United Kingdom UNITED KINGDOM 2024 - Olly Alexander - Dizzy

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[Iker]

When did the UK send a song sung in Welsh or Scotts Gaelic the last time?

You better ask Ireland why they never send anything in Irish.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

Don't think that would be a great choice. I don't know if she is still popular in the UK but outside of Britain she is a one-hit-wonder with murder on the dancefloor and that song is over 20 years old. Kids of today outside Britain have no idea who she is and women in their 40's rarely get good results in ESC (Loreen and Linda Martin excluded).

A one-hit-wonder is what they are actually looking for... Established artists rarely come to Eurovision. Uk had Blue in 2011, but they were far from their past glory, they had Bonnie Tyler thirty years after her peak... They even had Katrina, which was herself a one-hit-wonder before Eurovision with Walking on sunshine.

 

[Chalphon]

A one-hit-wonder is what they are actually looking for... Established artists rarely come to Eurovision. Uk had Blue in 2011, but they were far from their past glory, they had Bonnie Tyler thirty years after her peak... They even had Katrina, which was herself a one-hit-wonder before Eurovision with Walking on sunshine.

But then they might as well go with someone unknown. Sophies name is not gonna generate a lot of votes just by itself.

 

[A-lister]

Mae deserved much better, after seeing it live and it the context I didn't have super high hopes though but for sure bottom was undeserving.

I have no idea who would even wanna go for UK now, they did put an effort and flopped big time but if Mae can at least manage to have a local hit, maybe it's not all lost and they will keep up the good work for 2024.

 

[njdevils94]

Yearly Foxes rumors of doing ESC.

 

[Chalphon]

Mae deserved much better, after seeing it live and it the context I didn't have super high hopes though but for sure bottom was undeserving.

I have no idea who would even wanna go for UK now, they did put an effort and flopped big time but if Mae can at least manage to have a local hit, maybe it's not all lost and they will keep up the good work for 2024.

The song was great, nothing wrong with the song. The live vocals however, way too weak unfourtunately.

 

[JenJen94]

Mae deserved much better, after seeing it live and it the context I didn't have super high hopes though but for sure bottom was undeserving.

I have no idea who would even wanna go for UK now, they did put an effort and flopped big time but if Mae can at least manage to have a local hit, maybe it's not all lost and they will keep up the good work for 2024.

Mae came bottom and got a top 10 hit with the song-I don't think all is lost!

 

[StephenMuckle]

The lesson that the BBC need to learn is not to let rumours about a particular singer run rampant when they know it's not them. They actually continued to fuel the Rina rumours even right up to the point Mae Muller was announced. If you do that you are essentially throwing the actual act that has been selected under the bus from the get go.

Having said that I somehow prefer the internal selection method. I love being something of a "Eurovision detective" when it starts to come close to the artist announcement and when the rumours are flying around.

 

[Chrisiam]

To be fair we don't know how far into the process Rina got (if she was even in it at all). If she was then I've had this theory that all the heavy hints and rumours we had about her doing it were done by her and her people so as to use the hype to help tilt TaP/BBC into picking her. As in she could go "You see all this hype behind me doing it? Shows people are interested, you should totally pick me".

In the end it didn't work, as it seems TaP had a song in mind for this year and Muller's was closest to it. So from my POV TaP/BBC should select their act with an open mind. Rather than saying "We need an act who is X. Because we haven't had an act like that in a while and/or we want a song like XYZ, what have we got that is close to it?".

 

[A-lister]

Mae came bottom and got a top 10 hit with the song-I don't think all is lost!

Ok but it's already out of the top. 10 after just one week, and did any radios playlist it? Seems there is no longevity at all...

 

[Chrisiam]

It has been played frequently on the radio since it came out. I think it even got on Radio 1's A-List which means in was in heavy rotation up until the contest. Getting that kind of airplay for a song can be difficult even for more established artists. And given it has been out for almost three months of course it is going to drop off. And getting into the top ten for a song that largely flopped at the contest isn't to be sniffed at. As it is rare for a UK Eurovision entry to even chart let alone end up in the top ten. With Sam Ryder being the exception.

I really don't think that Mae's results make it any more or less likely that other (more) well-known artists would represent the UK. Even if she somehow won the damage done to the contest's reputation over the past twenty years is still healing. And it is going to take time yet for that to change. And to be brutally honest any professional artists looking at Mae's performance and her results is unlikely to turn around and go "She was robbed! Politics! Politics!" when she was performing so poorly on the night.

In the end, it is all in the hands of the BBC and who they pick to do it in '24 and if they are selecting it themselves, with TaP, another record label. Or if it will be purely internal, internal with the song voted on, or a National Final.

 

[A-lister]

It has been played frequently on the radio since it came out. I think it even got on Radio 1's A-List which means in was in heavy rotation up until the contest. Getting that kind of airplay for a song can be difficult even for more established artists. And given it has been out for almost three months of course it is going to drop off. And getting into the top ten for a song that largely flopped at the contest isn't to be sniffed at. As it is rare for a UK Eurovision entry to even chart let alone end up in the top ten. With Sam Ryder being the exception.

I really don't think that Mae's results make it any more or less likely that other (more) well-known artists would represent the UK. Even if she somehow won the damage done to the contest's reputation over the past twenty years is still healing. And it is going to take time yet for that to change. And to be brutally honest any professional artists looking at Mae's performance and her results is unlikely to turn around and go "She was robbed! Politics! Politics!" when she was performing so poorly on the night.

In the end, it is all in the hands of the BBC and who they pick to do it in '24 and if they are selecting it themselves, with TaP, another record label. Or if it will be purely internal, internal with the song voted on, or a National Final.

Gotcha!

Well, I hope the result won't be discouraging that's all. I think UK has been onto something the past few years (and that also includes James Newman in 2021) but something has been missing to really make a full package (apart from Sam in 2022 I guess although I wasn't personally a big fan tbh).

I just hope to see UK trying and continue take it seriously, because it would be sad if you'd go back to the "whatever" mentality that you had prior (and which for instance Germany still has).

 

[JenJen94]

Ok but it's already out of the top. 10 after just one week, and did any radios playlist it? Seems there is no longevity at all...

Still-I think it's good it even got there in the first place. Shame its fallen out after a week though. However I am hearing it on the radio, on tv shows actually etc.

It has been played frequently on the radio since it came out. I think it even got on Radio 1's A-List which means in was in heavy rotation up until the contest. Getting that kind of airplay for a song can be difficult even for more established artists. And given it has been out for almost three months of course it is going to drop off. And getting into the top ten for a song that largely flopped at the contest isn't to be sniffed at. As it is rare for a UK Eurovision entry to even chart let alone end up in the top ten. With Sam Ryder being the exception.

I really don't think that Mae's results make it any more or less likely that other (more) well-known artists would represent the UK. Even if she somehow won the damage done to the contest's reputation over the past twenty years is still healing. And it is going to take time yet for that to change. And to be brutally honest any professional artists looking at Mae's performance and her results is unlikely to turn around and go "She was robbed! Politics! Politics!" when she was performing so poorly on the night.

In the end, it is all in the hands of the BBC and who they pick to do it in '24 and if they are selecting it themselves, with TaP, another record label. Or if it will be purely internal, internal with the song voted on, or a National Final.

I think you've summed it up perfectly tbh!

 

[Loindici]

With no intention of disrespect, is there a possibility of the delegation/public being... white-centric? The last time a person of color represented the UK was with Blue in 2011.

When it comes to casting a national final, they have been very good at trying to represent inclusivity, but I have yet to see a person of color being selected and representing in the end.

I want to see someone like Sinead Harnett, Rina Sawayama, or Lianne La Havas representing the UK, but it seems out of reach now.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

With no intention of disrespect, is there a possibility of the delegation/public being... white-centric? The last time a person of color represented the UK was with Blue in 2011.

When it comes to casting a national final, they have been very good at trying to represent inclusivity, but I have yet to see a person of color being selected and representing in the end.

I want to see someone like Sinead Harnett, Rina Sawayama, or Lianne La Havas representing the UK, but it seems out of reach now.

Or maybe, in the U.K. the 90.9% of the population is actually white... It has nothing to do with racism or discrimitation, you know. It is a question of probabilities.

 

[Loindici]

Or maybe, in the U.K. the 90.9% of the population is actually white... It has nothing to do with racism or discrimitation, you know. It is a question of probabilities.

Yeah, that works too.

But that can be said about Australia as well, logically.

 

[aeon]

Australia is different because SBS has the obligation to produce and broadcast ethnic diverse content.

Founding member and lead singer of Voyager moved to Australia from Germany when 11 years old.

 

[Chalphon]

Or maybe, in the U.K. the 90.9% of the population is actually white... It has nothing to do with racism or discrimitation, you know. It is a question of probabilities.

82% according to the 2021 census. Which mean that almost every fifth ESC-entry could be performed by a person of colour if represented statistically accurate.

 

[Chrisiam]

I'm going to be blunt. And I'm sorry if this sounds rude, I don't mean it to be. But given that the BBC/TaP bent over backwards to find a female singer to represent the UK in 23 because they hadn't had one represent the UK recently chances are that if they feel they need to keep things diverse then they'll go for a non-white act/act lead by or featuring a non-white performer. Especially if the fans make it known that is something they want.

 

[MopManMoss]

82% according to the 2021 census. Which mean that almost every fifth ESC-entry could be performed by a person of colour if represented statistically accurate.

It is a song contest not jury duty, one person (or six) is never going to represent everyone that lives in a country

The UK black population is just under 3%, more than 3% of British entries have been Black artists

There has never been a British Asian performer at Eurovision but those communities generally have considerably worse issues with integration into wider society than other ethnic minority communities in the UK so that goes way above eurovision