History Recap / EurovisionSongContest2021

* EpicFail: For the first time since Riga 2003, the United Kingdom earns the indignity of scoring ''nul points''. What makes this sting harder was that both juries ''and'' televoters gave him the axe, and it is of little consolation that Jendrik of Germany, Blas Canto of Spain, and Jeangu Macrooy of host Netherlands also blanked out with televoters, given that at least they had jury points to somehow ease the pain (respectively, three, six, and eleven).

* EpicFail: For the first time since Riga 2003, the United Kingdom earns the indignity of scoring ''nul points'' (also the first of any country in the grand final since that time). What makes this sting harder was that both juries ''and'' televoters gave him the axe, and it is of little consolation that Jendrik of Germany, Blas Canto of Spain, and Jeangu Macrooy of host Netherlands also blanked out with televoters, given that at least they had jury points to somehow ease the pain (respectively, three, six, and eleven).

* ThrowTheDogABone: Given their spotty qualification records, it is a relief for Portugal, San Marino, Finland and Switzerland to qualify in the second semifinal. It also helped that, respectively, The Black Mamba perform their country's first entry entirely in English, Music/{{Senhit}} was eliminated the last time she partook in the contest ten years ago, Blind Channel are repping the genre of rock, relatively uncommon in the contest, and Gjon's Tears is already a bookies' favourite.

** This edition's logo is a modified version of that of last year's canceled edition, itself also a call-back to the minimalist, circular logos of past editions hosted by the Netherlands. Both the 2020 and 2021 logos show the colours of the various participating nations, but whereas the former is arranged in chronological order of each nation's entry into the contest, the latter is an abstract representation the distances of the national capitals relative to Rotterdam.

* SiblingTeam: Jeangu Macrooy's (The Netherlands) twin brother Xillian accompanied him on stage as one of his back-up vocalists.

* DiscretionShot: This year's "postcards"[[note]]A short clip, about forty seconds in length, made to give TV viewers something to look at while the stage is being prepared for the next contestant, at the same time introducing the act in question[[/note]] feature tiny homes made of glowing frames, placed somewhere in the Netherlands, slowly being filled with household items, most prominently pictures and/or video clips of the performing artist/s. The postcards culminate with holograms of the artist/s briefly appearing inside or near his/her/their "homes", and end with a beam of white light bouncing off either the one solid wall or the floor of the house and transforming into the colors of the country's flag. This concept was developed to allow contestants to record their postcard inside their homeland.

* LoopholeAbuse: One of the reason for allowing pre-recorded background vocals was to reduce the number of people travelling in each delegation, to limit the risk of a COVID-19 infection. Many countries just chose to add more dancers instead, rendering this reason void.

* OvershadowedByControversy:
** "El Diablo" came under fire by conservative Christian groups in Cyprus, asking the national broadcaster to withdraw the song which was accused of promoting satanism.
** The participation of Vasil (North Macedonia) was investigated by the national broadcaster when a shot of his song's music video appeared to include a Bulgarian flag (actually an unrelated artwork), generating dispute because of the rocky relationship between the Macedonian and Bulgarian people. Vasil himself received personal attacks when he confirmed that he holds Bulgarian citizenship through his grandmother, though thankfully he was later cleared by the investigation and the video was edited to remove the controversial shot.
** Latvia's Samanta Tīna and Russia's Manizha were the focus of controversy from national conservative audiences for their feminist-themed songs (and in the latter case, for being an ethnic Tajik immigrated to Russia as a refugee).
** Israel's Eden Alene received ire from some viewers (especially after qualifying) because of the newsworthy conflict unfolding in Gaza between Israel and Palestine in the weeks before and during Eurovision — [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment and that's all we'll say about it here]].

* TakeThat: After Finland's Blind Channel were prohibited from showing their middle fingers on stage, they resorted to painting them red instead so that they would pop out all the same.

%% * ColorMotif: A ''lot'' of acts this year chose to go with vaguely neon 80s-inspired stage shows. Azerbaijan, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova and Poland all prominently included pink, purple and/or blue in their backdrops.

* MyGreatestSecondChance: Applies to all of the 26 artists who were chosen to represent their country again after the cancellation of the 2020 contest, more so for Uku Suviste of Estonia and Music/TheRoop of Lithuania, who had to win their national selection shows anew, though they both benefited from wildcard passes (the former skipped the internal preselection process, while the latter went straight to the final). {{Subverted}} with Aksel of Finland and The Mamas of Sweden, who lost their second chances to Blind Channel and Tusse, respectively. Also subverted with the former lead singer of Music/{{Hooverphonic}} (Belgium), Luka Cruysberghs, who was dismissed from the band and replaced with Geike Arnaert in late 2020.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Given their spotty qualification records, it is a relief for Portugal, San Marino, and Switzerland to qualify in the second semifinal. It also helped that, respectively, The Black Mamba perform their country's first entry entirely in English, Music/{{Senhit}} was eliminated the last time she partook in the contest ten years ago, and Gjon's Tears is already a bookies' favourite.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Given their spotty qualification records, it is a relief for Portugal, San Marino, and Switzerland to qualify in the second semifinal. It also helped that, respectively, The Black Mambas perform their country's first entry entirely in English, Music/{{Senhit}} was eliminated the last time she partook in the contest ten years ago, and Gjon's Tears is already a bookies' favourite.

* TheBusCameBack:

%% * TheChanteuse: Definitely the vibe given by France's entry, "Voilà" by Barbara Pravi. She even calls herself "la chanteuse à demi" ("half a chanteuse") in the lyrics.

* DiscretionShot: This year's "postcards"[[note]]A short clip, about forty seconds in length, made to give TV viewers something to look at while the stage is being prepared for the next contestant, at the same time introducing the act in question[[/note]] feature tiny homes made of glowing frames, placed somewhere in the Netherlands, slowly being filled with household items, most prominently pictures and/or video clips of the performing artist/s. The postcards culminate with holograms of the artist/s briefly appearing inside their "homes", and end with a beam of white light bouncing off the one solid wall of the house and transforming into the colors of the country's flag. This concept was developed to allow contestants to record their postcard inside their homeland.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Given their spotty qualification records, it is a relief for Portugal, San Marino, and Switzerland to qualify in the second semifinal. It also helped that, respectively, The Black Mambas perform their country's first entry entirely in English, Music/{{Senhit}} features a team-up with Music/FloRida, and Gjon's Tears is already a bookies' favourite.

* EliminatedFromTheRace: Australia, Croatia, Ireland, North Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia in the first semi-final. Notably, this is the very first elimination of Australia, which would now leave Ukraine (which qualified in the first semi) as the last remaining country yet to be eliminated from the semifinals.

* ShirtlessScene: The lead singer of Italy's Måneskin performs in high-waisted leather pants, suspenders, and nothing else.

* UnexpectedCharacter: The Internet was sent into a frenzy when it was revealed that "Adrenalina", the Sammarinese entry, featured [[AWildRapperAppears a verse]] from none other than Music/FloRida.

During the planning stage, a number of "scenarios" were developed to ensure that the contest will take place in any case in a COVID-19-safe situation. In February 2021, the EBU and the Dutch broadcasters ruled out "Scenario A" (holding the contest as normal), while aiming for "Scenario B" (all acts performing live from Rotterdam, but with a socially-distanced audience and a partially virtual press center) and reiterating the possibility of switching to Scenarios C and D (all acts performing remotely, distanced or no audience, fully virtual press center, reduced or no side events) in case health circumstances change. To this end, all entrants were required to film a "live-on-tape" performance to be shown in the case they are unable to travel to Rotterdam in May, as would happen with Australia.

* MyGreatestSecondChance: Applies to all of the 26 artists who were chosen to represent their country again after the cancellation of the 2020 contest, more so for Uku Suviste of Estonia and Music/TheRoop of Lithuania, who had to win their national selection shows anew, though they both benefited from wildcard passes (the former skipped the internal preselection process, while the latter went straight to the final). {{Subverted}} with Aksel of Finland and The Mamas of Sweden, who lost their second chances to Blind Channel and Tusse, respectively.

* TheShowMustGoOn: The "scenarios" system was elaborated as a contingency plan to avoid cancelling the contest for a second time even if the COVID-19-related situation worsens.
%% Eventually, scenario B was adopted, with all the acts performing normally from the stage with the exception of Australia, who had to resort to their live-on-tape performance (this because Australia's very stringent anti-COVID-19 dispositions made very difficult and risky for Montaigne and the delegation to travel all the way to Rotterdam), a reduced, socially-distanced audience and a partially virtual press center.

%% * SiblingTeam: Jeangu Macrooy's (The Netherlands) twin brother Xillian accompanied him on stage as one of his back-up vocalists.

* EliminatedFromTheRace: Australia, Croatia, Ireland, North Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia in the first semis. Notably, this is the very first elimination of Australia, which would now leave Ukraine (which qualified in the first semis) as the last remaining country yet to be eliminated from the semifinals.

%% * GuestStarPartyMember:
%% ** When Kateryna Pavlenko, lead singer of Go_A (Ukraine), had a health scare the morning before their second rehearsals, stand-in singer[[note]]Stand-in singers are a number of local singers who help the crew with the technical rehearsals before the acts arrive in the host country, essentially covering the songs on stage[[/note]] Emmie Van Stijn subbed for her temporarily - and the band themselves praised her for doing a really good job, despite singing a complicated song in a language she didn't know!
%% ** During rehearsals of San Marino's song "Adrenalina", Italian rapper Don Jiggy delivered the rap section in place of Music/FloRida, [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer who was busy judging a bikini contest in Miami]].
%% * LoopholeAbuse: One of the reason for allowing pre-recorded background vocals was to reduce the number of people travelling in each delegation, to limit the risk of a COVID-19 infection. Many countries just chose to add more dancers instead, rendering this reason null.

%% *** Musically, many people noted similarities between "El Diablo" and early 2010s pop hits, most notably "Bad Romance" by Music/LadyGaga. The comparisons went up when Elena Tsagrinou's stage shows included dancers in leotards and a prominent white-and-red motif, just like the music video of Gaga's hit.

** Italy's entry, "Zitti e buoni", was edited after it won the Sanremo Music Festival to remove some profanity.

%% * DiscretionShot: This year's "postcards"[[note]]A short clip, about forty seconds in length, made to give TV viewers something to look at while the stage is being prepared for the next contestant, at the same time introducing the act in question[[/note]] feature holograms of each country's contestant(s) inside a tiny home made up of glowing frames, placed somewhere in the Netherlands. This concept was developed to allow contestants to record their postcard inside their homeland, while still showcasing the host country.
%% * EliminatedFromTheRace

** Armenia was forced to sit out in early March 2021 due to recent resurgence of conflict in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh with Azerbaijan (which nevertheless managed to send out anew its prospective 2020 entrant Samira Efendi - Armenia lost far more from that conflict than Azerbaijan did, and Azerbaijan also had superior resources. It was also hard for Armenia’s popular 2020 act Athena Manoukian, Armenian by descent (from Greece) and who had not been there since the previous contest was cancelled, to travel to Yerevan and carry out the complex undertaking and other acts had been linked before they withdrew).

%% * TheChanteuse: Definitely the vibe given by France's entry, "Voilà" by Barbara Pravi. She even calls herself "a half-chanteuse" in the lyrics.

** San Marino, which is prone to outsource their entries since it is a microstate, is represented once again by Music/{{Senhit}} Zadik Zadik, an Italian-Eritrean, though the part of Italy she is from, Bologna, is the closest major town to San Marino. The song also includes a verse from American rapper Music/FloRida.

%% ** When Kateryna Pavlenko, lead singer of Go_A (Ukraine), had a COVID-19 scare the morning before their second rehearsals, stand-in singer[[note]]Stand-in singers are a number of local singers who help the crew with the technical rehearsals before the acts arrive in the host country, essentially covering the songs on stage[[/note]] Emmie Van Stijn subbed for her temporarily - and she did a really good job, despite singing a complicated song in a language she didn't know!

%% Eventually,

** Armenia was forced to sit out in early March 2021 due to recent resurgence of conflict in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh with Azerbaijan (which nevertheless managed to send out anew its prospective 2020 entrant Samira Efendi).

** San Marino, which is prone to outsource their entries since it is a microstate, is represented once again by Music/{{Senhit}} Zadik Zadik, an Italian-Eritrean. The song also includes a verse from American rapper Music/FloRida.

* RealitySubtext: Considering that the previous year's contest was cancelled due to the global pandemic and many limitations were imposed on this year's to keep it going forward, several competing songs reference the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown one way or the other. Latvia's "Discoteque" is about dancing alone at home, the Czech Republic's "Omaga" talks about "[having] been home too long" and "the apocalypse", and Ukraine's "Shum" is inspired by a traditional chant about the rebirth of spring, which many interpreted as an oblique reference to human activity starting again after the health crisis.

* BilingualBonus:
** The Dutch entry "Birth of a New Age" is mostly in English but with a chorus in Sranan Togo, the ''lingua franca'' of Jeangu Macrooy's home country Suriname.
** Albina's song "Tick-Tock" is in both English and Croatian.

%% * DiscretionShot: This year's "postcards"[[note]]A short clip, about forty seconds in length, made to give TV viewers something to look at while the stage is being prepared for the next contestant, at the same time introducing the act in question[[/note]] feature each country's contestant(s) in a tiny home made up of glowing frames, placed somewhere in the Netherlands. This concept was developed to allow contestants to record their postcard inside their homeland, while still showcasing the host country.

** [[RuleOfThree Again]], Latvia's Samanta Tīna and Russia's Manizha were the focus of controversy from national conservative audiences for their feminist-themed songs (and in the latter case, for being an ethnic Tajik immigrated to Russia as a refugee).

During the planning stage, a number of "scenarios" were developed to ensure that the contest will take place in any case in a COVID-19-safe situation. In February 2021, the EBU and the Dutch broadcasters ruled out "Scenario A" (holding the contest as normal), while aiming for "Scenario B" (all acts performing live from Rotterdam, but with a socially-distanced audience and a partially virtual press center) and reiterating the possibility of switching to Scenarios C and D (all acts performing remotely, distanced or no audience, fully virtual press center, reduced or no side events) in case health circumstances change. To this end, all entrants were required to film a "live-on-tape" performance to be shown in the case they are unable to travel to Rotterdam in May.

** Downplayed again with host Netherlands, represented anew by Jeangu Macrooy, who was born in UsefulNotes/{{Suriname}} (a former Dutch colony) but living in the Netherlands since 2014.

%% * DiscretionShot: This year's "postcards"[[note]]A short clip, about forty seconds in length, made to give TV viewers something to look at while the stage is being prepared for the next contestant, at the same time introducing the act in question[[/note]]

** ZigZagged by other Anglophone songs that include a line or two in the singer's native language, like Israel's Eden Alene (an Ethiopian Jew) or the Czech Republic's Benny Cristo (who has an Angolan father), as since it's the competing country's national language it's not technically "gratuitous".

** Downplayed with Stefania Liberakakis, born in the Netherlands (which she represented back in the 2016 junior edition in Valletta as part of the band Kisses), represents her parents' ancestral homeland of Greece.
** Downplayed again with host Netherlands, represented anew by Jeangu Macrooy, who was born in UsefulNotes/{{Suriname}} (a former Dutch colony).
** Another downplayed example with Sweden's Tusse Chiza, a refugee born in the UsefulNotes/DemocraticRepublicOfTheCongo.
** Two downplayed examples with Vincent Bueno of Austria and Montaigne (Jessica Alyssa Cerro) of Australia, both of whom have Filipino ancestry (as well as Argentine, French and Spanish for the latter).

** Armenia was forced to sit out in early March 2021 as a consequence of the recent conflict in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
** After VAL, the band selected to represent Belarus in 2020, openly supported the protests against the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko that broke out in 2020, Belarusian broadcaster BTRC announced that VAL would not be returning in 2021 because they had "no conscience". The group Galasy [=ZMesta=] was selected instead, and immediately came under fire because their song "Ya nauchu tebya (I'll Teach You)" was interpreted as being openly mocking the same protests. The EBU, invoking the "no politics" rule, asked BTRC to submit a new song, but when the second entry (by the same group) was likewise found in violation of the rule Belarus was disqualified from the 2021 contest.

** Ksenija Knežević (one-third of Serbia's Hurricane), Vincent Bueno and Vasil previously sang backup to Montenegro 2015, Austria 2017 and North Macedonia 2019 respectively.
** Destiny (Malta) won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2015, and she sang backup to Michela in 2019 as well.
** Greece's Stefania previously participated in the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest as a member of the girl band Kisses representing the Netherlands.
** Barbara Pravi (France) co-wrote the French entries in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2019 and 2020, the latter of which won the trophy.

** The Italian song "Zitti e buoni" was edited after it won the Sanremo Music Festival to remove some profanity.

** Senhit returns to represent San Marino after the 2011 contest.
** Sanja Vučić flies again the Serbian flag after 2016, this time as a member of the trio Hurricane.
** Natalia Gordienco, who represented Moldova in 2006 alongside Arsenium, returns as a solo act.
* {{Determinator}}: Samanta Tīna had previously tried to represent her country Latvia five times (and twice for neighbouring Lithuania), and she finally won the 2020 preselection on her sixth try. After the contest was cancelled, the Latvian broadcaster thankfully reselected her internally for 2021.
%% * DiscretionShot: This year's "postcards"[[note]]A short clip, about forty seconds in lenght, made to give TV viewers something to look at while the stage is being prepared for the next contestant, at the same time introducing the act in question[[/note]]
* FakeNationality: As is normally the case at Eurovision, several countries are represented by acts that ''aren't'' from them:
** San Marino, who is prone to outsource their entries since it's a microstate, is represented once again by the Italian-Eritrean singer Senhit. The song also includes a verse from American rapper Music/FloRida.
** Likewise, the flag of Cyprus is again flown by a Greek singer, Elena Tsagrinou.
** Downplayed with Stefania (Greece), who's from the Netherlands (which she previously represented in the Junior version of the contest) but comes from a Greek family.
** Downplayed again with the Netherlands, the host country: they are represented by Jeangu Macrooy from UsefulNotes/{{Suriname}} (a former Dutch colony), but he lives and works in the country.

** GratuitousFrench: "Je me casse" by Destiny (Malta) repeats the French title (a slang expression meaning "I don't care" or "I'm out") in an otherwise English-language song.

*** Like their potential entry for 2020 "Hasta la vista", Hurricane's song "Loco Loco" is mostly in Serbian but has a repeated title in Spanish. It also includes a sentence in [[GratuitousEnglish English]].
*** "El Diablo" (Cyprus) is in English but the title and some other random words are sung in Spanish.
** ZigZagged by other English-language songs that include a line or two in the singer's native language, like Israel or the Czech Republic, as since it's the competing country's national language it's not technically "gratuitous".

* MyGreatestSecondChance: Applies to all of the 26 artists who were chosen to represent their country again after the cancellation of the 2020 contest. More so for Uku Suviste (Estonia) and Music/TheRoop (Lithuania), who won the national selection again, though they both benefited from wildcard passes (Uku skipped the internal pre-selection process and The Roop went straight to the grand finale). {{Subverted}} with Aksel (Finland) and The Mamas (Sweden) who tried again in their national selection but had to surrender the ticket to other entrants.

During the planning stage, a number of "scenarios" were developed to ensure that the contest will take place in any case in a COVID-19-safe situation. In February 2021, the EBU and the Dutch broadcasters ruled out "Scenario A" (holding the contest as normal), while aiming for "Scenario B" (all acts performing live from Rotterdam, but with a socially-distanced audience and a partially virtual press center) and reiteraing the possibility of switching to Scenarios C and D (all acts performing remotely, distanced or no audience, fully virtual press center, reduced or no side events) in case health circumstances change. To this end, all entrants were required to film a "live-on-tape" performance to be shown in the case they are unable to travel to Rotterdam in May.

** The Netherlands, the host country, are represented by Jeangu Macrooy from UsefulNotes/{{Suriname}} (a former Dutch colony).

* {{Bowdlerise}}: The Italian song "Zitti e buoni" was edited after it won the Sanremo Music Festival to remove some profanity.

The 2021 edition of the '''Series/EurovisionSongContest''' is programmed to be held in Rotterdam, UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands, from 18 May 2021 to 22 May 2021. The city was originally due to host the event in 2020 after Music/DuncanLaurence's victory in Tel Aviv in 2019, but the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic striking Europe in early 2020 had to force the EBU to announce the cancellation of that year's edition, a first for the 60-plus-year history of the contest. It was later decided that the Netherlands was going to keep the hosting rights for the following year, with the same host city, venue, stage design and slogan, and a remixed logo and visual design.

** Ksenija Knežević (one-third of Serbia's Hurricane), Vincent Bueno (Austria) and Vasil (North Macedonia) previously sang backup to their countries in 2015, 2017 and 2019 respectively.