The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to rate and review the 41 songs that had been selected for Eurovision 2020. Next up, we take a look at the UK‘s internally selected act James Newman and his song “My Last Breath”. What did we think of this song? Read on to find out!
James Newman – “My Last Breath”
“My Last Breath” reviews
Antranig: “My Last Breath” is truly incredible. Delivered with raw honesty and passion, this song is an emotional rollercoaster and I’m joining the queue again and again. The deep-sea diver analogy is cleverly executed, complementing the nature of James’ delivery. The message is universal yet delivered from a personal angle and very easy to connect with. Allow me to be controversial and say that this is the UK’s best entry since the turn of the century, by a significant distance.
Score: 8.5
Calvin: I’m surprised about the (relatively) positive reactions about this song. Just like the video, it leaves me cold. It could be because of the country elements in the chorus. Or because of the beat that leads nowhere. It’s a credible entry, yet pretty boring with no additional benefit for the contest. Of course, middle-of-the-road means that it isn’t horrible, but I wouldn’t add it to my playlist.
Score: 4
Jonathan: Oh, to be a UK Eurofan waiting patiently for our return to glory. “My Last Breath” is certainly a good start on the journey (hopefully) upwards. It’s a solid pop song that knows what it’s meant to deliver. The 2:35 length isn’t a problem for me, as it stops the song dragging on for any longer than it needs to (better to leave the listener wanting more than reaching for the skip button). James Newman has a great live vocal, though I do worry that the song is still slightly too safe to do any real damage on a Eurovision scoreboard. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to seeing where this BBC-BMG partnership goes in the future.
Score: 6.5
Lucy: Being a British Eurovision fan can be extremely brutal most of the time. On first listen to “My Last Breath”, it felt like 2020 was another of those years. The pleasant acoustic-sounding track didn’t lift me to the place I expected when I heard James Newman was the artist. He has written megahits for Calvin Harris, Rudimental, Ed Sheeran, Little Mix… and we got “another UK Eurovision track”. It has significantly grown on me since and I got on the delusional hype train again pre-cancellation. There’s a genuine love there, but a similar Eurovision result would have ensued.
Score: 7
Natalie: Maybe give the UK another five to ten years and they’ll send a song that may be good enough to win Eurovision 2011. They’re slowly getting the picture, but in an era when dark pop music is the trend and Bulgaria and Romania are paying attention, the UK still thinks X Factor winners’ singles are the way to go. The lyrics are so bloody cheesy and the production is not original in the slightest. I can see it has a bit of spark and passion in it, but it takes a lot more than woah-oh-oh choruses to win Eurovision.
Score: 5.5
James Newman – “My Last Breath” rankings
In the Wiwi Jury we have 22 jurors but only have room for five reviews. The remaining scores are below:
| Angus: 5
Åri: 6.5 Barnabas: 6 Bernardo: 6 Deban: 6.5 Esma: 7.5 Florian: 5 Luis: 6 Oliver: 5 |
Pablo: 7.5
Renske: 7.5 Robyn: 7 Ron: 5 Sebastian: 4 Tobias: 7 Tom: 7 William: 3.5 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a low of 3.5 and a high of 8.5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 6.08/10
What do you think of this song? Share your own score and review below!
United Kingdom – 7/10 (26th/41)
United KIngdom 6/10
Can I ask is the BBC going to broadcast the EBU show shine a light or are they only going to show their own show
I like the song – 6.5/10
This is friendzoned entry, it’s nice and all, but who will vote? 😀
UNITED KINGDOM – Aside from one awkward stray into electro-swing, UK has consistently sent very mainstream pop songs, getting one disappointing result after another. The thing is, I really like several of their recent entries. I really like My Last Breath too. It’s a sweet, well produced and heartfelt little song. My concern in the actual contest would be how many people would place this is their top 3? Ignoring the issue of being a bit safe, I really think this deserves a lot of appreciation for it’s lyrics, nice melody and uplifting message. – 8/10 My ratings: 10 –… Read more »
Great verse, ok chorus but the ohhhh isn’t interesting enough
UK with this song from 21 to 26 place. I think result like Czech Republic 2016 (max 40 points from juries and 0 from televote)
2002, 2009 (!), 2011, 2014 and 2017 were all fantastic entries from the UK, no way was this the best since 2000. It’s perfectly fine just not interesting enough. Could have done well with the jury but not in the televote
A huge step forward in the right direction for the United Kingdom. The chorus is a bit of a let down but I can only appreciate the effort. It’s god to see the UK taking the contest seriously again. The entry follows the UK music industry trends with likes of James Arthur, Calum Scott…. A male soloist with a mid tempo ballad and deep voice. The problem is the song is not as good and the ones from those artists. Hope next year they can bring something even better. 4. Romania – Roxen – Alcohol You (8) 11. Italy –… Read more »
Storm by SuRie was better tbh
Sorry but I forgot to ask the team. Have the BBC made a statement about next years singer and also are they just using their own show for eurovision and ignoring the EBU program.
Good question. I second it.
Not good! That’s it…
Overall:2/10 (35th)
I’m sad that James probably will miss eurovision but not with this song. It’s very by the numbers songwriting and doesn’t get me excited. It’s a credible song for sure and nothing to be ashamed of. However the UK must not settle for mediocrity otherwise that’s all we will send. I saw his interview with Graham Norton and he is such a genuinely nice person. Like I said I’m very sad for him bu but only a five out of ten for the song.
It’s a lovely, feel-good track with uplifting lyrics, oddly specific, yet endearing premise, gorgeous vocal and brilliant hook. It’s like a breath of fresh air in the morning – modest, tasteful, refreshing and very satisfying. Way to go, UK! 7.5/10
This one’s okay. It’s good for recent UK standards, for sure. I like the “breath” stopping moments in the Chorus. But overall, this is just outside my top 20. Hopefully this entry will represent the small beginning of a UK resurgence going forward.
I’m in the middle of something, so my review will come tomorrow. However, I will just say one thing. This year, I have no doubts in which order to put the Big Five. There is a very clear progression on my list, with first being outstanding, the second good, the third really solid, the fourth middle of the road and the fifth very weak.
I think the key phrase that gets thrown around for this one is, “it grows on you”. I had it in the 30s originally but once the dust settled and my favourite songs took their place at the top of my rankings, this slowly crept up into the “best of the rest” conversation in the teens. Don’t get me wrong, this would still have finished in the bottom three in terms of ESC result but this is not a “Bigger Than Us” or “Still In Love With You” situation. James has a credibility about him and his live performance was… Read more »
For once, we had a reasonably good song! Although the “…BREATH!” bit kills me and I like joking about it, it’s not bad from us at all. My favourite from the UK since 2014, and I think we could’ve at least not been bottom 3… we can only dream. 😉
It’s good, but that’s it. I doubt this would’ve cracked the top 20, but it wouldn’t be the last place for sure. I think it’s good that they are collaborating with BMG, but they are not as successful as Global Records (Romania) it seems. They should for once take a risk or at least send a pop girlie like Mabel or maybe Freya Ridings, but I want to see Sam Fender or any other indie rock band (UK has many). So we’ll see. My score: 7/10 My score: 10/10 1. Romania 10/10 2. Belgium 9/10 3. Portugal 8/10 4. Italy… Read more »
Surprisingly I quite enjoy this song, I like its uplifting spirit and love his voice. But question is will decent song like this would be able to pick votes? I think good staging would help this song to rise above middle of the road category.. Still I appreciate the effort and prefer this to some pretentious messes we have this year.
7/10
Not bad. 6/10
For me it’s a 6.5! It’s a good effort from the UK but I think they could still do even better! At least they’ve kept the songwriters etc within the UK instead of going to Denmark and Sweden for them. I would’ve worried about his live performance though, wasn’t overly convinced by his voice!
Very harmless, but it’s definitely a step up from their most recent entries. But still, the UK really needs to step up their game at some point, especially considering they have had some really strong songs in their NF’s and considering that the British music scene is jam-packed with amazing artists. This lukewarm song gets a lukewarm 6,5/10
10. UK – 8/10 – From the husky vocal to the strumming guitar and pounding drums, I find myself surprisingly engaged in this song. The lyrics and composition, particularly in the chorus, speak to me with greater intensity than most songs this year. I have never before pondered a final moment on this earth as a deep-sea diver and I find it strangely beautiful – the concept of being stranded yet deeply connected with someone at the same time. I like the memorable sing-a-long whoa-ho-ho’s. Elements of it veer into the dangerous territory of generality, but it just about manages… Read more »
UK 4/10
Probably their best effort since 2014, but still pretty much another harmless and safe entry. There were many strong male ballads this year, so I think he would’ve struggled to get some attention.