The BBC hasn’t managed to replicate the second-place success of Sam Ryder at Eurovision 2022. That’s led many to worry the United Kingdom’s success on the leaderboard was a bit of a fluke.
Now, in an effort to stop the bleed, which includes a second-to-last-place and an 18th-place finish, the BBC has called on David May — the very man who managed Sam Ryder at Eurovision in Turin.
You can read the full BBC press release below.
United Kingdom confirms artist and song plans for Eurovision 2025 (PRESS RELEASE)
The BBC and BBC Studios confirm selection plans for the act and song that will represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025.
Leading UK music industry figure David May is leading the search with Andrew Cartmell, Executive Producer BBC Studios North.
David previously worked closely with the BBC team in 2022 as Manager of Sam Ryder when the United Kingdom achieved runner-up position at Eurovision in Turin.
The search for next year’s act and song has been underway for several months with UK record Labels, Publishers, Songwriters, BBC Music and BBC Introducing all playing their part to find the UK act and song for Eurovision 2025.
David May is a Music Manager and Company founder with over 17 years in the UK music industry. He was Nominated for Music Week’s Manager of the Year in 2023. David started his career as a singer-songwriter and has since achieved over 200 million streams as a writer/producer. As Sam Ryder’s Manager success included a Number 1 UK album, two Number 2 singles, and BRIT and Emmy Award nominations.
David May says: “I’m excited to be working with BBC Studios and the BBC on this journey. We’re seeking talent and a song that embodies the essence of UK music. We want to collaborate with an authentic act who has a genuine, heartfelt story to tell, and an unmatched vocal tonality and range. Ultimately we’re looking for a powerful three-minute performance that resonates with and moves audiences across Europe and beyond.”
Andrew Cartmell, Head of Delegation at Eurovision for the United Kingdom says: “David played a major part in Sam Ryder’s success in 2022, and I’m thrilled that we are working together again. David has huge industry expertise, a real understanding of how Eurovision works and a determination, along with the BBC and BBC Studios to achieve a high placing in May next year.”
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment at the BBC says: “David knows exactly what it is like to be at the business end of the leaderboard at Eurovision, so this experience combined with his in-depth knowledge of the UK music scene ensures that he is perfectly placed to collaborate with us in the search for our artist and song for 2025.”
The act and song representing the United Kingdom will be publicly announced before the European Broadcasting Union’s deadline in March 2025.
The broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final on BBC One and BBC iPlayer continues to be one of the most popular Entertainment programmes on the BBC, with the most recent broadcast reaching one of the biggest audiences so far this year with an average audience of 7.9m and a peak of 8.5m, making it the most watched live entertainment programme of 2024 to date across all broadcasters and streamers.
The 69th Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Basel, Switzerland following Nemo’s victory at the Grand Final in May 2024 with their song The Code.
The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 will take place in St. Jakobshalle, Basel, on Saturday 17 May with the Semi-Finals taking place on Tuesday 13 and Thursday 15 May.
The Grand Final and the Semi Finals will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer plus via BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.
CM2
Ballad please thank you ?
I find Becky Hill’s alleged comments about not/never taking part in contest a little offensive, however. She has gone down in my estimation. The B word was used.
Please send someone that can sing live. Two years in a row we have sent acts with weak live vocals. It’s embarrassing.
Scott Fitzgerald is indeed Scottish. Other notable non English participants include Kenneth McKellar 1966, Lulu 1969, Mary Hopkins 1970, Clodagh Rogers 1971, Olivia Newton John 1974, Ray Caruna 1989,Emma 1990, Gina G 1996, Karina 1997, Jessica Garlick 2002, James Fox 2004, Lucie Jones 2017.
The fact that all but one of those was 20+ years ago, kinda proves my point.
I wonder if he will remember that the UK consists on more than England . . . .seriously, when was the last time they sent someone who wasn’t English? Plenty of talent in Scotland and Wales. Would Commonwealth entities that are not part of the UK island block be eligible as part of the UK- those that are not nations in their own right, I mean. . . .
To be honest I’d rather the entry was selected based on their talent rather than what country they are from. Lucy Jones is Welsh. Jessica Garlick….
Of course they should be chosen for their talent and the song. My point is they seem to be mostly blind to talent outside of London and rarely bother to look anywhere else.
2017 for Wales, I think 1988 for Scotland (though you’ll have to fact-check me on the last one).
1971 for Northern Ireland
Yes, 1988 was a Scottish singer (called Scott), and our 1987 representative was also Scottish (as was our 1969 winner).
I have just recently started to appreciate Only The Light (1987). The erm dynamic performance makes me miss seeing the backing vocalists on stage. We are missing a lot of the fun.
The guy literally before Sam Ryder was Scottish…..
I really wish Christer Bjorkman would’ve left American Song Contestant alone and instead tried to bring Melodifestivalen to the UK. I think Melfest type of show would’ve done amazing as a Saturday Night show on the BBC featuring a great mix of classic, up-coming, former talent competition stars and B/C-level music stars performing new songs. Christer would’ve gotten a lot more interest in the UK than he did in the US. They could’ve gone right from Strictly Come Dancing to MelodyFestival and the audiences would stay big.
It’s nice idea, but we in the UK are not good at producing the type of act which populate Melodifestivalen. We’re much better at something like Glastonbury, where it doesn’t matter so much how you look and sound on TV. That won’t get Eurovision televotes.
But Melodifestivalen was not all glamourous either when Björkman started. It was really a game of finding artists to compete and if you look at the early years no one was camera ready and the sound was awful. It was an experiment.
It took a whole decade to make Mello to what it is today. So it can work for every country, even UK. Just be patient and play with it
Sam Ryder was one of a kind, is typical British pop, what we want to hear, when it comes to Eurovision?
I don’t know, Dizzy was typical British pop too and…
Brits can do great power ballads too like Adele for ex and I’d like to see something like that from UK.
We often hear that this song or that song from others countries could be a James Bond song but UK the James Bond’s country never tried something like that in Eurovision.
A power ballad Bondesque is something people expect to see from the UK too rightfully.
True. But ‘Dizzy’ also suffered from that awful, near-pornographic staging.
2017?
Yes last time UK sent a power ballad so it will make 8 years.
It wasn’t a bondesque ballad though.
But look UK was top 10 jury that year and wasn’t bottom 5 either. I agree that the public didn’t gave Lucie a high mark but it is still the 3rd highest number of points from the public to UK after Sam and Surie since 2017.
Funny, mention that ‘Dizzy’ was hurt by the explicit staging and your comment is deleted . . . .but, it really was.
It’s not deleted, there are explicit words you can’t say on wiwi, that’s all.
I agree that the explicit staging in a family program killed Olly’s chances but the song in itself remains good imo.
The same song but with a more family friendly staging and the result would have been largely better.
But still even with that and the 0 from the public Ollie avoided the bottom 5 which is very good in itself when you think of it.
My comment was deleted. So I re-worded the comment and they accepted it. So I guess you can’t use the adjective “near-po___gr___ic” which was already a sanitized way of talking about it . . .
Maybe it was the “near” part they objected to
The bad vocals and the song never really going anywhere killed its chances.
It was, as was ‘Zorra’.
Exact and the results prove that stagings too explicit in Eurovision which is a family program haven’t their place, and it’s normal. But it’s really a pity for these 2 songs, cause Dizzy and Zorra are really good songs in themselves spoiled by this. A good lesson to learn for the future I think.
Adele would be great, but I don’t think she needs Eurovision.
And we don’t need her either
Are you born to be bitter or what?
Positivity? Never?
Sorry I’ll try harder.
Cool!
No I wasn’t talking about her for Eurovision especially but mainly about the good bondesque power ballads from the UK and she came to my mind.
we/ the BBC couldn’t afford her
Honestly, she has nothing at all to gain from it. Even if she were to win.
She seems to enjoy publicity?
Well, 2016 was the most British sounding entry to date. And no one liked it..
Grime is probably more British now than pop but I doubt we will hear any Grime acts on the ESC stage
I liked it and from memory, Maltese jury gave it 12. Things have perhaps changed though since Brexit.
I loved it and I thought it would do well. Heard it again the other day having forgotten how much I liked it.
Guessing it will be a quiet couple days on Wiwi now than Sinwar is dead, sorry for your loss guys.
AM YISRAEL CHAI
AM YISRAEL CHAI “ki am hanetzah le’olam lo mefahed”!
Russia wasn’t kicked out in 2014, and they placed Top 10 that year (sound familiar?). They even came 2nd the next year and won the televote the year after that. Now they’ve been banned since 2022. Pressure takes a long time to build up but it doesn’t go away. Don’t celebrate too soon, because the trends in former pro-Zionist European countries indicate we won’t be seeing Israel in the contest soon.
PSA:
Opposing the war and not liking “Hurricane” does NOT make someone antisemitic. I shouldn’t have to explain that to an adult.
Why in the UK are we reduced to searching for a pop-up act? This is embarrassing.
What else is there? I doubt we will hear Stormzy on the ESC stage.
You’re right, I meant I would have hoped that someone (anyone) was already pencilled in by now. Not that this helped with Olly Alexander.
Nice but my only wish to say: EasyJet out!
No?
Good news! It’s a positive move!
“a real understanding of how Eurovision works”…ok these are strong words, let’s see.
Good luck UK!
hopefully we will choose something other than pop
I guess that feels more positive