The song was performed by Natalia Gordienko, who was internally selected in January 2021 by the Moldovan broadcaster TeleRadio-Moldova (TRM) to represent the nation at the 2021 contest in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Performing during the show in position 7, "Sugar" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 22 May.

[2] On 26 January 2021, TRM confirmed that Natalia Gordienko would remain as Moldova's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

[3] Prior to the broadcaster's announcement, it was reported in mid-2020 that Gordienko had been working with Dimitris Kontopoulos and 1995 Russian Eurovision entrant Philipp Kirkorov in order to create her song for the 2021 contest.

[4][5] The song to be performed by Natalia Gordienko, "Sugar", was presented to the public on 4 March 2021 during a live streamed event held at the Crave Theatre in Moscow, Russia.

[6][7] The music video, which was filmed in Kyiv, Ukraine by Katya Tsarik and directed by Fokas Evangelinos, was released on the same day.

[8] "Sugar" was written by Dimitris Kontopoulos and Philipp Kirkorov with lyrics by Mikhail Gutseriev and Sharon Vaughn.

[6] Natalia Gordienko made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Sugar" as the Moldovan Eurovision entry.

[10][11] A Russian language version of the song, titled "Tuz bubi", was also recorded and released prior to the contest on 9 April.

[12] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final.

[23] Jury members may only take part in panel once every three years, and are obliged to confirm that they are not connected to any of the participating acts in a way that would impact their ability to vote impartially.