Photo: Corinne Cumming / EBU

With Eurovision 2023 now over, eyes are gradually turning to the next pan-continental song contest: Junior Eurovision 2023. Several countries are beginning the process of choosing their performer, but they’ve also got some new rules to think about as they do. For this year’s contest in Nice, France, no pre-recorded vocals will be allowed and the full performance must be done live.

This rule change has been revealed by Spanish broadcaster RTVE. In a press release on Tuesday, the broadcaster opened its casting process for Junior Eurovision 2023. Within the article, they also had a specific section to outline the rule changes:

“The EBU has introduced a series of changes to the Junior Eurovision 2023 rules. It specifies that the performances on stage must be carried out live. In addition, no processor will be allowed for pitch corrections or full-screen insertion of video clips as part of stage performances.”

This would be the first time that pre-recorded vocals are banned at Junior Eurovision.

Restrictions on the use of autotune are in place. The rules also limit the graphics that countries can use as part of the show, with any full-screen clip not authorised (such as the short clips used in Poland’s performance at Junior Eurovision 2022).

There has been much discussion about the use of pre-recorded backing vocals at Eurovision over recent years. They were permitted at the main contest for the first time in 2021 whilst Covid-19 restrictions were still in place. Although originally a one-year trial, they have remained as an option for artists to utilise in both 2022 and 2023.

Should the rule change for Junior Eurovision be officially confirmed by the EBU, it would naturally start further dialogue over whether the same thing will be implemented at Eurovision 2024. Any news on that is not likely to come until later in the summer, or even in autumn, once the full rule book for next year’s contest in Sweden is complete.

Junior Eurovision 2023 details

This year marks the 21st anniversary of Junior Eurovision. The venue will be Palais Nikaïa, in the outskirts of Nice. It fits up to 9,000 viewers standing within its main hall, or 6,000 seated, and it has several smaller venues and zones within the building.

Hosts France have also recently announced the slogan for the 2023 contest: Heroes. 

Speaking about the theme, Alexandra Redde from France Télévisions noted:

“Some serious topics like the environmental theme were extremely present in many songs of the last contest, and the children are the real Heroes of tomorrow, and they are the ones who have the solutions. So we wanted to let them empower themselves!”

Junior Eurovision 2023 takes place on Sunday 26 November at 16:00 CET.

What do you think of the rule change? Do you think it’s a good thing that the all vocals at Junior Eurovision 2023 need to be delivered live? Let us know in the comments below.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

88 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jonkonfui
Jonkonfui
9 months ago

Sometimes I think that people Who manage Eurovision are deranged. This rule should apply to adult Eurovision and not to this Junior thing which should not Focus on the competition part but on the festive side of the event.
Why do children have to sing live the whole song while adults can have pre recorded backing which sound exactly the same as the singer? Shouldn’t this restrictions apply to adults first?

Fatima
Fatima
9 months ago

If they don’t make that change for adult vision next year then if I were an act like Gustaph 2023, I would make a point of confirming that what you see on stage is what you hear in terms of vocals. I actually think it’s fun seeing backing singers. Acts “singing clean” ought to get more points.

vangelis vt
vangelis vt
9 months ago

Let’s hope adult Eurovision follows suit. This has improved nothing – the quality of the audio is much worse than before and as for musical innovation, the less said the better… It is merely used to cover up weak singers.

Catriona
Catriona
9 months ago

A singing contest where you have to actually sing? Might catch on.

Gloria
Gloria
9 months ago

There is another topic of discussion to be had. So many times a singers voice gets strained and tired but grand final night. (ala Australia 2018) If we start hosting the contest in bigger arenas, can we start limiting the shows by removing the day/family dress rehearsals.

Even the rehearsal for the final should just be a technical rehearsal with the acts, no need to use their vocals. That way they can save 4 showings of the acts so they are at the strongest for jury and the televised shows

XOOOD
XOOOD
9 months ago

I actually loved the previous editions 2020-2022 when they allowed prerecorded backing vocals, the performance was more “professional”.
So with rule change I expect shouting kids, awkward silence with playing track in the back, or backing vocals higher and not matching the lead singer. (So many thing can go wrong).

XOOOD
XOOOD
9 months ago
Reply to  XOOOD

Apparently my comment offended a lot of you.
Guess what IDK 🙂

Fast Food Music Lover
Fast Food Music Lover
9 months ago
Reply to  XOOOD

Me too! I really think the real reason why anyone wants to get rid of backing vocals is because they wanna see singers struggling on stage as that is far more entertaining.

Brötchen
Brötchen
9 months ago

That completely limits the type of production people can use for their music. So any modern production is now not allowed. Not every voice filter on studio recordings is used to “cheat” and enhance poor vocals but to sound interesting and just be part of the sound of the song. Why do people not get that at all, it’s so frustrating. If applied to the main show, this will push away a lot of successful producers and artists to ever consider doing the show and the songs we will get in the future will sound really dated and flat. Wow,… Read more »

Brötchen
Brötchen
9 months ago
Reply to  Brötchen

“iTs a SoNg CoNtEsT”
If you actually cared about the music you would want to be as inclusive to every sound as possible. But you want this to be “The Voice Europe”. Like please. Even Sanremo is allowing filters on the voice.

Chris
Chris
9 months ago
Reply to  Brötchen

Live filters in the voice, all the vocals are live, even the modifications are taking place with special equipment used LIVE on stage.

Chris
Chris
9 months ago
Reply to  Brötchen

Until 2019 the vocals were live and the quality of the songs was great…
On the other side 2022 and 2023 are not considered great years (especially 2022 is universally considered a weak year) and i don’t think any of the songs performed in the last 2 years was a song that we couldn’t have before 2020. We all can see that the pre-recorded vocals are just here to cover the weaknesses of a song.

TheDrMistery
TheDrMistery
9 months ago
Reply to  Chris

2022 WAY better than 2023, IMO.

Rebochan
Rebochan
9 months ago
Reply to  Brötchen

You’re getting downvotes because you’re telling too many hard truths ?

David
David
9 months ago

This should be applied to ESC proper too!

Also the option of live music should be looked at too (orchestra/house band)

Iván el Conquistador
Iván el Conquistador
9 months ago
Reply to  David

I second this. Let’s see how these rock and alternative bands and certain pop acts show themselves in the contest.

RALG
RALG
9 months ago

There is another problem when they use pre-recorded vocals in the main ESC. This year some songs sounded very strange in the sound mixing. The should at least pre-record de backing vocals live, because some of the recorded vocals were very compressed and had effects on them, they make the live vocals to sound strange and dont mix well. I think some of the delegations do this, and some do not, and that makes the overall sound odd at times. I would like at least some of the effort put on visuals and staging to be applyed to the sound… Read more »

Azuro
Azuro
9 months ago

When dealing with children, and when it’s cold and flu season, I don’t see the harm in having some pre recorded vocals or digital polishing.

Tomi
Tomi
9 months ago

“All vocals will have to be performed live…”

as it always should be!!

Doris
Doris
9 months ago

It’s also obvious that pitch correction processors are used at ESC since several years (around 2015-2016) long way before pre-recorded vocals.
We need to go back 100% live vocals without any processing like before 2014.

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Doris

I’m not sure. But they definitely use effects. I remember Poland 2017 having a weird effect that made her speaking voice sound robotic when she finished the song

Samo
Samo
9 months ago
Reply to  Doris

They do process vocals at ESC but they don’t use pitch correction.

But I agree with the point – vocals should be live and with no effects. The same applies to the video output, let’s drop those silly on board animations.

WannaEatMySpaghetti
WannaEatMySpaghetti
9 months ago
Reply to  Doris

I don’t know what you mean by “processing” but Eldrine from Georgia in 2011 put strange effect on the voice of the singer. Honestly this kind of thing doesn’t bother me as long as it’s isolated case but I agree that artists shouldn’t use pitch correction or pre-recorded vocals.

Brötchen
Brötchen
9 months ago
Reply to  Doris

Why though? It limits the type of production that can be used for the songs. Not every filter is used to enhance weak vocals.

Why are people so pressed about backing vocals, oh my god.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

Not sure how Queen of Kings is for children. Malta’s song is the most childish when I think about it and it would have done a lot better if it was first!

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago

In all honesty this rule should have been tested and applied to the real ESC. Those poor kids are gonna struggle come Fall/winter like they did last year with all the flu and diseases going round!

Gloria
Gloria
9 months ago

The decision has to be made: either keep the status quo or adapt:

1) Status Quo: Keep 6 person maximum and pre-recorded background vocals.

2) Adapt: Keep 6 person maximum but can use 2 additional (off-stage) background singers to compensate the no pre-recorded vocals – gives the singer the opportunity to have a ‘choir’ of voices and keep the wall of dancers for awesome staging (ala Unicorn Israel).

MoGu
MoGu
9 months ago
Reply to  Gloria

It’s a song contest, not a dance contest. 6 singers on stage are enough.

Samo
Samo
9 months ago
Reply to  Gloria

3) Return back to what used to work – 6 people and no pre-recorded vocals.

If entry can’t work without 5 dancers, it shouldn’t participate in the Eurovision SONG Contest in the first place.

Ria van de Velde
Ria van de Velde
9 months ago

Very good news, I hope that applies to ESC as well from 2024.

Im so fab
Im so fab
9 months ago

The measure was taken for the contest that I don’t give a phaq about. Put it into effect in real ESC too!!!

Alex
Alex
9 months ago

We need to petition the EBU to end the rule for the adult contest! And at least ask for more transparency and release the backing tracks for all songs.

Brötchen
Brötchen
9 months ago
Reply to  Alex

You act as if using a backing track is cheating? Is it a song contest or “The Voice”?

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Brötchen

It’s the Eurovision LIVE contest not Idol,Grammys or XFactor where vocals are manipulated and backing vocals take the lead.

Dawid
Dawid
9 months ago
Reply to  Brötchen

It’s song contest, but juries are supposed to Judge vocal performance too. They can’t do that properly if you’re not singing

Alex
Alex
9 months ago

I’m all for live vocals but in the Junior contest I feel it’s not so bad. Lowers costs for delegations if they send a solo act. Do the backing singers have to be kids under a certain age? Sounds complicated. It’ll lead to more work for the kids to rehearse and more stress if they mess up. A backing track helps keep the lead on beat and hide maybe some hiccups and messups.

Alecs
Alecs
9 months ago
Reply to  Alex

How about more easy songs for children?

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Alecs

Complex songs like Qami Qami are great. Would suck to lose them in favor of earlier 2004 style music

Alecs
Alecs
9 months ago
Reply to  Alex

This show should be for the kids in the end. They have time to grow up and sing also mature songs. Or if the producers really want this kind of songs, they just need to choose great voices.

XOOOD
XOOOD
9 months ago
Reply to  Alecs

But the allowed ages varies greatly, you don’t expect to have a pre-teen 13/14 years old singing about how he/she loves finger painting!!
So unless the age rule changes, the contest will forever have at least some “adult” sounding songs.
In addition, you can’t ignore the fact that “adult” song is what children these days gravitate to, you don’t see them singing nursery rhymes for fun!

Anonymous91
Anonymous91
9 months ago

very good news

L'oiseau
9 months ago

If it is not permitted for children, it certainly shouldn’t be permitted for adults. I would like to see the likes of Chanel, Alessandra or Subwoofer making a splash, as they did, with this rule…

BeepBoop
BeepBoop
9 months ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

I think Chanel has shown on several occasions that she is capable of singing live while doing a full choreo… it is time to leave the past in the past lol.

Thallo
Thallo
9 months ago

I guess we’ll see the end of pre-recording backing vocals in the adult version too.

I kind of enjoyed the era of acts having extra dancers on stage since they didn’t need to have live backing vocals. It did mean that visuals were more important than vocals though, and I didn’t enjoy that.

Dawid
Dawid
9 months ago
Reply to  Thallo

Wouldn’t be so optimistic. They’ll stay in adult contest.

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Thallo

Well everything kind of ended up looking the same in 2021-2023. Girl lead with 4-5 backing dancers. Became boring and cliche. Something fascinating about dancing and singing live. Eleni’s backing dancers sang with her. Sergey Lazarev 2016. They all did excellent while singing everything live.

Frisian esc
Frisian esc
9 months ago

I hate the recorded backing vocal rule. At the same time it’s weird to be more strict in the kids edition than with the adults. Altough you could argue making kids playback in jesc turns it in some kind of ‘pageant’ making the existence of the contest questionable.

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Frisian esc

Well that kinda happened with France and Belarus 2020. They might’ve been sick or not been good singers so they just decided to send a studio track for the live performance

MoGu
MoGu
9 months ago

I hope that applies to ESC as well from 2024 onwards.

Who makes the rules? Can the public have an input?

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  MoGu

The reference group. Basically all the countries get together and make the rules. I’d assume Nordics want pre-recorded because it benefits their acts and Eastern Europe likes live because their singing styles are epic and overshadow any Western European singer

Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
9 months ago

At least something good came out of France cheating in Junior Eurovision 2020.

James
James
9 months ago
Reply to  Anna Karenina

How did they cheat?

Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
9 months ago
Reply to  James

The audio they used in their live to tape is the studio version of the song.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Anna Karenina

Did they cheat in 2022 too?

Tulilintu
Tulilintu
9 months ago

no, only in 2020

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
9 months ago

Strange. The contest where there’s more justification for the pre-recorded vocals due to the age of the performers prohibit them, but then an adult contest, taken part in by musical PROFESSIONALS, allow them.

The adult contest needs them gone. The reason given for allowing them no longer applies. If they should remain, a new argument needs to be presented.

Colin
Colin
9 months ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

I feel like the only justification for having pre-recorded backing vocals at certain segments is when the whole choir is needed. Think something like Iva’s Oculis videre. It’s either ditching the 6 person rule or pre-recorded vocals. But those are the only exceptions. There’s no reason that what can be done by 2-3 people be done by them being pre-recorded.

Catriona
Catriona
9 months ago
Reply to  Colin

I loved that song…but didn’t she say some not nice things about trans people?

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

The real reason is to have more modern music and make everything sound more polished and perfect. But what it ends up doing is making the contest into all other reality tv singing competitions. I miss the days of messy vocals

Tupps
Tupps
9 months ago

Good. Hopefully the main contest follows suit. It’s not good when weaker performers can hide their flaws with backing tracks.

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Tupps

Cough cough Blanka cough cough

Fast Food Music Lover
Fast Food Music Lover
9 months ago

Welp. Eurovision fundamentalists won.

Matt
Matt
9 months ago

Here’s hoping that they bring this same rule back to ESC. It is a little annoying to have artists totally rely on backing tracks the entire time to hide some weak vocals

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  Matt

They really need to release the backing tracks for transparency. Also maybe just adjust the rule to only apply for highly produced vocals like Norway 2017 robot voice and maybe choirs like Slovenia 2021 or Norway 2023

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
9 months ago

I didn’t know Junior eurovision used pre-recorded backing vocals. I wonder what prompted the change to happen. Could this change also happen for the adult contest? We’ll see.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
9 months ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

France won the whole thing a couple of years back with a performance that was, for the most part, pre-recorded.

James
James
9 months ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

But was never proven.

WannaEatMySpaghetti
WannaEatMySpaghetti
9 months ago
Reply to  James

But we have ears.

The Voice of Reason
The Voice of Reason
9 months ago
Reply to  Briekimchi

I have more problems with last year’s song, tbh.

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

It might’ve been a move to bring back poorer countries back in. Since they see it has mostly benefited France. Why send powerful vocalist like the Albanian kids if someone with a loud backing track will win.

Darren
Darren
9 months ago

They’ll probably bring it back in the main ESC now next year too, after all they got what they wanted now didn’t they?

Sweden won

WannaEatMySpaghetti
WannaEatMySpaghetti
9 months ago
Reply to  Darren

This comment is really stupid as Loreen won singing by herself. You can be unpleased with Sweden victory but you can’t blame Loreen for being a great singer.

Darren
Darren
9 months ago

:*

Devito
9 months ago

The irony is, though, that as much as I did not like the Queen of All Fake Emotions, it was not Loreen who benefited the most from the pre-recorded vocals rule. To be fair, we should be pointing out Kaarija, Noa, Blanka, Alessandra, and Andrew for relying too much on the pre-recorded vocals to hide their flaws.

Gloria
Gloria
9 months ago
Reply to  Darren

Actually this would hurt songs like Finland and Croatia more (did u not hear the miss after each performed (robotic), so this would lessen the impact of these televise bait songs.

sknfaojsn
sknfaojsn
9 months ago
Reply to  Darren

HOW DARE THE SWEDISH MAFIA VALUE SUCH THINGS AS COMPETENT LIVE VOCALS

/s

beccaboo1212
9 months ago

That’s very interesting, but Junior Eurovision should be a songwriting competition again. Also, the EBU is looking at how they can remove stress and make the participants comfortable. All I want is for them to prove they’re heroes, aka stars of the show.

nobody
nobody
9 months ago

hopefully this is a sign of things to come at the adult contest

Jofty
Jofty
9 months ago
Reply to  nobody

Maybe the orchestra will be back next; imagine them belting out Cha Cha Cha

BadWoolfGirl
BadWoolfGirl
9 months ago
Reply to  Jofty

I don’t think the orchestra is coming back anytime soon.

beccaboo1212
beccaboo1212
9 months ago
Reply to  BadWoolfGirl

Me neither. In fact, I’m glad the orchestra was dropped starting from 1999.

esc_fl
esc_fl
9 months ago
Reply to  Jofty

The conductor in a matching bolero outfit!

beccaboo1212
beccaboo1212
9 months ago
Reply to  esc_fl

No! The EBU got rid of the orchestra in 1999 and beyond for a reason: to save money.

ThePointsMan
ThePointsMan
9 months ago
Reply to  esc_fl

Or having a unicorn horn on his head, or dressed up as Edgar Allan Poe or Luke Black’s moster, or as one of Alessandra’s vikings…

beccaboo1212
beccaboo1212
9 months ago
Reply to  Jofty

No! The EBU dropped the orchestra in 1999 to save money.

CookyMonzta
CookyMonzta
9 months ago

It can’t be too long before that rule applies (or is reapplied) to all of Eurovision.

Ethan1994
Ethan1994
9 months ago
Reply to  CookyMonzta

I hope so

Alex
Alex
9 months ago
Reply to  CookyMonzta

I don’t know. With Sweden hosting next year I doubt it. Unless there’s immense pressure from other countries. Which I doubt