America is getting its own version of The Eurovision Song Contest
America is getting its own version of The Eurovision Song Contest next year, according to reports.
According to Variety, ‘The American Song Contest’ is set to debut on US television during the 2021 holiday season.
Variety report that the format of the US version will be similar to the European one and will “position the artists head-to-head against other states in a series of televised qualifier competitions, leading to semi-finals” and a “primetime Grand Finale.”
The makers behind the show, Propagate Content, are also reportedly creating ‘The American Song Contest Academy’, a group of music professionals who will, alongside regional audiences, select artists from 50 states to take part.
The Eurovision Song Contest has run for six decades and attracts an audience of over 200 million to its grand finale.
Executive producer of the new show, Ben Silverman, says: “I’ve spent 20 years trying to pursue this,” in trying to bring the show to US audiences. “I just love the format.”
He added: “When America is more fractionalised than ever and we are dealing with so many issues that divide us, the one [thing] that truly unites us is our culture…it can unite it by celebrating its diversity, its distinctions and in pulling everyone around its love of music and its love of song.”
Producer Anders Lenhoff added: “It’s a great product on so many levels. You want to use all your expertise and bringing it to the biggest market in the world is so exciting.”
Earlier this year, The Eurovision Song Concert was cancelled as Europe continued to battle coronavirus.
This year’s contest was due to take place in Rotterdam after the Netherlands won the competition in 2019.
James Newman was announced earlier this year as the UK’s entry for the contest with his song ‘My Last Breath’.
The BRIT Award-winning songwriter, who has previously written tracks for the likes of Ed Sheeran and Calvin Harris, is the older brother of singer John Newman.
