Due to the fact that most of last year’s singers have been selected for this year as well, there are less national finals. Hence, song presentations and announcements are the majority these days. Nevertheless there will be at least two new songs, officially revealed: Cyprus and Slovenia and there will be national semi finals in Portugal “Festival da Canção” and Sweden “Melodifestivalen”.

• For Slovenia the singer Ana Soklič from last year was also selected to represent Slovenia in 2021. In advance almost 200 songs have been submitted. At the end the Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO has made an internal selection. The normal national final EMA will be totally different this time. Furthermore Slovenia is celebrating the 60th anniversary of Slovenia at the ESC. The first entry for Yugoslavia in 1961 came from the Slovenia “Neke Davne Zvezde” by Ljiljana Petrovic, and made the 8th place in Cannes. Hence there will a huge gala show with a lot of former ESC singers including the song presentation of Ana Soklič.

You can watch the EMA at 20.00 CET here

• In Sweden it will be the fourth semi final live from Stockholm. Among tonight’s candidates there are Eric Saade, who made a fabulous third place with “Popular” in Düsseldorf 2011. There is also a return of The Mamas, who could not perform last year in Rotterdam, but also supported John Lundvik with “Too Late For Love” in Tel Aviv 2019. It will be hosted by Christer Björkman, Per Andersson and Pernilla Wahlgren.

It will be broadcasted at 20.00 CET on SVTplay

• In the second semi final in Portugal at the Festival da Canção another six entries will be selected for the Grand Final on March 6. The live transmission will start at 22.00 CET on Direto RTP1 The show will be hosted by Tânia Ribas de Oliveira and José Carlos Malato in the RTP studios in Lisbon. And it’s 50% jury and 50% televoting to determine the qualifiers.

These are the candidates in Portugal tonight:

1. Carolina Deslandes - "Por um triz"
2. Da Chick - "I Got Muic"
3. Joana Alegre - "Joana do mar"
4. Graciela - "A vida sem acontecer"
5. NEEV - "Dancing In The Stars"
6. EU.CLIDES - "Volte-Face"
7. Pedro Gonçalves - "Não vou ficar"
8. Tainá - "Jasmin"
9. Ariana - "Mundo Melhor"
10. Ana Tereza - "Com um abraço"

Author: Bernd LemmermannEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Public relations, Editor, Journalist

About me:
As one of the founders of eurovisionlive.com I am responsible for the interviews with the singers and the editorial content. My passion for the Eurovision Song Contest exists since my early childhood. The exotic music, different cultures and languages have given a lot of inspiration to me. Since my very first ESC in Dublin 1994 I particularly appreciate the get together and friendship of all the nationalities and Riverdance was a thrill!