Go_A’s will perform ‘SHUM’ for Ukraine at Eurovision 2021

Following an internal selection process which saw three song snippets released yesterday, Ukrainian Eurovision broadcaster UA:PBC has announced that Go_A will be performing ‘SHUM’ for the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam in May.

Overnight, it was announced that ‘SHUM’ had beaten out two other songs – ‘Rano’ and ‘Tserkovka’ – that Go_A presented to UA:PBC as potential Eurovision entries. The internal selection process was held by a Zoom conference call on February 1, where an internal jury selected the song to be performed for Eurovision.

The jury consisted of the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 Jamala, founder of ONUKA Yevhen Filatov, music producer and composer Ruslan Kvinta, UA:PBC board member responsible for television Yaroslav Lodygin, and UA:PBC board member responsible for radio Dmytro Khorkin.

‘SHUM’ was initially released in late January, with many Eurovision fans speculating that it would be Go_A’s representative song for Rotterdam. However, Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC said the song “wasn’t for Eurovision”. Following this, it was yesterday revealed the song was in the running during the internal selection process, and will now be going to Eurovision.

Of the song, UA:PBC said:

“SHUM is inspired by a spring ritual folk song of the same name. It is a modern reinterpretation of an archaic game with elements of ancient magic ritual practices.”

Jamala, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 and a juror of the internal selection process, explained why she voted for ‘SHUM’:

“I voted for ‘SHUM’ – it sounds very modern to me. Live singing decides everything, so I would like to wish Kate confidence that she showed in Vidbir last year. Just sing, and it seems to me that everything will work out well!”

A Eurovision version of the song (bringing it down from over 4 minutes to under 3 minutes) and a new music video will be released in early March.