The Brits are back again. It might be 20 long years since their last victory, but the United Kingdom’s Eurovision spirit keeps going. The BBC have today opened their song selection process for Eurovision 2018, confirming a third year of Eurovision: You Decide.
Songwriters have until October 27, 2017 to submit their entries. As with previous years, the BBC are receiving songs both from the public, as well as those sourced from the music industry.
Members of OGAE UK — the Eurovision fan club — will help shortlist the public entries. Meanwhile record industry executive Hugh Goldsmith will help curate the industry entries.
Speaking about the selection process, Goldsmith says: “I am, again, looking for songs with emotive lyrics, memorable melodies and brilliant productions. However, success at Eurovision can also be about originality and the element of surprise. So, please also send us your songs if they are creatively fresh, brave and a little bit different!”
Big names join UK Songwriting Camp
Even before submissions opened, a crack team of Eurovision and industry experts have been working on entries. Much like last year, a UK Songwriting Camp has been taking place in recent days. The team is made up of singers, writers and producers from Canada, Iceland, the UK and Denmark.
Amongst the most familiar names involved is Icelandic fan favourite, Greta Salóme. Emmelie de Forest participated in the songwriting camp last year and co-wrote Lucie Jones’ “Never Give Up on You”. Could Greta do the same and return to Eurovision behind the scenes?
Speaking of Emmelie, part of the songwriting team for “Only Teardrops”, Lisa Cabble and Julia Jakobsen, have also been involved in this year’s camp. Other names with Eurovision connections include Ashley Hicklin (writer of “Me and My Guitar” and Axel Hirsoux’s “Mother”) and Chief1 (“Should’ve Known Better”).
Of course, we likely won’t find out whether any of these songs make it until early in 2018. The BBC have not revealed any further details or dates of Eurovision: You Decide. It’s already looking like another promising year for the UK though.
What do you think of the return of the You Decide format? Are you excited to see the talent working at the songwriting camp? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
I really hope someone, anyone can please persuade the BBC to go for fewer ballads with way more song varietys, more acts instead of 6, and maybe more foreign artists participating, which sounds crazy but maybe they might have a better song then these English acts and rejects that never deliver on the day
come on UK, its good to stand out, like Moldova this year, and Portugal singing in their own language, and even a big fan country like Germany back in 2010, if they thought outside the box and was different and not expected, it might work
I literally hope that anyone connected to the UK NF makes the national final with 10 songs and not 6, because then that gives us a chance to hear a wider variety of songs, and hopefully this years song which was co- written by the winner of 2013, to get uk to not be afraid to get more European countries to write songs for them as the results aren’t that bad. come on uk clean up your act, and actually get a good different song, that can make us do well next year.
Actually looking back at the past two youn decides selections tues songs haven’t been bad just lackluster.
And this year on average was better than last years selection so perhaps the BBC will be able to convince more and more songwriters to compete each year helping to push up the quality of the acts.
Such cynicism and critique from some of the commenters here. If you think the UK’s entry was boring last year: write and submit your own song! Best of luck to everyone.
UK entry for Eurovision is called : Brexit ,Sorry if we leave 🙂
lol
https://youtu.be/isAWwP3TbpA
Top 100 songs of eurovision 2010-2017
Hmm, another sucessful year?
They were saved from ending up near the bottom as usual by having a decent staging, The song itself was boring. Not that he other songs would have done much better…
A final isn’t that exciting if every song sounds the same, variety goes a long way
Don’t expect 2018 to be an exception!
As long as OGAE have the final word on wich songs and singers advance to the final, UK is doomed. Therefore, good luck on 2019, cause i predict 2018 will be another bad year for UK
Yes, when OGAE will shortlist ”public entries” and a guy named Goldsmith will shortlist ”industry entries”, you know that you don’t know anything about Eurovision.
Well I did have contact with Edward Af Sillén I was trying to enlist him to help me in instigating a new approach at the BBC. He seemed really interested writing for my NF The Great British Music Festival until I said I had no TV experience HOWEVER….
He did say him and Guy Freeman had talked in Kyiv about writing the script for our National Selection, if the UK’s national selection improved. I doubt he’ll be writing for our national selection for next year.
@DR ”writing the script for our National Selection”
UK needs songs, not script for NF from overpriced writers.
What script Moldovian NF had? And they were 3rd.
Like I said. It was if the BBC got their act together and actually took some effort finding great songs and putting a great national selection together. It was only a small part of a greater plan to encourage the famous parts British music industry to be involved while working with comic relief to modernise our approach and revamp the Eurovision brand here in the UK. Raising loads of money for a world class charity and hopefully going up the leaderboard at the same time. Asking Edward was to try and get more legitimacy for this plan but it failed.… Read more »
I understand that some countries are happy to make their NF a success, but countries like Belgium have no NF at all. And UK does not need legitimacy from Edward Af Sillen or Greta Salome, or Emmelie De Forest. UK is so proud of their sense of humour, just ask Graham Norton to host, but without being cynical.
Edward had written for the BBC already that was why I approached him. But in the UK the way Eurovision is viewed as apart from the main music industry is an issue. Which having a modern branded national selection working with Radio 1 and Comic Relief would help rectify. The lack of viewers of our NF shows how little we take it seriously. A revamped NF and a change in approach in getting songs is part of the solution to give Eurovision respect as a modern music competition. In the UK yeah it’s loved, but for its legacy as campy… Read more »
A multi-week format is already Guy and Hugh’s ultimate goal – but they need enough good songs to warrant it, and interest from the public, and faith from the rest of the BBC to give them the budget and good slot in the schedule. It’s baby steps at the moment. At least they went from BBC Four to BBC Two last year.
Getting Radio 1 involved is never going to happen.
seriously get more than 6 acts competing, more british writers alongside other countries, and we should have countries voting for our song, and take a leaf out of swedens book, please can we have a memorable good act, and not a reject singing
Well, the last two UK national finals were quite enjoyable, but most of the songs weren’t. While I loved Lucie’s entry from the moment I heard it, all other songs in 2016 and 2017 were decent and well-produced, but, frankly, a little boring and predictable.
What happened to Paloma Faith? If that story were true the BBC should have allowed her full control and scrapped the national final this year, just as they should have allowed Morrissey to do when he offered to do it in 2006.
Paloma Faith is not a good choice
“It’s already looking like another promising year for the UK though.
OMG, so true, Uk has a promising year….1 month to submit entries, a songwriter not able to join the big final, another one’s song saved from the bottom only by a “correct” staging……we can already proclame UK winner of the esc 2018…
last year was horrible and this year will be the same.
They need to have 10 acts on their show. Six is not enough
More entries and more diversity.
@mawnck/Walter, why do you hate the UK? is it because you are a lonely 55 year old man?
“I am, again, looking for songs with emotive lyrics, memorable melodies and brilliant productions. However, success at Eurovision can also be about originality and the element of surprise. So, please also send us your songs if they are creatively fresh, brave and a little bit different!”
Which means: “More Yodelllllllll and Mamamamamama, fewer ballads!!!”
no, just no… Hey Mamma and Yodel It were fun, but so cheap at least for my taste. I rather have another Lucie .
I agree, the UK should never do these types of songs. We never do them well, and these less serious songs are always bad. Look at Electro Velvet, Scooch and Daz Sampson.
The UK should at least try to imitate the great music that is bought word wide from the UK. Or better yet just get them involved, if not performing at least writing. Sound them out, give them a reason to participate. Never take no for an answer. I feel that the BBC are mad. They try the same things and expect different results. The definition of madness.
BBC needs to treat the National Final as it’s own independent show. Separate it from Eurovision, like how San Remo is separate from Eurovision. That way the National Final won’t have the stench of Eurovision attached.
Also, if they can’t get talent from British song writers, they should source material from elsewhere. That way they can build on quality and eventually change the British audience attitude towards Eurovision as a whole.
I hope this year mediocre songs will not be so present in UK’s NF. Last year was like listening to the same song with a different performer. But Lucie was still the best.
so basically a bunch of flops are writing songs… well i hope new talent shines through, and i hope the national selection is reformed so we have more than 6 acts with more diversity as well.
We’ve not had a national selection with more than 6 songs for decades. I doubt that’ll change. It’ll stretch the already slim budget to far.
Eurovision is treated as cheap viewers so they tend not to spend a lot on it. Especially when anything that is not the final tends to not get many viewers. So they have no reason to spend more money. Sadly.
I think UK should follow what Wallonia and France have been doing and give up this national selection which is a big mess and go for well made Internal Selection. Only luck can save it.
UK could easily send Hits like City Lights or If I Were Sorry instead of boring songs like Never give up on you.
BBC needs to send a song that Brits will be streaming on Spotify and care of.
The UK already had done internal selections and that approached yielded mixed results.
Ik. That’s why I said “well made” hehe. A song that Brits will love. British industry can do it for sure.
Disappointing this rumours of collaboration with Mans have come to nothing
Well it got them 15th place this year, so why not? On the other hand, I’m sure Lucie Jones and the staging, not the national final process, was responsible for the relatively decent finish.
At least this assures us that there won’t be another Electro Velvet.
No it doesn’t, remember the awful UK entry of 2007 after one of our ‘wonderful’ public votes.
UK 2007 was a huge travesty. Even though Montenegro and Denmark also brought total trash and Ireland’s performance seemed like a drunken karaoke, UK takes the cake with it’s unoriginal, annoying piece of low class entertainment. I really don’t hate a lot ESC songs, but UK ’07 must be in my personal bottom 10 of the whole decade. On a good note, I believe UK has had a lot of nice songs since, even though they didn’t have a high finish. Bonnie Tyler, Englebert Humperdinck, Molly Smitten-Downes and Blue all brought really good songs to the contest. My personal favorite… Read more »
I hope Olivia Garcia to complete again in selection , i love her.