Roxen arrives in Rotterdam for Eurovision 2021

By Kevin Sherwin

The Romanian delegation and singer  Roxen have arrived in The Netherlands to prepare for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.

It’s hard to believe it was two years ago on a warm pleasant evening in Tel Aviv that Duncan Lawrence from The Netherlands won the Eurovision Song Contest and within a few weeks it was announced that the Rotterdam AHOY would be the venue for the 65th Contest to be staged in May 2020.

Who would have imagined in early 2020 how much the world would suffer in the months to come with all major musical and sporting events cancelled all over the planet?

Slowly the world is now starting to resume to an almost normal life again and for fans of Europe’s most popular music show we can now shout out the words “Welcome to the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.”

Under the Slogan of “Open Up”, 39 countries will battle it out to be the successor to Duncan Lawrence and be crowned Eurovision Champions on Saturday 22nd May and for millions of Eurovision fans like myself it’s been a very long wait.

Eurovision 2021 is different this year with social distancing in place at the arena plus all accredited   Press and artists have to get a Covid test before they enter the AHOY. Only 500 accredited press are allowed to travel to  work at this years contest with 1000 covering it online from home.

Due to a travel ban we won’t have Australia live in Rotterdam so their artist Montaigne will perform her song “technicolour” live on tape.

Now every year even before we’ve heard a note,  there is normally drama and controversy so it’s no surprise that 2021 is any different. Originally we had 41 countries due to participate but Armenia decided to withdraw stating it’s because of a political crisis that had gripped their country since last years war with Azerbaijan.

Belarus submitted their song for 2021 but after the European Broadcasting Union listened  carefully to it they decided that it breached the rules claiming it contained political lyrics.

They asked Belarus to submit another song which they did and that too contained lyrics which was in breach of the rules of the competition. So for 2021 we say goodbye to Armenia and Belarus.

Moving on to the Cypriot entry “El Diablo”,  the Orthodox church of Cyprus wanted it withdrawn claiming  it promoted devil worship and finally the North Macedonian representative  Vasil Garvanliev was asked to withdraw after 16,000 people signed a petition complaining about the presence of the Bulgarian flag being promoted in his video for the song “Here I Stand”.

Thankfully both songs and artists will be taking part here in Rotterdam.

So we can now move on to the actual contest itself, and as usual week one is rehearsals week and on Sunday afternoon Roxen and her 5 dancers took to the stage to start their rehearsals.

I caught up with her at the press conference afterwards and she said she was very happy with her first rehearsal.

She actually cried tears of joy just before she took to the stage so much was the emotion of the moment to finally realise her dream to appear at Eurovision was about to come true.

“Performing live on stage at Eurovision will be one of the greatest moments in my life,” she said.

She has been a fan of Eurovision for years and loved Loreen’s Swedish entry “Euphoria” from  2012 but says her favourite has to be the Romanian 2005 entry “Let me try” by Luminita Anghel.

Roxen has an amazing passion to dress differently, and depending on what mood she’s in will depend on what to wear that day –  sometimes plain, sometimes almost Gothic. She says she can express herself by what she wears and it reflects in the lyrics of her song “once upon a time I used to know a girl, ripped jeans, messy hair, shining like a Pearl”. One question she was asked at the press conference was “how many cats she has.”?

Roxen has 7 cats, 6 live at home and are being looked after by her mother while she has one living with her in Bucharest. “My cats are my family” she says. We must wish Roxen all the best for her Eurovision adventure here in Rotterdam.

So who is going to win Eurovision 2021?  Well we will know officially on Saturday 22nd of May but the betting has Switzerland, Malta, Lithuania, France and Little San Marino all amongst the favourites, but it’s early days here in Rotterdam and things can change very quickly after the rehearsals. Still to come this week are the second rehearsals plus all the excitement of the red carpet which I hear this year is going to be turquoise.

I do feel sorry for the City of Rotterdam, they so wanted to put on a grand spectacle and invite 15,000 fans from all over the world but unfortunately due to Covid only 3500 fans will be able to attend the live shows. I will be  here for then next two weeks covering the event and of course supporting Roxen and Romania, & I’m sure there will be  plenty more news, excitement and gossip to report on!