Eurovision this month: Celebrating the songs, Home Concerts and more!

30 April 2020 at 18:00 CEST

In Eurovision this month, we look back on what happened in the world of the Eurovision Song Contest over the past month. In April, we saw the first editions of the Eurovision Home Concerts, teamed up with #EurovisionAgain and announced the Eurovision Song Celebration 2020. Read about that, and more, below.

As we now know, the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 won't take place. However, there are many online initiatives taking place over the past couple of weeks as well as in the weeks to come and many of these were announced in April.

Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light

Preparations for Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light, the show created to honour all 41 chosen songs, in a non-competitive format, are in full swing. The show will feature plenty of surprises for fans and viewers at home and will be hosted by Dutch Eurovision presenters Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley (Eurovision 1998 and 2007) and Jan Smit. Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light will be broadcast on 16 May 2020.

Get ready for the Eurovision Song Celebration 2020!

It has been an unusual Eurovision year, to say the least, so to bring the excitement of the event weeks to your home, we're pleased to announce 2 special shows that will air on the same dates as the 2020 Semi-Finals! The Eurovision Song Celebration 2020 will premiere on our YouTube channel on Tuesday 12 and Thursday 14 May at 21:00 CEST. These shows will complement the EBU and its Dutch members, NPO, NOS and AVROTROS', show, Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light.

Eurovision Home Concerts

On 3 April, we introduced Eurovision Home Concerts on our YouTube channel. Each episode features artists who have been part of the Eurovision family over the years, including artists from 2020. Each artist will perform their own song and a cover version of another Eurovision hit.

4 episodes have already aired which, in total, feature almost 30 Eurovision acts. We have more episodes in store for you, the next coming this Friday, 1 May!

Check out the previous episodes here:

Episode 1, including Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Rasmussen, Tamara Todevska and Slavko Kalezic.
Episode 2, including Jamala, Daði, Montaigne, Leonora, Vasil, Aksel and Gjon's Tears.
Episode 3, including Hurricane, Jalisse, Jeangu, Ulrikke, Lesley Roy, Lake Malawi, Uku Suviste, Victor Crone and Sergey Lazarev with Helena Paparizou.
Episode 4, including Eugent Bushpepa, Damir Kedžo, Elisa, VICTORIA, Stefania, Pænda, KEiiNO and Ana Soklič.

Ryan O'Shaugnessy (Ireland 2018) kicked off Eurovision Home Concerts Ryan O'Shaugnessy

#EurovisionAgain

As people from across the continent refrain from getting together to avoid the spread of coronavirus, Eurovision fans have found a clever way to enjoy the Contest together. At the initiative of Eurovision Song Contest fan Rob Holley, every Saturday at 20:00 GMT (21:00 CEST) #EurovisionAgain hosts synced viewings of classic Eurovision Song Contests for fans to watch together at home and comment together on Twitter.

Eurovision 2020 design wins two European Design Awards

The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 design won 2 European Design Awards: it won silver in the category 'Brand Logo' and gold in the category 'Integrated Identity Applications'. The latter is an award for the entire implementation of the design.

The design of Eurovision 2020, which forms the visual basis for what would have been this year's 3 live shows, symbolizes the celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest and the 41 countries that planned to take part.

The logo is an abstract representation of the flag colours of the countries participating in order of their first participation in the Contest.

The European Design Awards are set up to celebrate European design, with all its regional distinctive elements as well as its common grounds, and also to honour and award people who invest their passion in design.

Duncan hits 100 million streams on Spotify

Last years winning song, Arcade, from Duncan Laurence remains popular in the playlists of Eurovision fans. This month the song passed the mark of 100 million streams on Spotify! Congratulations Duncan!

Pre-order now: The official 2020 collectors tribute CD!

The Official Eurovision Song Contest 2020 double CD is a tribute to all artists and songs. The album is featuring the songs from all 41 countries. The album will be released on 15 May, but you can pre-order from the official Eurovision shop now. You'll even receive a free Open Up coaster set with your order!

Andres (the Netherlands 1972) has died

Sad news from the Netherlands this month: Andres (Dries Holten), who represented the Netherlands in 1972 together with Sandra Reemer, died at the age of 84. Sandra & Andres’ song, Als Het Om De Liefde Gaat, came fourth in 1972.

Sandra Reemer passed away in 2017, she was 66 years old.

Confirmed acts for 2021

At the time of writing, 13 acts who originally planned to participate in 2020 have been confirmed to participate again in 2021 and will have the honour of representing their country on the Eurovision stage. The 13 confirmed acts are: