''"Shum"'' () is a song by Ukrainian

electro-folk Folktronica is a genre of indie electronic music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring uses of acoustic instruments—especially stringed instruments—deploying hip hop, electronic or dance rhythms, and in ...

band

Go_A Go_A () is a Ukrainian folktronica band formed in 2012. The band represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, performing " Shum", and placed fifth in the final. The band's name was made by combining the English word "Go" with the G ...

. It in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2021 The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song "Arcade (song), Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was se ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. It is the second song sung entirely in Ukrainian to represent the after Go_A's own " Solovey" in , but the first to actually compete in Eurovision due to the cancellation of the . "Shum" qualified for the 2021 Eurovision final, where it finished in fifth place with 364 points. They were the runner-ups of the public vote, behind eventual winner , with 267 points, including a maximum of 12 points from five countries. The Eurovision version of the song took the lead in the global Spotify Viral 50 daily list on 24 May 2021, where it stayed until 1 June, and led the weekly list on the week of 27 May. It entered the ''Billboard'' Global 200 on the week of 5 June, at position 158, becoming the first ever Ukrainian-language song to chart there. On the same week, it peaked at number 80 on the ''Billboard'' Global Excl. U.S.

Background

The lyrics of this song is a variation of Ukrainian folk songs which were sung in the Shum folk ritual. The ritual involved a game and was performed in spring. According to some ethnographers, Shum refers to the god or personification of the forest.Лідія Козар
Весняна обрядовість у виданні Б. Грінченка «Этнографические материалы, собр. в Черниговской и соседних с ней губерниях»: дохристиянські вірування і сучасний контекст
— Міфологія і фольклор, № 1 — 2012. Etymologically, the name of the ritual probably comes from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

words ' ("noise") or ' ("forest"). Lead singer

Kateryna Pavlenko Kateryna Anatoliivna Pavlenko (, ; born August 10, 1988), also known as Monokate (), is a Ukrainian singer, composer, and folklorist. She is the lead vocalist of the Ukrainian electro-folk band Go_A, who would have represented Ukraine at Eurov ...

grew up in

Northern Ukraine This is a list of historical regions in present-day Ukraine. Main historical regions Traditional regions The traditional names of the regions of Ukraine are important geographic, historical, and ethnographic identifiers. * Over-Dnieper ...

, and the song is inspired by the folklore of that region.

Music video

On 22 January 2021, Go_A presented a music video for the song on the band's YouTube channel. Less than three weeks later, it reached 1 million views. Pavlenko commented that the video was made with a

phone camera A camera phone is a mobile phone that is able to capture photographs and often record video using one or more built-in digital cameras. It can also send the resulting image wirelessly and conveniently. The first commercial phone with a color c ...

and, despite the apparent

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

theme, their intent was to just experiment and "shoot some funny video". For the Eurovision version, they shot a new music video in a forest near the

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) is a nuclear power plant undergoing decommissioning. ChNPP is located near the abandoned city of Pripyat in northern Ukraine, northwest of the city of Chernobyl, from the Belarus–Ukraine border, a ...

Eurovision Song Contest

The song was selected to represent

Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Ukraine was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "" written by Kateryna Pavlenko, Taras Shevchenko and Ihor Didenchuk. The song was performed by the band Go_A, which were announced by the Ukrainian broadcaster Public ...

on 4 February 2021, after Go_A was internally selected by the

national broadcaster Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

UA:PBC. The previous year, they had won '' Vidbir 2020'', Ukraine's televised national selection. The semi-finals of the featured the same line-up of countries as determined by the draw for the 's semi-finals. Ukraine was placed into the first semi-final, held on 18 May 2021, and performed in the second half of the show.

Eurovision version

In March, a new version of the song was released with a new music video. The original version was too long and borrowed lyrics from existing traditional songs, which is prohibited under Eurovision rules. Pavlenko noted that the band struggled to cut the original version of the song to three minutes, so they decided to come up with a 'sequel'. Pavlenko explained that the original "Shum" was not written with Eurovision in mind and was intended for their concert tour after the cancelled Eurovision 2020. The purpose of the original track was to recreate the folk ritual at live performances with their audience. The new version of the song was adapted for Eurovision and is based on '' vesnianka'' folk songs. In Pavlenko's words, it was intended to have "more positive energy", since the original version, which is based on the folk ritual, is "a bit tense".

Track listing

Digital download/streaming – Original version # "Шум" – 3:59 Digital download/streaming – Radio edit # "Шум" (radio edit) – 3:03 Digital download/streaming – Eurovision version # "Shum" – 2:53 Digital download/streaming – DJ Nana remix # "Shum" (DJ Nana remix) – 2:33 Digital download/streaming – Billx remix # "Shum" (Billx remix) – 4:24

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2021 singles 2021 songs Eurovision songs of 2021 Eurovision songs of Ukraine Go A songs Ukrainian folk songs Music videos shot in Ukraine