Eurovision 2021: France, Germany, Italy.

Attention now turns to the acts which already qualify for the Eurovision Grand Final.

These comprise the “Big 5” financial backers, plus the home country. Here are three of them.

France:
Barbara Pravi
“Voilà”
Barbara Pravi grew up in a harmonious and multi-cultural family, with roots extending through her grandparents to Serbia, Iran, Poland and North Africa. This culturally diverse, open-mindedness lies at the heart of Barbara’s education and ethos, and is an important feature that underpins her character. In 2016, the Parisian chanteuse was cast as a lead in the musical Un été 44, which quickly led to her first EP Pas Grandir and her first acting role in the TV drama La Sainte Famille. Pravi has since collaborated with many artists including Yannick Noah, Julie Zenatti, Chimène Badi and Jaden Smith, and even co-wrote the French winning song of Junior Eurovision 2020: Valentina’s J’Imagine.

Germany:
Jendrik
“I Don’t Feel Hate”
Where would Elton John be without his piano, or Lizzo if you took away her iconic flute solos? We don’t want to know, and the same applies to Jendrik and his ukulele. Some musicians spend years searching for their signature instrument, but Jendrik found his in the hands of a little sister who’d received the tiny four-stringed lute as a birthday present. Hogging the gift for himself, Jendrik started to compose songs for his parents and siblings, and this is how his songwriting career began. The next stop for the Hamburg-born ukulelist was the Institute of Music at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, and you can probably guess the topic he chose for his Bachelor of Arts thesis… yep, the ukulele.

Italy:
Måneskin
“Zitti E Buoni”
Måneskin is a critically acclaimed band featuring vocalist Damiano, bassist Victoria, guitarist Thomas and Ethan on drums. The members have known each other since middle school but didn’t establish the band until 2015, when they brought together their musical influences, from rock and rap, to reggae, funk and pop. They took their band name from the Danish word for ‘moonlight’, as a tribute to their bassist Victoria’s home country. In 2018 the band released singles Morirò da Re and Torna a casa ahead of their first chart-topping studio album Il ballo della vita. Their success continued the following year, selling out 66 gigs and shifting an impressive 140,000 tickets for shows in Italy and across Europe.