In an ESC week that also saw the first heat of Melodifestivalen in Sweden and further Norwegian action as part of Melodi Grand Prix, two new additions were made to the ESC 2021 line-up. To almost nobody’s surprise, The Roop, who would have represented Lithuania at the 2020 contest had it taken place, won the ticket to this year’s event with their song “Discoteque”.

As the defending champions, The Roop were granted a free pass to the final of Pabandom iš naujo 2021, where they comfortably saw off all opposition by winning both the jury vote and (especially) the public vote. Like “On Fire” last year, “Discoteque” and its accompanying stage routine are sure to be among the most talked-about packages as the 2021 season continues.

Having already been internally selected to represent Ukraine again, electro-folk group Go_A had submitted three songs for internal selection. Clips of those candidates were revealed a few days ago, and we now know the identity of the Ukrainian song for ESC 2021: “Shum” (“Noise”).

Earlier in the week, another bit of largely unsurprising news was revealed: The most optimistic scenario for the organisation of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, namely “ESC as usual” with a full arena, was ruled out in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and against the backdrop of restrictions and public opinion in the host country, the Netherlands.

The parameters of the remaining potential scenarios were also shifted and now read as follows:

While it’s easy to be cynical after almost a year of bad news, the fact that the powers-that-be are willing to entertain various scenarios and wait a little longer to see what happens is certainly to be welcomed. Realistically, though, it seems almost inevitable that ESC 2021 will have something of a “virtual” feel and it’s hard to imagine all of the delegations performing in Rotterdam in person. However, the prospect of some kind of audience – even if just local residents – to provide real cheers after each song is something that will be welcomed by those of us who are still scarred by the “canned applause” used so prominently in Vienna in 2015!