Last year he was one of the hosts of Junior Eurovision. Now Rafał Brzozowski will get his turn as a Eurovision competitor. The Polish singer, TV host and former wrestler has been confirmed as Poland‘s act for Eurovision 2021. He will sing the synth-pop song “The Ride”.
Polish broadcaster announced the news today, following weeks of speculation over who will be representing Poland in Rotterdam. The announcement of Rafał also confirms that 2020 act Alicja Szemplińska has not been given the return ticket.
Rafał also shared the good news on his Instagram, writing: “Finally, I can officially share this unique news with you! Yes, my song was selected for the Eurovision Song Contest. The adventure begins! Hold on for the ride of your life… Keep your fingers crossed!”
View this post on Instagram
Rafał is well known in Poland as a singer and TV host. He came to fame in 2011 through participating on The Voice of Poland. Since then he has established a career both in music and on television.
Rafał came close to Eurovision in 2017. Back then, he competed in the Polish national final with the song “Sky Over Europe”. The song placed second in the grand final Krajowe Eliminacje 2017, only three points away from a win.
Rafał will sing “The Ride” at Eurovision 2021
“The Ride” is a synth-pop number, with the so-hot-right-now 1980s synth styles. The song also has a Dua Lipa vibe — but with the twist of having a male singer delivering the song.
In the song, Rafał is offering high-octane thrills, saying “So baby, hold on for the ride of your life high above ground, living it loud.”
The song comes with a music video, with Rafał dressed in all black, complete with a pair of dark sunglasses. He’s surrounded by bright neon lights and is joined by a group of dancers whose fashion choices offer more variety than just black.
The look of the video is courtesy of art director Mikołaj Dobrowolski, who will also create Rafał’s staging concept for Rotterdam.
“The Ride” has been written by a team of Swedish songwriters: Joakim Övrenius, Thomas Karlsson, Clara Rubensson and Johan Mauritzson.
What do you think of “The Ride”. Should Rafał take the neon of the music video to the Rotterdam stage? Tell us thought thoughts below!
He listened carefully to The weekend. Is it original? Hell no! Is it bad? No it’s not! It’s an okay song!
kurwa mac why not Cypis?
the melody of the chorus is alright, but the supposed 80s style isn’t any convincing at all. overall i’m rather bored than impressed. might still qualify, but i wouldn’t bet any high amount on it.
This song is honestly fine, if not a bit bland and safe. There probably is a larger reason for the major hate than just not liking the song.
He is the mascot of governmental television. When they announced his entry on Polish morning TV, he was boasting about how it’s been 10 years since he’s been making music, so unfortunately he’s not a beginner and he actually believes he can sing (and so do many Polish conservative grandmas..). I would urge you not to support this, since it is clearly the Poland’s populist party’s (which controls the main public TV station he’s in) desperate effort to seem more modern and make the world think living in Poland is better than it actually is. In reality, the current government… Read more »
Poland could win Eurovision eventually, only if the governing party would allow TVP to win… but it’s not their agenda to bring it to Poland on their watch.
(was it polish president who said that LGBT community members are not pople?) Yeep. So obviously it will be no winning-potential song from Poland as long as current extreme conservatives govern.
This and Cyprus are the worst entries so far (Belarus is out of the voting…)
In the music intro, I was, this can be great, then pufff, I am not sure about this. For me it’s a NQ…
He’s the John Barrowman of Poland
Don’t do John Barrowman like that
How? I don’t see the comparison.
3 minutes of cringing
He’s kinda hot …
Off Topic: Samanta Tina released the Latvian Entry today
Why not wait till there is a news story to discuss Samanta?
If this is any ride it’s the Thomas the Tank Engine Adventure – Fun if you’re 3 and goes nowhere 🙂
ROFL. 😀
Does Thomas exist in Poland?
I googled it and YES! It’s called “Parowóz Tomek i jego przyjaciele” I guess they can call Rafa? for some promo 🙂
Fantastic! 🙂
More like a Southern Rail. Stuck in the 80’s 😛
God is that a British Rail travel reference? I’m lucky the West Midlands have okay trains. Imagine paying £3000 to wait at a platform for two hours. Feels a little like listening to this 😛
I’m not really a fan of the whole 80s vibes trend, and this is more of the same. I mean, it’s not terrible but as it stands, it’s probably the least interesting entry so far.
to be more specific – I don’t mind the entries that have tinges of 80s/90s in them, but ones that heavily rely on it just rub me up the wrong way.
Well, Sweden has the best music market in the whole Europe, it’s obvious that artists want to work with the best of the best. It’s that simple my darling 🙂
At the risk of being unpopular, I like this track. It is perhaps a guilty pleasure of mine. The video is also rather slick and inoffensive. Actually the word “inoffensive” I think sums up this entry, unless you are a fan of Alicja Szempli?ska.
By the way – what happened to Alicja?! Up until yesterday, I had her listed as Poland’s 2021 artist, so that’s strange.
I had always thought you brazenly flew in the face of unpopularity! 😉
Yeah, it seems Alicja has been royally dumped…for, by all accounts, a stooge of the state-backed broadcaster, TVP.
Robyn just posted a separate article about Alicja, so that clears things up now. It was a different song that was rejected, not the artist. She can always come back over the next 50 years of course. 😀
Hear, hear! Long live the ESC! 🙂
I’d still apply to write or sing at ESC even if I were 90 years old. 😀
Bon courage, Mask 🙂
I think this is actually a good song. Might get a little lost between Croatia, San Marino, Israel, Norway, UK (and I would like to mention here that UK’s song is actually really good for the first time in years!), Serbia, Moldova, etc. Like every year there are so many songs to dance to and it will probably be difficult for Rafa? to stand out from the crowd. That of course won’t stop me from keeping fingers crossed for Poland. Go get them, tiger!
Way to go people, so negative. I actually like it, throwback and catchy! This will qualify.
Finally someone I can agree on that with 🙂
It feels like they had a basic pop song that was around for a few years without being recorded and, when the 80’s trend came, they put some synthetizers on top of it and tried to sell as something current. For a filler in Melfest, this would do OK, but as an internally selected song Poland could have done much better. And I agree with all of those who said his vocals are flat. It lacks variation, he sounds exactly the same from beggining to end.
I could definitely hear that ”trying out for Melfest” influences in here. This year’s Melfest has some much better tracks, though. In a year filled with 80s-inspired synth-pop and uptempo music in general, I think this might struggle. I also noticed a lack of variation. I’ll see how the song will fare on my second take.
The 2nd semi is so packed with uptempo entries (I’ve counted at least 9 of 17, but I guess this could even go to 10 depending on how we would consider the Albanian song after the revamp), that standing out will be very important. Bulgaria, Finland and Switzerland seem safe on this department, with 2 of the strongest ballads of the year and one being a rock song). And Iceland will obviously qualify too, no matter how the song is received. This would leave just 6 spots and with the possibility 1 or 2 more slower songs sneaking it for… Read more »
Second Semi Final so far…
Switzerland 9/10
Albania 9/10
Finland 8/10
Bulgaria 8/10
San Marino 6/10
Denmark 6/10
Serbia 5/10
Greece 4/10
Austria 4/10
Estonia 3/10
Latvia 2/10
Czech Republic 2/10
Portugal 1/10
Moldova 1/10
Poland 0/10
Another Swedish copy and paste track? Great, just what we needed! Thanks Poland.
This seems to be going down like a lead balloon. From what I’ve read about this character and the selection process, I do think Poland deserves better.
I am HATING my self but I like it but its terrible :O
Rafal is turning 40 this year and yet in the music video he acts like he’s a 20 year old. How embarassing. Certainly they could’ve hired someone younger to sing the song as Rafal is far too old for it.
This is actually one of the most ridiculous comments I’ve read. How can someone be too old to sing a song? Come on, get your act together, your comment is not constructive at all.
Oh please! 40 is still young and he looks great.
kinda messed up how they just threw alicja to the side… she won a national final and clearly wanted to represent poland again, so the question is: why???
Well, Poland is not the only country which decided to give a shot someone else and to be honest, if anybody is going to be missed this year it’s Little Big, not Alicja. She won last year, that’s true, but it doesn’t have anything to do with ESC 2021. It might be actually good thing because when it comes to returning artists they need to handle pressure of their songs for 21 being compared with the ones for 20. Some did better, some did worse. It’s great to have something fresh in the competition, how boring would it be to… Read more »
When the demo version sounds better than the final one… XD Smells like another lost year for Poland. I’m annoyed because our potential is bigger than this. I didn’t like ‘Empires’ but Alicja’s entry was much more acceptable. I feel sorry for Alicja because TVP treated her in a pathetic way. She really wanted to represent us at Eurovision but our broadcaster completely ignored her and left without any information. Rafal’s song is just weak and I don’t think I’ll ever like it. Flat, monotonous and dated. And this music video in which he pretends to be ‘like a boss’…… Read more »
This feels like a parody. A kinda catchy song, with such a silly MV and singing, wasted chance.
Poland always finds a way to screw things up and it could be much worse in my opinion 😉
I just don’t understand all this hate. This is a pretty good song and for me it’s a top 20 contender at least.
I enjoy it too
True, it makes me wanna dance! Good track with a solid chance for final!
After the gorgeous Bondish-ballad in 2020, which was in my personal Top 5, this is such a robbery to Alicja…
10/10 France
9/10 Lithuania Switzerland Albania
8/10 Finland Ukraine Bulgaria
7/10 Germany Belgium Spain
6/10 Russia Ireland San Marino Denmark
5/10 Romania Netherlands Israel Serbia
4/10 UK Greece Slovenia Austria
3/10 Italy Estonia Australia
2/10 Norway Czechia
1/10 Portugal Croatia Moldova North Macedonia
0/10 Cyprus Poland
no voting Belarus
How can Germany rank higher than Poland 🙂
Germany 7/10? Lol
I didn’t enjoy Germany’s song at first too but now, when 33 songs are released, it’s a solid 23rd place among my favourites 😀
Hope this doesn’t qualify . I’m afraid with diaspora voting it could qualify and take place of more deserving song .. then again could have repeat of 2018
Disapora? Poles hate Rafal
In past 10 years, we’ve qualified 4 times. Once got to top10, once ended somewhere in between of scoreboard and twice we’ve been last or 2nd to last in final. Can we already stop saying that there’s this mythical polish diaspora that cares about Eurovision? Again – in last 10 years we had good score 2 times. Like one in 5 years
I was expecting a disaster, but it’s surprisingly not that bad. Yes this isn’t the best song in the contest, but if being a cheesy 80s throwback is the worst it can be, then it’s OK. It’ll probably be by guilty pleasure for this year’s Eurovision. How will it do at the contest? I don’t know, but I’m not expecting to hear Poland announced as a finalist.
Lily Allen’s ‘Not Fair’ was written as a response to Rafal’s ride.
Margaret was right there… SHE WAS RIGHT THERE!
THERE
They would rather withdraw than invite Margaret. She was supposed to be selected internally in 2016 until current CEO of TVP took over and decided there’s gonna be selections instead
It’s not the best song I’ve heard, but very ok.
It’s catchy and that’s what a country need at Eurovision. Not a beautiful song you must listen to 10 times to remember it.
I like the song. Obviously not for winning the contest, but at least to get to the final… A top 20. I like the 80s vibe with the Synthesizer. If the voice of the singer was better I’d place it even in the top 10…
I wonder how he will use that vocoder when singing live..
Btw here’s the demo they bought: https://streamable.com/l0p7on
Using vocoder live is allowed. Norway used it as a sample so that’s why they had to get the permission.
I mean not bad but so outdated. Currently sitting 27th in my top
Polish fans of Esc dont accept this decision. It was made by regime TVP – government tube of propaganda. Its asamed this ‘singer’ was chosen. He is kind a servant of TVP’s directory Jacek Kurski. That is why Rafa? Brzozowski was chosen. They ignore Polish fans, taste and ideas. That is why we have weak songs in ESC. We have many great artists with amazing songs, but they dont want listen to regime television. That is why gevernmental TV have ‘their own’ Singers like Rafa?. We are sorry about that. We hope Europe understand that we dont have bad taste… Read more »
Just an opportunist working for homophobes and racists I’d say. You can judge him for that
Poland want to win the “real” Eurovision. We just need to figure out how to convince those responsible for internally picking Eurovision entries to actually start listening to any music, because it feels like they are stuck at Eurovision 2003. TVP has proven multiple times now that they have zero knowledge of what is being played throughout Europe and beyond and how the contest changed in the last 20 years or so.
Absolutely. What I meant is, Poland want to win, not TVP. There is a more legit reason for so many Polish people disliking our entries than just us loving to complain in general 😀
Well, Poland did win junior Eurovision twice in a row so I can see that they may not want to aim to win the grown-up edition anytime soon.
Xd This is not Poland. This is TVP. Trust me, they forgot about Eurovision and he’s just there.
“The ride of your life”. To where? 2010?
I mean it’s not bad and I won’t say I dislike it or think it is a bad song but like….it’s maybe the middle of my ranking at best though. A lot of the other songs are just too good this year for an “okay” song to make it.
I don’t like it… All I can say is good luck to you, Poland.
P.S.: Tbh, I really don’t understand this ’80s-ish trend…
He was chosen because he works for the broadcaster. I don’t think Rafal personally ever said something offensive or expressed any racist/homophobic views, so we can’t accuse him of that. He’s probably just a guy who got lucky and got a good job (he was a host of one game show, now he is a host of another one, he was a host of JESC, he also hosts many extra concerts and shows for the broadcaster, for example for New Year’s Eve etc. – so he really does a lot for them) This alone does not make him evil though… Read more »
an entertainment guy but not an entertaining guy
Thank you for those who mentioned the demo versions. I was wondering if there was something I was missing with this song. For a fast-ish song it feels so monotonous and it comes down to his voice. He simply doesn’t modulate his voice as Clara does in the demo. It still feels like it lacks a finished production and is still in demo mode. For a country that has figured out JESC and now regularly pushes modern adult-like radio songs there—this feels so out of touch of what the modern 80s sound actually is.
Do you know where we can find those demo’s?
it’s on youtube
can you tell me please whats call it in youtube… because when i search Clara Demo version of The Ride … i dont find it :/
https://streamable.com/l0p7on
Poland’s TVP had limited budget apparently…This language sounds bizzare, Russian&German mix
Bravo Poland!
Good luck in Rotterdam!
Quite funny because it juste confirms what I was thinking after Norway’s final that is to say that the Eurofan community is a bit consanguin group and the harder is to be a part of it. Once you’re in, people will back you more easily even if that means spitting on other contestants. I mean not all the fans are like that but at some moment you just give the good and bad points and singers get stuck with their image on the first impression the first year they’re in. But remember that the casual viewer doesn’t give a damn… Read more »
Song itself is not bad: swedish production, catchy, upbeat. But there are few problems. First and the most important is his vocals – his voice sounds pretty flat and he does’t sound the best live. Second – it needs a very good staging and in last few years polish presentations on scene were not the best (2018 was a nightmare). Then the issue how he was chosen and Alicja was ignored. Finally – the broadcaster is not liked by most people in Poland becouse of all of the hateful and homophobic propaganda. But in the end, the decision was made… Read more »