She’s the West End star known for her roles in Legally Blonde and Rent. And it seems Lucie Jones now has her eyes set on conquering the universe — and Eurovision 2017 — following one of the most spectacular rehearsals we’ve seen thus far in Kyiv.
The X Factor alum wasn’t remotely intimidated by the stage, nailing note after note and run-through after run-through inside the International Exhibition Centre. Her performance starts with her singing inside an enormous mirror shard that resembles a glass seashell. We see her reflected on each side, mirroring the fragmented “madness” she sings about in her song.
? @LucieJones1 #ESC2017 #Eurovision ?? pic.twitter.com/xNAa1ouZSO
— BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision) May 5, 2017
Stars soon start to shine. But we’re not talking about cutesy five-pointed ones. We mean the tiny dots that you see when staring into outer space. The song’s ethereal quality comes through in a stunning galaxy of gold that shoots out from Lucie and the giant LEDs. The cameras zoom way out and are set at an angle that gives the sense of an infinite space of stars shooting out from the stage and its undulating ceiling ornament and into your living room. It’s hard to describe, but it’s absolutely stunning.
Eurovision can be won in a moment — think Jamala’s tree — and Lucie definitely has a moment of her own. At the climax of the song the stars seem to explode right out of her. It’s a big universe, but during these three minutes she’s the brightest star of them all.
This may very well be the UK’s best staging ever. And Lucie is certainly one of its most competent and engaging performers in a very long time.
United Kingdom — “Never Give Up On You” | REVIEW AND REACTION
United Kingdom — First rehearsal preview
Lucie Jones press conference
An fascinating discussion is price comment. I think that it is best to write extra on this matter, it won’t be a taboo topic but typically individuals are not sufficient to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
I have faith everyone will get behind the U.K., lucie is a credit to what British acts need to be, she needs all the votes and really deserves it. I’m proud to be British and know lucie will deliever everything to gain the Uks glory back.
Come on lucie. Europe she needs all your votes please get behind a great song. You won’t regret it
#London2018 #escwinner
TOP 5
I have had faith in this song since the first listen, even before You Decide aired. Melodies and gimmicks are great to flippantly grab attention but when the lyrics are on point, it resonates with a person’s soul. (For example, I showed a friend, who isn’t necessarily a Eurovision fan, Lucie’s national final performance and it brought her to tears!) Being a Brit, I am usually biased AGAINST us as it is more than fair to say our delegation has either been out of touch or half a**ed winging it for longer than a decade. But this is stellar! The… Read more »
This was MAGICAL!
I love the staging, the warm colours, the stars exloding, how beautiful Lucie is in this dress. Simple, without even shoes, she gives her soul to this song!!
I also love the trick with the mirrors. She’s singing and we see her reflection as the song progresses!
However, maybe it’s too dramatic! It reminded me of Edurne in 2015! In this case, though, U.K. is more minimal than Spain 2 yeas ago!
She is so great. I watched the UK contest and fell in love with this song. Its great they changed the speed to normal as it was when it first aired. It was too fast in the Graham Norton show. You are the best. Good luck UK! One of my favourits this year – placed it above Italy actually!
> take a look at Svala from Iceland at the Moldovan Party. Slaying it! Another song.
https://youtu.be/FDYSrNuFrlo
Very nice! 7 points from Germany!
12 points – Italy
10 points – Sweden
8 points – Netherlands
7 points – UK
Valentina Monetta’s Maybe meets Sanna Nielsen… Lol
Yes, I knew it, I simmply knew it when I heard this song for the first time that this song and Lucie has potential, well done!
I hope she puts flowers in hair like she did at London pre-party, she looked beautiful there, like a fairy 🙂
She’s one of the best vocalists, but in that department, she’ll be blown away by the Netherlands, I think… The song isn’t particularly strong either. Good staging (a bit of a golden shower effect, though), good vocals, mediocre song… i’m keeping it as my number 3 of the big five, i expect it to finish 15-20… France and Italy will rank higher. UK is quite close to Germany and 0 pts for Spain. Ukrain might be struggling for points as well…..
She’s no Dami Im for god’s sake. Her vocals are fine but not the powerhouse vocalist that can bring the song to another level. She should be thankful for the staging.
Why so hostile? I don’t think anyone is trying to say she IS Dami Im. The point people are trying to make with the comparison is that she could have a similar MOMENT with this. At least that’s what I meant. This song didn’t really impress anyone before but it comes to life on stage. And while Lucie is a different kind of singer, I thought her vocals sounded stellar and everything came together beautifully.
The person who replied 14 minutes earlier said that she could be this year’s Dami Im. I think hh just didn’t directly reply to Arc!
On that point, she is not Dami Im and not the strongest vocalist but hey, this is a great step for the UK, however she finishes in the final.
Definitely could be this year’s Dami Im! So happy UK’s back in the game after so long.
I’m impressed with this snippet. It’s great that this helps focus on artist work yet remaining graceful visually.
Regardless of ballads numbers in final, If UK will run in first half that could help them fight for left side of scoreboard.
I really doubt that. Last year the bookies believed the great reactions in the press room and they moved up to near top 10 on the betting odds. However, they still finished at the bottom 5. I think they will do better than last year but not top 10.
I definitely agree that that’s what happened last year. But the reaction to Joe and Jake was not anything like “this is top 10” or “this is now my personal winner”. Wasn’t it more like “This is the best staging of the Big Five” and “this is respectable”? And that didn’t mean much cause last year the Big Five’s staging as a whole wasn’t great. Top 10 is a bit of a stretch at the moment for Lucie but I’m just curious to see how it looks on camera because maybe that will get the sceptics on board
best staging of the year ?
Let’s not go overboard here!
The staging is great yes, but the song is still boring and bland. We have songs like this every year. U.K is the leading music nation in Europe, they can do much better than a bland generic ballad.
There’s no way this will be top 3, or top 5. The staging will help it but don’t see it reaching top 10.
And yes, blame Brexit all you like when it fails once again!
But the BBC isn’t the leading music production company in the UK. The BBC specialises in news, baking and things with Gary Barlow.
That is the most entertaining comment ever on this site!
I am STILL laughing!
And it’s not even a 100% UK song, one of the writers was Danish. But I reluctantly agree with you Denis because a load of international voters will be saying the same thing. And who can blame them, people in the UK are always bleating about how good the music is here when in fact there aren’t many prominent people in the music business who understand what it takes to win the the contest. So I agree, place 15-19. That would still be a step up.
Brilliantly executed. I love the concept. Its classy and modern. It’s like she’s a satellite searching the vast of space and never giving up on hope that there’s someone else out there.
My Top 6 for Automatic Qualifiers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXDyoUHRhY0
Let me know what yours are!!
I’ve always thought this could be a dark horse and now it definitely is.
Wow! The rehearsal sounds and looks great!
Every time I asked for something more and now they finally delivered: the staging is really cool and adds to Lucie’s beauty. Her singing was always flawless but they needed something more than just standing there: now it is s concept. They should be proud of this one.
Good job !
It’s a tough year because there are so many songs that deliver really strong vocals and/or cool concepts. I hope people vote for this one, UK deserves some love, maybe they will not give up on the EU 🙂
If the UK gets a decent running order on the night (song #10-19) and isn’t between Italy, Portugal or Bulgaria, and slays the vocals (given Lucie that isn’t much of a task I mean have you heard her?) Then this could be a potential top 3 if not a winner.
Good but don’t go overboard.
It’s definitely moved up for me but I still see it more as a 10-15 placed song. I think they have done all that they can for her with the song and the staging but I don’t think she’s a top ten singer at Eurovision, still!
i’m slayed.
Simply stunning! Best of luck to Lucie, I really wish UK reaches at least the top 10 this year.
I love how many of my long-time underrated favorites, like Finland, Austria and UK are now doing really well in press polls, proving why I had faith in them all along!
Indeed. You should definitely apply to be a Wiwibloggs correspondent next year. 🙂
Yes!!! This is amazing! A huge surprise from the UK!! Lucie vocals are powerful and beautiful. 🙂
Wouldn’t it be ironic if the UK did well at Eurovision immediately after Brexit?! Haha!
Considering the breakdown in actual diplomacy between the UK and the EU, I wouldn’t be surprised if Eurovision is now being used as a means of cultural diplomacy in order to restore relations- so now the UK will do well in the contest just to keep good relations with Europe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qZgEEbkYjs
But the thing is, we’re leaving the continent and the ESC has countries like Switzerland and Norway who aren’t in the EU and also countries like Australia and Israel who aren’t European respectfully.
I can understand people’s thoughts, as I myself voted to remain, but like I keep telling people, we’re not leaving the continent,
Well, UK top five
… I might overdose on glitter after watching this.
… But amazing vocals, I have to say (was talking about the LED animation).
well i think this is goin to be the wild card.the one to watch out for.i think most middle aged folks will vote this .as well as jury votes.my top ten as follows…
12- itaily
10- portugal
8- belgium
7- sweden
6- bulgaria
5- united kingdom
4- france
3- estonia
2- fyr macodonia
1- serbia.
I can honestly say now if she performs this well on the night and doesn’t get top 5, she will have been robbed. Never thought I would say that. What a nice surprise!
So many ballads and look who got the attention.
I’m very happy for Lucy Jones, I thought the British delegation would give her an average staging like last year and she would end 24th. That’s not going to happen!!! I think she could be this year’s Dami Im.
The jury usually puts 2-3 ballads in the Top 5. Bulgaria, Finland, Portugal, Poland, N’lands, Australia…’d better watch out.
But the televoting though…
In a year where a lot of acts seem to have made some questionable choices with staging, the UK look like they’ve pulled it off here. The song simply isn’t engaging enough to be a serious contender but it looks fantastic, and they should certainly be finishing higher than what Electro Velvet or the two lads last year managed.
I’m surprised the bookies are unmoved by this, the UK this year are JURY BAIT. Hopefully the current political climate won’t be reflected ( :’D ) in the televote (or the jury for that matter). Lucie is firmly in my top 5 now, and we’ve yet to see any camera angles!
OMG she absolutely slayed! I’m in shock! Go on Lucie!!!!
They should do what they do in football and enter separately as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In this case they could at least compete with each other for the bottom 4 places.
it’s a great idea. UK always complains about not having neighbour voting for them anyway.
Just imagine those songs in Welsh and Gaelic…
Wales is actually taking part in Eurovision Choir of the Year.
🙂
Really lovely staging for Lucie which elevates her song. Bravo UK, happy that you’re powering your game.