Stand-ins

Art Demur performs the Portuguese entry Amar pelos dois during a stand-in rehearsal in 2017

Stand-ins are young musicians and high school students from the host city of a particular year's contest. Their job is to perform the entries as intended, not only to assist the technical team in regards to lighting, camera angles and visuals, but also to act as a guide for the participants prior to arriving for their first rehearsals. To become a Eurovision stand-in, candidates must go through a rigorous audition process to assess vocal and dancing abilities, as well as the ability to mimic the real artist as accurately as possible.

After the stage assembly is completed, a series of technical rehearsals are conducted in the venue using the staging plans submitted by the participant countries (choreography, visuals, props, etc.). In order to make sure things are working as per the specifications of each delegation, the production team makes use of the stand-in to perform the entry in the place of the actual artist. The recordings are then sent to each country for review, which in turn can submit back requests for changes if they are needed. This allows each of the delegations to promptly start their own rehearsals without the need to wait on directions and technical issues as everything they need will already be programmed for them.

If an artist runs into some problems during the main rehearsal period such as illness, a stand-in from the initial technical rehearsals can be called at a moment's notice to take their place, especially if they know the act well.

Stand-ins usually participate in the rehearsals for multiple countries in the capacity of a lead or backing singer, a dancer or a musician.

Some past stand-ins have gone on to take part in the Eurovision process over the years, such as participating in the national selections for their country or even becoming backing singers for other countries' artists in the contest itself.

Artist	Country	Year	Stand-in performance	Ref.
Kaleen	Austria	2024	Fuego (2018)

Videos

"Sound of Silence" (Australia) - Josephine Thunell (Eurovision Stand-in Rehearsal 2016)

Josephine Thunell performing "Sound of Silence" (Australia 2016)

Stand-In Rehearsal - Eurovision 2021 - Ukraine - Go A - SHUM

Emmie van Stijn performing "Shum" (Ukraine 2021)

Salvador Sobral - Amar Pelos Dois (Portugal) Eurovision Stand-in Rehearsal 2017

Art Demur performing "Amar pelos dois" (Portugal 2017)