Eurovision 2021

Ben Dolic will not represent Germany

Today, Ben Dolic made an announcement on Instagram about his participation in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. He will not represent Germany in the contest. That means, German television (ARD) has to look for another participant. Whether the country will have a national final or not is not known. “I enjoyed every moment of the Eurovision journey and appreciate everyone who believed in me and has been there every step of the way!This will truly be a chapter in my life that I will always cherish and look back at! My career has taken a different direction!I’ve grown so much as an artist and there is still so much more that I want to achieve. I have decided not to participate at the Eurovision next year! It has been a hard and a difficult decision to make, but the right one at this moment in time. Thank you all for being with me on this beautiful ride and giving me your love and support! And to the one who will be chosen to represent Germany in Rotterdam 2021!I wish you all well from the bottom of my heart! Enjoy the journey!” Dolic was supposed to represent Germany in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Violent thing”. We will never know what the result would have been, but in the betting odds he was doing pretty well.

The return of Ivo Linna

Today, the second half of the semifinalist of Eesti Laul, the Estonian national final, is announced. One of the names might be a surprise: Ivo Linna! In 1996, Linna represented Estonia very successful (5th place). He sang a duet with Maarja-Liis, “Kaelakee hääl”. Also this year, Linna will not be alone on stage. He will be accompanied by his son Robert Linna.Another familiar name is Tanja: she represented Estonia in 2014 with the song “Amazing”. She didn’t manage to reach the final, so this might be her 2nd chance. You can see the full list of participants in the 2nd semifinal here: “6” by Heleza(lyrics and music: Karl Killing, Helena Põldmaa) “Alabama Watchdog”: esitaja Alabama Watchdog(lyrics and music: Ken Einberg) “Best Night Ever” by Tanja(lyrics and music: Timo Vendt, Tanja Mihhailova-Saar, Mihkel Mattisen) “Energy” by Kadri Voorand(lyrics and music: Kadri Voorand) “Find A Way” by Kristin Kalnapenk(lyrics and music: Kristin Kalnapenk, Hannes Agur Vellend) “Free Again” by Egert Milder(lyrics and music: Kaspar Kalluste, Matteo Capreoli, Egert Milder) “Heaven’s Not That Far Tonight” by Suured tüdrukud(lyrics and music: Koit Toome, Gevin Niglas, Karl Killing) “Kaos” by Uku Haasma(lyrics and music: Uku Haasma, Henri Erik Tammai, Rudolf Toltsberg) “Kiss Me” by Karl Killing(lyrics and music: Karl Killing) “Ma olen siin” by Ivo Linna, Robert Linna, Supernova(lyrics and music: Rainer Michelson, Robert Linna) “Sunday Night” by Rahel(lyrics and music: Rahel Ollisaar, Frederik Küüts) “Time” by Sissi(lyrics and music: Sissi Nylia Benita, Andrei Zevakin, Kelly Tulvik)

Second chance for Uku Suviste?

Estonia was supposed to be represented by Uku Suviste in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Estonian television (ETV) decided not to ask him as their representative in the 2021 contest. However, there is still a chance that he will represent Estonia in Rotterdam. Today, ETV announced the names of the contestants in the first semifinal of Eesti Laul, their national final. Also Koit Toome and Jüri Pootsmann will be among them. The full list of semifinalists is: “Calm down”, by Nika Marula(lyrics and music: Andrei Zevakin, Nika Marula, Daniil Kotilevits) “Hypnotized”, by Kéa(lyrics and music: Ketter Orav, Sander Sadam, Alvar Antson) “Lost In A Dance”, by Gram-Of-Fun(lyrics and music: Martin Kuut, Kristel Aaslaid, Raul Ojamaa, Kostja Tsõbulevski, Mikk Simson) “Magus melanhoolia”, by Jüri Pootsmann(lyrics and music: Jüri Pootsmann, Joonas Mattias Sarapuu, Jana Hallas, Aleksi Liski) “Nii kõrgele”, by Helen(lyrics and music: Rob Montes, Jason Hunter, Renae Rain, Helen Randmets) “One By One”, by Hans Nayna(lyrics and music: Vahur Valgmaa, Hans Nayna) “Tartu”, by REDEL(lyrics and music: Kristjan Oden, Indrek Vaheoja) “The Lucky One”, by Uku Suviste(lyrics and music: Uku Suviste, Sharon Vaughn) “Tuuled”, by WIIRALT(lyrics and music: Pat Lyons, Martin Saaremägi) “We Could Have Been Beautiful”, by Koit Toome(lyrics and music: Joonas Parkkonen, Koit Toome, Peppina Pällijeff) “Wingman”, by Andrei Zevakin & Pluuto(lyrics and music: Andrei Zevakin, Henry Orlov) “Üks öö”, by Tuuli Rand(lyrics and music: Gevin Niglas, Kristel Aaslaid, Tuuli Rand)

Hooverphonic returns to previous line up

Hooverphonic surprised Belgium and the rest of the world today by announcing the return of Geike Arnaert. Geike was the singer of Hooverphonic between 1997 and 2008. “We had the feeling we got to do this”, band member Alex Callier stated. photo: Universal Music The members of Hooverphonic said to the press that they felt the need to work together again, twenty years after their success album “The magnificent three” and the song “Mad about you”. As Geike left the band in 2008 because of her solo project and not because of troubles between the band members, it was easy for her to return. Geike’s most successful solo project was a song with the Dutch band Bløf, the song “Zoutelande”. Of course this is sad news for singer Luka Cruysberghs. She was the singer at Hooverphonic’s 2020 Eurovision song, “Release me”. Record company Universal offers Luka a solo single. Alex Callier stated that if she wishes, she can count on Hooverphonic’s help.

41 countries in Rotterdam: one was never absent

As you might have noticed, today the participating countries for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest are announced. Exactly the same countries that were already on the list for Rotterdam 2020, will be back in 2021. We would like to give a shout out to one country in particular: Germany. This country has had an entry at all of the Eurovision Song Contests so far. That means that, including the 2 entries in 1956 and the entry for this years cancelled contest, we will be able to greet the 67th German entry. Only one time, the German entry did not manage to reach the Eurovision stage. In 1996, the songs first had to go through an audio preselection as only 23 countries could take part. Poor Leon, the singer who was supposed to represent Germany, did not make it to the best 23. An unexpected failure, as the Germans were pretty sure Leon’s “Planet of blue” was going to do very well in the contest. Leon, whose real name is Jürgen Göbel, did another attempt to represent his country in 1997, but became 2nd in the national preselection. But, final or not, there wás a German entry in 1996. Let’s look forward to the 2021 entry, whatever and with whoever it is…

Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið to represent Iceland!

Photo Daði Freyr Today, Daði Freyr announced on Twitter and Instagram that he will be the 2021 Icelandic representant. This year, Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið won Söngvakeppnin, the Icelandic national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. They were among the favourites to win the contest in Rotterdam with his song “Think about things”. Unfortunately, due to the COVID19 crisis, there was no Eurovision Song Contest. Daði and his companions however won a lot of alternative votings, among others the one of Eurostream 2020. Among many fans, the idea is that Iceland missed it’s first victory ever. Iceland participates in the contest since 1986 and became second in 1999 and 2009. Expectations around Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið are high. It is not known whether Daði will come up with one song or will sing several songs in a national selection.

No Montenegrin entry in 2021

Today, Montenegrin television station RTCG (Radijo Televizija Crna Gora) confirmed that Montenegro will not take part in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. The country already decided not to go to Rotterdam in 2020. There was hope for a return in 2021 in Rotterdam, but now it’s sure that is not going to happen. As an independent country, Montenegro had it’s first participation in 2007. The country was not very lucky in Eurovision history. Sergej Ćetković was the first one to reach the final, only in 2014! The best score for Montenegro was in 2015, when Knez represented his country with the song “Adio”. For now we have to say adio to Montenegro, hopefully we’ll see them back in 2022.

VAL will not represent Belarus

Belarus will not be represented by the duo VAL in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. Belarusian state television company BTRC has confirmed that. VAL was chosen to represent Belarus in the, cancelled, 2020 contest. In an interview, Vlad and Valerie stated that BTRC decided not to invite them for two reasons: they had given their critical opinian about current president Alexander Lukashenko, and they did not perform on shows, organized by the authorities. BTRC denies this. According to them, they did not invite VAL for the upcoming contest because they were in fact not the winners of the national selection. Both jury and televoters had them in 2nd place. “Da vidna” won the overall voting. A strange argumentation. If you follow that line, Duncan Laurence was also not the winner of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. We are anxious who wás, according to BTRC, the winner of the national final. Yan Yarosh, the jury winner, or Chakras, who won the televoting? photo: president.government.ua The protests against Lukashenko remain. We don’t know what will happen in the near future in Belarus, so we got the feeling this story is going to be continued… source: ATN News

Eurovision 2021: four scenarios

Today, Sietze Bakker, coordinator of the 2020 and 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, revealed there are four scenarios for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. They are: A Eurovision Song Contest as you are used to, up until 2021. A Eurovision Song Contest, dealing with the social distance situation. In the Netherlands, that’s a 1 1/2 meter distance. If not all the participants are able to be in Rotterdam in May, those who can’t go to the Netherlands will perform in their own country. Those who can will perform in Rotterdam. A contest in total lockdown. Sietze Bakker was pretty positive about a contest in any form, possibly A or B. Of course we have seen so far that COVID19 is an unpredictable virus, so he was happy that there is still a lot of time before the decision has to be made. Sietze also stated that the stage, the ‘Open up” theme and hosts Chantal Janzen, Edsilia rombley and Jan Smit will remain.

Stefania: songs to be submitted

News about the Greek contestant Stefania. We already know that she will represent Greece in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest. She was supposed to do the job this year; soon after the show was cancelled, Greek broadcaster ERT announced that they will continue working with Stefania.Now the news came that the team behind her 2020 entry, Dimitris Kontopoulos and ‘Arcade’, will submit at least 4 (maybe more) songs to ERT. The songs will be recorded in october. It is, however, not known whether ERT selects the songs internally, or the Greek audience can choose one of them in a national final. We will keep you updated! source: Eurovision Fun