of "Satellite". Prior to the final, the song was considered as one of the favourites.

Bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

regarded it second favourite behind

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

's " Drip Drop", while

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

projected it would win based on search volume in the participating countries. According to Norway's ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...

'', Meyer-Landrut received the most attention of all participants. The final was held on 29 May 2010 at Oslo's Telenor Arena. Appearing fourth from last, Meyer-Landrut wore a simple black dress and performed on a bare stage with four backing singers. Her pared-back presentation reflected a trend that has had success at recent Eurovisions, as it did not feature any form of choreography, dancers or elaborate stage show. "Satellite" received a total of 246 points, giving Germany its first victory since 1982, and the first win as a unified country. It also became the first winning song from a Big-Four country since

Katrina and the Waves Katrina and the Waves were a British rock band widely known for the 1985 hit " Walking on Sunshine". They also won the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest with the song " Love Shine a Light". History Pre-history (1975–1980) The band's earliest in ...

' victory for the United Kingdom in 1997. The song won over Turkey's entry " We Could Be the Same" with a margin of 76 points, the third-biggest in Eurovision history, after Sweden's participant Loreen managed a margin of 113 points in the 2012 contest and

Alexander Rybak Alexander Igorevich Rybak (russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак) or Alyaxandr Iharavich Rybak ( be, Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) is a Belarusian-Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pian ...

's margin of 169 points in the 2009 contest. "Satellite" received the maximum 12 points nine times and received points from all but five countries.

Formats and track listings

Credits and personnel

* Lead

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

– Lena Meyer-Landrut * Additional vocals – Kayna * Audio remastering – Sascha "Busy" Bühren * Producers – John Gordon, André "Brix" Buchmann, Ingo Politz, Bernd Wendtland for Valicon * Music – Julie Frost, John Gordon *

Lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a " libretto" and their writer, ...

– Julie Frost *

Label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

: USFO for Universal Music Deutschland

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Awards and nominations

Jennifer Braun version

"Satellite" was also one of three songs performed by Braun in the final of ''Unser Star für Oslo''.Unser Star für Oslo
Jennifer Braun - "Satellite"
Unser-Star-fuer-Oslo.de. 12 March 2010. Accessed 6 May 2010. However, the audience chose

and her version of "Satellite" for the contest in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

.Niggemeier, Stefan
Der merkwürdig unbefriedigende Sieg der Lena Meyer-Landrut
FAZ.net. 13 March 2010. Accessed 2 May 2010. Braun's version was also made available for digital download on 13 March 2010Amazon
Satellite
Amazon.de. Accessed 6 May 2010. and is also featured on Braun's maxi single " I Care for You". It subsequently charted in Germany, reaching a peak position of #32.PhonoNet GmbH
Jennifer Braun Chartverfolgung
Musicline.de. Accessed 11 May 2, 2010.

Credits and personnel

*Lead

– Jennifer Braun *Music – Julie Frost, John Gordon *

– Julie Frost *

: USFO for

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

Deutschland

Chart performance

Stefan Raab version

During the opening act of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf Stefan Raab performed a Rockabilly version of this song where Meyer-Landrut was briefly involved as duet partner. The studio version of the song was released as a single and charted #24 in Germany. The original version of the song also re-entered the

singles charts in several countries.Eurovision takes over the charts worldwide. 16 May 2011. ESCDaily

Other versions

''Satellite'' was covered several times, including in German with the title ''Schland Oh Schland'' by the student's band Uwu Lena in 2010 and in Turkish titled ''Laviva'' for a chocolate bar commercial by the food company

Ülker Ülker is a Turkish multinational food and beverage manufacturer based in Istanbul, Turkey. Its products are exported internationally, to 110 countries. Ülker's core products are biscuits, cookies, crackers, and chocolates, although it has ex ...

in 2013.

Notes

External links

Official music video
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Eurovision profile and lyrics
at Eurovision.tv *

at Unser-Star-fuer-Oslo.de

at Unser-Star-fuer-Oslo.de

at Eurovision.ndr.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Satellite (Lena Meyer-Landrut Song) 2010 debut singles Lena Meyer-Landrut songs Eurovision songs of 2010 Eurovision Song Contest winning songs Eurovision songs of Germany European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Denmark Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Iceland Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Songs written by Julie Frost English-language German songs 2010 songs Universal Music Group singles

Production and song selection

Release

Music video

Eurovision Song Contest

Formats and track listings

Credits and personnel

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Awards and nominations

Jennifer Braun version

Credits and personnel

Chart performance

Stefan Raab version

Other versions

See also

Notes

External links