In October Steps member Ian “H from Steps” Watkins said Eurovision is “just not the right place for us” and wrote it off as a “political contest”. But apparently that’s not enough to put them off of Jenny Silver’s “Something In Your Eyes” — the 2011 song that competed in Sweden’s Eurovision selection show.
Eurovision fans will remember that “Something In Your Eyes” was written by Eurovision legend Thomas G:son. Jenny took it to the Second Chance round at Melodifestivalen 2011, only to be knocked out by Love Generation’s “Dance Alone”.
Besides sidestepping the fact this song is from the world of Eurovision, the group have also teased their music video, which will premiere on October 28 at 10am in the UK. It shows the fivesome wearing a series of pastels across blue and purple and yellow. It’s like a cotton candy factory exploded in one of their spare rooms.
Steps say Eurovision is a “political forum”
Naturally many Eurovision fans are still feeling burned from H from Steps’ recent comments about Eurovision.
When asked if Steps would ever do Eurovision, he was somewhat complimentary about the song contest. H said, “There’s mixed emotions about it […] I am a massive Eurovision fan. I love the whole cheesy experience.”
But H then went on to make a claim that is often heard in the UK: that Eurovision is too political. The singer said, “But it’s not a song contest. It’s a political contest to get back at each other and it’s just not the right place for us. Sadly. I would absolutely love to – but for those reasons, no.”
Speaking about their cover with Official Charts, H has subsequently suggested that he’d be keen to go to Eurovision.
“It’s a yes from me,” he said. But then Lisa butted in: “And it’s a no from us!” He then once again re-iterated that tired old argument that Eurovision is all about politics. He said: “It’s not a song contest now, it’s a political forum.”
Clare was more positive about the matter, suggesting they can make major coin off the gig. “If it were ever an option, we would have to go into thinking we’re not going to win and it’s just for the experience,” she said. “At the end of the day millions of people watch it and if you want to sell an album throughout Europe, it gives you that opportunity.”
What do you think about the cover? Do you prefer the original or the Steps take? Let us know down below!
I love the song and Steps’ cover!
I wouldn’t call them stuck in the 1990s, that’s an insult to Nocturne and The Voice…
I have a feeling that it’s not only the fact that Eurovision is political (which you have to agree it is but the UK is not particularly affected by it) but it is also the fact that a bad score will have a bad mark on their career for instance look at Gemini.
Well, but that’s the point: the UK isn’t regularly finishing bottom 5 because it’s the UK, but because they aren’t giving it their best. So that’s a really cheap and misguided excuse on his behalf.
Yet unfortunately you’re also correct with your second point. Eurovision doesn’t even take a bad result to ruin well established careers. Remember how T.a.T.u. more or less vanished immediately after nearly winning. I can see why record companies wouldn’t want their biggest stars to enter … 🙁
I feel this topic comes up a little too often here. Covering a Melfest song is fine, and relevent, but otherwise I’ve lost count of stories going ‘Steps go to Eurovision!?’. I feel this topic has been covered enough now.
They are desperate for content. We have lost so many national finals and have many internal selections confirmed already. Because of the covid-19 cancellation of last year’s contest, we have lost much of the artist speculation articles we usually have at this time of year.
Yes, they are stuck in the 90,s in every way. Retro done well is Little Big.
Why are you still making articles on Steps. Their songs are just bad.
No they aren’t
A guy wearing a candy costume, calls esc a cheesy experience.
Living la covida loca.
The fact that they call it a cheesy experience really says it all. I’m sure there are better artists (Paloma Faith!) who are open to doing ESC for the UK. Steps are just being trolls at this point.
Come on guys this has to stop. If the UK sends a good song, a really good one (not the ones they’ve sent in the 21st century) everyone will vote for them! Like really everyone. But they do not send so great songs. I mean, in 2011 they finished top 5 with the televoters. If they didn’t like the song, they wouldn’t have voted, like the previous years and the years after. It’s true that some countries tend to vote for others, ok. But a country cannot win with neighbouring votes. In 2017 Portugal won with record points. Did they… Read more »
Yes, and it couldn’t have been any more deserved back in 2003.
They seem to be hating on Eurovision for attention now? They obviously have a large fanbase (Me not included XD) and a lot them into Eurovision so they are using this to get reaction from them possibly?
They don’t hate Eurovision, in the same interview they said they would like to do the interval performance if the chance ever occurred. Plus they were asked the if they want to do Eurovision and they answered the question with an honest answer. They aren’t trying to get attention with hating Eurovision at all but they are simply answering a question that are getting asked.
*they are
They were quite big in the UK but that was a while ago but who knows it’s not like we’re (UK) are going to win any time soon.
Don’t downvote you know it’s true
I love Eurovision, a lot of Brits do. But you really can’t deny there is political voting. Even now with this 50/50 split, in the televote you can tell where most of the 12s and 10s will go, and in the jury vote you can tell which countries WONT be getting points. In 12 years competing together Armenia and Azerbaijan have never exchanged a single point, televote or jury. The Nordic countries will all give a decent mark to Sweden, the ex soviet states will give Russia big marks in the televote, relatively little in the jury vote. The EBU… Read more »
Armenia gave points to Azerbaijan twice. Came close last year in the semi.
Fair enough, Armenia is slightly fairer then, but no excuse for Azerbaijan “Azerbaijan has had 17 chances, including semi finals and the Grand Final, to give points to Armenia since 2008. Azerbaijan has given Armenia 0 points in that time. Jury voting Since jury results were provided in 2014, Azerbaijan jurors have had 45 chances to vote for Armenia in semi finals and the Grand Final. 100% of the time, every single juror has placed Armenia last. Televote From 2014 onward the people of Azerbaijan have had nine chances to vote for Armenia in semi finals and the Grand Final.… Read more »
There is political voting at ESC, it’s just that very little of it has ANYTHING to do with the UK.
How is there political voting exactly? You have juries and viewers at home voting and how they rank their favorites always never align with each other.
There is an actual Wikipedia page dedicated to Armenia’s and Azerbaijan’s rivalry at ESC – that’s probably just the most constant example of politics at ESC. Eurovision is now a forum for the Cold War (with occasional lapses into actual conflict) between the two countries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenia–Azerbaijan_relations_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest You also have diasporas and neighbour based voting (Greece/Cyprus, the reliability of British voters to give some points to Lithuania etc, these are not the only examples). Ultimately, politics does not impact the winner and the other top entries, or even qualification but it can make the difference between 13th and 14th place, or… Read more »
I’m honestly over them by now.
These guys do not deserve the publicity they’re getting here. They’ve got as much to do with Eurovision as Dean Martin or Cher.
Cher entered Sanremo decades ago, so she actually does have a connection.
Steps relevance here is obviously their cover of a popular melfest hit.
That’s right, 1967, wasn’t it? Way back in the ’60s, many big name artists used Sanremo to break into the Italian music market. Sonny&Cher, Stevie Wonder, Paul Anka, Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Bobbie Gentry, Petula Clark, Louis Armstrong, I believe… Roberto Carlos even won the whole thing, though only Sergio Endrigo got to go to Eurovision.
So you could say that all of these could have represented Italy? I’m not overly familiar with San Remo
Not really. From 1953 until 1971 each Sanremo entry was performed twice by two different singers – one of whom was often a guest star. As Sanremo was primarily a composers’ competition, this was to show that the composition was more important than the performer. Only one of the artists who performed a song chosen to represent Italy would end up competing at Eurovision – usually it was the regular participant. Thus calling these well-known international artists real contenders is a bit misleading – they were there mainly to promote themselves.
Well… Dean Martin did cover “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” (he was actually one of the first major stars to do so) and “Believe” was included in the Eurovision movie’s soundtrack, but that’s all I got.
Hey, Dean Martin had huge success with Volare and Cher sang Waterloo on her last album! They’re way above Steps. 🙂
That was what I was going for – they covered Eurovision songs. Doesn’t mean they competed.