American version of the Eurovision Song Contest confirmed for 2021

Yesterday (6 August), Variety reported that the Eurovision Song Contest is due to set sail for the US in 2021.

The American Song Contest is due to be aired on US television during next year's holiday season.

Variety notes that the US version will operate similarly to the Eurovision Song Contest, featuring solo musicians and groups of professional singers from each of the 50 states performing original songs.

The article states that The American Song Contest will "position the artists head-to-head against other states’ representatives in a series of televised qualifier competitions", before narrowing down the acts for the main event.

Show organisers Propagate Content will also be creating The American Song Contest Academy, which will see various music professionals (with the help of regional audiences) select artists from 50 states to compete.

Executive producer Ben Silverman says, "I’ve spent 20 years trying to pursue this. When I was chairman of NBC, when I was an agent at William Morris and when I started at Reveille. I just love the format."

He adds, "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."