The Milky Way is liberating — and baby the United Kingdom is under those stars! And when we say stars we mean Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander and global superstar Dua Lipa.
According to British tabloid The Sun, Olly is in “advanced talks” with the BBC to represent the United Kingdom at Eurovision 2024.
His song is reportedly a collab with Danny L Harle, who worked on Dua’s “Houdini” and Charli XCX’s “Anthems,” among others.
Will Olly Alexander sing at Eurovision with a Dua Lipa song?
The paper’s source said: “It’s a dream come true for Olly. Things aren’t quite locked in but he is a favourite with bosses.”
“Olly has said for ages he wants to have a crack at it — and after teaming up with Danny for the song he thinks we have a great shot”.
“He is aware people say that no established act in their right mind would go on the show due to the UK’s track record but as far as he is concerned that’s just snobbery.”
BBC viewers will remember that Olly has a long-standing relationship with the corporation. He helped ring in 2022 as the star of the BBC’s annual New Year’s Eve broadcast, performing a series of his hits in the build-up to midnight. He also duetted with Kylie Minogue!
Olly isn’t the only A-lister who the rumour mill has spat at us this year. Over the summer, Sophie Ellis-Bextor was allegedly, reportedly, supposedly in the running to sing for the BBC.
She quickly shot those rumours down.
Whilst making an appearance on BBC Breakfast on Friday morning, Ellis-Bextor was asked by presenter Naga Munchetty about the murmurings. The star clarified that she had not personally had any contact with the BBC about participating at Eurovision and stated she felt it was too much of a risk:
“There’s been no direct conversation with me about it. I feel like this rumour also happened about a decade ago.”
“I adore Eurovision. But I feel like at this point, and with what I’m up to, it would be like walking up to a casino and putting all my chips on red. I just don’t feel like I’m up for the gamble. But I will be willing from the wings whoever is doing their thing for the UK.”
Co-host Charlie Stayt later asked Sophie to clarify her points, asking if her apprehension was due to not wanting to finish with a poor result, even if the song was a good one. The British singer responded by saying she was content with her career at the moment and didn’t necessarily think the platform would offer her what it could do for others:
“I think Eurovision has got so much to offer. And I think if you’re at a certain point in your career it’s like one of those things where you’re just put on this huge platform, and I think Mae Muller was absolutely brilliant. But I think just for me, where I’m at, I just feel like I’m quite happy with the things I’m up to and where it’s all headed, and don’t know if I wanna take a big risk.”
But Sophie is not ruling out getting involved with Eurovision in other ways. The star would be up for working on a more behind-the-scenes role:
“You know what I’d really like to do: I’d like to write the song. Wouldn’t that be fun. I’d like to have a go at writing a Eurovision song.”
Who do you want to sing for the U.K. at Eurovision? Could Olly Alexander be the one? Let us know down below…
lots of folk have said his live vocals aren’t great. I’ve just checked online a few live concerts, his live performance on strictly and his BBC new years gig and I don’t agree. He may not be a big note belter but he is strong, tuneful and charismatic in his performances. I actually think with a song that suits him he could deliver a great performance on the Eurovision stage.
But, lets wait and see
Je suis française et j’ai vu Olly en concert à Dublin, je peux venir dire qu’il a une voix aussi belle en live, il chante parfaitement juste et il a beaucoup de charisme. C’est un vrai artiste authentique qui est partie de rien … Je peux vous dire que l’Angleterre a de la chance d’avoir des artistes comme ça !
his vocal is not great live so its a no from me
Hmm. no. His lives have been unstable. I’ve never found a good KING live performance.
Je suis française et j’ai vu Olly en concert à Dublin, je peux venir dire qu’il a une voix aussi belle en live, il chante parfaitement juste et il a beaucoup de charisme. C’est un vrai artiste authentique qui est partie de rien … Je peux vous dire que l’Angleterre a de la chance d’avoir des artistes comme ça !
U k doesn’t need another male
I have never watched him live and i don’t know if he is a strong performer but some fans are worried about his abilities.
Rina should be the top candidate IF she wants to do it in 2024. I bet there are more names on the list but maybe the BBC wants to return to the male acts.
Nope. Not true..for those outside of the UK, The Sun is a rag. I wouldn’t believe a thing it prints. I could see Olly writing a ESC entry very soon, but I can’t see him onstage, at least for a few more years.
The UK and its fans need to be careful…part of the reason things went so wrong for the UK in ’23 was that fans convinced themselves it was going to be Rina in Liverpool, then when it wasn’t, they were inevitably disappointed with whoever the choice was.
I agree, it is a rag but they got Mae Muller right.
Ollie Wride will be an excellent choice, do any people here know him?
Although I love King, I f’ing love it, Olly cannot sing live for sh*t, so NO THANKS. It would be a repeat of May 2023.
Je suis française et j’ai vu Olly en concert à Dublin, je peux venir dire qu’il a une voix aussi belle en live, il chante parfaitement juste et il a beaucoup de charisme. C’est un vrai artiste authentique qui est partie de rien … Je peux vous dire que l’Angleterre a de la chance d’avoir des artistes comme ça !
UK, send Musical Youth. NOW!
Can they send Shane from Westlife pls? They are my all time favorite band. And he is anazing singer indeed!
Like I said below, surely he would prefer to represent his OWN country?
Ireland has tried sending Westlife members before, it didn’t work out.
From the paper which told us that Russell Grant would be singing for Malta in 2012
The Daily Mail published on the same topic as well yesterday. Might have been someone’s pr.
I think Sam Ryder proved that with a solid song and performance, the UK can do well. Mae Muller was also good, but she competed in a much more competitive year with a song that many liked but was not necessarily their favorite. Olly Alexander is a good performer, so he might get a decent result for the UK. And remember, it is not always the position you get that matters.
Unfortunately Mae´s voice was very weak a against these sex-sells-entries from Israel and Norway she had no chance.
the problem with Mae was not the song but the LIVE vocals, the zero dance energy and partly the boring staging.
Welp, looks like Years and Years’ career is over (lol jk)!
Seems too good to be true, but we’ll have to wait and see I guess!
This feels like Rina Sarayama again. Unless it comes from Aftonbladet, the rumor’s aren’t true.
I’d love to see Paloma Faith or Duffy represent us (UK) sometime in future
Has been will never work, we tried it before.
Paloma would never do Eurovision but I’d love an entry like this.
Duffy would be A DREAM but unfortunately she has left the industry. It would’ve been a major comeback.
Apparently Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and her spouse Prins Daniel will be guests at the Royal Variety Performance of 30 November.
HRH The Princess of Wales played the piano in the intro at the Liverpool edition. Awaiting with bated breath to see if any Eurovision acts, British and Swedish, will make appearances!!! That would be *amazing*!!
we dont really care about KKKatherine.
My favourite singer for UK is Birdy !
She’s not as popular as before and her new music is very boring sadly.
Please dont… I want westlife.. I wish..
Westlife are not from the UK, one of them has even already represented a different country.
And very badly too!
And don’t forget Bryan/Brian McFadden wrote Ireland’s terrible 2004 song too.
Westlife…? Maybe 20 years ago, sure.
I read the same rumour in a couple of other newspapers, so there’s a chance that there’s something to this and it’s certainly true that there’s been a lot of interest from his side previously. I’m not a huge fan of him as an artist or a performer but considering the UK’s result last year, at a time when they really should’ve build off the momentum that Sam had going for them, getting an artist with actual UK no.1 albums and who has gotten hundreds of millions of views on his music videos, would exceed any expectations that the BBC… Read more »
Rina? What was so special about her? Because she hates the UK?
Oh look Sophie Ellis Baxtor rumoured again.
Stand by for Ellie Goulding and Pixie Lott to get a mention soon too!
Sophie was rumoured once and she shot down the rumours saying she would never do Eurovision at this age. She’s not what the UK needs.
If it happens he could be direct competition to Mustii
It’s not like the BBC wants to win next year. With their “track record” LOL, they could send just anyone.
I don’t think they really want to win, but if a winner came along by accident, they would not be opposed to it.
I’m sure they would send a winning song and performer/s if they wanted to win.
#Glasgow2048
Wales on the other hand…
What genre would Luke Evans go for, so very theoretically of course?
In that case, I’m available. 🙂
The BBC is a public entity. Songwriters and performers interested to represent the country and showcase their talent should be allowed to submit songs and/or express their interest in being matched with a song. The opposite rings awfully restrictive and shady. Songwriters and performers in the UK should demand access to this thing.
I know this is about music, but it feels wrong to have an article about Olly Alexander without mentioned It’s A Sin!
Which was written by Russel T. Davis who returned to Doctor who.
And look at what happened there…
What happened? Don’t tell me you are complaining about the inclusion of a trans character…
Yeah, that’s such a heartbreaking story, and Olly was really sweet in that role.
Why are you being downvoted for this? It’s A Sin was one of the UK television events of 2021, though I admit I didn’t gush over Olly’s acting as much as others.
It’s a Sin is a masterpiece. WOW.
I’m really baffled why the OP is being downvoted for saying just that!
Didn’t i read a couple of months ago over the summer the BBC had already selected their song and artists for Eurovision 2024?
Not true at all. They implied they were in talks with an artist already, not selected a song.
I don’t know him but he has a very good voice. I thought Dua Lipa gave him directly a song at first but lol not the case at all. Could be a nice choice as the delivery on stage at least wouldn’t be a problem with him. I would bet then on a mid tempo number with Mrs Lipa’s influences. But it has to stay an Olly original song and not to feel like we have the masculine Dua Lipa on stage, it wouldn’t make sense.
2017 powerballad
2018 midtempo pop song
2019 powerballad
2021 midtempo pop song
2022 powerballad
2023 uptempo pop song
2024 powerballad ????
Arrf the wiwi readers are against powerballads for The Uk apparently (and in general) but the 2 last best british results were powerballads…. think about it…
NOT ME SQUEEZING MY BRAIN TO REMEBER THEIR 2021 SONG! it’s literally my favorite UK entry of all time.
It was a promising song, when it was released people loved it in the fandom, the MV was cool, but the execution on stage was not really good unfortunately and it has wasted the whole thing.
I would argue that 2022 was more of a Freddie Mercury inspired progressive rock song!
It’s Rebecca Ferguson with a ballad . That could go either way
Why does the UK only send white people when it’s one of the most diverse countries in Europe?
Bear with me I’ve got JESC on the line…
Yeah, just a pity the adults don’t get the same diversity.
What percentage of U.K. population is not white ?
Take that measurement and apply to all U.K. entries. You will find that minorities are more than represented
That’s not true
I did not find that. Has a Brit of Asian heritage ever represented the UK in the adult contest? India or other places that imperialist pillaged for loot. I think the UK is WAY overdue a Jeangu “yu no man broko mi” moment.
You seem to think that one specific minority, Black, represents ALL minorities.
What we need is a one legged , pan Asian , tri racial, Demi sexual, gender non confirming, socially hard left yet fiscally right, nomadic, gluten free, lactose free, chicken only eating, female presenting, “old soul” ,multi faith reggae singer who samples in pop, rock (hard and soft) pop-rock,opera, techno, new age , world music, galaxy bending performance !
Is that your application? Send in your demo to BBC.
How about a Scot with a bagpipe? That would cover MORE minorities in the UK than those!
UK 1966 was a Scot in a kilt, complete with sporran. Bring him back.
I don’t think we’ll see a Jangue moment any soon. Jeangu was first internally selected for the host country; his coming back entry the following year could have been or was marked by a certain movement.
In any case, the UK’s been overwhelmigly “white” in Eurovision for decades now. From memory, artists of colour appeared on stage as backings and/or dancers even if not in 100%.
I don’t remember anyone with south-east Asian origin either. Swedish or Swedish-related songwriters did enter their “selection” though, in the UK from all places.
What about Andy Abrahams?
A “Jeangu moment” is more than the colour of the performer’s skin. It’s about language, history, heritage, and culture.
Go away, woke creature!
Might be diverse but whites, besides being native to the island, are the majority in the country. Don’t forget that this year’s representative was Jewish (and British too, don’t get me wrong)
i stopped reading when i saw the sun being used as a source lol
A related question for Swedes:
Is “The Sun” (UK) anything like “Aftonbladet” in terms of its reputation for truth-bending/spin?
All the newspapers are though. Dont forget the news channels!
Tabloids are tabloids, but I don’t think anyone comes as close to scumsucking trash as UK tabloids.
Once again, nowhere to go but up for the UK after their incredibly awful 2023 entry. Speaking of nowhere to go but up, some news about Germany: Jørgen Olsen, one half of the 2000 Danish Eurovision winners, is trying to get into the German NF together with a German Schlager singer. I thought it was an interesting pairing until I heard the very lackluster song they submitted. They could however still end up with another song if they make the cut.
The Olsens returned in 2005, trying again to represent Denmark, and that song was not great. So I’m not surprised if this one is even worse.
I’m optimistic, the UK can go lower next year. If I were pessimistic about it I’d say they’d do the same.
Well, in terms of results, they can only go one place lower. But in terms of quality, in my personal taste, they’d have a hard time time going lower since I found the 2023 entry truly awful. Next year is the tie break for me to see if Sam Ryder was just a one-off for UK quality entries or not.
IMO noone can compare to Sam Ryder and Space Man, but it would be great if the Big 5 did well since they don’t have to qualify to the GF. It’s just too insulting to have Sudden Lights stay in the semi and not have the UK really perform – I did like the song.
IMO lots of stuff can compare to Space Man. Decent pick. All it takes is another decent pick.
Einzige one pick!!!!
The Scum newspaper really isn’t anything that should be taken seriously and it really does not deserve any free publicity or clicks. A truly hateful rag.
What about Channel 4 News?!
i’m okay with this, but god i just want rina