Go_A

The idea to form a band that will combine modern electronic music with ethnic motifs first came to Taras Shevchenko in 2011, but the first attempts to work with actual musicians were in 2012. At the end of that year, in December, the first song "Koliada" (Коляда) was released. The band's name means "return to the roots" and was made by combining the English word "Go" with the Greek letter "Alpha", which symbolizes the beginning of everything.[1]

The band first gained attention after the release of the single "Vesnianka" (Веснянка), which won the National competition The Best Track in Ukraine 2015.[2] For six weeks, the song stayed at number one on the 10Dance chart of the Kiss FM radio station in Ukraine and was awarded Discovery of the Year by the radio station.[1]

In the fall of 2016, Go_A released their debut album Idy na zvuk (Іди на звук; Follow the tune) under the Moon Records.[3] Its tracklist consisted of ten songs, including the successful "Vesnianka".[4] In early 2017 they released a Christmas single "Shchedryi vechir" (Щедрий вечір) in collaboration with Katya Chilly.[5]

In early 2020, it was announced that Go_A was among the 16 acts participating in the Ukrainian national selection for Eurovision 2020 with the song '"Solovey".[6] The band performed in the first semi-final, which took place on February 8, where they place second and thus qualified to the final. On February 22, in the final they won both the public vote and the jury vote. Hence, they were supposed to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in May.[7] However, on March 18th 2020, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the same day UA:PBC announced that the band will represent the country in 2021.[8] On 4 February 2021, it was announced that "SHUM" would be the song that Go_A would be performing in Rotterdam.[9]