“And Indiana’s twelve points go to… Nebraska!” Perhaps it will soon be the first edition of the American Song Contest. The American channel NBC copies – of course with permission and after payment of an unknown amount – the success formula of the Eurovision Song Contest.
In addition to singers and bands from all fifty states and Washington DC, participants from five of the US territories, including Puerto Rico and the Oceanic island of Guam, are also participating. The American song contest lasts eight weeks, from March 21 to the final on May 9 – a few days before the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin.
Although the American show takes place within one country, voting will also take place here per state for the other states. As in Europe, the question therefore becomes how geopolitical preferences will turn out. Will neighbors like Alabama and Georgia vote for each other above average? Does New York need anything from the Florida submission?
The American version is hosted by rapper Snoop Dogg and singer Kelly Clarkson. The two know each other as coaches of another talent show: The Voicebroadcast in the United States by NBC since 2011.
That American channel has been trying to warm up viewers to the European format for some time. The Italian band Måneskin, last year’s winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam, performed in an American episode of The Voice† “This amazing spectacle combines the feeling of supporting your favorite sports team with watching the live performance of an original song,” NBC said in a statement.
That channel already had plans for that version in 2006. NBC wanted to compete with the popular talent show with its own song festival American Idol† The rights for the American variant of the Eurovision Song Contest were bought in 2019 from the European Broadcasting Union, the organizer of the European show. It has been around for 65 years and last year attracted 183 million viewers.