The Ride (Rafał Brzozowski song)

"The Ride" is a song by Polish singer Rafał Brzozowski. The song represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.^[1]

"The Ride"
Single by Rafał Brzozowski
Released	12 March 2021
Studio	Softwall Studio
Length	3:00
Label	Synthwave
Songwriter(s)	Joakim Övrenius Thomas Karlsson Clara Rubensson Johan Mauritzson
Producer(s)	Joakim Övrenius
Rafał Brzozowski singles chronology
"Gentleman" (2020) "The Ride" (2021) "Głośniej" (2021)
Music video
"The Ride" on YouTube
Eurovision Song Contest 2021 entry
Country	Poland
Artist(s)	Rafał Brzozowski
Language	English
Lyricist(s)	Joakim Övrenius Thomas Karlsson Clara Rubensson Johan Mauritzson
Finals performance
Semi-final result	14th
Semi-final points	35
Entry chronology
◄ "Empires" (2020)
"River" (2022) ►

Eurovision Song Contest

Main article: Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Internal selection

On 12 March 2021, Telewizja Polska confirmed that Rafał Brzozowski would represent Poland in the 2021 contest.

At Eurovision

The 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and consisted of two semi-finals on 18 and 20 May 2021, and the grand final on 22 May 2021.^[2] According to the Eurovision rules, all participating countries, except the host nation and the "Big Five", consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals to compete for the final, although the top 10 countries from the respective semi-final progress to the grand final.^[3][4] On 17 November 2020, it was announced that Poland would be performing in the first half of the second semi-final of the contest.^[5]

Clara Rubensson version

Parallel to the version of "The Ride" by Rafał Brzozowski, there is an alternative version of this song with a different arrangement, performed by its co-author, Swedish singer Clara Rubensson. This version appeared on 11 March 2021^[6] that is just before the release of the Polish singer's version as a leak made by one of the music sites. In an interview published on 23 April 2021 for the eurowizja.org portal belonging to the OGAE Polska association, the songwriters revealed that the song was created in 2020 and was ready at the beginning of October with the original purpose for Clara Rubensson (which was to be the fourth single in her output), but with a view to Eurovision Song Contest the song was taken over by Rafał Brzozowski.^[7] On 16 July 2021 on the Swedish music market the song "The Ride" by Clara Rubensson was released as a bonus to her cover of the song entitled "Love in Siberia" from the repertoire of the Danish band Laban, the original version of the song was released in 1985.^{[8][9][non-primary source needed]}

References

1. "RAFAŁ takes 'The Ride' to Rotterdam – Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision Song Contest. 12 March 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
2. . European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
3. . European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
4. Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Rotterdam, Netherlands: European Broadcasting Union (EBU). 18–22 May 2021.
5. Groot, Evert (17 November 2020). . European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
6. "Πολωνία: Με το Ride στην Eurovision 2021; (video)". EurovisionFun. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
7. "Eurowizja 2021: "The Ride" w nowej wersji? Twórcy utworu nie mówią "nie"". OGAE Polska. Retrieved 23 April 2021.
8. "Clara Rubensson released "Love in Siberia" and "The Ride"". ESCCovers. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
9. "Message from Clara Rubensson's Facebook profile". Clara Rubensson on Facebook. Retrieved 17 July 2021.