Stand-In Rehearsals from Eurovision 2021

In past posts on Stand-In Central, we’ve covered the Eurovision Song Contest — from the perspective of stand-ins!

In May 2021 the Eurovision Song Contest was, this year held in Rotterdam, Netherland. As in past years, stand-ins sang and danced in the setup for the contest. Videos of some of their rehearsals made it online.

The videos below of stand-in rehearsals are usually online only for a short period of time before eventually being taken down.  So make sure you watch them now before they’re gone!

How Eurovision Uses Stand-Ins

According to EurovisionWorld.com, the Eurovision contestants’ delegations send their choreography and other instructions to the producer of the broadcast, who tries to program the cameras and lighting to meet their specifications.

Local music artists act as stand-ins for the actual Eurovision contestants, who in turn perform the songs and choreography in order for the producer to rehearse the show, but also to let the contestants’ merely step in and perform without the need of complicated rehearsals.

As EurovisionWorld.com explains, “It is up to each broadcaster/performer to publish the stand-in rehearsals themselves.” Some of these videos are taken down soon after they make it online. And some of these videos remain! In 2019, a YouTube channel popped up that appeared to be exclusively Eurovision Song Contest stand-in rehearsals but it hasn’t been updated since.

Stand-In Performances

When it comes to the technical rehearsals, the Eurovision stand-ins give it their all. While they might fake playing the guitar or drums, they still fully commit to singing their songs and performing the choreography, all to help the timing of the camera and lights for the delegations to get good senses of how their final performances will look.

Below are stand-is rehearsals we’ve found for Eurovision 2021. Some you may have to watch on YouTube rather than from this page.

Stand-in Julia Adriana rehearses France’s entry, “Voilà”:

Compare with other performances of “Voilà” by the principal performer.

For Ukraine, Emmie van Stijn stands in in the song “SHUM”:

Again, compare the stand-in’s performance with the principal group’s performances.

Stand-in Kim Muller sings “Mata Hari” for Azerbaijan’s entry:

Kim Muller also stands in on the song “The Moon Is Rising” for Latvia:

“Tick Tock” performed by stand-in Romy de Cuba for Croatia’s entry:

For Cyprus’s entry, several of the above stand-ins make a repeat appearance, to sing “El Diablo.” They are Kim Muller and Romy de Cuba along with Lotte Pekelharing, Michaela Nova, and Jayda Codrington:

Jay van der Geugten stands in on the entry for the Czech Republic called “Omaga,” possibly lipsynching:

Truman Best gives it his “best” in his stand-in performance of Italy’s “Zitti e Buoni”:

Stand-in Helena Sic sings Israel’s “Set Me Free”:

This bouncy song “Je Me Casse” for Malta gets stand-in treatment by Amina Sahli:

Stand-in Amanda Collis sings Russia’s “Russian Woman”:

Amanda Collis also stands in in “Amen” for Slovenia:

San Marino entered the song “Adrenalina” and stand-ins Michaela Nova and Quinten van Hemert sang it in rehearsal:

Stand-ins Helena Sic, Jayda Codrington, Shannon Traets present “Loco Loco” for Serbia:

Lastly, stand-ins Helena Sic, Jayda Codrington, Quinten van Hemert, Sanne Hendrikx, Shannon Traets, and Tycho de Greef perform Romania’s “Amnesia”:

Did you come across other stand-in rehearsal videos for Eurovision 2021? If so, post the links in the comments!