The rumours have been confirmed — and it’s time for a party in the USA! Today organisers of the American Song Contest revealed that the competition for the United States will launch in 2021 or 2022.
During today’s press conference — held at the Lighthouse Hotel in Tel Aviv — Eurovision Song Contest Producer, Christer Björkman, alongside Anders Lenhoff and Ola Melzig, revealed that they will be bringing the much-loved music contest stateside.
The ink was put to paper just two weeks ago, which is a project that Christer admits was a long time in the making.
Dave Goodman of the EBU was also at the conference to show full support.
So far the song contest will only feature the Untied States, but they are open for other countries to take part as the concept grows. The show producers believe starting with one country makes things a lot more feasible: it’s easier to have one country at launch, as dealing with multiple countries may be what is delaying the Eurovision Asia concept.
As this is the beginning phase it is not clear how the format will work, or even if American Song Contest will be the name of the show, but we will get to know more as we get closer to 2021.
You can watch the entire press conference below and can check out our interview with producers above.
What do you think of the American Song Contest? Will this benefit Eurovision as well? Let us know in the comment section below.
There was a spin off OTI festival and lasted for a long time somewhere in the 70 and ended in 2000 due to many problems and constant changes cause the competition to end. Also only Spanish speaking and Portuguese speaking countries compete. So also USA and Canada did compete in this competition. USA won twice the last victory the competition ended in 2000.
No. It will just overshine the original. People would just though “oh, that American Song Contest thing is fabulous! Let’s make one in our country” while it was originating from our dear contest, for 64 years. Just no.
Nope. Last thing we need here in the USA is more divisions and hate. You can love Eurovision all you you want but it ends up with lots of hate and nationalism competition over a bunch of mediocre songs produced in Sweden. We don’t need none of that drama, we are very fragile socially at the moment and this contest tends to just brings out the worse in human nature. Xoxo
As an American Eurovision fan, I can tell already that this would definitely not work out. Really they would be better off doing a little more to grow an outside of Europe fanbase. Eurovision is becoming more and more popular in the US on its own, so no need for other contests.
I honestly don’t think this will end up happening. Also if y’all want to talk about America then END THE GEOBLOCK!!!!! It made no sense before and it makes even less since now because Logo isn’t even broadcasting the final this year!
It’s not EBU’s fault, it has something to do with YouTube licenses and this has to be fixed by YouTube.
I think things will be messier once this is gonna push through.
If I see American flag again, I will get cancer. Make it go away, and send Madonna with it too.
?? Whoops my hand slipped there lol
NO! JUST NO! THIS IS NOT OKAY!
No. I said no.
What Statesvision would probably be like: 1. Hosted by a big channel like NBC, which already hosts a lot of competition shows. 2. The show is only on Saturdays and Sundays in order for people to not have to miss it due to work 3. Statesvision would take about a month to complete, give or take a couple weeks 4. There would be 5 semifinals, separated by roughly by region of the country (Northeast, South, Midwest, Northwest+ Alaska, Southwest+Hawaii) 5. Each semi would probably have 10 songs, with somewhere between 3-5 qualifiers (3 would be more competitive and make for… Read more »
STOP COMPARING AMERICAN IDOL TO EUROVISION. It’s totally different. Some of Eurovision artists have already pretty big careers in their own countires and not only there. Yes, wow, unbelievable, European artists start their careers aside from Eurovision, they don’t start in Eurovision, like people in Idol, music industry doesn’t exist only in US.
No!
You can never replicate Eurovision in the USA. It just isn’t going to be the same, and it will most certainly bomb.
Best to focus on promoting Eurovision in the US. Logo TV did an awful job.
Also, forget about Beyonce or Kate Perry participating. That’s just ridiculous … lol
Of course it won’t be the same. Europe and the United States are very different from each other. But I don’t think it is supposed to be the same. I think Statesvision would only only be loosely based off Eurovision. The only things that’ll be the same probably are the 12-point system and having 1 song represent each state (in the same way a song represents a country). Other than that, I do not think they would be very much alike. I doubt the number of semifinals would even be the same. It’ll probably be more similar to Melfest than… Read more »
I am SO ready for this 😀 Please, in September each year, cause then I can enjoy the National Finals and the contest during post-eurovision time. Eurovision – Americavision – Junior Eurovision and my year is filled!
It will basically be a song contest with 50 Swedish entries, since most of American music is produced by Swedish producers anyway. Nah, I’ll pass.
Not if the American version tightens up the rules and says both the singers and songwriters need to be from the state they represent
It doesn’t need to be like Eurovision where countries send in songs that aren’t even written or sung by their own citizens. I’m surprised Eurovision doesn’t have a rule where only people from that country can work on and sing the song.
That’s part of the beauty of it. The US version can make up its own additional rules and make itself as different from Eurovision as it wants to be.
I can get why eurofan are hating on the US, they are tired of them being ignorant to everything lol
LOL, there also wouldn’t be a USA without Europe in the first place.
Charles I guess you’re from the US and your stupidity is one of the reasons people are hating on you lmao
@Charles II Look in the mirror, that will answer your question
Who founded the USA? Europeans
Among others ugh (African Americans brought in as slaves, Asian Americans to work on the railroads, Hispanic Americans who’ve been living here since Spanish rule)
I’ve got a lot to say, so bear with me. I like the idea of it on paper. It’d likely have to be on network television in order for it to get maximum opportunity in attracting viewers and sponsors (this was one of the biggest flaws of having the Eurovision Final on Logo, they put it on a very niche cable channel that basically had no original programming remaining — as RuPaul’s Drag Race, it’s flagship series, left Logo for the more widely available and more widely viewed VH1 — usually with just 2-3 weeks to promote it on air,… Read more »
Is this going to simply be an all-U.S. affair, or is this going to be an all-out Song Contest of the Americas, which include all of North, South and Central America and the islands in the region? If it’s just the U.S., I don’t think it will fly at all; and I’m from New York City.
I think both are possible, but a north + south American version would probably be closer to actual Eurovision than a United States version would be. I’m not sure how the US and Canada would feel about participating in a competition where Spanish is the majority language though. The US and Canada are very different from the rest of the Americas. I feel like viewership in the US and Canada would not be as high. It would make more sense I think for the USA to have a national states contest loosely based off Eurovision, Canada to have a national… Read more »
Please, join the petition! Not only for Portugal and Hungary but for all countries that suffered from injustice last night and to prevent more problems tomorrow and Saturday. Some people were unable to vote for their favorite countries. In some contries, a lot of people got the message “error” while calling to vote for their favorites. Their votes didn’t count!!
https://www.change.org/p/eurovision-recount-eurovision-2019-first-semifinal
I am from Texas. My response is NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! If the Grand Final can’t be televised here consistently, why do they think it will be embraced here? I think the US version would dilute the excitement for Eurovision.
That last sentence pretty much sums it up. How much could a U.S.-only version tarnish the prestige of the original? It would be nothing more than a super-sized version of another national final.
Now, if they included ALL of the Americas, it might be different.
Nice. Good luck with that.
In other news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-48283982
And that person had the honour of being a JESC presenter… In his place I would be ashamed to come back to the commentator booth for the next shows.
Now a Canadvision song contest would be the perfect size. The ten provinces could each provide one song and it could all be over in one 90 minute show.
Don‘t count out the 3 territories!
That’s right- I wanna hear some bops from Nunavut
No, EBU, just finish the HECK you started by ‘planning’ Eurovision Asia.
I’m now thinking this really isn’t going to work in the same format as the EBU’s Eurovision . The USA has so many commercial breaks in its tv schedules it really can’t happen in the same show length and format as the ESC , a bit like the Maltese national final with more commercial breaks and they already have a lot. For me this is painstaking .Your average tv viewer will not sit in front of a tv for a minimum 4 -5 hours for a show unless your a fan. As for the USA joining the ESC or influencing… Read more »
Is it just me or is the Eurovision concept being pimped out for the worse?
So Bjorkman is basically exporting melodifestivalen but with the help of ebu….. *eyeroll*
What is American “crap” music? The United States has one of the biggest diverse music from around the world. From Latin Music based in Florida to Country Music based in Nashville Tennessee to RnB music in New York to Punk Rock in the Midwest to Creole music in Louisiana to Native Tribe’s music in oklahoma to Hawaiian music to Blues Gospel music (originated in the South). Each state, believe it or not, has its own unique traditions and costumes and one can’t simply say it’s an “American” thing without having lived here. Yes there might be certain types of music… Read more »
I’m so bothered by everyone else in the comments acting like the United States doesn’t have enough cultural and musical diversity to pull this off. It’s simply not true.
Also North American music has been so internationally influential that even a lot of Eurovision songs are inspired by genres originating in the states and latin America.
The US has multiple cities that are considered music capitals. What makes everyone think that we would put on a bad show?
Whatever y’all, that’s not the point. Eurovision is about different nations & different cultures coming together to celebrate music and diversity, and there’s history behind it, there’s a reason why eurovision exists and it goes far beyond just “Oh, I saw it somewhere else, I’m doing it here too”. That’s why people are saying it’s more Melfest than Eurovision because at the end of the day, it’s just a self-centered song contest with no history or real purpose behind it. And if that’s so, then why should Eurovision have any association with it?
It’s not going to look any different than any other talent show in the US. Logistically, the presentation of the entries and results would span two shows because of the time zone differences— 6 hours between New York and Hawaii. And what about the Pacific territories— would they participate? That’s a 14 hour difference from New York to Guam. Viewers from the whole US aren’t going to tune in to a live show, because they’ll be at work. For presidential debates and addresses, they tend to be just after 21:00 to do a live broadcast. For talent shows, they are… Read more »
“We’re talking about a show longer than one week” Like the Swedish national selection? Sweden doesn’t even need a national selection that’s bigger or lasts longer than actual Eurovision. But they do it anyway just because. But Sweden’s always turns out fine anyway. The states can have semifinals separated by region. I see no problem with that. Also, each region would have no more than 10 states max participating, so the semis shouldn’t even last that long because of it, even with commercials. Also: Americans watch the Superbowl live all at the same time, regardless of the time zones. The… Read more »
agreed plus if we were to host it during the summer, that would be the best thing in the world
I’m kinda tired by all those new Eurovision branch contests being planned, they take a bit of the charm of the original ESC, I have an impression that instead of polishing the main contest they focus too much on the other ones. Plus they’re probably not gonna work out, I mean JESC, the 2nd biggest EBU event has problems with the viewership. And like, what’s next, Antarcticavision? Where do we draw the line?
I’m pretty sure half of JESC’s problem is that adults don’t want to watch children performing.
I mean, how many adults do you know listen to child singers outside of JESC?
The USA is NOT trying to steal Eurovision! It is the CREATORS THEM SELF who are trying to make this happen, America did not ask OR BEG for this!!! You people are so anti USA. Not one person bat an eyelid about Eurovision Asia and now this concept is “europeans only!!” Boohoo go cry somewhere else. Toxic fans.
If they want it to look like Eurovision they should include at least North and Central American countries. Having American Eurovision with only USA participating sounds kinda absurd.
I don’t think “looking like Eurovision” is the ultimate goal here.
It’s “bringing a song contest with 2 semi-finals and a final, and a 12-point voting system to the United States”
It’ll probably only be very loosely based off of Eurovision.
You can’t expect an American competition to look like Eurovision when Europe and the United States are not alike.
Not even the 50 states are alike.
I am in as long as it is not sponsored by MyHeritage
America (as a continent) needs an excuse to join more often: we have too much differences and conflicts, not as much as Russia with the rest of Europe, let’s be honest, but I think this can be an excellent opportunity to make peace between us for a single moment and enjoy our respective cultures from a different point of view. Having saying that, the idea of making a contest just in the U.S. is absurd. If they want to see how it works it’s fine, but this format is perfect for a contest between countries, not states. And if you… Read more »
I really don’t see why both can’t exist.
I would love to see both.
You already get musical diversity from the United States being a large, diverse nation with many different groups of people living in it (not ALL of us are white cowboy yeehaws and thinking so is an insult to all the people of color that lived here and influenced american popular music)
A song contest between north and south america would also be very diverse and i don’t see that as a bad idea either.
Could be intreasting I guess but what’s next African Song Contest then Worldvision
Maybe not worldvision since that would be too large to manage, …but what’s wrong with an African song contest? Is Africa not allowed to have nice things?
Ladysmith Black Mombasa would be amazing for that
Amerivision, Africavision, Asiavision, Oceaniavision and Eurovision: at the end of the year, all send the winner to a superfinal and we all crown the Worldvision kings and/or queens (?).
They already have Afrimusic.
:O I just looked it up and it sounds so cool!
It’s only gone on for two years so far, but I hope they can keep it up for many more to come 🙂
It’s a shame most of us don’t know about it since the news is so western-centric
must check that out wonderful
Europeans in the comments keep complaining and worrying that this would be a watered-down copy of Eurovision and that this would “ruin everything”. Let me tell you right now- as an American, I can tell that this isn’t going to be ANYTHING like Eurovision. This is going to end up being a competition with a good mixture of country, folk, rap/hip-hop, gospel, latin, pop, and rock songs. The music will be songs that are uniquely American and sound like stuff that only a country like the US could make. It’s not going to be like Eurovision. It probably won’t be… Read more »
Hi. America is the continent, you are only one part of our land. Stop calling yourself Americans as if you were the only ones here.
Kisses, neighbor.
Well, nobody else is calling us “United-Statesians”. What do you want me to do, bud? Single-handedly attempt to change what the rest of the world calls people who live in the US?
They call you that in the only language you speak dear estadunidense.
Et en Français, je suis Américain.
Your point? We’re Americans in English and that’s just the way it is and it’s not going to change.
Canada calls us that, Australia and New Zealand call us that, the UK and Ireland call us that.
You think that’s gonna change anytime soon?
gonna be a bunch of yee haw music with texas, tennessee and puerto rico rotating as winners. probably won’t take off lbr.
Way to ignore the Africian-American influenced music that will also probably be in the contest.
Keep in mind that most of the popular music genres in the US originated in African-American communities.
You’re ignoring the rap, hip-hop, soul, and gospel music that may also likely be featured in an American competition.
Yes, California (where most of the music industry is ) and the south will probably dominate the competition, but they’ll be more music diversity than what you are thinking.
Puerto Rico doesn’t really do “yee haw” music, though.
I’m already #TeamAlaska !
I mean, it’s an idea. It would be cool to have a Eurovision-esque event in the US, but I’m afraid it would all be crappy American pop songs. I say no to this for now, but we’ll see.
I would be more for having a “rest-of-the-world” televote, like the OGAE RotW or the online vote from Junior Eurovision. It annoys the crap outta me that I can’t support my favorite contestants because I live in the US.
“but I’m afraid it would all be crappy American pop songs”… Yeah, cause Eurovision is all about music quality and art, lol.
The same people who think that an American contest would only be country and crappy pop are the same people who choose to ignore that America is a very diverse country (more diverse than all the countries that most of you probably come from).
Even when it comes to pop song competitions? I love blues, jazz (some) folk but those are almost niche these days. It’ll be a whole load of crappy pop. crappy christian pop, crappy country and maybe some crappy ‘urban’ music thrown in. Apart from the christian thing not that much different from Eurovision. As for Latin music, Eurovision has more diversity of genres on that one. At least they are not all sung in Spanish/Spanglish and when they are… 🙁
Latin music is quite diverse already. Eurovision has nothing on music from Latin America.
I mean, now that I think about it, that’s true. There’ll most likely be rap and maybe a few country songs, among some other genres. I still feel like the majority of the songs would be pop, though.
I’ve thought a lot about this before with the 50 states.
Big 5: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Maryland (DC would compete under Maryland)
Essentially identical to current ESC format of two SF with 10 qualifiers for the final, Big 5, and host state = 26 states.
The “big 5” concept would NEVER work in a states version of the contest.
There would be too much uproar about how it isn’t fair.
Like, with the big 5 in Eurovision, you could at least argue that the big 5 contribute the most financially or whatever, …but i don’t think that would apply in an American song contest
I hope there won’t be a big 5 in the American version!
Also, wouldn’t it make more sense to have 25 states in the final at the very most? I mean, that’s half the states right there.
The ideal thing to do would be to have 25 states. 5 semifinals separated by region that each contain 10 states. 5 states in each semifinal make it to the final.
Of if you wanted this contest to be EVEN MORE competitive, only 3 states in each semi go to the final with only 15 states in the final
Separating by region is also a good idea because it prevents most of the finalists all being from the same region. (like, the final may not be as fun if all the finalists are southern states for example)
LMFAO @ Maryland being anywhere near Big 5 status.
We probably wouldnt do big 5. And if we did, the 5th would be either Illinois or Pennsylvania
Agreed, I’m from Maryland myself and although we have the biggest GDP per Capita, there would be no way we could ever be as part of the Big 5. Besides, the gap between the wealthiest and poorest states is smaller than the gap between the Richest and poorest countries in Europe
do it for the money do it for the money and clap your hand and do it for the money…
12 points go to…South Caroline! muahahahahah
So far the song contest will only feature the Untied States,
“Untied States” that is funny. In what year have they untied?
Seeing it from across the Atlantic, they seem rather more untied than united to me.
So when will it be postponed indefinitely like the Asian one?
What’s happening to the Asian version? Is it still going ahead?
As far as I know it’s going to take place in Gold Coast, Australia, in December. Unless something goes wrong, that is.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Asia_Song_Contest_2019
Sorry, April fool’s day went. This joke makes me puke.
They won’t buy it the Americans. 50 states 50 songs, sounds great and a cool idea but the Eurovision belongs to Europe. It’s a European competition. Americans don’t get it, its novelty and alien to them. We will have half of these songs or more thinking its a ‘country western’ genre song contest. What brings the Eurovision together is the diversity of people, their tastes, genre, different cultures, countries, languages, together with a huge support from the LGBT community. I can see them trying it, hope it works, but please do not merge in the long term with our 64… Read more »
“Americans don’t get it”
An American song contest isn’t supposed to be a copy of Eurovision.
It’s supposed to be AMERICAN, and DIFFERENT from what Europe would do.
Also, PLEASE for the love of God stop pretending that America is not a diverse country.
America is a continent. Granted the USA are very diverse. The USA mainstream media not so much. In any case do all states have public TV networks or even stations. PBS is underfunded. Any major network will be in it for the money which it would mean getting lots of sponsors with deep pockets. Which may not be willing to invest in an unknown quantity(or quality). An all-American contest (between several American countries) is a nice idea but it was tried. The OTI festival (which even was hosted in the US a couple of times) was literally based on the… Read more »
There’s no point in this. Eurovision has over 40 countries. It’s part of European history. Leave America out of it, please.
A xenophobic European? How surprising.
We ARE being left out of it, dummy. In our own contest that Europe won’t be a part of 🙂
Whatever happens, just don’t hate on us. Not every american supports Trump.
And that has to do with Eurovision…?
Personally speaking I don’t (hate) but the contest would be even more political than in Europe as you only have two competing poles of power/opinion. Roughly speaking, of course. But then anyone with more nuanced or tolerant views would not be a target audience of this USAVision.
I don’t understand how they will translate the magic of Eurovision with this American twin project: USA has the biggest musical industry so music wise it won’t be much of an issue, however what’s interesting in Eurovision is the diversity of the contestants (from Iceland to Georgia, Portugal to Australia, Russia to San Marino…) how would it translate in an unified country, music market etc? I have doubts but of course the general idea is dope. Why not make it an all American contest then? (meaning the continent)
Classic Bjorkman!
So its no good to try it in US? It wont affect us here so why so mad? Ps without björkman ESC would be like it weere in the 80s
I miss those days and so do many Europeans, how else did SM and Estonia got through the final over, say, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Belgium?
Oh plhhhhlease he is not the messiah of the contest and he will never be
That is OK, American Song Contest is a good idea. Just don’t ruin Eurovision.
How could it ruin Eurovision when they are two separate competitions that are barely even related?
How are we gonna ruin Eurovision while we are minding our business doing our own thing?
I think it’s a pretty cool idea. Germany had something similar, the Bundesvision Song Contest, but it was never a huge thing. I think this could really benefit smaller states and smaller cities to bring and develop talent in those areas.
This is going to be canceled and it will be a perfect wake up call for the Swedish production team and especially Bjorkman aka the boss, who think That the eurovision brand belongs to them.
No one thinks it belongs to them, why not try? I do not really see the problem in making the franschise bigger. Just look at Idol, Talent,Xfactor…if those shows can do it why not try eurovision?
No one? Bjorkman has no authority to “sell” the format however he does under the license of ebu!
wait, do you think this was a unilateral decision made by Christer Bjorkman, and that EBU didn’t approve it? lol, that’s dumb.
fans are dumb. They love San marino this year so….
Do you include yourself Felicia?
Swede hater. ps Sweden dont own anything. Its EBU and they are not swedish
everyone on the panel of the press conference come from Sweden and no sign of the Norwegian Jon Ola Sand. Better luck next time a**hole