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Will the pre-recorded backing vocals remain?

Fluke

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When it was first announced that it would be allowed, the responses were somewhat varying if mostly negative, but i think now we can pretty much all agree the results weren't great. In my view, it just took away a lot of the ethics and actual live feeling of some entries, and made the "live" performance no different than any typical TV show appearance.

Not only could it be seen as cheating, it actually detracted from some entries musically. The overuse of huge choirs, Bulgaria being the worst example, felt totally out of place in the ESC and swamped the actual live vocals. All of them, IMO just felt tacky and unnecessary for the song, which would have sounded better with a small live backing vocal group.

Also, while they were explicitly only supposed to be backing vocals, some entrants like Moldova actually used a prerecorded track to practically replace the part of the lead vocals, leading to a mediocre and inauthentic mimed performance effect.

Finally, some performances like Latvia, Czechia, Austria, Georgia and Ireland may have been musically harmed by allowing pre-recorded vocals, as it may have been an excuse to not give them enough time to rehearse and set up their mixing/monitoring etc.

So i think overall, this should be considered a "failed experiment" that should never have been done at all. Please don't repeat it, go back to live vocals only next year. Does anyone disagree?
 

rasmuslights

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When it was first announced that it would be allowed, the responses were somewhat varying if mostly negative, but i think now we can pretty much all agree the results weren't great. In my view, it just took away a lot of the ethics and actual live feeling of some entries, and made the "live" performance no different than any typical TV show appearance.

Not only could it be seen as cheating, it actually detracted from some entries musically. The overuse of huge choirs, Bulgaria being the worst example, felt totally out of place in the ESC and swamped the actual live vocals. All of them, IMO just felt tacky and unnecessary for the song, which would have sounded better with a small live backing vocal group.

Also, while they were explicitly only supposed to be backing vocals, some entrants like Moldova actually used a prerecorded track to practically replace the part of the lead vocals, leading to a mediocre and inauthentic mimed performance effect.

Finally, some performances like Latvia, Czechia, Austria, Georgia and Ireland may have been musically harmed by allowing pre-recorded vocals, as it may have been an excuse to not give them enough time to rehearse and set up their mixing/monitoring etc.

So i think overall, this should be considered a "failed experiment" that should never have been done at all. Please don't repeat it, go back to live vocals only next year. Does anyone disagree?

I disagree..
 

ag89

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It was really horrible and obvious with so many acts. I do hope this was the experiment we will not get to hear ever again. Instead of having pre-recorded backing vocalists, I would rather change rules on number of people on stage allowing up to 10 persons so in case you need a choir of vocalists you can have it.
 

anto475

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Hopefully they won't but probably they will
 

rasmuslights

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well I think a lot of the songs need the backing vocals to be pre-recorded (Greece 2019, Macedonia 2017 etc. would be SO MUCH better than they actually were)... yeah sometimes they were to loud etc. but I definitely don't think this was in any way distracting...
 

FilipFromSweden

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I actually liked it, so much of music is studio produced and the pre-recorded backing vocals got the songs closer to the studio versions
 

innou

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I think that generally, they should go.
However, I'd say yes to keeping some of them that cannot be duplicated by live singing. Could you imagine those ''I love El Diablo''s performed live? I'd fall off my couch laughing.
Also, in regards to the live backings, I think that the organizers should start being more strict on the mixing part. Demy's high notes in 2017 (''this is LOOOOVE'') and Natalia's AAAAAA this year being mimed really irked me. If you can't sing it, just don't.
 

Brandt

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They should not, but they will. :(
 

A-lister

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They shouldn't, but they should instead increase the maximum people allowed on stage from 6 to 8-10 as a compromise so if dancers are needed, they can focus on doing their thing and let backing vocalists focus on theirs. Also, it's long overdue to increase the amount of people anyways, should have been introduced years ago already we're not in the 90's any longer.

I am technically not against allowing pre-recorded vocals as with modern studio music and effects and choirs it is sometimes needed and I see nothing wrong with that tbh, however in the context of Eurovision where some delegations clearly "cheat" with it, I'm afraid it doesn't work in this context and is instead taken advantage of. If they reduce the pre-recorded backing vocals only to special choirs and effects but have the main vocals from the lead acts 100% live, then I think it could be fine, but no Natalia-style fake singing a long note for a minute.
 
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empo21

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Technically the official instrumental of Sugar doesn't have the high note (although it's pretty much a silent version of the song which is why pre-recorded vocals need to go), so someone did infact sing the long note live. Who? Only Kirkorov knows.
 

Lance Esgard

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Technically the official instrumental of Sugar doesn't have the high note (although it's pretty much a silent version of the song which is why pre-recorded vocals need to go), so someone did infact sing the long note live. Who? Only Kirkorov knows.
With Natalia having four dancers on stage, that leaves room for live vocals from a backing singer placed backstage, as is allowed by the rules.

Since the long note wasn't done in the live-on-tape, I think it is possible that if a backing singer was responsible it could explain why it didn't happen on the live-on-tape, due to the absence of an equivalent backstage area to sing from and/or the EBU supervisor not allowing such backstage vocals for a live-on-tape because of the risk of a singer not visible to the supervisor enabling the smuggling in of pre-recorded vocals for lead dub parts.
 

A-lister

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Pre-recorded backing vocal or live backing vocal, I am still surprised EBU let that cheating pass as it was staged as the main vocals... still a mystery to me how Kirkorov got away with it xshrug
 

rasmuslights

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Yeah pre-recorded backing vocals had nothing to do with it... Zhana (bulgaria 2018) did the same thing...

I'm pro pre-recorded b. vocals... I think they were not distracting at all this year and helped a lot of the songs tbh... we should let them stay...
 

Shadowfuxcs

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After observing how they were used in 2021 I could stand behind pre-recorded vocals being allowed for effects, choirs and anything that cannot be accurately replicated by 2-3 live backing vocalists; as long as their use is restricted to that. A lot of countries this year abused the backing tracks by having them do most of the actual singing in parts instead of the actual performer (Sweden, Norway, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Croatia, Malta). Granted, people have been lip syncing to their backing vocalists before but with a backing track this becomes a lot more easier. So maybe use a rule to prevent that.
 

Funix

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This is a piece of the rules for DMGP 2022:

Danish:
"10. Ved Eurovision Song Contest 2022 skal sangene fremføres som singback, og her skal alle vokaler være 100 procent live. Kor på backing track kan i visse tilfælde aftales nærmere med DR."

English:
"10. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, the songs must be performed as a singback, and here all vocals must be 100 percent live. Choir on the backing track can in certain cases be agreed in more detail with DR "

So DR may have confirmed that pre-recorded backing vocals will remain in ESC 2022, perhaps a little bit different from 2021?
 
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Lance Esgard

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Whatever happens for the Eurovision rule, I'm glad I can at least be very pleased with the Danish approach for their own selection, provided that choir does not mean standard backing but only actual choir parts.
 
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Sammy

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Worst worst worst decision ever! We will get even more fake performances which will lead to a decline of overall quality. Only way to at least slow this development down: ban Kirkorov For at least every second year…
 
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