The heat is on in the United Kingdom. The five-time winner has been in the Eurovision doldrums for quite some time now. And with the likes of Adele, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith ruling the world’s charts, that’s not really acceptable. The BBC seems to have upped the ante, announcing the “biggest song search” the country has ever seen. The finer details remain rather sketchy, but their semi-final commentator Scott Mills has a solution – send Ben Haenow or Little Mix.
Speaking to Digital Spy, he reiterated the need for the Brits to keep on trying:
The thing is we’ve tried it in lots of different ways. We’ve tried a public vote, we’ve tried it where the BBC decide, we’ve tried it where a jury decide. You’ve got to just keep trying
Adding that a good song was key:
At the end of the day it’s going to be about the song. I was just saying to Jake from Rixton, if you take Little Mix – their songs aren’t written by Americans, they’re written by UK songwriters. Let’s get one of them to write our Eurovision song this year.
And that they should send Ben or Little Mix:
In most of the other countries they send a big act. They’ll send the winner of The Voice or X Factor from that year usually. There’s something to be said for that. So send Ben Haenow or Little Mix, that’s the answer.
We’re all for household names, but Scott’s “answer” makes us think of the Chanel Vs. Walmart Twitter meme.
Little Mix are an all-conquering girl group who won the UK’s X Factor in 2011. Since then they’ve gone on to massive chart success, racking up hits at home, across Europe and in the US and Australia. Their last release “Black Magic” was arguably the smash of summer 2015.
Little Mix “Black Magic”
Ben Haenow also graduated from The X Factor, winning the 2014 series. However, he’s yet to reach the same heights as the ladies. Despite a number one debut single, his follow-up only reached 21 in the UK and 56 in Ireland. Not even American superstar Kelly Clarkson could spur him up the charts. Meanwhile, the woman he beat into second place, Fleur East, is lapping up all the critical and popular acclaim. Ouch!
Ben Haenow “Second Hand Heart”
This isn’t the first time Scott Mills has sounded off on the UK’s Eurovision selection process. In August, he claimed that there was too much stigma attached to the contest for the likes of One Direction, Olly Murs or Robbie Williams to consider entering.
What do y’all think of Scott’s suggestion? Would Little Mix or Ben Haenow be good choices for the UK? Would they even consider entering? Comment below.
The United Kingdom at Eurovision 2016
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@James: Your last paragraph made perfect sense. You can tell if a country wants to even COME CLOSE to winning, let alone win outright, by the internal selection they send to Eurovision; and clearly the U.K. didn’t want to compete for the 2015 title when they sent Electro Velvet. Now, 2014 was a different story, because the effort they put in promoting Molly Smitten-Downes (her live performance, in front of an enthusiastic U.K. crowd not long after they picked her song, posted at YouTube) looked like an honest effort, and I thought she’d finish 8th before that contest. As far… Read more »
@Fatima I don’t blame Scott for the problems with the BBC’s selection. Neither him or Graham have any specific influence, and I doubt either of them liked or helped in any way to select “I’m Still In Love With You”. Both were respectful, but never openly supported the song. Notably during the voting, Graham never said anything about the UK possibly winning or “could it be our night” like other years. Scott did vocally support Aminata (I don’t know if he said anything about Loic) but he certainly does enjoy some of the more modern entries and he was very… Read more »
Little Mix would be a great choice. They are great live, has had exposure and sings catchy irresistible pop-tunes. Slap a good on them and you will get results!
But the issue is that they probably are more oriented at a teen-girls audience and that isn’t ESC’s main audience. Hence the problem. Not many teen-girls watch the ESC and for the mature audience they would most likely come off as too young.
So perhaps give them more mature adult material without loosing the catchiness?
Scott, you’re part of the problem. You represent a station which does not support the contest at all. If Radio 1 played some Eurovision tracks then more substantial acts might be tempted taken part. It you’d championed (for example) Loïc Nottet this year, I’d have a lot more time for you. As for Little Mix and Ben Haenow, I feel the last thing we need are jaded reality stars warbling on in cod-American accents.
NOW they want Little Mix! They’re a bit late. I thought they might consider sending them to Eurovision 2014.
There’s no real advantage to sending a well-known act to Eurovision. (Besides, I wouldn’t recognise Little Mix if I walked past them.) If the song is bad, it won’t do well, and even the most popular acts have unpopular songs.
oh. PLEASE listen “sax” by fleur. This song is winning.
if bbc stop being biased they will see that FLEUR EAST OR BEN ARE GREAT CHOICES AND THEY CAN WIN.
@Azaad, they cannot use current X Factor stars who would be contracted for up to a year after the show ends. Once they are over a year past participating they are generally released to do their own thing (except for the winner who is normally bound until they have finished their first album, then it depends on their success how long they will stay on contract for). Many X Factor winners are even released after a year-18 months. Most previous winners and contestants would be eligible to sign for the BBC . (Jessica Garlick was in Pop Idol in 2001… Read more »
I still can’t belive Fleur East lost to Ben Haenow! He is not good imo. CHVRCHES are still my top choice. But if we were to have a Florence and the machine type song and then made into a Calvin Harris remix that would be pretty good too! Also, Adele’s new album…but she doesn’t like performing at big events so….
Well with X Factor alumni there’s a conflict of interest because the show comes from the BBC’s main competitor, ITV.
This is an absolute shambles, it sounds like someone set a goat free on stage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBe9kxYkeO8
@Eugene, I agree, and I am totally OK with them sending an ex-talent show contestant, Jessica Garlick was from Pop Idol and of course did very well and Jade was put thru a mini version of a talent show. I just think we should make sure they can actually sing under extreme pressure and on demand. If they want to choose a name that’s great, but being famous should not be the priority. Just saying let’s send Ben Haenow because he won the X Factor, that doesn’t make it a good choice and I fear would be a huge mistake.… Read more »
Please send Little Mix to esc !! Eurovision and Little Mix are my two favorite things,lets make it happen….!!
(I’m a huge little mix fan and esc fan)
Realistically, little mix won’t do esc. They have a tour thru Europe and America planned for next year which would coincide with the press and schedule for participating in esc.
Ben haenow is viable as is Sean Miley Moore who are both talented but not likely to have the same obligations preventing little mix.
if they send little mix then they’re obviously going to place high since little mix has lots of fans all throughout Europe but idk if little mix are really suited for this kind of thing
The main priority for the BBC should be to get a great live singer. Our last great results (2009) came from an unknown name so I don’t understand the need to find a “name”. If the name can sing live then great, but much of the time “teen pop” acts are not that fantastic when they are pushed to sing at an exact moment. I know that’s kinda the point of X Factor, so you could argue that an X Factor winner should be the kind of voice we are looking for – but if you watch Ben Haenow’s recent… Read more »
While Little Mix are too teen-oriented commercial pop that suits teeangers but not the audiences following Eurovision. Not many teenage couldn’t care less for the competition … it would not work on their behalf. The girls are actually wonderful singers but as a girl band … they are their own niche and Eurovision is not the best platform for them. Ben is and will always be the poor sad singer-songwriter telling stories through music that … today’s world of music and hyperactive generation of “selfie”-mentality people just don’t care about … the word “boring” comes immediately to mind. And that… Read more »
Don’t send Ben Haenow! Send Fleur East instead! This could be the platform she needs to survive. I think as well, they should scrap the initial NS format and just send her with “Sax”!
Considering how bad Ben’s performance was on The X Factor last week, he wouldn’t be a good choice for Eurovision. It was painful without Kelly Clarkson on the track. Fleur on the other hand, would be beyond amazing! Personally, my favourite TXF contestant is Ella Henderson, so she’d be my dream ‘talent show’ choice. Or, we could go really out there and choose Lucy who finished 2nd on The Voice last year, opera singer, and get a killer track wrote for her guided by will.i.am. I say ‘choose’ but who’s to say any of these artists would like to go… Read more »
They should sent George Ezra
I agree they should put some effort and bring someone big to eurovision, I mean the other countries are uping their game, sending big names to the contest or people who won XFactor or The Voice with a good song, the UK aren’t even trying, with the amount of good artists and music they have…. I love Little Mix and if they send them their song is gonna be great because all of their songs are amazing, not sure about Ben…. I follow X Factor and Fleur should have won last year, she just realeased a great single and she’s… Read more »
I think the problem with the UK is not the artist that much… they need to send an authentic song to Eurovision that represents the actual music industry of the country! They have amazing songs over there!
We don’t need more “Flying the flag’s” and “Still in Lobe with you’s”… Imagine a big star like Robbie Williams oder Jessie J would sing a song like this at Eurovision… It would never work! BBC needs to step their music pu**y game up!
Neither of them! There are much better artists in this country who deserve a chance over Simon Cowell’s muppets.
Little Mix for 2016 Stockholm will be all in the cards. London or Manchester 2017 will do if they will be selected by the BBC!
OMG, I would be super excited for Little Mix(I’m a mixer myself) but imagine if they finish low..
I think Leah McFall would be more likely to go for Ireland.
And totally agree that Fleur East instead of Ben Haenow. Her live on Sunday was AMAZING.
My dream for the UK is Jess Glynne but that’d never happen.
The UK needs to send Leah Mcfall. She would bring the house down!
Definitely Fleur East instead of Ben Haenow. ‘Sax’ is absolutely amazing and if her album is just as great as the lead single, the UK could have a winner on their hands.
The BBC could have sent the winner of The X Factor this year (looking at you Louisa Johnson) but sadly they didn’t accept Simon Cowell’s offer.
In all reality though, the NS is probably going to be full of unknown singers or talent show rejects (a-la Bianca Nicholas). Let’s just hope I’m wrong.
It would be a little unfair to send Little Mix because they’re quite well-known in Europe. I would love to see Ben Haenow on the eurovision stage tho! His voice is amazing.