Eurovision Executive Supervisor Martin Österdahl has revealed that the EBU will give broadcasters the option to use pre-recorded backing vocals during Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam. It’s meant to help create a more sustainable contest.
Österdahl explained that the EBU is relaxing the rules on backing vocalists singing live in order to help countries cope with new realities.
“The lessons learned from the spring of 2020 are that we need to plan for a global crisis, and we have tailored the rules of the Contest to that effect. We must be able to be more flexible and to make changes even to the format itself and how we organize the event in these challenging times.”
“As organizers of the world’s largest live music event we are determined and united in our mission; to bring back a Contest, a new winner and a handover to a new Host Broadcaster. These elements are in our DNA and part of our legacy.”
Eurovision 2021 rules change: Pre-recorded backing will be allowed
Normally, all the vocals, including backing, must be completely live to ensure fair play. Because each entry usually features a small group of backing vocalists, this puts additional strain on delegations. It increases their numbers, which subsequently leads to greater expenses, such as hotel and travel costs.
As part of making Eurovision come back “for good”, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group has decided to allow the participating broadcasters to opt for the use of pre-recorded vocals on the backing track. We should emphasise the optionality. Countries are still allowed to use real-life backing vocalists on stage. They can decide to add pre-recorded voices on the backing track, or replace their backing vocalists with recordings altogether.
A side goal of giving broadcasters the chance to use pre-recorded vocals is to give them more creative freedom. Abiding by the six-person rule, delegations could now replace backing vocalists with dancers, while still having the extra voices on stage. It also means delegations will no longer have to find dancers who can sing.
The EBU underlined that though there is no limit in the amount of vocalists that can be heard on the track, the lead vocals will always have to be performed live. On top of that, it is not a permanent rule yet. Martin Österdahl said:
“When making the rule change, maintaining authenticity and fairness has always been front of mind.”
Pre-recorded vocals are not completely alien to the contest. Popular national finals such as Sweden’s Melodifestivalen and Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix have made use of pre-recorded backing vocalists in the past few years. Norway’s Eurovision 2017 entry JOWST was also allowed to use a vocal sampling during his performance of “Grab The Moment” in Kyiv.
What do you think about the rule change? Do you think many broadcasters will make use of it? Let us know in the comments down below!
It’s funny that this is leading to controversy/arguments considering full bands can play to a recording in Eurovision competitions, including 2006’s winner, whose performance of Rock Hallelujah was, at minimum, utilizing pre-recorded drums but had a drummer going through the motions…seems like the Super Bowl Halftime Show, this has always been a bunch of performative nonsense.
My biggest wish for 2021: some country sending an acapella group with everyone but the lead vocalist keeping their mouths shut out of protest.
The number of people on stage is already limited
2021: Prerecorded vocals
2022: Second Chance Round
2023: Age based juries
2024:”Welcome to the 2024 International Melodifestivalen”
Another thing…Imagine a song with a massive powerful choir where the choir is so powerful to overshadow the main singer. And then this singer will perform without any backing singers although it will have similar impact (because of this pre recorded choir) and people will be impressed by this choir and vote. I am just making a possible scenario and in this particular case this wouldn t be fair to other artists.
Well, I hope they will also give a chance to countries to play some of their instruments live. I am not a big fan of this pre-recorded backing vocals possibility despite it is still optional. I do support 100% live singing, but there you go, I hope they know what they are doing. Yes, it s a live show, a spectacle, much more than just a song or singing, but to me this is somehow putting singing in the “background” although I firmly believe singing is No1 and everything else should be No2. Backing vocals are equally important (often) as… Read more »
Hmm, let’s see about this one. It might be a disaster, but we don’t know because Eurovision 2021 hasn’t started yet.
I am a Swede and i also dislike this “trial run”. I know what it feels like to every year hear a song at melfest, and to a certain extent being scared of what the actual live performance will sound like. That part of me can now rest easy as these mediocre singers that we send will sound almost perfect. But that also means that i won´t be truly happy if by some crazy chance we win. Because I will know that this singer actually isn’t capable of actually performing the song without this playback. Why does Swedens representative do… Read more »
Malta as a guest in 1991? Has been in every single contest since then.
Orchestra as optional in 1999? Forbidden ever since.
Australia as a guest in 215? Has been in every single contest since then.
1 year trial for pre-recorded backing vocals? ….
When we have the Olympics next year, the relay races will just have the last leg runner competing in the stadium. The personal bests of the first three athletes can be added together to determine the point where the anchor runner will start. Think of the money which will be saved on transport and accommodation for those extra athletes. What an innovation!
I’m in favour of giving countries permission to bring specific type of pre-recorded vocals in case they need. Like it happened back in 2017 with Norway. As a general rule… I’m yet to know if I like it or not tbh. But it feels like they are trying, again, to “nordify” the contest.
BREAKING NEWS : Tom Leeb WON’T represent France in Rotterdam next year. The french singer reveal the news himself during an interview officialy explaining that it was due to his planning for 2021 which can’t let him enough time to take part again in the big music adventure.
Yes for sure, Oranie, the wiwi correspondant from France, is probably putting the finishing touches to her article 😉
Shame this wasn’t in place for a certain interval act last year….
Otherwise I’m glad about her bad live performance. I’m still getting really angry when I think of all those people declaring Justin Timberlake’s obvious playback better than all of that year’s actual contestants.
At the end of the day, the ordinary viewer will barely notice a difference apart from a likely higher quality of songs. So surely any action that makes the contest better and makes it more enjoyable is worth it? Especially in this time of Covid-19
Very very sad news…….
I Like this idea and makes a lot of sense.
Let’s see how it goes next year!
After reading through a lot of the comments it’s clear to see that a lot of people dont get that the main vocals still have to be performed live. It’s not going to turn into a lip sync contest. Everyone needs to calm down and stop jumping to conclusions. If you really hate it, you don’t have to watch it. Also, can y’all like stop attacking Sweden? They seem to be attacked for every decision the EBU ever make about Eurovision and that really isn’t fair. People are asking why didn’t Martin Ostedahl speak to the fans first, but why… Read more »
It’s not a “minority” though is it Pineaple? And the reasons Sweden are in the firing line are a) because this development has happened under the watch of a Swede and b) it’s the latest cut and paste from Melodifestivalen.
I’ve not attacked people but I can understand why others have. You are right, I don’t have to watch Eurovision 2021. But since I’ve not missed one since 1968, I hope you can understand why this would be such a big deal.
No, the main reason why we get hate for all changes is because we have done too well the latest years, and fans don´t want the same country to do well for too long obviously, since this hate towards us surprisingly started the very same time we started to do well again. We had a Swedish EBU scrutineer from 2004-2010, during those years, it was very silent about “Swedish mafia, advantage and so on” because our results were poor, but now since 2011 when we have had great results, we are the worst that has ever happened to this competition.… Read more »
And I´m not a fan of this rule change either.
If this is optional as they claim, a warning should be displayed on the screen during the performance for the countries trying to cheat and use pre-recorded background voices.
THIS PERFORMANCE USE SOME PRE-RECORDED VOCALS.
My bet is that it will be not even announced for the general public that some parts will not be live singing. They will think it’s still live. And the evil they are is that they could forbid the TV commentators to talk about it.
it is cheating, and it is a horrible new rule, hope it only sticks to one year and then never again this stupid autotune flop
It’s allowed so how is that cheating, it’s up to the country, no cheating
There have been quality songs in the past few years that have been affected by poor quality backing vocals so in that respect I look forward to this new idea. I do hope similar to many on here, that less backing singers does not result in more backing dancers.
One thing that is puzzling me is that I thought Croatia in 1999 was penalised for using prerecorded male voice backing vocals so were prerecorded backing vocals allowed previously?
I believe that since 2017 (as requested by Norwegian entrants for their song Grab the Moment) there is an option of specifically asking for permission to use some pre-recorded sounds which can’t be replicated in live as well. However, I do believe that this didn’t apply to regular backing vocals up until now.
There have also been quality songs affected by poor quality main vocals. Do you suggest EBU should allow them to be prerecorded too, so that we can officially switch to the Eurovision Lip Synching Contest?
Good question, Una. My best guess would be that they have so much faith in the song itself that they are hoping it will collect enough following prior to the contest and fans will be able to disregard some minor flaws brought by the live performance.
PS. About Safari – Part of the problem were backing singer’s vocals, which sounded much better slightly altered with electronics. But the other part was Serena felt restrained in her performance and didn’t ooze any seductive vibes the song was going for. Imagine Safari being performed by Eleni or Raylee.
‘less people’ is, in fact, more dancers.
Honestly, songs are different and treating each with the same mold for live performance would be wrong. Some songs are very intimate and require only one person on stage standing or sitting and pouring the soul out. Other songs have big party / epic vibe and 20 people on stage would’ve been an optimal number, if ever allowed. I think it would be wrong to overcrowd / undercrowd stages. Sure, ”no more than six people” is still (somehow) a thing, so ”big” numbers have to manage, but there is no viable reason for more intimate performances to add people on… Read more »
Worst decision taken since the cancellation of the cancellation of the orchestra (1999), live music (2003) and language rules (1999).
I’ve been sitting on this for hours now trying to come up with a response but I can’t seem to find the words. All I know is that I do NOT like it.
The EBU can get lost with this ‘1 year trial’ bs. They only say that to try and fan the flames, it’ll be a one year trial the same way Australia was only meant to participate once
Nothing bad about Australia participating, though. But, yeah, I guess you’re right.
Please, let’s stop pretending that they are trying to help countries like Montenegro. Those countries only wanted one thing: they wanted to use the same song in 2021. Do you remember what EBU said to 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.” And do you remember why they wanted to use the same song? This is what Wiwibloggs said to that: “This news was disappointing to some broadcasters and artists who had hoped to carry over their 2020… Read more »
I don’t like all this Swedish artificiality. Hiding backing singers and now this.
Why couldn’t the same pool of backing singers be used to multiple acts? In most cases the songs are in English.
I miss the whole sideways strut of Israeli backing artists.
I hope someone from Italy comes soon to manage this contest.
If I’m not mistaken this was done in 2016 for a few acts. Same went for Malta 2002 when Ira Losco hired Estonian singers. In 1990, Toto Cutugno had some Slovenian/Yugoslavian singers coming along with him.
Oh? Was this not first Switzerland and then Armenia? But you’re probably right.
Back in the day this used to be done. I think there was a trio called The Dolls? And Tanel Padar made 2 or 3 appearances in a row; backing Malta in 2000, possibly also Estonia (he was the boyfriend of Ines) then he won in 2001 backing Dave Benton.
I hope someone uses it to send a song with a backing vocals by a massive choir – I’m thinking 100+ members.
One name: Destiny Chukunyere ?
1 year trial basically means forever, like when Australia was invited for “1 year only” for the 60th An show.
of course, they wouldn’t speak of trial if it was a decision due to the COVID uncertain conditions for 2021. They would have specify that this will be only for 2021 and normally would have wait at least the end of the year to announce it because nobody knows what the situation will be next year. Or they could say that if the COVID is behind us next january this rule will not be applied.
What is left of the live show? Nothing much except a few notes left to the solo vocalist + plus dodgy presenters reminding us that this is a live show! I’m out – the fun is over!
Im a swede and i dont like the idea BUT if we take Serhat for example. He sang really bad so not even 12 backing singers would help him with the new rule. The singers in Melfest who dont sing really good like Oscar Enestad or Mendez for example. They will never win anyway with this rule we have so it could be worse. We can try with this rule:).
not over Portugal. not over Hungary.
ok, well to me, a drunk uncle somehow managing not only to not sing, but to speak OFF-KEY for a whole entire song that feels like it came out of 2003 wouldn’t be a deserving qualifier. sorry
ok watch that live again sis, he brought the energy but not a TASTE of a good vocal. I said what I said
SM selected him cause his pockets were big enough lol, each to their own but I thought his song last year was one of the worst and that’s without discussing his horrible vocals
And yet he still managed to get Top 10 with the televote so it shows that voters don’t necessary give much attention to the vocal quality. That’s if he had any actual votes away from the Turkish diaspora…
As long as it’s just for the time being due to the pandemic, I’m fine with it
I believe vocalists should be singing live, always
Do some Eurovision fans ever stop complaining? Just give it a chance… it probably wont even change things all that much. Why cant people just enjoy Eurovision for what it is? It sucks the fun out of it when all the vocal minority do is complain. Let’s just look forward to actually having a contest next year and be thankful that everything is being done to prevent another cancellation, instead of being extremely entitled and complaining about every decision they make.
It’s an awful time right now for most people. Let’s not make it worse by ruining something good 🙂
You’re a Eurovision fan complaining about Eurovision fans …
”Reference group”is ruining Eurovision, not the fans. And it is my fully right to complain, sorry if I spoil your ilusions.
Also, Eurovision fans are enjoying Eurovision for what it IS … so why even consider changing and possibly ruining that?
Bring it back live with orchestra no backing tracks
While I’m not necessarily in the favor of this new rule, it’s not like the main artist will be pre-recorded, only backing vocalists. Sure, in some cases the mid-level vocals of the main artist could be “drowned” by the back vocals, but they can be in either case. Most of the backing singers have always been good (with rare exceptions), since that’s their main purpose. They don’t *have* to have charisma and visual appeal of the main artist (many do anyway), hence, they are rarely hired in the first place if they aren’t spot-on. Still, I feel sorry for… Read more »
Imri Ziv was backing vocalist for Nadav Guedj and he can’t sing. Anyway, I think is better prerecorded than hidden.
It didn’t work out that well for France in JESC last year.
I bet they saw that awful live performance of Ben Dolic singing Violent Thing and realized any radio-friendly song needs to be completely fixed so its not a violent thing for the ears
beyond crazy what this has come to i also don’t understand why these people are OK with pre-recorded backing vocals but not pre-recorded lead vocals since most of the singers will just use backing vocalists to carry their voices–so they will get drowned out by the pre-recorded voices to hit the high notes and hide any shortcomings I guarantee most vocals in 2021 will sound exactly the same with or without the lead vocal singing anything We are basically turning this into a radio contest and I guess that’s what these people want–performances to look like a music video with… Read more »
I hate this rule. I just hope that most countries will stick to the rule about live vocals and laugh in the face of the people who thought of the rule and approved it. Also using COVID-19 as an excuse is stupid because they’re still organising the contest basically the same as other years without moving from an arena to a small studio like with JESC. Seriously. I don’t wanna see performances with robot like vocals. I want to see the ability of the performer not 500 backing vocalists covering up the f-ups of the artist who is not able… Read more »
That’s also 5 less people to get a job .-.
And yall should stop complaining. this will favour countries that don’t have the same financial abilities like the big 5, sweden, norway etc. Let’s just hope and pray that an actual Eurovision will happen next year and if this prerecorded thing is too bad, it’ll probably be over by 2022.
The wealthier nations will just use this rule to send more and better dancer, so they will still have an advantage.
Are we blaming Sweden for this too?
Apparently. I just love the unity in esc community. I feel we bring countries together…. 2016 was a lovely edition and many people liked it. After that people want to cut the bounds with Sweden, blame us for our involvement and just wish we failed completely. And it’s not like everything is a “coordinated attack” Swedish songwriters and choreographers want more jobs. So they turn to several countries selection processes. Björkman does want what he can get, he likes the show so he gets involved. I agree he should step back more now. The supervisor does not make decisions like… Read more »
Corona as an argument for this is so stupid. Why does everything has to change because of this virus? It’s hard to describe what I am thinking right now. This really is the worst decision ever made I guess, after they stopped using live orchestra.
Sweden, just stop it already!
Horrible. Eurovision shouldn’t become a playback show or a lipsync for your life battle. Just horrible. And corona as an argument for this? Really really bad. The EBU should be ashamed of this. Wow.
Wasn’t Benjamin Ingrosso allowed to lypsinc back in 2018? So, what’s new?
Hiding the back vocalists was the first mistake and should have never been allowed and I knew that it was the first step for this pre-recording thing to happen a few years later like a full lip-sync will now happen before the end of the decade. Why paying sound engineers, technical qualified mixers crew if we can just playback a track and even avoid some rehearsals.
This is just a terrible decision.
No
While it might be a necessary exception next year, it shouldn’t be a permanent change. Else this will only be in favor of people like DJ BoBo who are rather mediocre at singing and mostly rely on the show. This way it could really become the Eurovision Stage Gimmick Contest.
I agree with this decision, the contest is being well prepared for next year for sure and if it ends up being a remote contest or from a studio in Rotterdam the relaxing of rules with prerecorded backing vocals is essential so things go as planned and there is no breaking of rules. But one question what happens if a country has backing vocals from a 500+ choir , will this be allowed? would this be fair?
God nooooooo … first live music then live vocals….. eurovision is starting to lose its spirit seriously…
Well, it makes sense to take away live backing vocals because they want as less people part of a delegation as possible to minimise the amount of people at the Ahoy arena at the same time. We can live without backing vocals for a year.
They made the right decision. It is good that the contest is going ahead next year , whatever the circumstances. Incase it ends up as remote contest , this is the best solution with prerecorded backing vocals, avoids breaking of rules etc and any suspicion of cheating. Although someone is going to take advantage of having a full on 500+ choir as backing vocals. Is this fair? Maybe not, but at the end of the day its the song that counts and what captivates the attention of the audience. It is also cheaper to make the contest sustainable in the… Read more »
Your valid argument is exactly what they want everyone to focus on but that does not make all the ramifications this decision will likely come with disappear. Furthermore, I do not believe that the difference of paying the accommodation and salary of a couple of people will decide whether a broadcaster will participate or not. I’m assuming it won’t have much weight compared to the participation fee. Its terrible weight will be visible when we get like ten or more MTV shows on stage.
NO!