“Around The Continent” is a series of posts where we will give you all the main news of the week.
According to Sietse Bakker , in case that Eurovision 2021 will be held under scenario C or D, the EBU will give the national broadcasters more flexibility with the planning of their performances.
Moreover, although the decision about the chosen scenario said to be published in the middle of February 2021, it seems that a decision about the presence of live audience will be determined only in the middle of April 2021.
It may be related to the the tough lockdown that The Netherlands is in at the moment.
The singer Montaigne has been internally selected to represent Australia at Eurovision 2021.
According to Instagram story that was published by her, the song for Eurovision 2021 has been already chosen.
However, she hasn’t added information about the release date, the title of the song or even the team behind the song.
On her story she wrote
“I’m on holiday with my wonderful boyfriend and we have confirmed my Eurovision song”
According to Infe Azerbaijan, the country have received more than 150 songs for Eurovision 2021. However, the deadline for the submission was postponed to the 1st of February 2021.
The song will be selected internally by a reference group, behind closed doors.
The Belarusian Foundation for Cultural Solidarity has started a campaign calling to eliminate the Belarusian broadcaster BTRC from the EBU. The campaign came following the sensitive political situation in the country. The EBU have already received the letter. The meaning of these steps can be preventing Belarus from competing at Eurovision 2021.
However, EBU always kept themselves out of politics and therefore they may not eliminate Belarus.
Meanwhile, artists from the country continue submitting songs for the national selection.
The Croatian broadcaster HRT has published
more details about “Dora 2021” – the national selection for Eurovision 2021.
This year, we will be strongly connected to the wonderful concept of women empowerment,
having 4 women as the hosts:
Daniela Trbović, Barbara Kolar, Jelena Lešić, and Doris Pinčić
In addition, the running order was raveled.
Nina Kraljić who represented the country in 2016 will open the show, while Tony Cetinski who represented the country in 1994 will close the show.
The national selection will include only one show. The results will be determined by 50% regional jury voting and 50% public voting. “Dora 2021” will be held on SaturdayFebruary 13th, 2021.
The broadcaster will publish a one-minute snippets of the songs in a week before the show itself.
Meaning that we will be able to hear the full songs only on the night of the final.
On the last days, the Finnish broadcaster YLE have revealed the conpeting acts of “UMK 2021”.
- Oskr – Lie
- Teflon Brothers x Pandora – I Love You
- Danny – Sinä päivänä kun kaikki rakastaa mua
- Laura Põldvere – Play
- Aksel – Hurt
- Blind Channel – Dark Side
- Ilta – Kelle mä soitan
Follow the updated #playlist HERE:
Spotify
AppleMusic
YouTube
You can read our full review of the songs here
Last Tuesday, the Israeli broadcaster KAN published the 3 official videos of the national final songs.
“Ue La La”
“Set Me Free”
“La La Love”
The public can vote for their favorite song via the official app of KAN. The results of the national final will be determined only by the public voting. The national final of “Hashir Shelanu La’Eurovision” will be held on Monday the 25th of January 2021.
However, the national final won’t include live performances of the songs, but only the official video clips.
You can read out review of the songs by clicking on the image
Due to the Covid-19 restrictions in Italy, a rumor was spread.
According to that rumor, the Italian broadcaster RAI considered postponing “Festival Sanremo 2021” to April 2021, instead of March 2021. The main reason is that the Italian government has introduced new restrictions which prevent presence of live audience.
The Italian broadcaster RAI held an emergency meeting with “Festival Senremo 2021” stakeholders in order to decide: Should the festival be postponed? Should it be held without an audience? How will Italy select their act for Eurovision 2021?
It has been decided that the initial dates of the festival won’t be changed.
Therefore, “Festival Sanremo 2021” will last 5 nights in a row. The festival will start on Tuesday the 2nd of March 2021 and will end of Saturday night of 6th of March 2021.
The winner of the festival will have the right to represent Italy at Eurovision 2021.
What About the live audience?
There isn’t an official answer for that question. However, the new restrictions that have been decided by the Italian government will end only on the 5th of March 2021.
Therefore, the only show that has the chance to include audience is the the 5th and the last show.
The proffered option will probably be holding the festival without audience. By that, the festival will still go on without changing its dates.
Last Saturday, “Heat 1” of “Pabandom iš Naujo 2021 has been aired.
10 artists competed for 5 spots in the semi-final. The results have been determined by a combination of 50% jury voting and 50% public voting.
The 5 qualifiers are:
- Voldemars Petersonas – I Never Fall For You Again (1st Place, 12 Points)
- Titas ir Benas – No (2nd Place, 10 Points)
- Martyna Jezepčikaitė – Thank You Very Much (3rd Place, 8 Points)
- Milita Daikerytė – Shadows (4th Place, 7 Points)
- Be U – Love Yourself (5th Place, 6 Points
Tonight, “Heat 2” of “Pabandom iš Naujo 2021 will be aired (the show has already been recorded).
10 artists will compete for 5 spots in the semi-final. The acts that we will hear tonight are:
#1. UnoBand – Eisiu
#2. Rapolas – Degam
#3. Sunday Afternoon (Vilija Matačiūnaitė) – Open
#4. Aistė Brokenleg – “Home”
#5. Natalija Chareckaja – Solitary Star
#6. Norbertas – Man In Need
#7. Gebrasy (Audrius Petrauskas) – Where’d You Wanna Go?
#8. Evita Cololo – Be Paslapcių
#9. Gabrielė Goštautaitė – Freedom
#10. Gabrielius Vagelis – My Guy
The pre-qualifier “The Roop” will be special guests in the show. They will give a live performance of their song in the national selection – “Discoteque“:
After long 2 weeks of silence from Samanta Tina, we might get initial clues about her video clip for Eurovision 2021 entry.
Her team is working on a meaningful video clip for the intended Eurovision entry.
They are looking for women with “cool teeth with little space” and “girls with that kind of ears like Samanta or Vanessa Paradis ear shape”
Can we expect for another women empowerment song? The answer is probably yes.
As some of us have suspected before, Vasil Garvanliev will represent North Macedonia at Eurovision 2021.
The singer had been internally selected to represent his some country at Eurovision 2020. The same thing happened in 2021, probably due to the cancellation of Eurovision 2020.
However, a few weeks ago the singer had a meeting with Borislav Milanov – a Bulgarian composer who is standing behind a lot of modern Eurovision songs:
Bulgaria 2016-2018, Bulgaria 2020, Malta 2019-2020, Germany 2020, Serbia 2017, Azerbaijan 2019 and more
Last year, the singer should have represented his country with the song “You”.
The song will be internally selected by the national broadcaster MKRTV.
Musician, writers and composers from North Macedonia and beyond can submit an entry.
The submission window will be open until next Wednesday the 27th of January 2021.
Sharing his excitement in the social media Vasil says: “Never stop believing, dreaming, and fighting 4 what you stand for in life. Dreams do come true! I’m grateful for your continued support and can hardly wait to share what we are planning as a Macedonian team. Y’all better be ready for this!”
However, some people suspect that the song has already been selected regarding the next post that was published by the singer: The song will be released just a day after the closing of the submission window.
Last Saturday, the first semi-final of “Melodi Grand Prix 2021″ has been held.
4 artists compered for only one spot in the final. The winners were Blåsemafian Feat. Hazel with the song “Let Loose“
Tonight, semi-final 2 of “Melodi Grand Prix 2021″ will be held.
4 artists will compete in 3 duels until the winner will be announced. Only one competitor will advance for the final.
Raylee – Hero
Maria Solheim – Nordlyset
Daniel Owen – Psycho
Ketil Stokkan – “My Life is OK”
In addition, we will receive a live performance of another automatic qualifier
Stavangerkameratene – Barndomsgater.
The singer Roxen has revealed on Instagram that her song for Eurovision 2021 has already been selected.
Therefore, we can infer that Romania won’t hold a national selection this yea
On last Wednesday, the Portuguese broadcaster has revealed the 20 songs of “Festival Da Canção 2021” as well as the semi-finals allocation draw.
Semi Final 1: (February 20th, 2021)
Nadine – Cheguei Aqui
Fábia Maia – Dia Lindo
IAN – Mundo
Valéria – Na Mais Profunda Saudade
IRMA – Livros
Miguel Marôco – Girassol
mema. – Claro Como Água
The Black Mamba – Love is on My Side
Karetus & Romeu Bairos – Saudade
Sara Afonso – Contramão
Semi Final 2: (February 27th, 2021)
Carolina Deslandes – Por um Triz
Da Chick – I Got Music
Joana Alegre – Joana do Mar
Graciela – A Vida Sem Acontecer
NEEV – Dancing in the Stars
EU.CLIDES – VOLTE-FACE
Pedro Gonçalves – Não Vou Ficar
Tainá – Jasmim
Ariana – Mundo Melhor
Ana Tereza – Com um Abraço
The playlist of the festival, can be found on the different digital platforms
Spotify
AppleMusic
YouTube
In addition, the hosts of each show have been revealed
Semi-final 1: Jorge Gabriel and Sonia Araujo
Semi-final 2: Jose Carlos Malato and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira
Final: Filomena Cautela (One of Eurovision 2018 hosts) and Vasco Palmeirim. While Ines Lopes Goncalves will be at the green room
SVT (The Swedish broadcaster) has published photos of the planned stage for “Melodifestivalen 2021“:
The stage is looking like a combination of Eurovision 2020/2021 stage and “Melodi Grand Prix 2021” stage.
