Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

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Eurovision Song Contest 2021
Country Ukraine
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 18 March 2020
Song: 4 February 2021
Selected entrantGo_A
Selected song"Shum"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Kateryna Pavlenko
  • Taras Shevchenko
  • Igor Didenchuk
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (2nd, 267 points)
Final result5th, 364 points
Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2020 • 2021 • 2022►

Ukraine participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Shum" written by Kateryna Pavlenko, Taras Shevchenko and Ihor Didenchuk. The song was performed by Go_A, who were announced by the Ukrainian broadcaster Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC) as the Ukrainian representative for the 2021 contest on 18 March 2020 after they were due to compete in the 2020 contest with "Solovey" before the event's cancellation. On 1 February 2021, "Shum" was selected as the Ukrainian entry following the votes from a five-member jury panel and was announced on 4 February 2021.

Ukraine was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2021. Performing during the show in position 15, "Shum" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 22 May. It was later revealed that Ukraine placed second out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 267 points. In the final, Ukraine performed in position 19 and placed fifth out of the 26 participating countries with 364 points.

Background[]

Main article: Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2021 contest, Ukraine had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifteen times since its first entry in 2003, winning it in 2004 with the song "Wild Dances" performed by Ruslana. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Ukraine had managed to qualify to final in every contest they participated in thus far. Ukraine had been the runner-up in the contest on two occasions: in 2007 with the song "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" performed by Verka Serduchka and in 2008 with the song "Shady Lady" performed by Ani Lorak. Ukraine's least successful result had been 24th place, which they achieved, as hosts, in 2017, with the song "Time" performed by O.Torvald.

The Ukrainian national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA:PBC), broadcasts the event within Ukraine and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In the past, UA:PBC had alternated between both internal selections and national finals in order to select the Ukrainian entry. Between 2016 and 2020, UA:PBC had set up national finals with several artists to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ukraine, with both the public and a panel of jury members involved in the selection. UA:PBC confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest after the 2020 contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before Eurovision[]

Internal selection[]

On 18 March 2020, UA:PBC confirmed that Go_A would remain as the Ukrainian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.[1][2] The group submitted three songs: "Rano", "Shum" and "Tserkovka", all of which were composed by Kateryna Pavlenko, Taras Shevchenko and Igor Didenchuk, and the 2021 Ukrainian entry, "Shum", was selected through the votes from an expert jury on 1 February 2021. The jury panel consisted of Jamala (singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 for Ukraine), Yevhen Filatov–The Maneken (singer and producer, creator of group Onuka), Ruslan Kvinta (music producer and composer) and two members of the UA:PBC Managing Board Dmytro Khorkin and Yaroslav Lodygin.[3]

On 9 February 2021, commercial broadcaster STB announced that the song would be reworked for the Eurovision Song Contest as the original version, released in January 2021, exceeded three minutes and contained lyrics from the Ukrainian folk song "A v nashoho Shuma".[4] The Eurovision version of the song was premiered on 9 March 2021 together with the official music video, directed by Maksym Tuzhylin, via UA:PBC and the official Eurovision Song Contest's YouTube broadcasts.[5][6]

At Eurovision[]

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. For the 2021 contest, the semi-final allocation draw held for 2020 which was held on 28 January 2020, was used. Ukraine was placed into the first semi-final, which was held on 18 May 2021, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[7]

Once all the competing songs for the 2021 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Ukraine was set to perform in position 15, following the entry from Azerbaijan and preceding the entry from Malta.[8]

Ukraine performed 19th in the grand final on 22 May 2021, following Lithuania and preceding France.

Before the band's second rehearsal in Rotterdam on 12 May, the lead singer of Go_A, Kateryna Pavlenko, reported feeling ill and had to miss the rehearsal due to the contest's COVID-19 rules. The other band members, who tested negative for COVID-19, rehearsed as planned with stand-in singer Emmie van Stijn.[9][10] Pavlenko took a COVID-19 PCR test, which came back negative the following day, allowing her to perform again.[11]

Voting[]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with a diversity in gender and age represented. The judges assess each entry based on the performances during the second Dress Rehearsal of each show, which takes place the night before each live show, against a set of criteria including: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act.[12] Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially. Jury members should also vote independently, with no discussion of their vote permitted with other jury members.[13] The exact composition of the professional jury, and the results of each country's jury and televoting were released after the grand final; the individual results from each jury member were also released in an anonymised form.[14][15]

Points awarded to Ukraine[]

Points awarded by Ukraine[]

Detailed voting results[]

The following members comprised the Ukrainian jury:[14][15]

Detailed voting results from Ukraine (Semi-final 1)[16]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Lithuania 13 12 4 13 7 10 1 1 12
02  Slovenia 9 7 5 3 10 7 4 15
03  Russia 15 15 15 11 15 15 5 6
04  Sweden 7 6 7 6 14 8 3 8 3
05  Australia 4 3 1 1 2 1 12 10 1
06  North Macedonia 12 11 12 5 13 12 14
07  Ireland 14 14 13 15 11 14 13
08  Cyprus 6 8 11 14 6 9 2 7 4
09  Norway 10 13 14 12 9 13 9 2
10  Croatia 2 1 8 9 3 3 8 12
11  Belgium 5 5 3 2 4 2 10 6 5
12  Israel 8 2 2 10 5 5 6 4 7
13  Romania 1 10 6 8 1 4 7 11
14  Azerbaijan 11 9 9 7 8 11 2 10
15  Ukraine
16  Malta 3 4 10 4 12 6 5 3 8
Detailed voting results from Ukraine (Final)[17]
Draw Country Jury Televote
Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Cyprus 8 12 13 18 24 16 15
02  Albania 23 22 15 24 22 24 21
03  Israel 4 5 2 17 4 4 7 13
04  Belgium 3 10 3 5 20 5 6 10 1
05  Russia 17 25 25 15 25 22 7 4
06  Malta 6 3 6 6 10 6 5 11
07  Portugal 7 17 7 12 5 9 2 19
08  Serbia 24 16 22 16 23 21 22
09  United Kingdom 22 23 21 22 9 18 23
10  Greece 16 6 20 13 21 15 16
11   Switzerland 5 4 1 3 12 3 8 4 7
12  Iceland 11 8 5 7 6 7 4 5 6
13  Spain 21 20 18 4 15 13 25
14  Moldova 15 13 24 20 19 19 18
15  Germany 18 21 19 21 13 20 14
16  Finland 19 14 9 14 14 17 3 8
17  Bulgaria 14 9 16 10 16 14 17
18  Lithuania 13 11 8 9 7 11 2 10
19  Ukraine
20  France 12 1 10 2 2 2 10 6 5
21  Azerbaijan 9 15 11 8 3 8 3 8 3
22  Norway 2 19 14 19 11 10 1 12
23  Netherlands 20 24 17 23 18 23 24
24  Italy 1 2 4 1 1 1 12 1 12
25  Sweden 10 7 12 11 8 12 9 2
26  San Marino 25 18 23 25 17 25 20

References[]

  1. ^ "Ukraine: UA:PBC confirm GO_A as Eurovision 2021 act". ESCToday. 22 March 2020.
  2. ^ "New song Go A for transferred Eurovision-2021 will be in the Ukrainian language | The Saxon". Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  3. ^ Luukela, Sami (1 February 2011). "Go_A's Eurovision 2021 entry has been decided". escXtra. Retrieved 2 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ ten Veen, Renske (9 February 2021). "Ukraine: STB news programme reports that Go_A's "SHUM" will be revamped because of its folklore-inspired melody and lyrics". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 22 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Smith, David (22 May 2021). "Go_A will release Eurovision version of "SHUM" on 9 March". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 22 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Granger, Anthony (18 February 2021). WIKI