Almost immediately after the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, Vidbir winners Go_A were internally selected to represent Ukraine again in 2021. And now we finally know what song they’ll sing in May — “SHUM”.
Go_A to sing “SHUM” at Eurovision 2021
Released as a single in late January, “SHUM” was immediately touted as a potential song for Rotterdam. However, the Ukrainian delegation was quick to say that it was “not for Eurovision”. Soon after they announced that Go_A would present a number of entries to a professional jury. Just one day before today’s confirmation, it transpired that “SHUM” was one of three songs in the running.
After honouring melodramatic Carpathian folk tales with techno and EDM last year with “Solovey”, Go_A have opted for a somewhat darker style in “SHUM” (“ШУМ”). They describe its meaning as “to awaken and summon spring and hasten the awakening of all living things after winter”.
According to the Ukrainian broadcaster, “SHUM is inspired by a spring ritual folk song of the same name. It is a modern reinterpretation of an archaic game with elements of ancient magic ritual practices.”
The Eurovision version of the song and a new music video will be released in early March.
Jamala, one of the jurors, explained why she voted for the song in a statement from UA:PBC.
“I voted for SHUM — it sounds very modern to me. Live singing decides everything, so I would like to wish Kate confidence that she showed in Vidbir last year. Just sing, and it seems to me that everything will work out well!”
Music producer and composer Ruslan Kvinta said: “I am glad that the band was productive over the year. We see that they invested all their strength, thoughts, ideas, and big love in their creative work.”
Maneken leader and producer Yevhen Filatov mentioned said he hopes the group “show what they have got and represent Ukraine decently.”
Ukraine’s Eurovision 2021 process
On 29 January, public broadcaster UA:PBC announced that a five-person jury would select Go_A’s song for Eurovison 2021. The jury included Ukrainian stars and established music industry experts:
Jamala – singer, winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2016;
Yevhen Filatov – producer, leader of The Manaken band;
Ruslan Kvinta – music producer, composer;
Yaroslav Lodygin – member of the Managing Board of UA: PBC in charge of television;
Dmytro Khorkin – member of the Managing Board of UA: PBC in charge of radio.
According to the song selection rules, Go_A had to present at least two songs for the jury selection. Each jury member evaluated each submitted song. Points from the jury were then added into a rank. The song with most points from the jury would win the selection. If two or more songs got an equal number of points, the winning song were to be decided by majority voting of the jury (more than 50% of the jury members). One jury member could vote for a song only once in that case.
Go_A showcased three different songs to the internal jury: “Rano”, “Tserkovka” and “SHUM”. Snippets of all three were released one day before the final decision was revealed.
“Rano” (Рано) — meaning “Early” — channelled folk-rock vibes. It was the closest to their Eurovision 2020 entry “Solovey” of the three songs. “Rano” bore some lyrically similarity, as the snippet starts with lines as: “Рано рано засвітило сонечко/ Рано рано сопівала голосна”.
“Tserkovka” (Церковка) was the most spiritual entry of the three in terms of lyrics and perhaps the most experimental. The song title literally meant “to church”.
What do you think of the internal jury’s choice? Was it your favourite song from the snippets? Let us know in the comments below!
Great. Dark, archaic, intimidating, yet surprisingly fitting for this year. This is what happens when the “interval act for culture” becomes the main act. I like it when it’s done well, and Ukraine always seem to do it well.
Crazy idea: A potential mash-up with Lithuania’s The Roop would be a very interesting experiment. I would even like to see the acts dance in each other’s music videos, ahaha.
Good song and we know it will look good on stage.
I’m a little fearful regarding the juries reaction to this, as they usually vote down non-English songs in genres that aren’t mainstream, but it’s still a sure qualifier and very likely to end up in the top 5.
I see what you did there, but where are the nightingales?
France 9/10
NEW Ukraine 7/10
Albania 6/10
Israel 3/10
I keep hearing explicit lyrics in this song and at this point I’m afraid to look them up
Yaaaaaaaaaas
very hypnotic song – well done ukraine!
my no.1 so far together with the roop (i’m sure they will win in their country tomorrow).
I think it’s a great, modern song that will stand out! Nice job!
Great! I love the song! It’s actually my favourite new song I’ve heard so far in 2021, not just in Eurovision but generally. Looking forward to the revamp!
They will revamp the song right ? since its more than 3 minutes?
It will definitely be shortened
i love it !
meh!
Love this!!!
Europe in May:
see you we you
see you we you Konopolechkyyyy!!!! 😀
Ukraine nailed it ones again 🙂
Theres a similar song- https://youtu.be/_GdyXEYnPHI
I like it, more subtle than solovey. I think I prefer solovey for eurovision, has a bit more get up and dance umpth. Im sure a revamp and some good staging could make shum quite the spectacle on the eurovision stage though. Will be interesting to see what they do with it.
we were saying last year Eurovision would be strong, but with so many returning artists with BETTER songs than last year it looks like this year will be even stronger
Sooooooo goood !! number one right now..
well donne Ukraine !
Shum is actually a pagan slavic ritual, the lyrics mainly about sowing weeds/hemps, green wood and girls have fun
The title describes the song and her voice perfectly…noise, a really annoying noise. Even with a bottle of vodka and a jar of pain killers, i can’t kill the headache the song produce me, specially her voice
I do admit on first listen, the vocals were a bit of a struggle and I stopped listening. However, giving it some persistence it has become a lot more tolerable and even enjoyable!
Just a little correction: “Tserkovka” literally means “a little church”.
Easily the best song so far, and I trust this will remain in my top 5 as more songs are released. This is why Ukraine is one of my favorite Eurovision countries: they consistently deliver quality and are not afraid to experiment, they don’t pigeonhole themselves into one genre.
*Not “to church”, but “the little church”.
They just got a new fan. While I appreciated Solovey for its originality, it never made it to my playlist. Shum is on repeat.
This is how I imagine bats would sounds if they could talk. I don’t know what frequency one must have to listen this more than once. It’s so bad.
Good choice! Only problem though is that they have to shorten the song by quite a bit.
Off-topic: UMK 2021 rehearsals have started and you can see snippets of the rehearsals on UMK’s official Youtube channel in a video called “Kurkistus UMK21-treeneihin”. Only Teflon Brothers x Pandora and Ilta didn’t give a sneak-peak of their performance because they want to keep it a secret, but from all the others I think Blind Channel has a good chance of winning.
I love it, the way it spirals and accelerates and the spooky pagan undertones, it’s superb. Very happy with this crazy ode to Spring.
Some salty people here dream of Ukraine NQ
Haha! what a loseres….
Im not the biggest fan of Shum (I liked Rano more) but i believe they will qualify with this easily, and I’m sure the staging gonna be epic
I loved “Solovey” and the same applies to “Shum”. One of the things that attract me to Eurovision is how I can discover music I would normally never listen to. So when someone successfully mix folk sounds with modern music, I’m on board. It’s a risky choice (even riskier this time, the EDM is more aggressive here). The juries and a big part of the fandom have conservative radio-friendly taste and the “white voice” is not for everyone. But there’s an audience for that and I hope it’s enough to push Go_A to a good result.
As I said before, Ukraine is just one of a kind 🙂
Ukraine 2 weeks ago: Go_A release “SHUM”… Delegation confirms it’s not their song for Eurovision 2021
Ukraine today: Go_A will sing “SHUM” at Eurovision 2021
About the song: I think it’s an excellent song and the same quality as Solovey last year. I love Go_A’s style of mixing traditional Ukrainian music with modern beats. I really think that Ukraine will get a good placing this year, at least I hope so.
Shum was probably the best option out of the three songs (although I’m not a fan of any of them) because it sounds the most modern. I think recreating the music video on the Eurovision stage and having them perform in those hazmat suits could give it a novelty factor that could appeal to viewers across Europe.
I did not like either of them three and I don’t like this 🙁 just find vocals monotonic and even annoying 🙁
This song is a BOP … and I do not understand a word they say. I just love it.
I also predict non qualification. I do not think it is accessible to masses.
Ukraine has never failed to qualify because they usually sent great entries. This year they will surely qualify again, this time not because the song is great but simply because they are Ukraine. In my opinion, “Shum” is one of the weakest entries they have ever sent.
They know how to sell the songs for juries and tv viewers. Best example 2011, 2012,2014
Disagree, I think the first certainty of the season is that Ukraine will maintain 100% qualification record. I also predict this will do better in Televote than with Juries.
Also, I think you can easily cut this down to 3 minutes. The video goes on for 4:15 but the music pretty much ends at 3:45 so there is only 45 seconds to lose. Personally I would keep the first two minutes of the song as is and then reduce the final 1:45 to just one minute. I think you can reduce equally the quieter element and the crazy, mad bit at the end without compromising the atmosphere nor energy of the song.
Happy days!
True, it can be very easily cut, 1/2 of the second verse, 2 repetitions instead of 4 at the end, cutting down on that long final note, and there you have it around ~3:05, without even touching any instrumental part at all.
I was listening to it yesterday and I think reducing to 3 minutes is perfectly doable. I would keep the song right as it is until 2:20, then I would go straight to the moment where the flute comes back and finish by abbreviating the “rave segment” and getting rid of the long final note, which would probably alienate viewers. Of course, the full version would still be better, but the shorter one could be equally effective.
They’re in the 2nd half, but we don’t know who will be performing last yet.
Yes, that is correct. They only confirmed the same semi-final allocation draw and halves will be kept for 2021.
It makes sense not to keep last year’s order, because they might accidentally end up with five slow songs in a row, or three favourites at the very start…exactly what the producers try to avoid, and is what they based last year’s decisions on.
Ukraine will not be in the final this year. Undoubtedly there is a target group for this kind of music, but Eurovision isn’t.
Perfect, the qualification for Ukraine is sure like every years. Look like to a mix between “Voda” (Bulgaria 2007) and “Ale Jestem” (Poland 1997).
Running order will be known after all songs are confirmed – as 2021 songs will be new, the running order from 2020 won’t carry over. Only the semi distributions are kept
Oh wow this slaps! Ukraine always delivers and this year is no exception
Great choice Ukraine, this will really stand out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPmqPKBwPFM this one is also good
I’m happy for those who like it but, no, it’s not my cup of tea.
This is excellent!
Beautiful song, I’m just worried that the overall experience of the song will be less impactful when it is chopped.
However, this means my tradition of not listening to the Eurovision entries before the live tv shows is already broken, as I already listened to it, not knowing it was to be their Eurovision entry. (Fine, I already cheated because I watched the whole French selection, including Barbara Pravi’s performance.)
Oh well, at least both songs are incredibly good and will very likely get my vote in May.
Prior to this year, I heard the U.K. entry a long time in advance but rarely listened to more than a few seconds of any other entry until the week before the show. Now I have listened to substantial parts of Set Me Free, Shum, Discotheque, Hurt, Ugly Cry (in the running for Bulgaria), You Should Know (could easily end up representing Armenia even though she deserves a more upbeat song – though if she thinks that this song is best for her, it’s fine, and it would be a good album track) and Sudbina (can a version of this… Read more »
Shum is a great choice!
I adore Go_A, and Solovey was in my Top 5 for 2020, really looking forward to another awesome live performance!
I have questions about how much of this is original and how much of it is the old Ukrainian song of the same name. It probably shouldn’t even be allowed enter as it is now.
Very uncomfortable question
Yes, I want to know that too
there are only two lines in this song from folk song. the same was for example in the chorus of jamala. in any case, they can be replaced with others that are similar in sound. The song will not be banned for this.
Thanks. I still don’t love the idea of even two lines, but I suppose most people won’t even notice or care.
tbh i wish more countries got inspiration from their folklore.
Will you post any info about Benny? He had a livestream with the ESCZ yesterday and there is some new info
Is this really a song about drugs? I’m not in any way supportive of drug using so I might just pass this if it’s true 🙁