Eurovision announces historic US edition to take place next year: ‘It’s time for America to experience this spectacle’
The Eurovision logo seen outside the Rotterdam Ahoy, the official venue for the planned Eurovision Song Contest 2020. (Photo by Robin Utrecht/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Eurovision has announced the American Song Contest will come to the USA in 2021.
The Eurovision Song Contest has been running in Europe for 65 years and has a huge LGBT+ following due to its celebration of all things camp.
Now, producers have announced that the contest will go stateside for the first time ever.
The American Song Contest will follow a similar format to Eurovision Each of the 50 US states will select a song and an artist to compete in the competition.
Organisers are planning to have a series of between five and 10 televised qualifier competitions in the American Song Contest, which will lead to a semi-final and grand final.
Eurovision producers insist that ‘love of music is universal’ as they launch the American Song Contest.
In the lead up to the historic contest, producers will create the American Song Contest Academy, a group composed of music professionals across the United States from multiple genres and backgrounds.
The academy will create juries of artists and music industry figures who will come together with regional audiences to select representatives from each state to compete.
The American Song Contest is set to air during the 2021 holiday season.
Love of music is universal and celebration of music is different in genres and styles can transcend boundaries and unite people.
Martin Österdahl, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said the competition’s worldwide popularity is “still rising” – making it an ideal time to launch an American version.
“It’s time for America to experience this spectacle,” he said.
“Love of music is universal and celebration of music is different in genres and styles can transcend boundaries and unite people.
“We are excited to have found the right partners offer another series that our fans across the globe can fall in love with and to share this unique competition with the American people.”
The contest will be ‘different from anything seen before on US television’.
A number of high-profile figures from the entertainment industry are working behind the scenes to bring the American Song Contest to fruition.
Anders Lenhoff, Peter Settman, Ola Melzig and Christer Bjorkman are working on the new iteration of the contest alongside a US team.
Lenhoff said the contest will be “different from anything seen before on US television”.
“The American Song Contest is a competition that happens to be televised, rather than a contest created to make a television show.
“And it’s open to all singers with a song, whether they are amateur artists or already signed to a major record label.
“No one is excluded from the competition.”
The news comes just weeks after Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga debuted on Netflix, propelling the contest to global recognition.
