THIS WEEK: 🇮🇹 Sanremo 2021

The big yearly Italian celebration of music, Sanremo 2021, which is also a Eurovision selection show, kicks off tonight! It will continue every night until Saturday.

🇮🇹 Italy – Sanremo Music Festival

Show: Festival di Sanremo – 5 days in total

When: 20:30 – 1:30 CET, Tuesday to Saturday

Where to watch: RAI or the livestream

Sanremo will be presented by Amadeus and eight female co-hosts, who will alternate throughout the five evenings. 26 acts will be competing to win the Sanremo competition as part of the Big Artists section. The winner of this section will have the opportunity to go to Eurovision. They are listed below, along with the songs they will be performing:

• Aiello – Ora (Now)
• Annalisa – Dieci (Ten)
• Arisa – Potevi fare di più (You could have done more)
• Bugo – E invece sì (Instead yes)
• Colapesce e Dimartino – Musica leggerissima (Very light music)
• Coma_Cose – Fiamme negli occhi (Flames in the eyes)
• Ermal Meta – Un milione di cose da dirti (A million things to tell you)
• Extraliscio feat. Davide Toffolo – Esordienti (Beginners)
• Fasma – Parlami (Talk to me)
• Francesca Michielin e Fedez – Chiamami per nome (Call me by name)
• Francesco Renga – Quando trovo te (When I find you)
• Fulminacci – Santa Marinella
• Gaia – Cuore amaro (Bitter heart)
• Ghemon – Momento perfetto (Perfect moment)
• Gio Evan – Arnica
• Irama – La genesi del tuo colore (The genesis of your colour)
• La Rappresentante di Lista – Amare (To love)
• Lo Stato Sociale – Combat Pop
• Madame – Voce (Voice)
• Malika Ayane – Ti piaci così (You like yourself like that)
• Måneskin – Zitti e buoni (Silent and good)
• Max Gazzè e Trifluoperazina Monstery Band – Il farmacista (The pharmacist)
• Noemi – Glicine (Wisteria)
• Orietta Berti – Quando ti sei innamorato (When you fell in love)
• Random – Torno a te (I come back to you)
• Willie Peyote – Mai dire mai (La locura) (Never say never (The madness)

The format

Every one of the 26 artists listed above will advance to the final night, there are no eliminations. They will perform their songs multiple times over the course of the week. Their first performances will be spread out over the first two nights, if you want to catch a first look.

As part of social distancing restrictions there will be no audience, and the evenings will finish no later than 2am local time.

The voting methods will differ each night. Every night a different voting bloc will contribute to the results, scoring on the performances they have seen that night:

• Tuesday: Demiscopic Jury (A jury selected by RAI that represents the Italian population)
• Wednesday: Demiscopic Jury
• Thursday: Orchestra Jury
• Friday: Press Jury
• Saturday: Televoting

To select the three superfinalists at the end of the week on Saturday, the results will be decided on an average of the voting percentages obtained over all evenings.

Once the superfinal is completed, the score of the final winner will be divided between 34% Public televoting; 33% Press Jury; 33% Demoscopic Jury.

Who are you looking forward to seeing at Sanremo 2021? Will you be watching tonight or any other night throughout the week? Who is going to be watching every night? Let us know!