Line #73 Recap/EurovisionSongContest2021


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/esc2021.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[TagLine Open Up]]]]
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4	The 2021 edition of the '''Series/EurovisionSongContest''' was 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 forced 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, slogan and presenters (with Nikkie de Jager a.k.a. [=NikkieTutorials=], originally chosen as online host, being promoted to full host alongside Edsilia Rombley, Jan Smit and Chantal Janzen), and a remixed logo and visual design.
5	The slogan for this edition is "Open Up" which, although originally selected for 2020, sounds particularly hopeful after a year of restrictions and lockdowns imposed all over the globe to counteract the spread of the pandemic.
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7	All 41 countries that were to participate in 2020 initially confirmed their return to the competition, but after Armenia's withdrawal and Belarus' disqualification in March 2021 the number of participating entries dropped to 39, the lowest number since 2014. The EBU Reference Group initially considered allowing all the 41 songs of 2020 to compete one year later as an exception to the September 1st rule, but then decided against. Countries were still free to select the artist they wanted, and 26 of them[[note]]Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium (though with a different lead vocalist), Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom[[/note]] fielded their would-be 2020 entrant anew with a different song, 2 of which (Estonia and Lithuania) after they won their national selection for a second time.
8	While previously all the song vocals had to be delivered live, either on or just right off stage, this year featured a one-off trial allowing backing vocals to be part of the prerecorded backing track, to reduce the need for more people to travel to Rotterdam in each delegation (lead vocal parts still have to be live).
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10	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. The contest eventually took place under "Scenario B", with all acts except Australia[[note]]as Australia's very stringent anti-COVID-19 measures made very difficult and risky for Montaigne and the delegation to travel all the way to Rotterdam[[/note]] and Iceland[[note]]who pulled out from the live shows after a member of Gagnamagnið tested positive before the second semi-final[[/note]] performing live from Rotterdam, a reduced live audience, a partially virtual press centre and reduced side events. As a back-up measure, all entrants were required to film a "live-on-tape" performance to be shown in the case they had been unable to perform live, as would happen with Australia (Iceland used instead a clip of their second rehearsal). The live-on-tape performances of almost all the acts[[note]]By their request, Ireland's and the United Kingdom's were not shown[[/note]] would eventually be showcased one week later in the ''Eurovision Song Celebration: Live-On-Tape'' online event.
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12	The contest was won by Italy's Music/{{Maneskin}} and their song "Zitti e buoni", the third win for the country and their first one since 1990, and the second time a member of the "Big Five" won (after Music/{{Lena}} in 2010) since the system was implemented in 2002.
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15	!! Tropes seen during this year's contest include:
16	* AscendedExtra:
17	** As usual, some acts previously participated as backup vocalists or were otherwise involved with the contest before getting the full ticket:
18	*** Ksenija Knežević (one-third of Serbia's Hurricane), Vincent Bueno and Vasil Garvanliev previously sang backup for Montenegro in Vienna 2015, Austria in Kyiv 2017 and North Macedonia in Tel Aviv 2019, respectively.
19	*** Music/DestinyChukunyere of Malta won the 2015 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Sofia, and she sang backup to Michela in Tel Aviv 2019 as well.
20	*** Greece's Stefania Liberakakis previously participated in the 2016 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Valletta as a member of the girl band Kisses representing the Netherlands.
21	*** Barbara Pravi of France co-wrote the French entries in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Gliwice 2019 and Warsaw 2020, the latter of which won the trophy.
22	** Celebrity makeup artist Nikkie de Jager, best-known for her Website/YouTube vlog [=NikkieTutorials=], was only meant to be the online host of the canceled 2020 edition. This time, she has been promoted to full-time co-host, in the process making history as the first transgender host.
23	* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: A brief skit in the Grand Final has Nikkie showing the audience around the backstage, before being distracted by a worker carrying the Eurovision trophy in front of her.
24	* BackgroundHalo: At the end of Ukraine's performance, the dancers raised their ''Film/{{Tron}}''-esque ring lights behind the head of vocalist Kateryna Pavlenko of Music/GoA, giving her the appearance of a halo.
25	* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Hurricane of Serbia are a three-member GirlGroup who have these hair colors.
26	* {{Bowdlerise}}:
27	** Italy's entry, "Zitti e buoni" by Music/{{Maneskin}}, was edited after it won the Sanremo Music Festival to remove some profanity. However, their winners' performance featured the uncensored version of the song.
28	** Gestures are not immune either: Finland's Blind Channel were asked not to do the middle finger from their national final performance, while Germany revised the middle finger costume appearing in the music video into a V-sign costume. Despite the change there were several moments where the index finger, built around the wearer's left arm, lowered which meant the hand still looked like it was flipping the bird for a few seconds.
29	* TheBusCameBack:
30	** The second semifinal features three returning artists. Amazingly, all three of them qualified for the final.
31	*** Music/{{Senhit}} of San Marino returns after going as far as the semifinals in Düsseldorf 2011.
32	*** Sanja Vučić flies again the Serbian flag after Stockholm 2016, this time as a member of the trio Hurricane.
33	*** Natalia Gordienko, who represented Moldova in Athens 2006 alongside Arsenium, returns as a solo act.
34	** During jury points presentation, a few past singers and presenters returned as spokespeople: Lucy Ayoub of Israel (co-presenter, Tel Aviv 2019), Ida Nowakowska of Poland (presenter, Gliwice 2019 juniors and Warsaw 2020 juniors), Eldar Gasimov and Music/NikkiJamal of Azerbaijan (winners, Düsseldorf 2011; Gasimov was also a co-presenter at Baku 2012), Music/{{Aminata}} of Latvia (sixth, Vienna 2015), Music/RyanOShaughnessy of Ireland (sixteenth, Lisbon 2018), Sergey Stepanov (the famed "Epic Sax Guy" of Music/SunstrokeProject) of Moldova (22nd, Oslo 2010; third, Kyiv 2017), Joanna Dragneva of Bulgaria (semifinalist, Belgrade 2008, as part of Deep Zone), Oto Nemsadze of Georgia (semifinalist, Tel Aviv 2019), Andrius Mamontovas of Lithuania (sixth, Athens 2006, as part of LT United), Polina Gagarina of Russia (runner-up, Vienna 2015), Carla Lazzari of France (fifth, Gliwice 2019 juniors), and Carola Häggkvist of Sweden (winner, Rome 1991; third, Munich 1983; fifth, Athens 2006).
35	* CallBack:
36	** This edition's logo is a modified version of that of last year's canceled edition, itself a call-back to the minimalist, circular logos of past editions hosted by the Netherlands. Both the 2020 and 2021 logos show the national colours of the participating nations, but whereas the former is arranged in chronological order of their entry into the contest, the latter is an abstract representation of the distances of their capitals relative to Rotterdam.
37	** Sweden's postcard prominently features a dandelion, the floral motif of the 2016 edition in Stockholm, the last time the contest was held in Sweden.
38	** Senhit's postcard included a video of her performance from the 2011 contest, while Samanta Tīna's featured clips from all of her national final attempts prior to making it to the contest at last. Destiny's postcard includes a clip from her Junior Eurovision 2015 appearance as well.
39	** The Grand Final's "Rock the Roof" interval act features a medley of past Eurovision winners from various rooftops across Rotterdam--"Heroes" by Music/MansZelmerlow of Sweden (Vienna 2015), "Ding-a-Dong" by Teach-In of the Netherlands (Stockholm 1975), "J'aime la vie" by Sandra Kim of Belgium (Bergen 1986), "De Troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr of the Netherlands (co-winner, Madrid 1969), "My Number One" by Music/ElenaPaparizou of Greece (Kyiv 2005), and "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by Music/{{Lordi}} of Finland (Athens 2006).
40	* TheChanteuse: Definitely the vibe given by France's entry, "Voilà" by Barbara Pravi. She even calls herself "la chanteuse à demi" ("half a chanteuse"/"half a singer") in the lyrics.
41	* ColorMotif: A ''lot'' of acts this year chose to go with vaguely neon 80s-inspired stage shows. Samira Efendi of Azerbaijan, Albina Grčić of Croatia, Fyr & Flamme of Denmark, Stefania Liberakakis of Greece, Eden Alene of Israel, Music/TheRoop of Lithuania, Music/DestinyChukunyere of Malta, Natalia Gordienko of Moldova, and Rafał Brozowski of Poland all prominently included pink, purple and/or blue in their backdrops.
42	* DelayedReaction: The moment Music/{{Maneskin}} of Italy won the contest, drummer Ethan Torchio can be seen visibly stunned and staring at the scoreboard for a few seconds, even as his bandmates and the rest of the Italian delegation begin celebrating.
43	* {{Determinator}}: Samanta Tīna had previously tried to represent her native Latvia five times (and twice for neighbouring Lithuania), and she finally won the 2020 edition of ''Supernova'', Latvia's national selection show, on her sixth try. After the contest was cancelled, national broadcaster LTV thankfully selected her internally anew for 2021, though she unfortunately stalled in the semifinal.
44	* 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 houses 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 outside his/her/their "houses", and end with a beam of white light bouncing off the house, reflected into into the colours of the country's flag. This concept was developed to allow contestants to record their postcard inside their homeland.
45	* DressesTheSame: A curious coincidence saw five separate contestants (Malta's Destiny Chukunyere, Croatia's Albina Grčić, Cyprus's Elena Tsagrinou, Albania's Anxhela Peristeri and Moldova's Natalia Gordienco) opt for silver outfits with fringes. Norway's TIX also incorporates silver glitter in his own costume.
46	* EliminatedFromTheRace: Australia, Croatia, Ireland, North Macedonia, Romania, and Slovenia in the first semi-final. From the second, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, and Poland. Notably, this is the very first elimination of Australia, which now left fellow semifinalist Ukraine as the last remaining non-Big Five nation yet to be eliminated from the semifinals.
47	* GracefulLoser: The four acts that received zero points in the televote were all extremely good sports about their results. James Newman and Jendrik Sigwart cheered as hard as some of the higher-scoring entries did for their own scores.
48	* GratuitousForeignLanguage: Another recurring trope in the contest. Those year's examples are:
49	** GratuitousEnglish: Manizha's song "Russian Woman" (representing, unsurprisingly, Russia) is mostly in Russian but includes some lines in English.
50	** GratuitousFrench: "Je me casse" by Music/DestinyChukunyere of Malta repeats the French title (a slang expression meaning "I don't care" or "I'm out") in an otherwise Anglophone song.
51	** GratuitousItalian: "Adrenalina" by Music/{{Senhit}} of San Marino repeats the Italian title (obviously meaning "adrenaline") in an otherwise English song. Senhit herself is Italian-Eritrean.
52	** GratuitousSpanish:
53	*** Like their 2020 entry "Hasta la vista", Hurricane's "Loco Loco" is mostly in Serbian but has a repeated title in Spanish. It also includes a sentence in [[GratuitousEnglish English]].
54	*** "El Diablo" by Elena Tsagrinou for Cyprus is in English but the title and some other random words are sung in Spanish.
55	** ZigZagged by other Anglophone songs that include a line or two in the competing country's national language, like Israel, Czech Republic, or San Marino, making it technically not "gratuitous".
56	* GuestFighter: As is normally the case at Eurovision, several countries are represented by acts that are not necessarily nationals, as the EBU does not have nationality-based restrictions on entrants (any that may exist are purely at the discretion of national broadcasters):
57	** 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 her hometown, Bologna, is the closest major Italian city to San Marino). The song also includes a verse from American rapper Music/FloRida.
58	** Likewise, the flag of Cyprus is again flown by a Greek singer, Elena Tsagrinou.
59	** Downplayed with Stefania Liberakakis of Greece, born in the Netherlands (which she represented back in the 2016 junior edition in Valletta as part of the band Kisses) but representing her parents' ancestral homeland.
60	** Downplayed again with host Netherlands, represented anew by Jeangu Macrooy, who was born in UsefulNotes/{{Suriname}} (a former Dutch colony) but who has been living in the Netherlands since 2014.
61	* GuestStarPartyMember:
62	** When Kateryna Pavlenko, lead singer of Ukraine's Music/GoA, 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. The band invited Emmie to sit with them in the green room during the semi-final as a thank you for her help.
63	** 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]].
64	* IncrediblyLongNote: Natalia Gordienko (Moldova) holds a 17-second-long note at the end of "Sugar".
65	* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Norway's representative, Andreas Haukeland, went by the stage name "Music/{{TIX}}" to symbolize his struggle with Tourette's syndrome. Towards the crescendo of his song "Fallen Angel", he briefly removes his shades to show off the effects of his disease (namely, his twitching eyes).
66	* {{Keet}}: Jendrik Sigwart of Germany is very happy to be there, ''and it shows'', even when he received ''nul points'' from the televote. Vaidotas Valiukevičius, vocalist of Lithuania's Music/TheRoop, is a more restrained example.
67	* LastNoteHilarity: At the end of "10 Years", Iceland's Daði and Gagnamagnið hold their poses for several seconds. Then a blast of pyro suddenly goes up to conclude the performance.[[note]]There's actually a very lovely reason for this choice: the song is 2:45 long, but since acts have a 3-minute limit and "10 Years" is about Daði's love for his wife, he wanted to use all the allotted time to fully express his affection. Hence the 15-second-long silence.[[/note]]
68	* LoopholeAbuse:
69	** One of the reasons 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.
70	** 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.
71	** Similarly, Germany's Jendrick had a background dancer who was in a costume originally of a hand flipping the bird and after not being allowed to use the costume, it was made into doing a V-sign instead. But the index finger on the costume is where the dancer's left arm is, meaning that whenever she puts her arm down, the costume is back to being a middle finger again.
72	* MissedHimByThatMuch: Croatia was only five points shy of qualifying from the first semifinal. To make it worse, it placed ninth with the televote and tenth with the juries meaning that both sets of voters ranked it among their qualifiers, but the calculation of points which took into account the respective rankings of other countries led Croatia to barely fall out of the upper 10.
73	* MultilingualSong:
74	** The Dutch entry "Birth of a New Age" is mostly in English but with a chorus in Sranan Tongo, the ''lingua franca'' of Jeangu Macrooy's home country Suriname.
75	** Albina's song "Tick-Tock" is in both English and Croatian.
76	* MyGreatestSecondChance:
77	** 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).
78	** {{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.
79	** And {{Inverted}} by Music/LittleBig, who ''declined'' a chance to participate after being selected for 2020 on grounds that a new artist should get a chance this time around.
80	* PassingTheTorch: {{Subverted\|Trope}}--in a break from tradition, the outgoing winner, Music/DuncanLaurence, was unable to pass the Eurovision trophy to Music/{{Maneskin}} of Italy after he tested positive for COVID-19.
81	* PregnantBadass: Árný Fjóla of Iceland's Gagnamagnið was pregnant with her and Music/DadiFreyr's second child when they performed on stage.
82	* RearrangeTheSong:
83	** Ukraine's entry "Shum", which wasn't intended for Eurovision in the first place, had its lyrics rewritten and was cut short to fit 3 minutes.
84	** Israel's entry "Set Me Free" had its instrumentals revamped before the contest and a new ending section was added.
85	* SequelSong: Iceland's "Ten Years" by [[Music/DadiFreyr Daði & Gagnamagnið]] is an outright sequel to their would-be 2020 entry and viral hit "Think About Things".
86	* SiblingTeam:
87	** Iceland's Music/DadiFreyr is once again joined onstage by his sister Sigrún Birna as backup vocalist.
88	** Xillian Macrooy, twin brother of the Netherlands' singer Jeangu Macrooy, accompanied him on stage as one of his backup vocalists.
89	* ShirtlessScene: Damiano David, lead singer of Italy's Music/{{Maneskin}}, performed in high-waisted leather pants, suspenders, and nothing else. During their winning reprise, guitarist Thomas Raggi abandoned his jacket and also performed shirtless.
90	* ShoutOut: Finland's Blind Channel brought out a "[[Film/EurovisionSongContestTheStoryOfFireSaga PLAY JAJA DING DONG!!!]]" sign during the second semi-final. Come the final, they topped themselves by showing a pair of speech bubble cardboards with the same line, and some of the band members even wear masks in the likeness of Olaf Yohansson, the guy who frequently requests "Jaja Ding Dong". Then Iceland topped all of that come the jury votes presentation, as their spokesperson is none other than Olaf's actor, Hannes Óli Ágústsson, still playing in-character.
91	* 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 ("1.5 meter") was adopted, with all the acts performing live from the main stage with the exception of Australia and Iceland, and a live audience as part of the Dutch "Fieldlab" programme. The other scenarios were:
92	** Scenario A ("normal"): holding the contest exactly like past years. This scenario was ruled out in February 2021 by the EBU and the Dutch broadcasters.
93	** Scenario C ("travelrestrictive"): like Scenario B, but with acts performing remotely and a fully virtual press centre.
94	** Scenario D ("lockdown"): all acts performing remotely, no audience nor press on site, no side events.
95	* ThrowTheDogABone:
96	** Given their spotty qualification records, four countries are relieved to qualify from the second semifinal:
97	*** Finland's Blind Channel represented metal, a genre seldom heard at Eurovision; come the final, they scored sixth, their very best finish to date since Music/{{Lordi}} won Athens 2006, and tying Marion Rung from all the way back in Luxembourg 1973 for best non-winning finish.
98	*** Portugal's The Black Mamba sent in their first wholly-English song in the contest, and managed to finish a decent twelfth, their best since Music/SalvadorSobral won Kyiv 2017.
99	*** While San Marino's Music/{{Senhit}} only managed a paltry twenty-second (despite having Music/FloRida on board), it was still a lot better than when she was eliminated from the semifinals the last time she sang at the contest ten years ago.
100	*** Switzerland's Gjon "Gjon's Tears" Muharremaj was an early bookies' favourite, and in the final not only did he manage to finish at third, one spot higher than Music/LucaHanni from Tel Aviv 2019 and tying with Annie Cotton from Millstreet 1993, but even led the jury votes.
101	** While three of the Big Five had a pretty miserable year, the other two nations stood out for taking ''top spots'':
102	*** Ten years since they returned to the contest, and after a decade of ups and downs book-ended by runner-up finishes in both Düsseldorf 2011 and Tel Aviv 2019, as well as third-place in Vienna 2015, Italy, long considered a perennial favourite, finally lives up to its potential and wins its first trophy in 31 years, courtesy of a fiery rock and roll performance from Music/{{Maneskin}}.
103	*** France saw mixed fortunes throughout the 2010s, and despite Music/{{Amir}} leading them to an impressive sixth in Stockholm 2016, they have since struggled to match his success, with their prospective 2020 entry, "Mon alliée" by Tom Leeb, being panned by the French public and Eurovision fans alike for being mostly sung in English and written by foreign songwriters. On the heels of their first-ever triumph at the 2020 junior edition at Warsaw, France regained its determination to do well in the senior edition, held a strong national final, and the emerging winner--Barbara Pravi, who also wrote their aforementioned winning song, "J'imagine" by Valentina Tronel (as well as their fifth-placing effort from the previous year, "Bim bam toi" by Carla Lazzari)--quickly emerged as a favourite. And while Pravi couldn't quite win the whole thing, she nevertheless finished third with televoters (and, like Italy and Ukraine, received televote points from every other country) and second with the juries to earn second overall, tying Amina Annabi's record in Rome 1991 for France's best finish since Marie Myriam won London 1977.
104	** The one major example in the first semi was Belgium's Music/{{Hooverphonic}}, as their country had gone from three consecutive top-ten finishes between 2015-2017 (including two fourth-place finishes) to two straight non-qualifications. This marked the first occasion a Flemish entry represented Belgium on Dutch soil, and in spite of the band's popularity, there were worries that the song would be too low-key to advance to the final. Fortunately, the juries loved it, and Belgium qualified for the first time since 2017.
105	** Iceland's Music/DadiFreyr and his band Gagnamagnið was long considered a favourite dating all the way back to their prospective 2020 entry and viral hit "Think About Things", until bandmate Jóhann Sigurður tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the band to stay in a hotel while footage from their rehearsal was played in lieu of a live performance. Nevertheless, their song, "10 Years", earned fourth overall (fifth with juries and televotes), its best finish since Yohanna placed second behind Norway's Music/AlexanderRybak in Moscow 2009.
106	* VocalRangeExceeded: Israel's Eden Alene broke records for the highest note with her song "Set Me Free" at ''B6''.
107	* WardrobeMalfunction: During Music/{{Maneskin}}'s TriumphantReprise lead singer Damiano David's [[PaintedOnPants pants]] split at the front. By the time the band reached the press conference the entire right leg had ripped open. Damiano raising his leg in the air to show off the damage quickly became a meme.
108	* AWildRapperAppears: The Internet was sent into a frenzy when San Marino's "Adrenalina" featured a verse from none other than Music/FloRida.

Context Recap / EurovisionSongContest2021