Eurovision

The EBU have announced that 41 countries will participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Eurovision fans may notice that the list of countries is the same as last year’s list. It is the first time since 1990 that there has been no debuting, returning or withdrawing countries in the contest. The news today also confirms the participation of Belarus and the United Kingdom. Prior to today, neither country had confirmed their participation in the 2021 contest. “We are thrilled that they will all return” Eurovision’s Executive Supervisor, Martin Österdahl, has welcomed the news that all 41 countries from 2020 will return next year. Talking about the contest to Eurovision.tv, he said: We are grateful for the commitment of the 41 participating broadcasters in helping us bring the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2021. We have the exact same line up of countries that would have competed in 2020 and we are thrilled they will all return next year.– Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, Sieste Bakker also shares Martin’s excitement following the news: It is fantastic that the same 41 countries that would have …

This week Yle, the Finnish broadcaster announced more details about next year’s edition of Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK 2021). From 278 submissions, seven will compete in the national final on February 20. An official announcement of the artists will commence on January 19. With the eventual winner becoming Finland’s representative for Eurovision 2021 to be held in Rotterdam. Lucky number seven for UMK 2021 Once more Finland will select their Eurovision entrant through the national final format, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu. Now Yle has revealed more details of their 2021 ambitions and what we can expect from the competition. A professional jury headed by Tapio Hakanen whittled down 278 submissions to just seven. With the public announcement of who these seven are due on January 19th. After which each song will published on consecutive weekdays. The level of the songs and artists was incredibly strong and I am confident that we have coming in the spring of 2021, the most competitive UMK of all time. I’m really happy and grateful to each musician and every song that was sent to Yle. Tapio Hakanen So far no names have been revealed or rumoured. However Tapio has given hints to the potential calibre of …

Bulgaria’s Eurovision 2021 representative, Victoria, has announced that she will reveal her entry for next year’s contest in March. Fans will be hoping for another quality song from the singer, who was one of the favourites this year with “Tears Getting Sober”. BNT, the Bulgarian broadcaster, also revealed on Twitter that “performing in English is a logical choice” for Victoria, as she aims for the international music market. The last time that Bulgaria sent a song with no English lyrics was in 2013 with “Samo shampioni”. Work continues on next year’s entry Earlier this week, Victoria confirmed in an interview on BNT that her entry for Eurovision 2021 would be revealed in March, the same month as she revealed “Tears Getting Sober” this year. The song is due to be completed by the start of 2021. In August, BNT organised the ‘Black Sea Songwriting Camp’, where Victoria’s entry was selected and written. Alongside Victoria, Ben Dolic (Germany 2020) and Cesár Sampson (Austria 2018) also attended the songwriting camp. Victoria was initially reluctant and against the idea of selecting a new song for Eurovision 2021. Following the contest’s cancellation in March, Victoria said: Tears Getting Sober is a project that means …

After much speculation since the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 back in March, Daði Freyr has confirmed that he has been internally selected by RÚV to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with his band Gagnamagnið. What do you think about things? This lunchtime, Daði made the announcement via his Twitter feed. Whether the song will also be internally chosen or via a national selection is yet to be determined. RÚV recently announced that they would reveal more details on their Eurovision 2021 selection method in the coming weeks. Eurovision 2021!⁰I’m coming back next year and Gagnamagnið is joining me!So I guess I’m writing another Eurovision song.Also closing the Think About Things chapter of my life with some remixes released today:https://t.co/SZ6X8IY1ubThank you for all the support! pic.twitter.com/ovbxqCjfTp— Daði Freyr 🥑 (@dadimakesmusic) October 23, 2020 Daði’s 2020 success Daði and Gagnamagnið earned the Icelandic ticket to this year’s cancelled contest following their victory in Söngvakeppnin 2020. Despite Eurovision’s cancellation, “Think About Things” was a viral success, gaining significant traction on social media platforms including Twitter and TikTok. The track particularly earned success in the UK and Ireland, charting top 40 in the former and top 3 in …

Italian broadcaster Rai have confirmed that the winner of Sanremo 2021’s Campioni category will be given first refusal to represent Italy at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam. This will be tenth time since Italy’s return in 2011 that Sanremo is used to select their representative. This announcement confirms that Diodato will not be internally selected for the 2021 contest if the Sanremo winner opts to compete in the contest. The last time that the festival was not used to select Italy’s entrant was in 2014. The 2021 edition will take place from 2nd to 6th March. Another national final for the calendar After several months of speculation about Sanremo 2021 – when it will take place, if the winner will go to Eurovision, if there will be an audience – it’s finally been confirmed that the winner will, most likely, be heading to Rotterdam next year. In the official rules for next year’s festival, it states that: The winning artist of the 71st ‘Festival della Canzone Italiana’ (Champions section) will participate, representing Italy, at the 2021 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, at the request of RAI.– Rules of the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 (translated from Italian) As …

Last month, Israeli broadcaster IPBC launched a call for entries for their national final to select Eden’s entry for Eurovision 2021. This year, sixteen songs will compete in a multi-round national selection. The deadline for submissions for Israel’s Eurovision 2021 selection was October 15, having been extended by 10 days. According to Euromix, around 220 songs were submitted to KAN. This is slightly lower than the 250 songs submitted for the 2020 selection, but higher than the 200 submissions for Kobi Marimi’s host entry in 2019. Notably, only 130 songs were released for Netta, who went on to win the contest in 2018. According to Israeli media reports, we will be hearing these songs next month! However, only the top four entries will be performed by Eden, following a series of shortlisting processes. From 16…to eight…to four Out of the 220 song submissions, a committee will choose 16 entries to continue to the next stage. These songs will be made available online next month with the public’s four favourites making it through to the live shows. The committee will choose a further four songs to join them, making eight in total.  The next stage is the live semi-finals which will each have …

With the deadline for broadcasters to confirm their participation fast approaching, the final number of countries are now beginning to confirm their participation, or reveal their plans. One of the countries in this position is Portugal, who has confirmed their participation for the contest, via the opening of submissions for their national final ‘Festival da Canção’. The continuation of the tradition means that Elisa will not be internally selected to represent Portugal at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, after winning the right to do so in 2020. View this post on Instagram O Festival da Canção 2021 dá os primeiros passos com a seleção dos autores que irão criar as canções da edição do próximo ano. A @rtppt mantém o modelo adotado nas últimas edições, mas contará em 2021 com a participação de 20 autores: 18 por convite direto e 2 por submissão de propostas. O vencedor irá representar Portugal no Festival Eurovisão da Canção 2021 (@eurovision 2021), que terá lugar nos Países Baixos, em maio de 2021. À livre submissão de canções poderão concorrer todos os cidadãos de nacionalidade portuguesa ou residentes no nosso país que tenham ou não trabalhos publicados, incluindo, mas sem limitar, os portugueses que vivem …

Croatian broadcaster HRT have confirmed that next year’s Dora will be held on 13th February, following reports in Jutarnji List last week. The news was announced yesterday via social media. Over the past few months, several dates have been rumoured for the national final, including a late February date. The announcement by HRT today confirms last week’s speculation that the national final would be held in the second weekend of February, in Opatija. Will Damir be back in 2021? It had already been confirmed that Damir Kedžo would not be internally selected for the 2021 contest, after winning Dora 2020. However, there is nothing stopping Damir taking part in Dora again, and trying to make it to the Eurovision stage. Recently, Damir teased a possible return to the national final on Instagram as he posted that he was recording a potential entry alongside a new producer. Although this turned out to be studio session in which Damir was recording a remixed version of his 2020 entry. An call to composers and musicians to submit entries for 2021 will open on 26th October and run until 10th December. Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Damir Kedžo won Dora 2020 with …

Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG has announced that Montenegro will not be returning to Eurovision 2021 following their withdrawal from this year’s contest. RTCG confirms non-participation RTCG has now officially confirming that Montenegro will not be returning to the contest in 2021. This marks the second year in a row that Montenegro will not be present at the Eurovision Song Contest. The reason for the continued withdrawal appears to be financial and due to poor results. The country last qualified for the final in 2015 with “Adio”. Montenegrin artists calling for Eurovision return Last week ESCXTRA reported that the Association of Pop Artists and Performers of Montenegro wanted to see the country return to Eurovision. Unfortunately their plea had no bearing on the final decision made by RTCG. Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest Montenegro is one of the younger countries in terms of Eurovision participations. They debuted in 2007 with Stevan Faddy’s “Ajde, kroči”. It took several attempts before they finally qualified for the final in 2014 with “Moj svijet” which was performed by Sergej Ćetković. Their last participation in the contest was in 2019 where D Mol and “Heaven” finished in 16th place in the semi-final. Will you miss Montenegro …

Norway’s Head of Delegation ‘Stig Karlsen’ has spoken with Norwegian Eurovision website ‘ESCNorge’ and has confirmed that Melodi Grand Prix 2020 will begin on January 16, 2021, with Norway selecting their act for The Netherlands on February 20, 2021. All shows to be broadcast from H3 Arena in Fornebu During the 2020 Melodi Grand Prix, it was revealed that five of the shows will be broadcasted from H3 Arena in Fornebu, whilst the Grand Final took place in Trondheim in the Northern part of Norway. With all of the broadcasters making adjustments, Norway have decided to have the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final, take place at the H3 Arena in Fornebu. Norway’s Head of Delegation Stig Karlsen revealed that a bigger MGP Arena will be made: We tear down the wall between two studios at H3 arena in Bærum, and throw out both “Skal vi danse” and “Idol”, to create a twice as large MGP arena With the news that there will be a bigger arena, there is the aspect of whether there will be a studio audience or not. Stig Karlsen has opened up to this possibility if nothing significant until then. There will of course be fewer people gathered physically, …