United Kingdom UNITED KINGDOM 2019 - Michael Rice - Bigger Than Us

[DenizESC]

I love how some Britts are making this last place about 'politics/brexit, europe does not like us '


The tea is just by looking at this thread we coulda seen this last place coming from miles... Broadcaster change is needed, or many more bottom 5 placements to come in the future unless you TRT em and boycott suddenly lol

 

[Leydan]

Brexit has nothing on it. :'D Lucie got our best result since 2011 and a jury top 10 the year after the vote. I knew after everything had performed that we would be going for that last place, I was even more certain of it when Germany took off and got 30 so points - in my eyes they were the only ones who could come below us, and I was right as they got 0 in the televote. What I read online while scanning through twitter (ESC topped all top spots on our trending list btw) is some of people calling the song out on being meh or just ok and blaming the BBC and then others calling it out that we didn't deserve last. I think the vast majority knew what we had on offer wasn't all that.

 

[RainyWoods]

I just realised that Swedes didn’t even throw us a single point. The song their artist wrote. Says a lot. If anywhere was to give us something nice-ish I was thinking it would be them. We got some nice fake votes though courtesy of Belarus.

 

[Leydan]

I just realised that Swedes didn’t even throw us a single point. The song their artist wrote. Says a lot. If anywhere was to give us something nice-ish I was thinking it would be them. We got some nice fake votes though courtesy of Belarus.

Our highest points (5) came from them. In reality we would have 11 in total.

 

[Ianp16]

As soon as this song qualified I groaned. It was even more bland than Germany’s entry. Dated and conventional.

And to address brexit and politics. I’m not usually one to say politics is to blame for bad results BUT if the UK sent a fantastic entry I think we would lose points due to our current position on the world stage.

 

[jbusic]

Last place - deserved.

Kerrie-Anne would have finished just outside the top 15 at the very worst. As I've said year after year, the UK need to vote on the song and not the package in their NF. Lots of Brits were stubborn and until yesterday kept telling me I was out of my head to think the UK would even be anywhere near the bottom 5. Start taking risks or enjoy continuous bottom fives.

 

[Iker]

In this case, it is fully deserved last place.

 

[spinachpie]

Maybe ITV or Channel 4 should pick up Eurovision and get it done properly. The BBC don't care.

 

[cassio]

I don't feel any pity for the UK at all. It was the worst song in the final, actually I don't think song should have been in the final. I think that UK fans should stop birching over songs that do better than themselves, Maybe UK should lean what its like not qualifying for more than 5 years or not winning for 44 years..... so no no pity from me

 

[Ezio]

Lundvik disses his own contribution: "Have had a hard time with the song"



https://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbla...r-egna-bidraget-har-haft-det-tufft-med-sangen

 

[LakZaNokte]

You should just simply change everything, like we should.

It is obvious - everything we do apparently sucks, so we must change everything.
Samo goes for u guys.

Until then, we will be esc basement buddies

 

[Chrisiam]

I don't want this to sound like an "I told you so" kind of post, because, well, to be honest I felt that this song could at the very least have come 20th on the night and not been a total wash out like it was.

But, the truth of the matter is that this song and its placement ended up summoning a perfect storm of "Eh". The song itself is fine, fine in the way that hearing an X-Factor Winners song on the radio driving home from work is; its inoffensive and it isn't overly long so you know it will fade away before too long and something more interesting will be along soon.

However, hearing his performance in the jury show and live on the night, Rice just sounded rather 'off' to me. It sounded way better earlier in the week and in his winner's performance during National Selection and as "Eh" as the song itself is, had he been giving it the kind of performance he was and is capable of he could have done better. Not win, not get left side of the board, but still done better.

True, his placing in the running order was tough too, being put between two songs that were two of the favourites to win wasn't ideal. But when you are in that kind of situation you need to ensure that you bring your A-Game and stand out as best as you can.

But at the end of the day, it was just a bland song that was sung adequately with flat and uninteresting staging and it really does not matter where it stands in the running order when you bare that in mind.

I hope this acts as a wake up call for the BBC to get their act together and that the UK fans will put pressure on them to spice things up going forwards. I don't believe that ITV would do better as they are the source of the bland X-Factor sound to begin with, plus they did the UK's Junior Eurovision and gave up on that when the viewing figures weren't so hot and I cam kind of bitter about that.I don't know how much credit I can give them for the results we got from that but I worry that it will all just end up sounding the same as it is now if ITV does it.

Channel 4 might be interesting, but I don't see this as something they'd do.

 

[Kitakaze]

If anything, I hope the BBC drop this idea of pairing a random singer with a “made for Eurovision” song. The last four years now have been won by self-penned songs and what would be refreshing would be to see that authenticity from a British artist. With the exception of Molly, all of our songs in the last decade have been written by a non-performer with Eurovision in mind. Whoever is in charge next year ought to follow the Dutch approach this year and work with the artist to create something that will actually stream and chart. Who are we kidding though, that’ll be the day.

 

[Chrisiam]

I don't think it would be too much of an ask to have the artists for next year penning their own songs it just comes down to if the BBC feel it works for the show they want to create; I get the feeling with the national selection shows that they are more focused in making some quick and easy TV Talent Show program over picking a song for Eurovision; the shows follow all the same kinds of tropes, cliches and triggers as any other X-Factor or Britain's Got Talent kind of program all be it in a one off package.

I mean no disrespect to Rice but he won the National Selection because he was presented like all winners of the X-Factor have been; He is just the lovable lad next door, an ordinary person like you or me with an extraordinary talent but is still down to earth and relateable and is really kind and puts his family first (he took them on holiday to Disney Land and bought his parents a waffle shop! And as we all know waffles are the most quirky of foods so he gets bonus points for approachable quirkiness too). He came across way better in the little V.T.s they did before the songs so it is no wonder he ended up winning.

I know this feels more like it should be discussion for what they should do in 2020 so I'll save what I have to say on that for the relevant thread, but for now I'll just say that the BBC news to stop choosing our Eurovision song with the televisual equivalent of a microwave ready meal; it maybe quick and simple but it is just a pale imitation of the real thing.

 

[bstream]

If anything, I hope the BBC drop this idea of pairing a random singer with a “made for Eurovision” song.

You and I, along with a majority of the UK thread frequenters, say this line every year.

I don’t know if going back into an internal selection will necessarily help, see 2012, 2013, and 2015. I definitely agree that the UK needs to focus on creating a complete package of good artist(s), a song that they could see actually chart, and appropriate staging.

 

[Daybreak]

Eurovision: Is Brexit to blame for the UK's latest flop? - BBC


Although, despite the title, it's actually a decent article and challenges the stereotype of "political" bias. I'd like to add one important thing though. It mentions established or talented artists not wanting to associate with Eurovision but doesn't bring up why that is - because the UK has been presenting ESC as a point-and-laugh show and something ridiculous for decades now, with mocking commentary and all that, and as long as this is the perception of the average Brit, it sets them apart from most other countries where ESC is either treated with more respect and acknowledged that the "weird" entries are a tiny minority, or they don't care much either way/are more neutral (like France or the Czech Republic I guess), which doesn't preclude sending something impressive. In the UK an established artist would probably only participate while claiming to do that ironically

 

[Carian]

Well, what did you expect, dear Brits? On the 16th of May, BBC published how Norton was poking jokes about ESC entries. On the one hand, BBC invests a lot of money in this whole circus every year, so it really doesn't make any sense to me that you/BBC are constantly ridiculing it. The joke is getting old and considering the just mentioned facts, the final joke is on BBC and the last place seems well deserved. Oh, and one more thing. This ridiculing of ESC by BBC itself has driven away all top British artists. Not one of them wants to be associated with ESC. I think that one of the major reasons lies exactly in this illogical approach by BBC. France had the same problem, but in the last years they are investing a lot of energy to repair the damage, as they are now desperately trying to get back on top of the ESC. This is a slow and painful process for French, and if BBC finally listens to people and starts using brains, it will be the same for Britain - lest you send Adele, but even in this case, the victory is not guaranteed. Anyways, what did/do you expect, Brits?

 

[LeRoyaumeUni]

I hope this is a wake up call for the BBC. Our 2nd worst result ever, this needs to stop. I've already started up a campaign on Twitter to make the BBC realise that they need to stop blaming political voting.

But there's a slight advantage for coming last. The last 2 times we've come last, the following year was a successful year for the UK:

2008 = 25th (last)
2009 = 5th
2010 = 25th (last)
2011 = 11th
2019 = 26th (last)
2020 = ?

 

[Leydan]

We'll surely be breaking that trend for 2020, when we offer up our inoffensive mid tempo pop song written by some Swedes, Danes and Laurrel Baker sung by the someone from all together now or who didn't make it past the 6 chair challenge in x Factor and end up last, or 24th again. x

 

[Milos-BC]

The song didn't deserve last place and I personally liked it. Although in a wider context, when I was a guest in a ESC podcast last week, the host and I were making some predictions and both of us agreed that he will hardly end higher than 19th place.


BBC needs to change the approach completely. It's a shame to see results like these when objectively, has material to be in top 5 every year. But not with this strategy.