LOL. I’ve been so distracted with the national selection season for Eurovision (ESC) that I kind of forgot that the US will have its own version of ESC, and the first episode will premiere tonight on NBC. Actually, I wasn’t THAT distracted bc NBC did not really do a good job advertising the American Song Contest (ASC).
This tweet about ASC took me the hell out; I’ll explain why in my some thoughts section below.
ASC facts from its Wikipedia page
Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg will host the American version.
All 50 states, 5 territories (Guam, US Virgin Islands, N. Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico), and the nation’s capital will compete.
The competition will have 5 qualifying rounds, two semi-finals, and one final.
For each qualifying round, a 56-member jury (one for each state and territory) will pick one song to advance to the final, and three additional songs will advance after a three-day public voting period. After all the qualifying heats, the jury will have the opportunity to save two songs for the semi-finals, so the two semi-finals will have 22 songs. The same process will occur to select the 10 songs that will compete in the final.
Here are the states, songs, and performers that will compete in the first qualifying round.
Some thoughts:
-From my understanding, ASC was supposed to start at the end of the Olympics, but the contest was postponed. I think it was a great idea to move ASC to March because February was right in the middle of many ESC participating countries’ national selections. Since the national selection season for ESC is over (wait, has Azerbaijan🇦🇿 released its song?); perhaps, some of the ESC fans in Europe will watch the American version of the contest. Right now, it looks that the contest will be aired or streamed in Austria🇦🇹, Germany🇩🇪, Finland🇫🇮, Greece🇬🇷, Iceland🇮🇸, Norway🇳🇴, Portugal🇵🇹, Serbia🇷🇸, Slovenia🇸🇮 Spain🇪🇸, and Sweden🇸🇪.
-Speaking of the timeline: this works perfectly because the 1st season of ASC will be eight weeks, which means the winner will be announced one week before ESC’s final. There have been some rumors that the winner of ASC might participate in ESC as an interval act. This could be a good way to get more folks from the US to watch ESC, and folks from Europe to watch ASC. The latter, because no new music will be released for ESC22 . . . I guess with the exception of Azerbaijan ;).
-While I have been using the word American to describe the US, I really hope there are plans to expand this contest to other countries in N. America, S. America, and the Caribbean. If not, then the producers should change the name of the contest to something like the US Song Contest.
-Perhaps, I’m being positive, but I think this 1st season of ASC will be a test run/pilot to expand into other countries in the Americas. For instance, I would imagine that a country/broadcaster would have had to put up a lot of cash to purchase the rights to ESC and make a similar contest. On this side of the world, probably the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, and (maybe) Argentia would have the money to “burn” on something like this. Perhaps, we (the US) were like f*ck it, let’s do this. If it’s successful here, then maybe other countries will buy into the contest.
-Will the US have a heart-shaped flag Instagram GIF similar to ESC countries?
-Toxic Eurovision Fandom. Since this is my first time really following ESC, I realized some of these hardcore ESC folks are absolutely f*ckin insane. When the news about ASC was announced, there were so many comments like: Why do the Americans want to be involved in everything? Why are the Americans trying to steal our contest? The Americans better not be allowed to compete in ESC. The Americans ruin EVERYTHING. Why are you even talking about ASC (regarding FB, IG, Reddit, etc.) when this site is for ESC? I mean I highly doubt that ANYone in the States was like Hey, let’s bring this contest to the States. If the ESC fandom wants to be upset, it should be upset with the two ESC producers that sold the rights to the US (technically, NBC).
-Crap, there was something else I wanted to add. Oh well; feet smell.
-Oh I remembered what I wanted to say. I hope the participating states think outside of the box with whom they plan to send to ASC. For example, I would have thought that Oklahoma would have sent a country song, but they are sending AleXa – a KPop artist.
Image courtesy of ESCUnited
-I’m still wondering why some famous singers are doing ASC? For example, Jewel (Alaska), Sisqo (Maryland), Michael Bolton (Connecticut), and Macy Gray (Ohio) are competing. Maybe this is an effort to get older folks. Why am I saying older? I mean these folks were popular during my teenage/very early 20s years.
-Since the producers of ASC picked the contestants, I hope they picked them based on their songs/performances and NOT because of sappy backstories (eg American Idol, the Voice). Once, the hubby and I were watching an old ESC, and I noticed that Poland sent a wheelchair-bound singer. I was like: OH, she’s gonna get a decent amount of votes and land in the top 10 or 15 because of the adversities that she has faced as a person in a wheelchair. NOPE! She finished the contest in the bottom five. I was damn, Europe. Y’all cold. Well, in Europe’s defense, she did advance from the semifinals to the final . . . she just did not do so hot in the final.
Damn, Austria received 0 points? I mean they were the hosts for that year’s ESC.
-Poland’s entry for ESC15; I kinda like the song.
-Last thought: I wonder if FloRida (he was featured on Senhit’s Andrenalina for ESC21) or other previous ESC contestants will participate as guest performers in ASC.
Screenshot from Senhit (San Marino) ft. FloRida’s Adrenalina (Video’s link ***)