EUROVISION 2020 - General Discussion Thread

[escYOUnited]

Please post any and all discussions regarding the contest itself, host country and city, organisation, rumours and other topics not related to any specific country's selection process.

 

[Ana Raquel]

i'll support any broadcaster or artist who withdraws because of this rule. this is completely inconsiderate of all the artists', producers' and composers' work.

 

[Ana Raquel]

also don't act surprised if the artists who had critical and fan acclaim to make songs who are basically a cheap copy of their 2020 entry.

LET. THEM. CHOOSE.

 

[hijirio]

Just make a competition and honour the winner. Is it that hard? I feel so sorry for Lithuania Bulgaria and Iceland who had for once their shot for winning the whole thing.

 

[Etanna]

tbh the whole statement comes off as very manipulative they're making it sound as if they were being super generous and considerate by allowing the broadcasters to send this years' artists and that that's their way of honouring the artists and their songs

It's always been the broadcasters' right to send an artist as many times as they want, you're supposed to scrap the september rule for once and let this years' SONGS compete properly!!

 

[Storm]

Very disappointing decision.

 

[crashworld]

I feel like they're trolling us.

EBU statement:

With that in mind, the Reference Group, the ESC’s governing board, has decided that, in accordance with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, this year’s songs will not be eligible to compete when the Contest returns in 2021.

This is unacceptable. They should be given a choice if they want the 2020 song to be represented in 2021 if the broadcaster decides to stick to the 2020 artist. I don't think it's right to say, "oh we will be bored by the songs when 2021 comes" blah blah or it will be unfair if the artist changed song etc. We still have yet to see the final staging for all 2020 entries and as we all know staging can make or break a song's qualification/winning chance. This is like flushing down the hard work the delegations and artists have put in especially for those who won with their songs or got rave reviews. Plus we also have to consider the additional money/resources the delegation has to spend to pay writers/producers to produce new songs and as we know the impact the stupid coronavirus is going to have on the economy and some countries may not have additional fundings/luxury to do such stuff. I can see some countries dropping out from the competition altogether. This is such a mess.

 

[hijirio]

What are HoD's for? If they collectively reject this idea, EBU cannot insist on this rule. I think all countries who had a chance to win this year's contest should threaten to withdraw if they can't use the same song in 2021.

 

[Teaisloveable]

Only speculation but I wonder if the decision to cancel the contest completely was pushed by local forces to ensure Rotterdam can have all those precious tourist revenues in 2021 instead. Any alternative solutions would likely mean less profit for them.

If this is the case then I think cancellation was certainly the right thing to do then.

Rotterdam, and The Netherlands as a whole DESERVE that revenue after a 44 year wait.

I love Eurovision of course, and I love that it brings revenue into the countries that host it.

 

[mauve]

I am really disappointed for all artists. How can they do this? I am really so angry right now I want to scream.

 

[tuorem]

I truly miss the respect for the artists.

The EBU be like:

 

[Teaisloveable]

This might be an unpopular opinion but I am sure that weeks and weeks of discussions at the EBU/ Eurovision was made and they came to the conclusion of a full on cancellation after A LOT of thinking, research and heated discussion.

I know it sucks guys, but honestly the world is faced with such a huge unprecedented, ever-changing situation that millions of people around the world will be disappointed for one reason or another. The Football, a gig or even just going down to the pub - for us it is Eurovision.

But during this time I just think that a gap in Eurovision is a small price to pay if it means the safety and wellbeing of thousands of people is guarded.
A postponement would have been uncertain in itself - We don't know what the situation will be in August for example. Imagine how much more time, money and effort and disappointment would occur if they postponed it only for them to then have to cancel that as it still was not safe - This is going to take an economic toll on every country in the world. The last thing we want to happen is broadcasters not being able to participate in 2021 due to financial difficulties.
As for a studio only show, it would still mean large gatherings around Europe just to prepare it (theatre staff, artists, musicians, delegations, security, possible audiences etc etc) and these gatherings would go against many county's lock down measures.

Completely overhauling the Eurovision experience just in order to have something just doesn't seem worth it - they'd only have mere months to organise it, and in a way it would be a disservice to the artists in itself - not being able to perform on the main stage, on an even sitting. I really do hope Broadcasters decide to fasttrack this year's artists straight to ESC2021, we may lose the songs (they will always have a big place in our hearts and Eurovision history books) but just think how powerful ESC2021 will be. The absolute raw emotion behind the performance, the sticking together.
The flame of Eurovision will burn bigger and brighter than ever.

We have to make sacrifices in such a hard time, and unfortunately if you like it or not Eurovision is one that can be made easily. Coming with only sadness and disappointment, not a risk to health and well being. We will all survive Post Eurovision depression for another year and we will be so excited for Eurovision 2021 when it comes round. 64 years of straight competition is an amazing achievement which should be celebrated. Unfortunately that was cut short by this shitty virus but it is what it is. We've got this forum, and the further community to keep us going.

We can argue and debate about what they could have done until the cows come home but they made this decision and I am SURE it was not an easy one. Whatever they chose, there would have been complaints.

 

[DaFlo]

Such a disrespectful decision. But oh no the "Eurovision spirit" and other bullshit excuses as always.

I guess the elite broadcasters pushed for it, wouldn't surprise me at all if some of the broadcasters weren't event asked for their opinion.

Hope we see mass withdrawals.

 

[alca]

I say host two contests next year. One with all the artists and songs from 2020 and one with the new artists and songs of 2021. Let's have Eurovision 2020 in 2021.

 

[Mainshow]

Best decision. It's not disgraceful to any artists or broadcasters. They all know that Eurovision got cancelled (not postponed). It would have been really unfair if some broadcasters host a new preselection whilst others submit their 2020 entrants with nrw songs or even the same songs.

Of course, I feel sad about Bulgaria, Lithuania, Switzerland and Iceland who could have won everything... But this way, we fans get two complete eurovision editions (song-wise) instead of 1 and a half!

 

[DaFlo]

It would have been really unfair if some broadcasters host a new preselection whilst others submit their 2020 entrants with nrw songs or even the same songs.

Idk what's unfair if you give everyone the choice to keep the song If some countries wanna go with their NFs they can do that, while others can keep the song if they want to. Everyone has the same options.

 

[Citelis]

It's the best possible decision! Mixing old and new songs would be wrong!

 

[Loindici]

It's the best compensation they could give. EBU doesn't have any rights to cancel any NFs, nor obliged the broadcaster to send the past winners. Some NF countries would probably change into internally selecting their 2020 winners.

And of course now we will expect Jeangu to come with a disco bop

 

[Leydan]

it literally doesn't matter how old these songs are even. Pretty much the entire audience watching them will hear them for the first time on the night, then either in the final or never again. It's only with bands like Little Big that may well have had a bigger exposure. So many fans seem to live in a bubble over this. Modern music isn't going to literally change quickly so they sound super outdated? Artists may want a new song, but some for sure wanted to keep their song. Victoria is the best example of that I can give right now. This just shows the contempt the EBU has for the entire process. They didn't even need to cancel, but they did. They didn't need to come down so hard on this, but they have. Shame on them and whoever pushed this agenda. Money talks.

 

[Citelis]

It's not only national finals. Some of the artists may don't want to go again in 2021! It's just impossible to have the same line-up in 2021.

 

[Preuss]

Honestly, screw the EBU. Who are they to tell that the artists can’t use the same song for next year’s competition under these circumstances? Let it be a choice for the artists themselves, I doubt it’s at advantage anyway. I see that Robyn from wiwibloggs said something about hosting right, but honestly let’s be real; EBU could just declare that the «winner» of this year’s Eurovision won’t get to host next year, the hosting right will still be the Netherlands’ if they want it. I hardly doubt that any broadcaster would have a problem with this as the replacement contest will be so downscaled that they won’t even deserve to host. It’s bothering me that the EBU don’t find a way to make these 41 songs count, even if it won’t be in Eurovision style, the artists could do it from home etc, and still represent their country in 2021 if they wish to. This way they’ll make sure that the songs count some way. Honestly why do they insist that Eurovision has to happen the grand way? If the spirit of the contest is to unite Europe and countries, then find a way to do it - especially in these hard times.