After months of silence, the BBC has finally made some noise. Tonight, in an announcement by commentator Graham Norton, the UK confirmed that their entry for Eurovision 2020 will be released this Thursday, 27 February.
Graham Norton made the announcement in a brief clip on BBC One.
Our UK #Eurovision artist and song for 2020 will be revealed on @BBCR1 Breakfast with Greg James, Ken Bruce @BBCR2, and here @bbceurovision on Thursday 27th February! ?? ? pic.twitter.com/IaiRTpHbg0
— BBC Eurovision?? (@bbceurovision) February 22, 2020
The Eurovision commentator confirmed that the UK’s act for Rotterdam will be announced on Thursday morning, 27 February. The song will be debuted on Greg James’ breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 and Ken Bruce’s show on BBC Radio 2.
Radio 2 has been the traditional home of UK Eurovision announcements in recent years, but the move to the more popular Radio 1 breakfast show suggests the UK’s song for Rotterdam may be more in keeping with the chart hits format of Radio 1.
The announcement follows weeks of speculation, with fans eager to learn who will be representing the UK in Rotterdam. Many UK artists attempting to tease an upcoming project on social media have been jumped on by eager Eurovision fans, convinced the post was a reference to Eurovision.
But very soon the speculation will end and the UK will learn who will be flying the Union Jack in Rotterdam.
The UK goes internal
In September 2019, the BBC confirmed it was ditching its national final Eurovision: You Decide and turning to internal selection instead.
The broadcaster has partnered with the music company BMG. At the time of the announcement, the BBC said that BMG shared the vision of “selecting a song with broad international appeal and securing an artist who embodies the spirit and values of the Eurovision Song Contest.”
BBC Studios creative director Kate Phillips said at the time, “This collaboration with BMG, who have access to world-class songwriters, is a genuinely exciting prospect. I am certain that together we can find the best song and artist possible for 2020.”
The format change is a relief for some UK fans who for many years have been frustrated with the UK’s poor results at Eurovision. In the past decade, the best British Eurovision result was in 2011 when boy band Blue placed 11th in the grand final with “I Can”.
Most recently, Michael Rice finished last in the Tel Aviv grand final with his song “Bigger Than Us”.
However, other fans miss the spectacle of the national final and being able to get involved with selecting the UK’s act for Eurovision.
What do you think? Are you excited for the big announcement? Who should the UK send to Rotterdam? Tell us your thoughts below!
[…] morning, the BBC will finally reveal who will be representing the United Kingdom at Eurovision 2020. While fans wait in anticipation for the big reveal, the speculation over who the mystery artist is […]
Someone who already know the artist says it will be 100% a man.
Hot gossips… it seems like John or James Newman.
The BBC are teasing us. Today (Tuesday 25th Feb) they’ve released a short 5 second video on mute via their twitter and insta accounts of what looks like a promo video.
Set in a snow capped forest, a drone captures a lone figure dressed in black, walking through the snowy woodland.
I’m getting Leona Lewis covering a rock ballad vibes. (but alot of people are guessing James Newman, John Newman’s brother)
Fan Reaction if UK sends a known Artist: The UK thinks by sending a well known artist it will win Eurovision – it wont – the UK does not respect the Eurovision, it does not understand Eurovision, it makes fun of eurovision instead of celebrating it Fan reaction if we send an unknown Artists: Once again, from the country with the biggest Music Industry in Europe does not take Eurovision seriously! Why does the UK even enter Eurovision anymore if they are not even going to try!?! Conclusion…No matter who we send, no matter how good or bad the song… Read more »
The crucial point when sending a well-known artist is not choosing an artist who is already beyond the zenith of their career… like, say, Bonnie Tyler in your case (2013), or the No Angels (2008) or Cascada (2013) in mine (Germany). These people went to Eurovision as a last resort, because outside the contest, nobody was talking about them anymore anyway. In such cases, Eurovision can only do so much to save them. But neither the BBC nor the German broadcaster NDR seem to understand this. In contrast, singers like Sergey Lazarev (Russia) or Ani Lorak (Ukraine) were already or… Read more »
Even if the UK does come up with an amazing song (which I doubt), there’s no guarantee of a great result either. Molly Smitten-Downes and Lucie Jones both had really good songs and yet neither of them made the left-hand side of the scoreboard.
No, they did NOT have great songs – they had OK songs in comparison to what we typically enter. Alone, those songs would do absolutely nothing in the charts or on Spotify, In fact – even with Eurovision, they still did nothing. You simply cannot use the excuse that because the songs were, say, better than Electro Velvet and Englebert then they were absolutely deserving a left hand side finish. If the British can’t get behind their own entry – why do we expect the rest of Europe to????
if the annnouncement in Radio 1 means an artist like Mabel or Lewis Capaldi the fandom would collapse. However you never know with the UK, they are always capable for the worst.
Shame Mabel can’t sing live
thank god for backing vocals
Dunno what the song sounds like, but it’s already been leaked that Duffyhas been chosen and will sing a song she co wrote with Katrina from Katrina and the waves
keep dreaming
I mean, Katrina DID submit a song. Either the rumors are getting conflated or there’s credence there.
For the love of God, please don’t send Lewis Capaldi. I can’t stand his voice. He had to bring “Someone You Loved” down like fifteen octaves to make it sound palatable live.
Can’t wait to find out who will place in the bottom 5 in May!
OK, nobody asked, but here’s how I’d do a British national final (inspired heavily by this year’s MGP). 1) Five semi-finals for different regions. If we were to do a full breakdown it’d be closer to 7, but that’s a lot of semi-finals. My idea would be one semi each for Northeast and Northwest England, South England and the Midlands, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Each semi would have four songs, and the pair-ups would ensure that there’d be an even chance for different songs to reach the final (first semi – duel of songs from Northeast, duel of songs… Read more »
Oh, and the semis would be all-televote. THAT’S why you’d have the automatic qualifiers.
If I can add an idea, if the song that’s eventually selected goes on to win the actual Eurovision, then the contest will be staged in that region the following year. A bit like what Melodifestivalen used to do. BBC, if you’re reading – bring this up at the next meeting. Thank you.
That would be amazing, hypothetically! But like, what if there’s a potential Eurovision winner from the Isle of Man? Wouldn’t they be a little screwed?
Another thing would be that if the timing worked out right, they could do a national final WITHIN a national final and have the winner and runner-up from Can i Gymru be the two Welsh-language candidates in their semi, or have the runner-up and third place compete and keep the winner as an automatic qualifier. Finally use that thing as an actual Eurovision selection!
I’m really looking forward to Thursday, I really hope that this change proves successful for the UK. We have no trouble sending talented singers who can deliver vocally, our main issue has been the the song and stage presence. If we have a good catchy unforgettable song that the rest of Europe can remember and get behind, then that would be great. I’m now anxiously waiting, I can’t bear it if they mess this song up again.
Molly Scott, please!!
I hope UK surprises us this year. When they step away from ballads they tend to pick very by the numbers pop songs, give us something to remember.
Finally some news!!!!
This is promising! Radio 1 debut. How exciting!!! when was the last time Radio 1 got involved in eurovision? I certainly can’t remember
What I hope from UK is a memorable song, not another ”this should be enough to avoid bottom five” type of song. Of course, an epic song would be the best choice, but even a divisive one is okay, as long as it’s not dull. Come on, UK, be bold, have fun! Whatever it is, just don’t bore us. France has done enough on that front.
Agreed, what we need is for someone to do for the UK what Anouk did for The Netherlands in 2013. It didn’t win, but it showed enough people that a victory wasn’t impossible.
Isn’t this basically how the Netherlands got their groove back? Mediocre lower-tier pop, internal selection lands on a relatively big name (or so we can speculate here). If the UK started the decade the way the Netherlands ended the last one…
Well, Adele is coming up with new music this year. And she could show her new look after the weight-loss to a big audience.
I’m just sayin’….
But she’s not an artist from BMG tho
I had a dream last night that they chose Elbow. I love them but I don’t actually think they’re capable of making under-three-minute songs.
Why would the UK want to win?! It just means you pick up the bill for next years contest. The UK sells it’s best music around the world, not send it to Eurovision. Just being honest.
There’s a difference between not wanting to win and not sending your A game, and spending 10 years in the bottom 10. Over the last 20 years, their average placing is 21st out of 26 (including 4 times last)… I’m sure the UK doesn’t want that either.
There are rumours going about of Mabel or Jess Glynne. Mabel in particular has a gap that fits perfectly in her schedule in May. She’s part Swedish, born in Spain, mixed race. She could represent, and represent! But I probably shouldn’t get me hopes up.
it’ll be neither of those big names who wouldnt risk hurting their career for esc just to flop
no one votes for uk, so the artist is gonna be someone who has nothing to lose anyway
No one votes for us because we don’t deserve it, our songs and performances are terrible. Stop acting like it’s not our fault we don’t get votes, seriously I hate most of our Eurovision songs
Dodgy vocals from her at the BRITS though, and part mimed
Mabel can’t sing live.
Enough of the Big 5. The UK should earn their way into the final. Then maybe they will start to care and send something that is not last place. They pay around 250,000 euro to skip the semi and get to the final. It’s really not that much.
I can imagine “it’s not worth it” is probably what fans of the contest think on all sides, in an out of the UK, apart from those inside the EBU.
Yep! I mean 250,000 euro split between 40 countries is nothing. That’s one more small sponsor. I don’t get why they keep this dumb system. The UK sends awful songs every year because they just do not care. Look at France’s song this year. They don’t care either. What a joke.
? Do you think the EBU would exist without the contributions from the public service broadcasters of the Big 5? No EBU. No Eurovision.
That’s laughable. So as a condition to funding the EBU the UK MUST get an auto qualifier to the Eurovision final? If they don’t then they will cause the EBU to collapse? What a joke!
If you consider a contest costs around €15m to stage, €1.25m from the Big 5 is a significant chunk of money. But Eurovision isn’t just the song contest. The Big 5 share huge amounts of news footage across the network every day for all broadcasters to use in their own bulletins – you don’t risk losing them from the network. The other thing to consider is viewing figures – between 8-10m watch ESC in the U.K. (that’s the equivalent of the entire population of countries like Austria or Sweden). TV shows are measured in viewers. Numbers would plummet if none… Read more »
They don’t pay €250k to “skip the semi”, this is just what their contribution is because of the size of the country. Also, it’s like the 15th time you post the same message. I think you made your point now.
This is exactly their justification for skipping the semi – “hey we pay a little more so we should get a free pass” – it’s ridiculous!
Did you not read AndersP’s post?
It has never been “their” justification to skip the semi. You’re looking at this upside down: they don’t pay more to skip the SF, they skip the SF because they contribute more to the ESC and the EBU in general. Contributions by each broadcaster are calculated based on broadcaster’s turnover, size, and several other economic conditions in relation to the country itself (the idea is that those who can put more money in, which helps the organization as a whole). It also helps viewing figures: the Big 5 represent 330 million people, so having them in the final means there’s… Read more »
I am from Australia, and I would love nothing more than to vote for the UK entry. Since Australia has been competing in Eurovision, I have never voted for a UK song.. I actually want to vote for you guys, so please send a good song!! Fingers crossed for you guys.
Don’t get your hopes up. The UK hasn’t cared about Eurovision for years. Part of the reason is that they get a cheap pass to the final, so they don’t feel like they need to compete.
If the UK don’t care, why does the BBC give it their prime slot on their flagship channel? Why do they send their biggest name to commentate?
Like, it took a minute for even Italy, a country with a great track record, to bump Eurovision to their flagship channel after the early years (it took them winning in 1990, then they switched back after they hosted and only went back to the main channel on the occasions when it looked like they wouldn’t be coming back again so it was more of a special thing; then they were on the second channel until Il Volo did as well as they did). The fact that the BBC has always shown Eurovision on their main channel even after all… Read more »
It gets the biggest slot because it’s one of the most watched programs they broadcast each year. It’s also the cheapest 9 hours of television produced for the BC each year too.
The broader Big 5 argument is about audience and sponsorship reach. The year Germany didn’t make the final badly hit viewing figures. We don’t just pay the most money, we provide the most audience too.
Finally UK – “FAI RUMORE”
I’ll admit y’all have had some misses with me… but y’all have had some hits as well. So I look forward to hearing what y’all are gonna bring this year. Guess we shall see this Thursday XD
BMG may have signed a new artist or new deal for representation. It doesn’t just have to be currently listed signed artists.
The wisest thing for us all to do is prepare for the absolute worst of anticlimaxes because we know that’s exactly what the BBC will deliver despite all this BMG hype.
I looked it up and… Mikolas Josef is signed to BMG? Is it possible he returns for the UK? Is my information even correct?
I feel like it’s unlikely… unless?
I’m trying to work out who would have less self respect for themselves if that were to happen. No, it wouldn’t be a good idea for anyone. Mikolas Josef surely has better things to do.
The daily mail would be furious!
What are not furious about though!?
The daily mail is furious about a lot of things. Nothing can make them happy.
I think Loreen is also signed to BMG.
i mean we all know it’s gonna be terrible, but i am very curius to see if they’ll manage to find a worse stong than france! i am confident they can definitely do it and it’ll be a strong competition for the last place
Well, you should keep in mind that the French entry is not “bad” bad. Electro Velvet was “bad” bad.
From Electro Velvet: “Be bee ba ba bu duh [more scatting] ding ding ding/ sounding good sugar.” – I see your point.
It’s just so baffling how anyone thought any part of Electro Velvet was a good idea. It’s inexplicable.
it will be a disastrous entry, and france grows on me with all honesty
Send Bring Me The Horizon UK!
Yes please
One part of me is optimistic and shouting, that this might be a great song – maybe something modern, fresh and so on. But rest of me remains cynical and just hopes it’s not coming from the similar source where the French got their song. You know – a song that wasn’t picked for that one very popular national selection.
Please UK send something good to the Netherlands
they won’t, high profile artists got better to do than represent the british public at eurovision, careers are more important than eurovision you know
WE WANT THE FROCK DESTROYERS IN ESC, CMON BBC
Who cares about UK in Eurovision?
You, since you left the comment
At least they can present their song and artist with the relief and certainty that they won´t be last this year, since France’s already beaten them to it.
You are underestimating the flop power of the uk
Very true.
Adele, 100%
Or something cheesy af like “Love never ends”, “Let’s love each other” and stuff like that performed by someone we’ve never heard about.
Is her voice back to normal?
Idk, I was joking .-.
Hehe
Well, if it were Adele, I guess Graham would have had her compete in a national final against five former X-Factor contestants who had finished fourth or lower. Hosted by Mel Giedroyc. Just for kicks.
Adele would be singing as “Jenny” and no-one in Europe would know it was her. 🙂
All the other Jennys would know though, Purple 😉
I’m getting hopeful now, but it is scary to be too hopeful!
very true that , I’m never bothered by what we send these days but a nice surprise would be overdue.
I heard Bonnie Tyler has a nice housekeeper with a pretty voice 😉
What does that mean?!
It means that BBC does not put enough effort in selecting a strong candidate
2013
I’ve just put a bet on the UK!! Damn you patriotism!!!!
BBC Radio 1??? Ok, this is interesting. But i still keep my expectations low
Fleur East Maybe?
I am not sure what to think of this. Graham still has the jokey, “Eurovision is a load of nonsense” vibe going on. But having it on Radio 1 is promising, their whole ethos is promoting new music and I doubt they would put something on it that didn’t fit the needs of the audience. As long as it is not middle of the road, I’ll be happy. I don’t really care what genre, as long as it feels new, fresh, something we haven’t heard before.
I mean, I like him a lot better than Terry, with his bellyaching about neighborly votes when countries have the vaguest possible connection to each other (Latvia getting 12 points from Moldova is a neighborly vote?) and reinforcing the idea that people are consciously voting against the UK (but it’s OK if Ireland votes for their neighbors because they’re neighbors). Graham at least sounds like he’s having fun, and he’s witnessed firsthand that the UK can get strong results if they send a good song (his very first contest was the last time the UK finished in the top ten… Read more »
Or praying to get a point from Malta or Australia, based on the number of Brits living there…
Michael Rice danced close to scoring with Malta’s televote (14th place), but was nowhere near getting points from Australia (22nd).
I always loved British music, but when it comes to Eurovision I feel like watching Rocky on Film4 in 2020. BBC needs to get rid of some old taste dinosaurs
My favorite thing was when Iceland gave 12 to Finland in 2007: “Yes, there’s a Scandinavian bloc as well…although Finland don’t consider themselves a part of Scandinavia.” (Psst…neither do Iceland!)
But also, kudos to Malta for delivering kind of the opposite of what Terry was suggesting and giving a 12 to the UK out of protest for bloc voting. And their only other points were from Ireland.
Royaume-Uni is a word 99% of Brits just can not say, it is really hard if you are a native English speaker, so i understand why he didn’t go for that! I like Graham, he’s a really funny bloke and good presenter, it’s just the element of piss-take that I could do without.
Graham’s not a Brit, though! 🙂 I would say the likelihood is that the producers of that ad just thought that most viewers wouldn’t know what “Royaume Uni” meant.
His audience is British though? I think the audience would recognise the sound, but get most people to spell it, and they’d have no chance. And repeating it, well, most people would sound like they had a cheese sandwich in their mouth!
The ad is about the British entry. I think they’d figure it out.
Terry wasn’t always so bad. He just got bitter towards the end.
Terry was fun from the beginning of his term through right around the end of the all-jury days. He just always, even back then, kind of reinforced that image of Eurovision as all camp and no substance that the Brits have never really been able to shake, even with their more successful entries. He was especially fun if Ireland or the UK did well, since he could actually be happy but still make funny comments. Especially if he took the mickey out of himself at the same time (like being comically surprised whenever France gave the UK 12 points), or… Read more »
He was funny I started watching in mid 90s and although he took the piss you felt he had a fondness for the show but towards the end he was a bit of a grump.
Terry was always fantastic and humourous to listen but it was the introduction of 100% televoting that made him more disconnected from Eurovision, I couldn’t blame him with all the rife bloc voting in 2004-8 like most other commentators.
Terry Wogan’s attitude from the early 2000s would have made him a perfect UKIP candidate alongside Nigel Farage.
I promised myself I wouldn’t allow myself to get excited about this but…I am a little.
It seems as if it is not some embarrassment that the BBC is looking to hide away from the offset so yeah, a little bit of positivity.
The British fans can be hopeful about something for once! By this time last year, knowing the crop of potential British entrants, hope was draining from the fans’ eyes. But this could be a turning point if they play their cards right. I root for the UK a lot, since I love British music and (the good parts of its) culture. Heck, I just got back from three months of studying in London. I think it must have finally sunk in, at least at BMG and the BBC, that these poor results are pretty much entirely due to song quality… Read more »
Well said, mate! Let’s hope for some imagination!
Just saying. When every country sends songs sung in English, you’d expect the UK to be just a bit better. Ireland can do it, Australia certainly can. Then UK comes with a song sounding like early 00s. I mean music from the UK is everywhere. Of course we don’t expect Ed Sheeran to perform, but at least some rising star. And the song should be UP TEMPO. In many countries their participant tops their charts. At least the brits should like the song you send
I’m hopeful, but also mindful that the BBC’s last internal selection was Electro Velvet in 2015
They dumped that song out on a ten-minute show that wasn’t even a proper broadcast but a teeny thing on digital services. They didn’t even feel that song was fit for a proper TV/radio broadcast. This is already an improvement.
Must…. resist…. hope…..
Too late….
Finally, I’ve been waiting to see when they’re going to release their entry. So the uk and Germany will release their contestant on the 27th. Let’s Hope the wait is worth it. Spain and France (But especially France) Have been disappointing, so we’ll see if Germany And the UK are better or the same.
Germany are even worse than we are.
please be Hurts with a song like nothing will be bigger than us
I think the British fans would be very encouraged if the song was called “Nothing Will Be Bigger Than Us.” Trying not to be “Bigger Than Us” is the whole goal this year!
Just don’t but a crap song from john Lundvik this year or ever again. France finding that out to their dismay.
If it’s Hurts, I’m gonna faint. It’s one of my favourite bands :s Therefore, I don’t think so
—Hurts—
Everyone sing along! “Oh you know it’s Hurts, really Hurts, really Hurts…”
Could be a good shout as they wanted to do Eurovision and weren’t selected.
https://wiwibloggs.com/2017/10/28/uk-hurts-eurovision/
The fact it is being revealed on radio 1 as well as radio 2 is promising. But promising does not mean good. But with the support of a record company who would probably have more to lose than the BBC, maybe this year there is a genuine seriousness and realistic vision toward the song and the contest
Graham decided to enter himself this year. Yayyyyy
Finally Aunty Beeb wakes up! If UK entry is being simultaneously revealed on BBC Radio 1 AND 2 then surely it’s a very well known name who’s gotten the gig in Rotterdam? Or at least a huge banger or decent entry by an upcoming/independent artist with enough control, I feel 2020 is a make or break year for United Kingdom in Eurovision… after going through a decade of deep disappointment without a Top 10 finish(could’ve been 8th in 2011 under current voting system but oh well) and just 4 Top 20 placings with the rest being bottom 4 finishes, us… Read more »
Radio 1 is a good sign. I really really hope they chose something contemporary and not as cheesy as some of their last entries were
I’m thinking it’s Duffy, her recent Instagram post is captioned ‘#2020’ and Rylan Clark-Neal commented on it a while back 🙂
To be honest it’s going to be something radio friendly and decent now, near enough every young person who listens to the radio listens to R1 or Capital. Good to see them branching out.
Yooooo! I’d be SO happy if it was Duffy! “Mercy” is one of my favorite songs ever (I even have it as one of my alarms in the morning!).
I highly doubt the UK would select a big artist.
Is Duffy that big? Back in 2008, she might’ve been, but nowadays I don’t think she’s as huge a deal. She went on hiatus for a long time. I speak as someone who mostly knows big names in British music either if they cross over (the big recent examples being Lewis Capaldi and Dua Lipa), they have a fluke hit or two over here (Take That, Duffy, Bastille), or I’m just a big old nerd who loves British music and loves artists that haven’t really crossed over (Manic Street Preachers, Pulp, Paloma Faith…)
Duffy isn’t big though. She was back in 2008 but now most people forgot she was a thing! She had a hiatus, did other things like acting. So I doubt she would be BBC Radio 1 material since that is usually the chart hits station!
That said, UK used to send formerly big artists so maybe it is her:)
Omg, that would be awesome!! Now my hopes are getting up again
Wow, BBC Radio 1 and Greg James? That’s huge, huge. The hype just got real! That means it’s more current, chart friendly and less cookie cutter MOR than the usual only in BBC Radio 2 B- List entries they send!
Radio 1 is the radio station known for playing contemporary and modern songs. So, it’s very unlikely we’re going to get an X Factor ballad or a cheesy camp Eurosong.
I really sincerely hope this is the turn around of my country after many dark years!
The true test will be if Radio 1 keep playing it after the reveal, instead of just the once and then pretending it never existed.
i’m so hoping that we don’t send a cheesy ballad in this year’s sea of cool modern music. god bless bmg if they can bring us something decent!!!
I am quite excited at the fact Radio 1 are playing the UK entry! I am keeping my fingers crossed for a more modern and up to date entry!