Eurovision 2021 is just down the Turquoise Carpet

17/05/2021 – David Watt

Things are beginning to get very real now, not only are rehearsals in full motion but Eurovision week is here! The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) kicked the festivities off yesterday by having their traditional red carpet event, this year it’s turquoise (don’t ask), giving us a real opportunity to hear from the artists in a context not solely focused on their last rehearsal. As per usual, the event gave us some more insight on the competing songs, fashion and memes sure to keep euro- social media busy for the rest of the season. However this year’s event was of course more controversial than most.

For starters, not all the artists were able to attend this event. It wouldn’t be the 2020’s without Covid-19 making a dramatic entrance and unfortunately since arriving in the Netherlands, a few delegation members have contracted the virus. Delegates from Iceland and Poland, tested positive to the virus prior to the turquoise carpet event and as a precaution their artists did not attend. Similarly, the Maltese and Romanian delegations were not present, as these four delegations share the same hotel. Whilst disappointing for everyone, these precautions should help ensure a safe and enjoyable Eurovision. We at ESC Essence wish all the effected delegates a speedy recovery. It is also worth mentioning though that none of the artists themselves have fallen ill with Covid-19 and no one’s ESC is in jeopardy.

Instead of attending the event, these artists, along with Australia’s Montaigne (who will not be physically making an appearance in Rotterdam) got a shout-out in the livestream and some also took to social media to show off their outfits. I hope they still enjoyed their moment today, as much as possible, despite the difficult times. This all follows a scare in the second rehearsals, where Kateryna Pavlenko, the lead singer of Ukraine’s group Go_A, was absent to allow for testing , having felt a little ill. The following day Kateryna was thankfully, officially announced to be Covid free, after taking an in-depth PCR test. Ukraine did manage to make the turquoise carpet event as a result.

PCR test – NEGATIVE!

— Go_A (@_Go_A_) May 13, 2021

So far all 38 of the artists who arrived in the Netherlands are still set to perform live in the Ahoy and whilst the events of the day highlight the delicacy of the situation, with good support from delegates, press and fans – we should have a successful contest underway.

Of course today’s event wasn’t all doom and gloom, far from it! Personal highlights of the livestream included:

• The UK’s James Newman announcing pyros would be added to the UK staging
• San Marino’s Senhit neither confirming nor denying the possibility of Flo Rida showing up at Eurovision
• Russia’s Manizha explaining that her extravagant Eurovision outfit was good for social distancing in
• Italy’s Måneskin and Finland’s Blind Channel supporting their fellow rock artists
• Germany’s backing dancer showing up dressed up as a giant hand amongst all the ball gowns
• Latvia’s Samanta Tīna celebrating making it to Eurovision after multiple selection attempts
• The Netherland’s Jeangu Macrooy, revealling he has brought his twin brother with him to the contest
• And many more but I’ll let you enjoy the livestream!

Eurovision is finally happening again and I couldn’t be more excited! Many of the 2020 artist’s and some incredible new faces, will get their chance to wow us all on the Eurovision stage and the coming contest will be truly historical. In the meantime, I wish everyone a safe and happy week, we will be covering Eurovision as the events of the semis unfold and if you are in need of a good read (on hopefully happier topics) we will be sure to have you covered.

As for now, what did you think of the turquoise carpet? What were your stand out moments and did you love the fashion as much as I did? Feel free to share this post, comment etc. I’d love to hear from you and it also really helps the blog a lot. Healthy discussion is always healthy – after all the Eurofandom is where we can share our love for music!