Shum (song)

"Shum" (, ) is a 2021 song by Ukrainian folktronica group Go_A, made under the label Rocksoulana Music. It represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam and won fifth place.

 Background 
The lyrics of the song come from Ukrainian folk songs that people used in the "Shum" ritual, for example "" («»). The name of the ritual comes from Proto-Slavic words  ("noise") or  ("forest").

Lead singer Kateryna Pavlenko grew up in Polyssia, Northern Ukraine, and the song is inspired by the folklore of that region. In "Shum" she used the traditional "white voice" singing technique.

 Music videos 
Each version of the song has a music video.

For the original version, Go_A directed a video with Ivan Buianskyi and they recorded it with a smartphone. In the first three weeks, people watched it more than 1 million times.

For the Eurovision version, they recorded a new video in a forest near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

 Eurovision Song Contest 

"Shum" had to represent Ukraine in Eurovision Song Contest 2021. However, the song could not go to Eurovision, because the words were the same as folk songs and it was one minute too long (Eurovision rules say that songs must have original lyrics and can not be longer than 3 minutes).

Go_A did not want to change the original version, so they made made a new, shorter song, with different lyrics, and called it "the sequel". The new version has a happy energy and it is inspired by  spring dancing rituals.

"Shum" is the second song fully in Ukrainian at Eurovision (the first was "Solovey", by the same group, the year before).

 Final results 
"Shum" won fifth place, with 364 total points. The song was the second most-voted by the public, with 267 public vote points, behind Italy's "Zitti e buoni". It got a maximum of 12 points from five countries.

 References 

Category:2021 songs
Category:Electronic dance music songs
Category:Go_A
Category:Songs in Ukrainian
Category:Ukrainian folk songs