“Around The Continent” is a series of posts where we will give you all the main news of the week.
Last Monday, Efendi released her Eurovision 2021 entry “Mata Hari”
On the 9th of March 2021, the Belarusian broadcaster BTRC revealed that the country’s song for Eurovision 2021 will be ”Ya Nauchu Tebya (I’ll Teach You)” by the band Galasy ZMesta.
The song tends to be political and may even be considered as an act of dictatorship support.
EBU wasn’t neutral this time, and the decision was made:
Belarus will have to bring another song (and non-political this time) or the country will have to withdraw from Eurovision 2021. The option to replace the artist also exists.
Ivan Eismont, head of BTRC, confirmed today that Belarus will be represented by Galasy ZMesta with a new song.
The broadcaster could have even chosen one of the other 50 songs to be submitted for Eurovision 2021. However, the decision is to go on with the band.
You can read Ivan Eismont‘s statement
Taking into account our cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union, we suggested the Galasy ZMesta group to provide us with some other options. And now, as far as I know, active work is underway on this.
He added that Europe will get a new song from Belarus in a few days.
In a conversation with TUT.BY, PR manager Sergei Andrianov admitted that EBU could have met given time to change the application by the end of March
Therefore, we can learn that Galasy ZMesta will come with another song or will change the lyrics of the original song.
Bulgaria‘s staging for Eurovision 2021 song will be made by Austrian artistic director Marvin Dietmann. One of his most memorable staging worls was for Austria at Eurovision 2014.
Marvin will stage several performances this year: Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Cyprus and Spain.
Victoria‘s live-on-tape version will be recorded in Sofia, Bulgaria
Albina was interviewed this week and confirmed she will keep one of the choruses of the song in the Croatian language.
Albina will record her live-on-tape version in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend.
Elena Tsagrinou will record her live-on-tape version in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend.
Fyr & Flamme‘s song “Øve os på hinanden” is in first place on the Danish chart “Hitlisten“.
The last time it happened was in 2013 with Soluna Sama (Denamrk representative at Eurovision 2012).
Barbara Pravi posted the following picture on her Instagram story
The shot was probably taken from the singer’s live-on-tape recording. However, there may be a hint of Barbara‘s planned staging for Eurovision 2021.
Last Monday, Tornike Kipiani released his song for Eurovision 2021 – “You“:
The drama occurred this week when Tornike Kipiani used some bad words on his Facebook page, considering Eurovision 2021
Thereafter, he posted an apology with other words for “haters”:
Stefania will record her live-on-tape version in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend.
Last Saturday, Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið released their entry for Eurovision 2021 – “10 Years“:
Israel will probably submit a new version of “Set Me Free” for Eurovision 2021.
According to unofficial sources, the new version will be completely different with some changes in the lyrics. The new version will probably be released by the end of the month.
Meanwhile, you can see the following picture that was taken in the rehearslas
Måneskin released a Eurovision version of their song “Zitti e buoni”:
The new version is no longer than 3 minutes and in addition doesn’t include any swearing.
The introduction has been shortened, as well as the second verse.
Last Tuesday, Samanta Tina was a guest at Latvian annual music awards ”Zelta Mikrofons 2021”.She performed ”The Moon is Rising” for the very first time on stage:
Dentiny released her Eurovision 2021 song: “Je Me Casse” (Eng: “I am breaking)
She will record her live-on-tape version in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend.
Natalia will record her live-on-tape version in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend
Another drama that happened this week was related to North Macedonia.
The official video clip of Eurovision 2021 song “Here I Stand” was recorded in an art museum.
In the original clip, we were able to see a work of art with the colors of Bulgaria’s flag ( white, green and red).
The official video clip has since been removed and the controversial shot was replaced.
Vasil Garvanliev is a musician from North Macedonia who also holds Bulgarian citizenship; his grandmother is from the territory of modern Bulgaria.Due to the political situation between the two countries Vasil’s second nationality sadly became an issue. Vasil posted a message on his Facebook profile and this is what he said:
”I am a music ambassador, and in music there is no religion, politics, orientation, race or color. I had absolutely no intentions to hurt anybody. Quite the opposite! I am so proud of this project which not only embodies me, but my country and culture – musicians and featured artists in the gallery. I do not apologize for being me. I never will – I didn’t have a choice in that. However, if I hurt ANYBODY in ANY WAY, from the bottom of my heart … I am sorry. Forgive me.”
Furthermore, a petition organized by North Macedonians calls for eliminating Vasil from being the country’s representative at Eurovision 2021.
As a result, the national broadcaster MRT has created a commission in order to review the participation of Vasil at Eurovision 2021.
The conclusions of the special commission haven’t been shared yet.
Blas will perform a revamped version of “Voy a quedarme” at Eurovision 2021.
The new version will start with acapella singing, while the second verse will be changed as well. The aim is to increase the intimacy of the song
However, the new version won’t be released on digital platforms.
The singer commented on the expected changes:
“I am very happy and emotional. We are working on these changes since this year’s rhythms have been rushed. But we have had enough time to make cool things . This version won’t be commercialised and it’s only relevant for Eurovision in May. However, we are pending of approval.”
Last Saturday, “Melodifestivalen 2021″ grand final was held. The winner is the singer Tusse with the song “Voices”
You can watch the live performance here:
In addition, the detailed results of the entire contest were published.
You can read the details, including statistical analysis, by clicking on the image below:
Manizha released a new version of her Eurovision 2021 entry: “Russian Woman“.
The main change is that the last minute of the song included more words in English:
