Ukraine’s entry for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest has gone viral.
Following their appearance at the first semi-final on Tuesday, Go_A’s song “Shum” has reached number 5 in the Global Spotify Charts. The song has been streamed over 1.6 million times on Spotify and their semi-final performance has reached 5.9 million views.
The day after the first semi-final earlier this week, other participating countries also made it into the top 50 charts, including Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Malta, Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
Who are Go_A?
Go_A are a folktronica group who were formed in Kyiv in 2012. The band is made up of Kateryna Pavlenko (vocalist), Taras Shevchenko (multi-intrusentalist), Ihor Didenchuk (sopiklar) and Ivan Hrihoryak (guitar). They combine Ukrainian singing styles with modern dance beats, African drums and guitar.
Image Source: EBU / Thomas Hanses | Source: Spotify Charts
Ukraine first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, when Oleksandr Ponomariov performed “Hasta la vista”. The following year Ruslana brought the country their first win with the song “Wild Dances”. It was a feat that would be replicated in 2016 by Jamala with her song “1944”; her emotionally charged song scored a record 534 points to take victory in Stockholm. In 2017 O.Torvald represented the country on home soil with the song “Time”. The group finished in 24th place, Ukraine’s worst result at the contest to date.
