The Eurovision Song Contest has introduced plenty of artists to the world stage, and it’s no secret that Americans have a history in this music event. While this music event was meant to showcase different cultures of other countries through music and performance, there were times when people didn’t shy away from using artists from other countries to perform their songs.
It’s no secret that Americans have performed on the Eurovision stage. In 2021, Flo Rida performed for San Marino as a featured artist. Also, there was a time when a non-European singer won the song contest. In 1988, Canadian singer Celine Dion represented Switzerland and won with the song “Ne partez pas sans moi.” And with the release of the 2020 Netflix film, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, could the same be the same for the film’s star, Rachel McAdams?
Did Rachel McAdams sing in Eurovision?
McAdams starred in the Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga with Will Ferrell. While the film is somewhat of a satire of the Eurovision Song Contest, it received a critic score of 63 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, was nominated for a 2021 Oscar Award for Best Original Song, and Icelandic actor, Hannes Óli Ágústsson (aka the “play Ja Ja Ding Dong” guy) represented Iceland during the jury vote announcement in the 2021 Song Contest.
While McAdams was able to showcase that she has the stage presence to perform on the world stage through the Netflix film, the Canadian actress didn’t perform in the actual song contest, nor did she ever release her own music, to begin with. This is quite unfortunate since there are TV personalities and news reporters who have performed in the song contest. At the same time, she wasn’t a contestant in the American Song Contest either, mainly because she’s not from America.
As for the Eurovision Netflix film, however, while she did sing in the film, most of the singing credits go to Swedish singer Molly Sandén (aka My Marianne). Business Insider reported that McAdams and Sandén worked together to blend their vocals for the film’s soundtrack. At the same time, Netflix confirmed that McAdams provided her own vocals during the beginning parts of a few songs and the Swedish singer provided the rest.
It is indeed unfortunate that McAdams isn’t one of the handful of Americans to have performed in the Eurovision Song Contest and has provided some of her vocals for the Netflix film. But she did indeed prepare for the role and made herself a convincing Eurovision contestant. While she may not be a participant in the 2023 Song Contest, hopefully, she’d receive the Eurovision debut that she truly deserves.