The first day of April is a prankster’s delight. Every year we fall victim to devilishly convincing jokes and playful news stories. So now, as April Fool’s Day comes to a close, we want to round up some of the best jokes from the world of Eurovision.
Here’s some of the April Fool’s jokes and pranks that you might have missed — or even fell for. Happy April Fool’s Day, y’all!
Eurovision: April Fool’s Day 2021
EBU launches Wintervision Song Contest
The EBU started the morning by announcing a new edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Inspired by the Winter Olympics, the inaugural Wintervision Song Contest is to be held in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, in 2022 — and take place entirely on snow and ice!
With the new contest comes some new rules. Alongside the maximum six performers on stage, delegations are allowed to send an optional extra four skaters to perform on the satellite ice rink stage. As well, all participants must wear skis, skates or ice grips — no barefoot performers allowed.
At Eurovision, the Big Five automatically qualify for the final based on their financial contributions to the contest. But at Wintervision, that honour instead goes to the Frosty Five. The five countries with the highest average snowfall — Switzerland, Russia, Iceland, Finland and Norway — will receive golden tickets direct to the final.
The EBU also announced that KEiiNO would represent Norway at the first ever Wintervision.
But as grand as the contest sounds, it’s all just an elaborate April Fool’s Day prank. Still, we wouldn’t mind seeing Wintervision become a reality. Who’s with us?
??? First Wintervision act announced! ???
"It’s like a dream come true."
We're delighted to reveal that @keiinoband will represent Norway at the very first Wintervision Song Contest in Jukkasjärvi 2022 ??
Full details ? https://t.co/pucfTrSmKJ pic.twitter.com/OqMxLYMqb3
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) April 1, 2021
Denmark: Fyr & Flamme rebrand as Fire & Flames
The Danish duo had us all fooled when they announced a major rebrand.
Fyr & Flamme — that’s Jesper Groth and Laurits Emanuel — originally earned the right to fly the Danish flag in Rotterdam after winning Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2021. But after the pair received some nasty comments online from one Bente Thomsen, Good Evening Europe reported that Jesper and Laurits would rebrand before Eurovision 2021. Under the anglicised name Fire & Flames, they’d sing “Dancefloor Amateurs” — the English version of “Øve os på hinanden” — for Denmark in Rotterdam.
“Laurits was right down in the coal cellar when he had read Bente’s comment”, said Jesper. “It was as if she somehow understood our music better than we did. Bente just took off and peeled all the layers of our song so we eventually stood back completely naked and felt ridiculed.”
While it’s all just a joke, this serves as a reminder to all Eurovision fans — to always be kind and respect the wonderful artists!
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European Union to debut at Eurovision 2021
The last time a new Eurovision debutant graced the stage was in 2015, when Guy Sebastien represented Australia in Vienna. But now, there’s a new country — or rather a collection of countries — joining the gang. EUObserver reported that the European Union will debut at Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam with the song “The EU is Alive” — an homage to the 1965 musical The Sound of Music.
“In a period of anxiety, for me, it is clear — the EU needs to show citizens we care about more than just vaccines, more than just getting by,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. “We need to rock the European Union”.
However, it was soon revealed to all be fictional. Parodying the current political climate, EUObserver’s piece serves as a commentary on subliminal propaganda.
Deban Aderemi: The true founder of Eurovision
You still need rice! Our very own DebanAderemiWiwibloggsDotCom went viral on Twitter a few weeks ago, when fans discovered he may be older than he looks. Fans bombarded our Executive Supervisor of Total Slayage Realness Honey with questions about his age, begging the ever-youthful beauty guru to drop his skincare routine.
You might have seen our recent article with a profile of Deban. There, we shared some of Mr. Aderemi’s stories from old song contests of yore — including how the very first Eurovision Song Contest came to be. In 1955, enjoying brunch with a young bidding Swiss TV producer called Marcel, the pair got talking about the future of international television.
“He told me he was working on an idea for an international television show that would test the limits of live television broadcast technology”, Deban said. “Marcel said they’d been thinking about some sort of sports event. I said, Marcel, honey, the Olympics already own that brand. Think bigger. Look at Italy’s new Sanremo Music Festival. You need a European song competition. And the rest is history!”
Poisson d’avril! With the help of our video editor Oranie Abbes and her incredible photoshop skills, our Robyn Gallagher used her brilliant comedic writing to turn Deban into an immortal Eurovision being, pictured in iconic scenes throughout the contest’s history. While this is all fiction, there’s one thing that remains true — Deban’s age will always be a mystery. Keep slaying, king!
Lordi to release four new albums
Costumed as demons and devils, Finnish hard-rock band Lordi stormed to victory at Eurovision 2006 in Athens. Their song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” broke records at the time, scoring 292 points — the highest scoring Eurovision entry ever. But soon after, in 2009 Norway’s Alexander Rybak shattered their record by a huge margin — scoring 387 points. Since then, Ukraine’s Jamala, Portugal’s Salvador Sobral and Israel’s Netta have gone on to push the record further.
So now, Lordi are looking to set a new record of their own. The band announced their plans to simultaneously release four albums this year. That’s never been done before — and would certainly be a first for the history books.
“Yep, there’s a few bands that have released two albums at the same time, and even fewer who have released three”, Lordi said. “But not that many who have released four. Actually, no band has done that before. And we’re not talking about solo albums here, but full on band efforts.”
But it’s all just a prank from Finland’s rock and roll angels. Still, this indicates the possibility of more Lordi music in the near future — so watch this space!
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Cyprus: “El Diablo” to be renamed “El Guapo”
Elena Tsagrinou’s hot and spicy track “El Diablo” became the subject of controversy after some right-wing religious groups opposed its Eurovision participation, citing its lyrics as unchristian and diabolical.
In response to the backlash, the Cypriot entry is undergoing some changes to make the song more family friendly, OGAE Greece reports. Elena’s new version of the song is called “El Guapo” — “The Handsome” — and the devilish references have been completely removed. Now, the new lyrics read:
“I fell in love, I fell in love, I gave my heart to el guapo, el guapo.
I gave it up, I gave it up, because he tells me I’m his angel, I’m his angel.”
But Elena will be doing none of the sort! “El Diablo” will go to Eurovision 2021 as planned, with Elena and CyBC standing their ground against opposers.
Dami Im to host Eurovision 2021 in Sydney, Australia
Australian blog TV Tonight reported that the EBU had abandoned all plans to host Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam and instead bring the song contest down under to Sydney, Australia. Eurovision superstar Dami Im would join Joel Creasey and Myf Warhurst to host the three shows live from the Sydney Opera House in May.
Abandoning scenarios A, B, C and D, the EBU instead pivoted to Operation G’Day — a top secret government project focussed on bringing the song contest to the Southern hemisphere.
“Australia has had a love affair with Eurovision for 40 years and we can’t think of a safer or more socially distant country than one 15,000 km away,” organisers said. “Besides we don’t really know what Australia is doing in Eurovision either.”
Albeit a joke, Eurovision in Sydney sounds like an epic party just waiting to happen!
#Eurovision 2021 in Sydney, as Rotterdam abandoned. https://t.co/1ETWAtd20b pic.twitter.com/wat6daMv7R
— TV Tonight Australia (@tvtonightau) March 31, 2021
Germany: Jendrik withdraws “I Don’t Feel Hate”
Posting on TikTok and his Instagram story today, the “I Don’t Feel Hate” singer explained that he will withdraw from Eurovision 2021. Jendrik’s decision comes after an anonymous user left a hateful comment on his profile, reading simply “withdraw pls”.
“So, because he said I should withdraw, I am going to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest”, Jendrik told his followers, with a convincing quiver in his voice and a tear in his eye. “This was a hard decision to make, because it’s a dream to be part of the Eurovision Song Contest, but he didn’t give me a choice. So, I will be withdrawing from Eurovision.”
But nothing’s keeping our favourite zany German ukulele player down. As Jendrik says in his song, he doesn’t feel hate! The era of the peace sign continues as Jendrik spreads positivity and lets the mean comments pass him by like water off a duck’s back.
What are your favourite April Fool’s Day jokes? What pranks did you pull? Let us know in the comments below!
Lordi later announced though, that they will be releasing not 4, but 7 albums – no joke!
Wintervision sounded too dull by the time they had Cyprus in the line-up for participating countries lol
A winter Eurovision would be great. Then we’d have two!!!
I can actually see the EU participating in Eurovision with Modugno’s “Insieme:1992” 🙂
We can’t think of a more socially distant contest than one 15,000 km away! rofl
Also isn’t JESC kind of Wintervision anyway?
It’s a shame that Montaigne probably won’t win because 2022 would’ve been the best time for Australia to host if they ever could, considering our Covid recovery…hopefully if we win down the line we can host it!
It wouldn’t be in Australia if they won, EBU would use Germany and UK as backups
I know that’s the case for now but I feel like if Australia have their first win in the 2030s and offer to host it at CET times (i.e. in the Australian morning) it might just work.
I have nothing against events happening in the winter, but Wintervision sounds kinda weird. Thankfully, that new “contest” is a joke.
Wintervision was actually a really great joke because you could see it happening in reality, and those kind of jokes are the best ones. It was more believable than the other jokes! Well played EBU,well played!
Not gonna lie that it would have been cool, even as one off-event.Plus north of Sweden in December, in front of the ice hotel, during Northen Lights do sound fun..
Fortunately Wintervision was a joke.
I know it’s a joke, but Wintervision would be pretty cool if I’m honest. Like we have Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics, why not a Summer Eurovision and a Winter Eurovision?
Or maybe, like a Christmas special bringing back all the entries from the summer edition for one big concert in Rovaneimi or a host city of the EBUs choosing or something
I know it’s a joke, but I would totally be down for Wintervision! XD
“Je me casse” at the top of the betting odds is the biggest april’s fool of all time.
Just accept that tomorrow it will still be there cause it deserves it.
It’s got Haba Haba, Jestem, What About My Dreams & I Hear Them Calling written all over.
The song is fine and I enjoy playing it quite often… but I don’t think it’s an Eurovision winner. I had the same feeling with Netta’s “Toy”.
which won btw
The Wintervision April Fools joke/prank like I’m not apposed to that actually being a reality, at least we would get better performances that Dima Bilan’s ice skater in 2008 and where the trophy should of rightfully gone to Kalomira and Greece. #shouldofbeenThessaloniki2009
Also, I know Deban is up there but, still looks incredible for his age. Hopefully one day he’ll spill his secrets and William too.
Because a few of the most popular songs are in French or have a French title. It would be more credible Fyr & Flamme rebrand themselves as Feu et Flammes.
Joel Creasey thooo yum
Prefer MNEK
I tried starting a rumor that Khabar Agency got into the EBU as a full member and that Kazakhstan were being added last-minute to the 2021 lineup with Dimash Kudaibergen as their representative. Tried to get the Voix of Euro to cosign and everything. Alas.
Someone else started one saying Albania would withdraw after this year’s contest due to financial issues and THAT one gave me an actual heart attack.
Or Sweden due to lack of imagination or originality