The UK's Eurovision Revolution: Poised For A New Era? | Eurovision 2024 Documentary
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Is the United Kingdom on the path to success at the Eurovision Song Contest? And what will it take to get there? Eurovision fans reflect on the past, share their thoughts about the future.
Featuring:
David Arnold
@ESCTom
Harry Briffa
@lauravision2791
@ReeceChambers99
@ShanesEurovisionReview
Narration by James Martin
X: @jamesmartintvr
Instagram: @jamesmartinentertainment
Music Credits:
"Cinematic Dramatic" by AleXZavesa
"Summer Walk" by Olexy
"The Epical Trailer" by Dmitrii Kolesnikov
Follow me on social media for even more:
X: x.com/97_Hayden
Instagram: / eschayden
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00:00 Intro
01:59 2022
04:14 2023
05:30 Hosting
09:27 2024
15:00 BBC More Serious
Almost every year, I always thought Britain was gonna pull out of Eurovision altogether until Sam came along.
I hope his success and the show in Liverpool would give the UK its first win since 1997.
I'm 100% here for the suggestions of sending bands or branching out genre-wise. Something indie, alt-rock or shoegaze-y would be fantastic - I've been desperate for Wolf Alice to represent us since they changed their twitter profile to Maneskin back when they won. The UK also has so many other music scenes to take advantage of - Jazz, Soul, R&B, DnB.. would love to see something along those lines.
for me, one thing to bring out more enthusiasm to Eurovision for the UK viewers is to re-hold televised national selection show, but unlike they have never done before. best example as inspiration is Finland. after three disappointing results (NQ in 2017, 25th in 2018 and another NQ in 2019), Finland restructured their national selection show UMK and made it a good format as we know today. the submission, the filtering of the submitted songs, the promotion, the creative freedom and the staging; Finland does them very well. and the result? mostly positive (100% qualification rate since 2021, two consecutive top tens in four years, consistent high quality of songs). it even becomes a legacy of its own.
I did a video making a similar argument actually a few months ago. ua-cam.com/video/aS2Hzqvy9Qk/v-deo.html
100% quali rate since 2021. woah! what a big sample size
@@zo7034 it is not that big because there are fewer data since the revamped NF began in 2020.
0:40 hey! I actually love the UK’s entry from 2015!😅
Amazing documentary by the way, very interesting to hear the opinions and expectations of Brits for their own country! I do hope the UK keeps doing well at the contest, maybe also with some other genres of song, like indie rock or maybe something more local!
It wasn't mentioned in the video, but another genius idea the BBC had was putting a meet the artist special during prime time on the day Mae was announced. Previously, they would relegate them to the red button. I think they should continue that.
I think next year will be key, but for the first time ever, I'm hopeful about the UK at Eurovision.
ah yes, good point!
such an underrated channel! keep slaying girl
Thank you so much!! 😀
UK should continue to support Eurovision and to seek talent and good songs. Well put together document and good commentaries. But first and foremost learn from I wrote a song episode: a good song needs strong vocals.
Excellent video as always!
Some very sensible points made all round and I think I agree with almost all of them!
I think the last one sums it up - the conditions for getting good results are there but we need to persevere, hold our nerve and not let a bad result throw us off.
I may have said so before so apologies if I'm repeating myself but it's not unusual for countries to get drastically different results from year to year. Israel went from NQ in 2022 to third place in 2023 and Finland went from 21st place in 2022 to second place in 2023. In the other direction, Greece went from eighth place in 2022 to NQ in 2023 and Serbia went from fifth place in 2022 to 24th in 2023.
I do like the idea of sending Bollywood or something really radical. As I've probably said before, experimenting and trial and error is the only way we'll find out what works.
And to add further to your point, UK went from last 0pts in 2021, to 2nd/jury winner/highest UK points ever in 2022.
Thanks to for your comment which I included in the video. I agree that it was just a misfire as opposed to a lack of effort or anything like that.
@@ESCHayden of course - I was just highlighting examples from other countries :)
It took me a second to recognise my comment but I do remember you asking me for permission to include it - thanks for that!
Just wondering - have you tried to bring this video to the attention of the delegation? I feel like the comments here would be useful to them.
It wasn't always the songs or the singers from UK and Ireland as there were worse songs went into the final that shouldn't. Its the voting and countries voting for neighbours .
I can’t get the idea out of my head that we should experiment with sending a Welsh-singing entry. One of the disadvantages the UK has always had is not being able to tap into the voter base who appreciate ethnic performances sung in uncommon languages, because our language is the default for most of the world. But what if we sent a traditional piece of Welsh folklore? Or a trio band which sung in English, Welsh and Gaelic? Something like what Norway did in 2019 and they won the public vote because people LOVED the joik singing of that male singers. I’d love to approach a Eurovision employee with this idea but I don’t know how.
I did a video about that actually ua-cam.com/video/xDseOQCOhO4/v-deo.html
Wales entered Junior Eurovision twice singing in Welsh. First time came second last. Second time came last.
The song should be excellent and performed by an excellent singer, regardless of the language it’s in. A minority language does not necessarily mean it will score well and many people overseas associate the UK with English.
@@mjq3555 Those songs were considered outdated by most though, and S4C controlled that participation, not BBC.
@@cstiles1579 Plus, if there is concerns about accessibility, why not just have most of the song be in English with one really impressive welsh verse! Like Norway in 2019 or Armenia this year! Low risk, but adds some flavour.
I think we should have a National Selection. One where every nation of the UK is represented. 4 nations = 4 semi-finals. Each semi final will have 6 artists with 3 going to the final. We can have genres in Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Folk, Indie, Rock, EDM, Opera. And have a mix of well known / unknown artists to bring in viewers but also an opportunity for lesser known artists to get seen.
I like this idea in principle, but this would never work. All nations would vote for their own and an English entry would win convincingly every time.
Not necessarily. @@Anonymond2024
You think that a predominantly English UK public that has historically voted for joke entries, would realistically consider a serious entry in a regional dialect??
@@Anonymond2024 Yes. Most of the people who would watch it would be ESC fans. And if the quality of songs is high, then there wouldn't be a "joke entry" to vote for.
One thing you completely didn’t address about Sam Ryder’s success in this documentary was the fact that it was also a hugely political vote in 2022 due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The UK government was a vocal key ally for Ukraine, providing huge military support during the start of the war in 2022. As a result, many countries rewarded the U.K. with 12 points, including Ukraine… who ultimately went on to win the contest also because of the support given as a result of the war. The country under attack won, and the country that supported Ukraine the most came second. Yes Sam was ALSO a great artist… but there was more to it than just that.
i'd agree with your point in ukraine, but the uk? maybe from ukraine, but your average bulgarian or portuguese wouldn't have even considered that when choosing who to vote for. also, poland was another big supporter of ukraine at the time and they finished around mid-table. any goodwill to the uk probably made mininal difference to the vote.
I'm still treating this with caution simply because I remember between the years of 2009 and 2012 we produced a good song, a bad one, a decent one then a forgettable one. It really depends on next year at this point.
I think we do need to send music from across the genres we have such an indie and rock scene which i fill has been underrepresented in Eurovision. Wet Leg, florence and the machine, wokf alice, royal blood and soem others along that line would be great 👍
Hannah Waddingham is the best presenter of all time.
Sam Ryder's hype carried over to 2023 and will carry over to 2024 because people have seen that it is possible to do well at Eurovision with a great song and performance. The backlash to Mae Muller's poor performance in 2023 has made it clear that people will not accept anything less. Lee Smithurst is the best thing that has happened to the UK at Eurovision in a long time, and I hope that he is appointed Head of Delegation or Assistant Head of Delegation, and that the team is supported by the wider BBC to find another great entry.
Lee is back on the delegation for both ESC and JESC. Thank goodness!
@@ESCHayden The BBC were much quieter about Mae Muller than the BBC were about Sam Ryder the previous year. They knew, for the first time in years, that Sam had the potential to win and wanted to shout it from the rooftops and promote him heavily, while they were clearly less confident in Mae’s chances (to do well, not win). They didn’t mention her by name in their end-of-year report. Fingers crossed Lee will sort it out for 2024.
@@cstiles1579 I don't think that's completely true. They promoted Mae a lot before Eurovision. I Wrote a song was on the main Playlists for radio 1 and radio 2, they put a meet the artist special during prime time on BBC 1, and I believe they had the song play on Eastenders. They certainly were confident of a good finish.
And even after the result, they're still featuring her on TV and Radio.
@@kierancrossland9956 I disagree. I expect most what you mentioned was part of the deal for the label. However, many people involved directly with the UK at Eurovision expressed confidence in Sam, both on fan podcasts and on the news. After Eurovision 2023, the BBC mentioned Sam but not Mae (by name) in their summary report. The difference was large, and the BBC did not offer Mae the Strictly Come Dancing slot to promote her album.
@@cstiles1579 But they did offer her a guest spot on the Graham Norton show. Which is probably just below strictly when it comes to BBC 1 shows.
Obviously. They were going to be more confident in Sam because he was a favourite from the moment he was announced. Whereas, Mae would've finished low top 10 at best. But the BBC were still pretty confident in her before Eurovision.
Why doesn’t the uk start a festival to determine the representative so that we can see who’s the best 😊
In an ideal world yeah, that would be great. But artists probabky wouldn't want to do it rn, and would the British public make the right choice? I mean, they don't have the best reputation for doing so.
Honestly, I'm going to assume that Sam Ryder's success was a fluke until we get a similarly good showing.
Also worth noting that he did great in the jury vote, coming 1st, but only came 5th in the public vote. I don't think the anti-UK bias is anywhere near as strong as some would claim, but I do think it exists to a small extent.
Ultimately, I think we're always going to do badly, peppered with the occasional good showing like with Sam Ryder, Jade Ewen, etc, until we manage to get a big, current name in. As one of the 'big five' we have high expectations, but we just don't come up with popular songs. If we didn't automatically qualify for the finals we probably wouldn't even get there in most recent years. Not a has-been, not someone nobody has ever heard of. A big name by itself isn't enough, I agree, but a popular British artist will understand the market and what can do well better than a board can, and their fame/talent will obviously help too.
If the UK broke up, would England do better than Scotland or Wales? I assume England would inherit the UK's Big 5 position after the hypothetical break-up, meaning England will still be an AQ while Scotland and Wales take part in the semis. Ireland would also be united in this scenario.
Presumably, though it's all very unlikely atm. Welsh independence has nowhere near enough support; Scottish indie has gone down slightly (albeit still the strongest of the 3 countries) and they can't hold a referendum anyway. And the NI government aren't even in place, so nothing can happen there even if there was enough support for a united Ireland.
BBC's organisation reminds me of a Hollywood production.
BBC is europe's Hollywood
Terry Wogan poisoned UK entries for decades.
Terry Wogan was an idiot, followed by another idiot racist called Graham Norton, claiming that the useless British songs sent were top notch instead of all the other songs, while other songs actually ranked high on the Eurovision scoreboard, and on the actual charts while the UK entries were cancelled and forgotten
@@CT-2507he belittled the contest for decades, which made the U.K. public also view it as a joke.
I love this documentary!
I’ll never understand Terry Wogan’s approach to his commentary which in the end became quite nasty and borderline xenophobic, which was ironic as the UK was sending utter utter crap. As someone has said here, it poisoned people’s minds into thinking Eurovision = mocking and crap.
The British Eurovision selection shows towards the end of the 2010s were an embarrassment with regards to production values (this is the BBC for God’s sake). This did nothing to redeem the image of Eurovision.
I think it became that no one cared who the UK would send, it would bring in the ratings on the night regardless.
I thought Sam Ryder was amazing (and it’s not my kind of music at all) especially with the electric guitar solo at the end, that was just WOW.
I am concerned that it was just luck that year, and not really masterminded as a genius move. It gives me France 2021 vibes where they did exceptionally well that year and have struggled since. I am concerned this will be the same for us. I desperately want to be wrong and hope that this is a turning point for the BBC. I think even they were surprised how much the UK got into it and the move to broadcast the semi finals on BBC1 proves that. I hope it’s not a temporary move.
Moving JESC to BBC2 concerns me as to their commitment to Eurovision, feels like a downgrade.
I know this won’t be a popular opinion but I’m not sure I liked this year’s Eurovision, I feel it felt a little cheap and soulless. The stage was so meh and the colours were a little 2008 for my liking. Loved the presenters though but it was just another Eurovision that felt like every Eurovision has felt since 2016. There was no local flavour (be it British or Ukrainian). I’d love to have different stages every year instead of different versions of the same stage.
I'm positive about the future, just look at Junior Eurovision.
The problem isn't that Britain doesn't take it seriously, they take it too seriously. To do well in Eurovision the performance needs to be either 1.Unintentional Kitcsh; or 2.A catchy uncouth party song; or 3. Sweden. For some reason we all want Sweden to make a new ABBA, so Sweden are allowed to take Eurovision seriously.
Britain normally has no ethnic accent or kitschy euro flavour to their acts. Britain has calculated pop. Britain thinks like a hard-nosed pop producer and sends a lot of conventional safe bets. Other times they send intentionally kitschy stuff. Eurovision hates that. What made Sam Ryder stick out was this bubbly lumberjack of a man with this morphed self-awareness who sang this weird song with large sections in falsetto. Pretty kitsch stuff. Proper Eurovision.
I'm going to be doing a video over the summer about the UK.
I think UK just didn't want to win, because with music capability of UK, they could win every year
This year: gay guy with a message of peace & love.
Wow. Original.
Dizzy is not above peace and love. Not that kind of love anyway.
So the new era lasted for one year. Back to the usual rubbish in 2023.
I really struggle to understand why you all talk about a """"new era""""" after literally ONE good result and a flop the year after because BBC sent a useless singer with a useless song called "Instead I wrote a flop". Then what kind of era are Sweden and Italy living? Lol
Because it was more than just about a result. While IWAS didn't score so well, it was still way better than many of our past entries. And as also brought out in the video, the BBC have shown they're taking Eurovision more seriously in other ways too.
@@ESCHayden ""more seriously "" = choosing the cheap version of Elettra Lamborghini with a shitty song and a shitty exhibition. Literally Mae Muller's album was a flop, her upcoming single after IWAS flopped, and IWAS was a flop itself but carried the whole hype brought by Sam Ryder. Yeah, you're surely living a """new era""", especially now that Tap Music ended its partnership with BBC 😂😂😂😂😂 oh and about "better than others" I'd rather listen to Surie's "Storm" all day long rather than a single listening to that horrendous, out of tune, vulgar and cheap performance of 2023
couple of months have passed, and i remeber how the hosts couldnt keep the audience calm after maes performance i suppose they cheered cus shes bad smh she struggled to sing otherwise everything was on point
@@visokilogramiif you watch any of the videos taken from the crowd, You can hear the crowd singing along. Maybe it was mostly down to it being the home entry, but the crowd seemed to enjoy the song.
@@visokilogrami I don't understand this argument. It was the home entry, so people supported their own country, like they did with "Brividi" in 2022. But in Turin, people from other countries were telling UK Eurovision fans that they wanted "Space Man" to win, and the UK fans who went yearly to ESC said they had never seen anything like it before.