Tomorrow 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 has continued. Now, rumours on social media suggest that James Newman may be the one heading to Rotterdam for the UK, with the song “My Last Breath”.
Earlier this week, attention began building around John Newman, brother of James Newman. The “Love Me Again” hitmaker posted a series of cryptic tweets (that have since been deleted), which some interpreted as being linked to the UK Eurovision announcement on Thursday.
Since then, the attention has turned to the older of the brothers, James Newman. The audio for a song called “My Last Breath” has also appeared online, which fans have linked to James’ potential Eurovision participation.
James Newman to perform “My Last Breath” at Eurovision 2020 for the United Kingdom?
One of John’s now deleted tweets read “It’s a family affair”. This was widely interpreted to refer to James, and that his older brother could be involved with the Eurovision entry in some way.
Some initially thought that James may have co-written a Eurovision song for his brother. However, many have begun to change their line of inquiry, instead suspecting that James is the artist who will perform in Rotterdam’s Ahoy Arena in May.
James’ involvement would put a convenient bow on this parcel of guesswork. Because, while John is singed to the Island record label, James has a deal with BMG. And, as announced last autumn, BMG is partnering with the BBC to select the UK’s Eurovision 2020 entry.
Realistic UK theory: I notice that John Newman’s brother, James, has recently started following Ken Bruce on here. He has his own page on the BMG site and co-wrote “Dying to Try” by Brendan Murray. Just throwing it out there, more likely than Mabel or Steps
— conJackulations ?? ?? (@IfJackWereSorry) February 24, 2020
However, Eurofans are known to be persistent in their search for answers. The speculation has now turned to the song that James may perform at Eurovision.
The first signs of a potential song appeared on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon. User @tchuqo shared a screenshot of an entry they had found in a song licencing catalogue.
The song in this entry is titled “My Last Breath”, with the artist stated as James Newman. James has not currently released a song with this title, suggesting that it will be released at some point in the future. Notably, the rights to the song are owned by BMG.
A song pic.twitter.com/DEHcu5TQ7M
— Matthew (@tchuqo) February 26, 2020
This specific song is said to be co-written by Iain Farquharson, Adam Argyle and Edward Drewett.
Ed Drewett is a majorly decorated songwriter, having written hits such as “Black Magic” and “Shout Out to My Ex” for Little Mix, as well as Jonas Blue’s “Rise”. He’s also written for One Direction, The Wanted, Olly Murs and Craig David.
Adam Argyle is credited on songs by Dua Lipa, former Spice Girls member Melanie C and James Arthur.
Iain Farquharson (more commonly known as Iain James) has also written for big stars such as Little Mix, Olly Murs and One Direction amongst others. He’s also co-written two previous Eurovision entries – “Running Scared” by Ell & Nikki (Azerbaijan 2011) and “Love Kills” by Roberto Bellarosa (Belgium 2013).
Interestingly, this isn’t the first suggestion that the UK’s Eurovision song for 2020 may have been co-written by a Eurovision winner. Twitter user @shane_reaction_ tweeted on Monday that someone had informed him of who the UK’s Eurovision 2020 act was.
He replied to his own tweet on Tuesday, saying: “Just hope when you hear who our Eurovision entry is you don’t blame it on me, don’t blame it on me”. The lyrics “don’t blame it on me” are most likely taken from Calvin Harris’ song “Blame”, which features John Newman (and was co-written by James Newman).
He added in a separate reply:
A co-writer of the UK’s entry has written a *very* successful Eurovision song in the last ten years. VERY successful.
Many would interpret “VERY successful” to mean a Eurovision winner. This adds another link to Iain James’ involvement with Azerbaijan’s winning Eurovision entry in 2011.
Look, I'll give you one bit of information and one bit only.
A co-writer of the UK's entry has written a *very* successful Eurovision song in the last ten years. VERY successful.
— SHANE (@shane_reaction_) February 24, 2020
“My Last Breath” audio available online
Further digging by Eurovision fans has revealed that a song credited to James Newman called “My Last Breath”, with a 2020 release date, is currently available to listen to at youradio.cz. You can click here to listen to the track.
The song on the Czech online catalogue is around 2:30 minutes in length. This is well below the three minute boundary that Eurovision songs have to adhere to, making it eligible for participation at the contest.
It is important to note that the BBC has NOT confirmed any of the above. Any suggestion that James Newman will represent the UK at Eurovision 2020, or that “My Last Breath” is his Eurovision entry, is still only speculation at this point.
However, we won’t have long to find out the truth. The UK’s Eurovision 2020 artist will be revealed tomorrow morning on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with Greg James. Ken Bruce will also be playing the song and interviewing the artist on BBC Radio 2.
Who is James Newman?
James Newman is a British singer-songwriter from Settle in North England. He has an extensive list of song-writing credits on many chart-hitting songs.
In 2014, he won a Brit Award for British Single of the Year for his involvement with Rudimental’s “Waiting All Night”. He has also co-written hits such as “Blame” by Calvin Harris (feat. John Newman) and “Love Me Like You” by Little Mix.
James is also no stranger to Eurovision. He was a co-writer of “Dying to Try” by Brendan Murray, who represented Ireland at the contest in 2017.
The hitmaker was also behind “Keep Me Coming Back”, which was included on Guy Sebastian’s eighth studio album Conscious. Guy Sebastian was Australia’s very first Eurovision representative in 2015 with the song “Tonight Again”.
What do you make of the speculation? Do you want to see James Newman represent the UK at Eurovision 2020 with “My Last Breath”? Let us know in the comments below!
Sound like a waylon song nothing to wow about
[…] around Newman’s participation reached fever pitch on Wednesday when the audio of “My Last Breath” leaked online from a Czech radio site. Now we know those rumours were indeed […]
”UK’s Last Breath”
Greece 2015.
Should be called ”UK’s Last Breath”.
Just listened to it. If this is the song….well then I’m sorry the BBC/BMG still don’t get it.
It’s a boring song who might of done well at Eurovision 2001….
I know it shouldn’t matter whether it’s John, James or Grandma Newman if it’s a good song but with the UK, it’s more than just this year and having a good song. It’s fans seeing a sense of direction and purpose from the broadcaster. John Newman would send out a statement that things are going to be different. James Newman is a songwriter who has kinda worked with some people before. I think those are two very different messages to send out.
Just my opinion but guess we’ll find out in a few hours.
It doesn’t matter who represents UK. It’s not about how big the artist is. There’s 40+ songs, to win you have to stand out, be it interesting staging or amazing song. Even Adele would fail with forgettable song.
This man wrote many songs with artist like Rudimental, Calvin Harris and Little Mix and won awards for it and people call him irrelevant because he’s not his brother? WtF does that supposed to mean? He has his own merits and doesn’t need to be compared with John . Anyway, I really like this song. It’s not the typical Eurovision song but more like the song that reflects the British Music Industry as whole that you hear on stream sites and the radio. I don’t agree with the people who said this will end up top 15, cause I think… Read more »
I think (emphasis on I think) it is better than the likes of Hooverphonic.
Umm no it isn’t.
I wonder if Ireland’s song will be released this weekend
I hope so, im low-key excited for Ireland this year. I hope they don’t let us down with the hype they’ve been serving tho
Bottom 5 material
On BBC website there’s an ad about a radio show and saying “this year the U.K. wants to win Eurovision, hear the song “children of the millennium” on the show!”
The plot thickens! I’m actually loving all this secrecy and detective work it’s rather fun!
the song title can’t be serious though… i can’t imagine a song having such a title and being sung by john newman???
Are you sure it’s not some old ad from 2014 and they mean Children of the Universe?
The spelling is a little wonky. Let’s wait and see.
Padraig just cleared it up: it’s a separate thing that they’re discussing in the same broadcast, not the name of the song.
It might not be the entry. Maybe the entry comes from an album and they are just smart and leaked one single from the album to promote the song, album and create emotions, but the actual song is different, the main single? We will see in some hours!
It sounds okay, I think the final product of the song could be a lot better than that demo. My issue is that countries like the U.K. either need to do really well with juries to get ahead or have fantastic staging or memorable performance for the televote, I don’t see loads of potential for that here, but it would definitely not come last. Still if it’s something else tomorrow I won’t be disappointed.
If this is the song, then I’m loving it! The “my last…. breath” line is so memorable. and I want a longer bridge part too. There’s time 🙂
But we’ll wait n see what they announce tomorrow morning.
This is sooooooo exciting!!!!
Theres a version where it’s just over 2 and a half minutes so still a possibility. I hope it’s not though.
I have just discovered something and I am not sure whether it means anything: On the GEMA database for ‘My Last Breath’ there is one version that has been submitted which was by BMG. However, for ‘If You Could See Me Now’ there are two submissions, one with the exact same group of songwriters as ‘My Last Breath’ by BMG BUT there is another, published by Warner Music (yes…Warner…big American one) which has all the same songwriters. I am not sure what to make of this, maybe they recorded a demo with Warner and then the final studio with BMG?… Read more »
Thanks Wagatha Christie
We don’t even know if it’s James Newman for sure! His brother posted a few tweets that could’ve indicated something was coming up. The BBC are normally really tight-lipped over this sort of thing and wouldn’t let it get leaked to a random Czech radio site.
Nevertheless, if it is the song, it’s decent enough, but I would’ve wanted something a bit more impactful I must admit. Everyone is over speculating as usual and should just wait until tomorrow!
All the poor people that thought John Newman was representing UK and placed their valuable money on UK winning…. xD
Haven’t heard it yet but I’ll check it out if it is in fact revealed as the entry tomorrow.
Considering that it’s just a demo it’s not terrible..regardless of whether it is the actual Eurovision song (which I doubt) I’ll be interesting in hearing the final version. 🙂
Very excited to hear the songs tomorrow from both the UK and Germany, I’m hoping they can be the best of the big 5 this year and I don’t want to get too excited and then potentially be disappointed but I feel like they will be very good
First of all, great work by Jonathan Vautrey. I like the Rolling In The Deep strumming and I like the My Last Breath. Surely this has got to be better than 20th. Perhaps more importantly, it can be a top 10 hit in the UK. And I mean a proper top 10 hit, not #9 for one week and then down to 93.
The same style as last year…The same musical style UK is used to send, from Andy Abraham to Joe and Jake and Michael Rice. Very, very weak… And oldfashioned!
The song is very very good if this is the UK’s entry. Best song since Jade Ewen on 2009.
Lucie Jones was much better than this
The sound doesn’t match what I thought it would from the teaser music video
Which is what makes me think they will be revealing another song tomorrow …
This is a fantastic point. Why would you sing about deep-sea divers in the snow?
Excatly what i was thinking
Also the song was published on YT and guess what it was taken down – but not ny BMG but by Warner Music – so that doesn’t make much sense. It may be it but also it may not be it
James, John, what’s the difference? :v
One is irrelevant and one is not
Both are irrelevant and John can’t sing. At least James can
Yea sure John is so irrelevant with 1 billion views
Bottom 5 again UK… Sorry but it’s just so unremarkable, I really can’t see much people picking up the phone to vote for this.. And for juries it will pass also.. After I hear it I forgot it. When I first heard this I laughed cuz I knew Brits wanted something special, but it’s soo typical British entry… I wish soon you will have better song, because you deserve it, Europeans would love to go to UK, but it aint happening, and if it goes on like this, there is limited hope 🙁
Shut up
It ain’t the song.
BBC radio sites have ads saying “this year the UK wants to win Eurovision, hear the song “Children of the Millennium” on the show”
Another forgettable song about nothing.
lordamercy… i’m not sayin anything but if this is the song and the uk ends up low in the scoreboard y’all have no room to complain.
I want you to send Adele
Artists like Sam Smith, Adele, Harry Styles, John Newman, Indie bands or whomever will not touch Eurovision with a bargepole, its toxic if they don’t win, even if they wanted to, management would step in and say no.
I’m not sure Adele is good enough, Hora. That’s not meant to be unkind, because she herself has said she gets ‘pitchy’. Remember her Grammys performance in 2017 when she started over. You can’t do that sort of thing at the Eurovision song contest.
She stopped because they stopped the music in her ears, she couldn’t hear anything…
And her at the Grammys 2016?
Adele can do what she likes. She is above Eurovision.
What snobbery. Nothing or nobody is above the Eurovision Song Contest!
Like it was already pointed the song looks and sounds like a demo – a good demo, but still not finished song.
Fortunately we don’t have to wait long to see if that’s it.
It isn’t it. Its too short for entry (songs have to be over or around 3 minutes.)
Actually, they *have* to be 3.00 minutes *at most*. While the vast majority of songs have been between 2.50 and 3.00, it’s not unheard of to release a song of 2.30 or even under that. Finish 2015 entry Aina mun pitaa was around 1.45, I believe. Nothing against the rules.
The UK’s first ever entry, “All”, was only 1:52 minutes long, maybe they’re returning to their Eurovision roots this year?
I would say bottom 5 but with this weak year so far who knows…
this year is actually very good
The anti UK posts on wiwibloggs is very toxic, maybe it is hard to blame them for calls to pull out from people as it is reflective to Europes attitude to the UK. Its a good song and the best of the Big 5. This sounds like a demo. Its above Australia in the bookmakers.
I quite like the song and I would be happy to see it go to Eurovision. I don’t think it’ll win Eurovision but I think it could get a good result.
It’s ok….
But if is the song for Eurovision then we desperately need a revamp of some sort to succeed
It’s like comparing Kourtney Kardashian and Kim Kardashian. Both good, but the other sister is somewhat more successful. #LetsPrayItsJohn
Good in what? Aren’t Kardashians just celebrities?
Song is much happier than what UK usually brings. A warning flag is this song demands a creative staging because the song does not change much in its expression.
Its a demo.
We are currently the 12th favourites to win Eurovision in the odds, and if this awful song is our entry, watch us drop to 21st-24th favourites to win…
Germany calling: if James Newman with “My Last Breath” represent the UK – I will vote for the UK. That song sounds very good !
Let’s do this 🙂
I heard the song, and if this is the song we have to represent us, which is the same old low effortless, piece of garbage that Michael had last year, then we can forget having 12 points, or scoring well cause we are probably coming last again.
Well, the French entry was co-written by someone who had written a *very* successful Eurovision song in the last ten years. VERY successful. Thomas G:son! As we all know he likes to play it safe so he has probably also submitted a song in the UK.
G:son is the new Ralph Siegel without a doubt: One hit, many failures
Everybody talks about the newman brothers and dramatic winter landscapes, then after all it turns out to be Boris Johnson. He’s a entertainer after all, London 2021 <3
I think he’s the entrant for the Eurovision clown contest
If that ends up their entry then the UK really haven’t learned anything after all this time.
But they’ll get there one day..maybe..probably not..
Yes of course, see you all in London 2153
So the best that BMG can do is to send the brother of a well known singer, while he has zero live singing experience? Oh boy….
Duncan laurence also had zero experience. He had only done one voice audition and that was it.
My hope is that this was a promo sample, after all its only 2.30 and it sounds a bit unfinished.. I mean this song could evolve into a great quality song if they use the right beats and instruments. I hope the best for the UK!
If that’s REALLY the song then…good for them. It’s better than most of the songs that have been chosen by other countries so far.
It’s maybe not a top 10 but this will keep them out of the bottom five which honestly…the UK should consider a victory on their part.
I wasnt that impressed with John Newman. Now it is his brother…….wow……what a superstar.
If the very successful entry means that John Lundvik is involved i am literally done. Oh God i wish he doesnt destroy uk again
He isn’t involved this year. He’s behind France’s whopper.
this for me is a really good song i like it.. people here are really hard to please..