Tonight at 19:30 GMT on the BBC Red Button service, the Beeb will officially announce its Eurovision 2014 contestant. For months rumours have swirled about Geri Halliwell, Little Boots, and Rylan Clark, among others. The program will put all of that drama to bed—and hopefully unite fans behind a credible artist and song.
Guy Freeman, the executive producer in charge of the UK’s Eurovision selection this year, has already offered a bit of insight into the process. Writing on the BBC Eurovision blog last Friday, he discussed with a contrite honesty the waning fortunes of the United Kingdom in the contest, and his hopes of turning it around.
“Yes, in the grand scheme of things it might all seem rather trivial to some,” he wrote. “But when it comes to the night itself, we all want to be proud of our UK entry and then see the score displayed next to the Union Jack notch up a healthy total.”
For a couple of years now Britain has relied on big names, with perhaps less focus on the songs. With the recent failings of ageing stars such as Bonnie Tyler and Englebert Humperdinck, it was refreshing that Freeman acknowledged the song as the starting point for success. Winning numbers like Satellite, Euphoria and Only Teardrops were above all else catchy: “We discovered that simply by and large they’ve been very good songs that have deserved to win.”
BBC Introducing
Rather than calling on someone who reached the peak of their stardom in the 1980s, Freeman dug into BBC Introducing, a platform to discover fresh talent and original songs.
“This is the gateway for undiscovered and unsigned music makers to upload their best tracks and get them heard and featured by the BBC. Some of the artists who’ve received BBC Introducing support at the start of their careers include Florence and The Machine, Ed Sheeran, Rizzle Kicks and Jake Bugg.”
That’s not the end of the list. Two Door Cinema Club, The Ting Tings, MGMT, Wretch 32—each of them graced the roster at one point. So did several members of Britain’s hip-hop scene, most notably Tempa T and Chipmunk. Whilst hip-hop probably won’t be the choice of genre for the contest, the runaway successes of many of these artists proves that the resource is working.
And we’ve got our fingers crossed it’ll work again—and this time for the UK at Eurovision.
So far all signs point to yes. A few hundred people attended the recording of a video for the song on Sunday evening in London’s Mayfair. The reports have been positive, with people saying the song mixes the production elements of Margaret Berger (ESC 2013) with the vocals of Yohanna (ESC 2009) and, thankfully, the dress of neither. Unlike some of y’all on Twitter, we’ll withold the name of the artist and the title of the song. We have a feeling you’ll think it’s worth the wait…
Update: BBC News has all but confirmed that Molly Smitten-Downes will sing for Britain. Read all about the Twitter leak and how fans found out last night.
Related Links
- Eurovision UK entry an unknown artist (Digital Spy)
- BBC Eurovision blog (BBC)
Chris Wood contributed this report from the UK. Follow him on Twitter at @crwexe. You can also keep up-to-date on the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
Why does one man get to select the UK entry? In virtually every other country there is a national competition voted on by the viewers. Here it’s just an old guy sitting in a room trawling through BBC introducing. Another example of BBC arrogance and elitism.
@dhani: No one cares for your childlike obsessive love for Helena … yet we have to get it everyday from you … so in return you get my slap in your face every day too … you get what you deserve 🙂
@dhani I love what Charles said, and I love all the other comments he typed on this site. I totally agreed with that. For me personally, I don’t care about who will UK send this time. But seeing what they have approached, this action deserves an appreciation. I think it’s not the time to moan about “ooh we got poor result in ESC, it’s all because of bloc voting” and no evaluation from it. BBC have to learn from their mistake, BBC should blame themselves. And the foremost important part of evaluation is that the BBC should treat Eurovision as… Read more »
I’m hoping for Adele!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alex, if I understand it correctly the video was recorded live – six times (to get different angles). The resulting live video will be a best of those six.
Hopefully we will see lots of promotion including live performances.
BUT nothing can prepare the artist for the live, competitive, once in a lifetime (unless you are from San Marino or have won once) performance. No one knows how they will cope – even Bonnie was affected…
lol we all know its gonna be molly smitten-downes. song is “i will be strong”.
charles you write way too much no one wants to read all that crap youre typing
I’ve heard things about the entry from people who were at the recording, and it actually sounds good. After years of embarrassing entries, This year, I might finally be able to look at the feedback of our entry without feeling dread and cringing slightly.
I just hope that this entry does well and gets a good response after the reveal, so the BBC may continue on this track for years to come.
@Brett cher Lloyd can’t sing like Yohanna But I can’t wait But like most fans I’m sceptical and Charles has hit the nail on the head. If you read the metro’s 5 stages of coming to terms with a uk eurovsion entry one of them is acceptance and like me after say “wwwwhhhhaaaaatttttthhhhhhheeeeeffffffuuucc????????????” You say “actually this song is great go bonnie (she is great though and she did deserve to do better)” If the people who’ve heard it say its like a dance ballad sort of thing then that should do well. Please BBC get it right this is… Read more »
I’m in London right now and everyone talks about Cher Lloyd. It looks like that some people already know it
I’m hoping for Florrie!
Amen to that 🙂 It’s a hard job the BBC has, but they do need to plan way more carefully than they have in the past however many years.
Inviting Bonnie Tyler and Englebert Humperdinck to represent the UK showcased a complete and dramatic lack of deep interest in the contest regardless of any other hidden reason. Plus … it put these performers into a place of easy and cheap humiliation towards an audience that just did not relate to them at all … I have wonderful memories of enjoying Bonnie’s music during the 80s and mid 90s … but what we witnessed last year was embarrassing and I blame BBC for that. The good side of it is that these two legendary performers did what they could do… Read more »
Every year since 2011 (inclusive), many fans have had positive responses to the UK’s choices of song. The UK did well (2011, 2013) or average (2012) in the OGAE fan polls each of those years, and then when it came time for the show, there were mixed or negative reactions. I would like the UK’s song to be really good – I’m skeptical about listening to fans’ responses so far, though, since in the past fans have been on the optimistic side. So I’ll wait for tomorrow, and if it’s not a live performance, I’ll wait for the live performance… Read more »