He’s the Eurovision 2009 winner who was scheduled to be part of a special interval act during the final of Eurovision 2020. Despite the cancellation of the contest, Alexander Rybak has informed fans through social media that he’s been invited back for the 2021 contest and is happy that he will be able to perform in Rotterdam a year later. He also shares his sympathy for the contestants who will not be able to represent their country at the contest this year.
Eurovision 2020 organisers NPO, NOS and AVROTROS had planned a special interval act featuring a winner from each decade of the contest.
Dutch winners Lenny Kuhr and Getty Kaspers would be featuring in it, alongside Belgium’s Sandra Kim and Irish duo Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan. On top of that, Eurovision 2019 winner Duncan Laurence would also be part of the interval. Rybak was scheduled to represent the 2000s, as he won with “Fairytale” for Norway in 2009.
Alexander Rybak on Eurovision 2020 cancellation
From his home in Oslo, Alexander Rybak told his fans that he is happy that the interval act will still go on, despite it being later than planned. Speaking in Russian, Rybak said:
“They cancelled Eurovision 2020. We planned a very fancy number for the final of 16 May, for the interval though. For me it’s not that bad, I already participated in that circus a few times. On the other hand, I feel for many artists, who were longing to conquer Europe, but at the same time, I am very happy that they automatically invited everyone to next year.”
It really seems that the organising Dutch broadcasters are willing to invite every person who worked on the contest in 2020 back again. Earlier on, Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS revealed that it had invited Jeangu Macrooy back as a contestant next year.
Rybak went on to say that he hoped each country’s national final would do a similar thing and honour the artists who had been selected for the 2020 contest:
“Therefore, I very much hope, that the national finals of next year will honour that decision. It’s important, I think. And yeah, to that, we will stick.”
Sadly, the Belarusian-Norwegian star’s wishes are not set to become a reality. On Thursday, Norway’s broadcaster NRK revealed that Melodi Grand Prix 2021 is set to go ahead. Although she was offered an automatic spot in the grand final, 2020 winner Ulrikke Brandstorp has declined the opportunity to compete again.
Lenny Kuhr confirms appearance at Eurovision 2021
Alexander Rybak is not the only star of the special interval act who has shared their excitement to return to the stage next year. Eurovision 1969 winner Lenny Kuhr also announced that she will be back next year:
“I am participating at Eurovision 2021 too in Rotterdam! Nearly all concerts that were cancelled in March, April, and May are rescheduled for next season. Keep 1.5 meters distance and then everything will be fine.”
Ik doe ook weer mee op Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam! Bijna alle concerten die in maart, april en mei niet door konden gaan zijn verplaatst naar volgend seizoen. Houdt anderhalve meter afstand dan komt alles goed.
— Lenny Kuhr (@LenKuhr) March 24, 2020
Are you curious to see the Eurovision winners interval act next year? Let us know in the comments down below!
Alexander said in the last sentence: “until then, we will wash our hands”.
Multilingual traslation of his video post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iumb8QSSGI8
And yes, the Norwegian broadcaster doesn’t respect neither EBU’s decision nor Alexander’s wish, which is not to let compete the winner of 2020, but to send them automatically, with a new song, without competing in the national selection.
Someday everyone will realize that canceling, not rescheduling, was the only right thing to do. A bitter pill to swallow but it’s true.
Never. Cancelling the contest was necessary. Robbing artists and songs of their chance to shine on Eurovision stage in autumn 2020 or May 2021 was not. This is exactly what EBU did to Romania in 2016 times 41.
Nope. Never. We will never stop believing that EBU who has a goal of ESC to be technicology advanced, didn’t really have a back up plan to save 2020. They could have done it stripped down, or studio shoot or whatever, it’s 2020. But no, they took coward way out. True it would have been a very unconventional edition but it could also have been praised as something new and forward thinking in a difficult time.
or… we could make ESC 2021 the best year ever and enjoy it? stahp reaching y’all
A has-been.
EBU just started a war on social media