And the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is … Italy!
On Saturday May 22nd, the country’s rock band Moonlight won the annual European competition that started the worldwide music career of ABBA and Celine Dionwith her song “Zitti e buoni”. The group and the other acts played their contributions in a glamorous and wonderfully exaggerated finale that was broadcast live from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Eurovision was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy was one of 26 countries and territories to compete in the finals, and 39 awarded 10 songs a certain number of points based on votes from official juries as well as viewers. France’s singer Barbara Pravi took second place with the song “Voilà”. Other countries that achieved great success were Switzerland and Ukraine. The United Kingdom received zero points.
During the competition, too, many fans were surprised to see US rappers Flo Rida make their Eurovision debut. He played the song “Adrenalina” with an Italian singer Senhit as the official musical entry for the small European country of San Marino. Flo Rida told BBC Radio 1 earlier this year that he had no prior knowledge of the competition before being approached to perform his verse on stage for their track.
“Senhit’s people reached out to my people,” he said. “The song is energetic, which is what I love.”
