For many millions of music lovers around the world, today should have felt like Christmas. The final of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest was due to be held in Rotterdam this evening following Duncan Laurence's triumph last year, but it was not to be. The spread of the devastating coronavirus disease around the globe meant that Eurovision organisers had no choice but to cancel this year's event.
Not to be too disheartened, fans have grasped the opportunity to turn 2020 into a nostalgia-fest - a celebration of Eurovisions past.
With that in mind, SM Entertainment is speaking to some of the most memorable acts from recent years and here we sit down with Rasmussen, representative for Denmark in 2018 with the Viking-inspired banger 'Higher Ground'.
Hi Jonas! How have you been finding the coronavirus lockdown?
"I'm great despite the obvious situation around the world. It's been crazy but I think we in Denmark have seen great responsibility in the population, with great compassion to the risk groups and respect for the government's handling of the virus. The early lockdown has now caused few deaths and we're starting to open society again. It's been crazy but I'm pretty okay with the way the country has acted.
"I was just seven shows in on a tour when the country locked down, so I had a lot of shows left and a lot of time away from my family. In that sense we've really gotten to spend so much time together than expected in this period. So that's very nice, to be with the family so much."
I assume you agree it was the correct decision to cancel Eurovision completely this year?
"Of course. It would just have been a later cancellation if they hadn't done it at the end of March. A lot of people said 'why not wait?' It would have been impossible to do it now, so it was the right decision, definitely."
It must be terrible for the acts that were due to compete to have it taken away from them.
"Looking back on what I went through and knowing that, of course I feel so bad for them because I had such a great experience. It would have been a couple of months with experiences that you can't compare to anything else in the music industry. You will probably have other great experiences, but the Eurovision bubble is a national World Cup or European Championship in music.
"If you look at the Danish act this year, very few are returning artists so very few know what it's like to be in Eurovision. So lucky for them they don't know what they miss because they haven't been through it - they can just assume what they will miss. So it's devastating for them, but luckily for them they haven't been through it before because then they would be quadruple devastated!"
With that in mind, do you think Ben and Tan should come back next year?
"No, but let me elaborate! If it was just my heart thinking of Ben and Tan, then yes of course I would like them to get the opportunity to experience it. But it is a national final and Denmark has a tradition for the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. So in that sense I think they should find a new winner, also to keep it fresh - especially with a new song. I definitely don't think any of the 2020 songs should be eligible for the 2021 edition, but of course they aren't allowed anyway.
"What makes Eurovision is the fans, and if I'm thinking about them, I'd feel bad for them if every artist were to return because then they wouldn't have the Eurovision season - and then the coronavirus would have impacted Eurovision heavily two years in a row instead of hopefully, knock on wood, only one year now. So when we come to when that first song is selected at the end of the year, it's the beginning of the Eurovision season, it's almost back to normal with the national finals and the fans can have their Eurovision back. The fans, as I said, are what make Eurovision special. So I would want them to have a normal Eurovision season again next year, which includes all the national finals, exciting shows, polls and debates on which songs should be picked.
"In Sweden for example Melodifestivalen is six shows. So if they were to just say The Mamas should represent them again, it's a crazy wheel that you just break and not have return next year. It's a giant build-up and also in Norway, with many shows this year and presumably also next year. And the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is a big, one-day show in Denmark - even though it's not as popular as it was in the 80s and 90s, it's still a big day - the most viewed show on that night. It's a big tradition you'd just cut if you choose to just send the previous artist."
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How do you look back at your experience now a couple of years on?
"Unless I go to Eurovision again some time, I don't think I'll get to perform for as many people again. Not arena-wise but worldwide, transmitting to the 100 million people or so watching. That's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I just look back at it as a totally crazy, overwhelming, fun, great experience, those 14 days in Lisbon. And of course also the road up to Eurovision with the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, different pre-parties, interacting with fans and the media."
Did you find it a bit sad when it all ended?
"Actually not when it ended. Of course a little bit of melancholy because it was such a great trip with the crew and the team and my guys on stage. But I was tired and I missed my family a lot, I missed my kids, so I couldn't have gone on another month or two months. I couldn't have, definitely not without seeing my kids.
"But I went into the whole Eurovision adventure with the mindset that it's the experience of a lifetime and I've reached an age where I collect these experiences instead of trying to make them a career-defining path. I've played a lot of shows before and when you go into an intense period of rehearsing and playing and performing, it's a little bubble and there's always a sadness when the bubble breaks, but I've been through it so many times. Of course Eurovision is different but it's still an intense period with a lot of things going on. I was totally filled with that experience when I went home."
What's next for you?
"Hopefully after this, the world and especially Denmark will open up again so I can go on finishing the show I was on this autumn. Then concerts and another show at the end of the year. If everything goes as we all hope with the world situation, then I will have a lot of things to do. Hopefully in the midst of that also releasing an EP, but that's also unclear whether or when it should be because of the situation right now, with recording and when it's the right time for a musician like me to release an EP. But that's my goal, to get the EP done and out during the next year."
Follow Jonas on Instagram @bonjonesy
Neil Wilkes
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