What Next for the UK at Eurovision?
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- 2022 was meant to be a revival for the UK at Eurovision, but have we delivered on our potential since then?
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Ireland took the risk this year and were greatly rewarded. UK should follow suit.
I can't imagine the UK ever sending something that unique AND good. If countries are taking Ireland's success to heart, we might see Eurovision entries get greatly more interesting in the future. I am rooting for that.
this video made me realise a lot of the uk entries just... arent built for performance. i look at the crowd energy in songs like rim tim tagi tim and could not in a million years imagine that for dizzy. its the kind of song you chill out in your bedroom to, or hum along to on the radio, y'know?
(also i'm an electroswing fan but 'still in love with you' feels like a kidsbop parody of the genre. like they saw it was popular in 2015 but didnt know why.)
That comment about ‘Still in Love with You’ was almost word for word what I said to my friends. We still turned up in Vienna wearing lots of neon, but I found it genuinely offensive that they thought that was a reasonable song to submit, let alone send.
Potentially unpopular opinion but I think UK needs to follow Spain’s example and organise a proper, diverse and well produced national selection.
They also need to promote the hell out of the song that wins, not just in UK but throughout Europe. This is one of the reasons Sam did so well and Mae and Olly failed. Sam was promoted throughout Europe. Mae was only really promoted in the UK and Olly had next to no promo.
Yes, Olly was really, really enthusiastic about being picked, but I can't remember seeing much after that, apart from an interview with Graham Norton. And then a mention at one pre party, just becos protesters were heckling. Then at the Turquoise Carpet, which was late by then. Who was helping him with publicity? Did they let him down?
Slimane was on French telly on New Year's Eve. All of Croatia was dancing Rim Tim Tagi Dim and there are countless different shorts of Silia and Kaleen showing their dance moves.
@@ar50000And not to forget, even the German NDR, the National Broadcaster with the worst Track Record at Eurovision managed to competently promote Isaak in SNS. I was getting Ads for Run Un Ah Äh and constantly had News Articles about Isaak playing on the Street in some German City in my Feed, and I didn't even like the Song. And in the End, all of our fellow (partly) German Countries except for Belgium gave us Points, leading me to believe that this Coverage in German Media had Reach into these Countries, through I do admit that Germany had the very big Advantage of having it's Points bolstered up by Israel this Year.
Apropos: That's something I see far too few People talk about. Can we please talk about how obviously politically natured Israel's Votes were.
(I was not in the Anti-Israel Mob btw)
Sam Ryder's result caused the BBC and Eurofans in general to have unrealistic hopes/expectations for the UK. The idea of the UK becoming a powerhouse similar to Sweden or Italy is utter delusion.
No one has heard of him anymore.
Yeah for real. We are very much similar to Spain. The trajectory seems to track
To do that they need a much bigger selection process that's important locally.... like Sweden or Italy. Spain has started that with Benidorm. And the goal shouldn't be to win in any particular year but to finish on the lefthand side of the scoreboard as often as possible.
I never understood why people suddenly thought the UK were a big contender and one to wat h out for. Germany had it's moment in 2018, and look at how well that translated into the years since.
The UK has had more wins than most in the contest, and we certainly could get back to a good place, but we have to select better artists. We have many, but for some reason we never send our best in recent years
i’m not a children of the universe defender, i’m a children of the universe STAN that’s my favourite song we’ve ever sent 😭
Saaaaame
what does "STAN" mean?
@@Beckford4000 a mega fan. Basically a fanatic - it's from an Eminem song about an obsessive fan called Stan.
@@Beckford4000 it basically means super-fan !!
I think the Uk needs to stop sending mid pop songs. Also we take it far too seriously, and it destroys artists. I wish we could send something fun and unique. I think we have to realise that it’ll be an uphill battle for us to win Eurovision, so why don’t we send stuff that’s enjoyable and fun. like the Armenian entry this year. Imagine sending something we can all sing and dance along with. It would be brilliant. We might not win but who cares if we create something which has a positive reception and is enjoyed by fans
like Scooch?
@@LynneConnolly you can send a fun song and be nothing like Scooh, they did that genre all wrong
I’m sorry, Electro Swing should be “banned”???
Gabe, I agree with pretty much everything you say on this channel, and I am probably the last person to defend Electro Velvet in 2015, but please give some *actual* good Electro Swing a go, like French band Caravan Palace (i highly recommend their singles like Reverse, Mirror, Lone Digger or Wonderland) or Italian band Swingrowers.
I love Caro Emerald.
Electro Swing is not my preferred genre of music, but Caravan Palace slaps.
Caravan palace are so damn good electro velvet shouldve learnt from them
The Japanese duo Fake Type also makes really fun electro swing
Parov Stellar are pretty good too.
I was so scared for SuRie, I would have probably screamed and jumped off the stage if I was in her place. She was so brave and professional ❤
The “postcards” with artist’s introduction flashed way too quickly, wish they were on screen couple seconds longer
Yeah, I always have to go back and pause to be able to read all of the points on them, every single time :/
agree, I went back and paused to read!
Its incredible how similar my country Spain's recent Eurovision history is to the UK's, both had bad placements starting in the 2010s, then found a bit of success during the decade (UK in 2011 and Spain in 2012 and 2014), then completely sucked in others (UK in 2019 and Spain in 2017) as well as underrated entries (UK in 2014 and Spain in 2019). But then finally found the podium after so much time in 2022 with UK ending up in 2nd and Spain in 3rd. Both have a bright future even if 2023 and 2024 were bad for both, and we shall wait for our long waited victories! 🇪🇸❤️🇬🇧
I was agreeing with you until Spain 2019
Spain 2016 or Spain 2015 was better than 2019
“That Sounds Good To Me” is the first song I think of when it comes to bad Eurovision entries, followed very closely by “Butterflies” from the SAME YEAR. They never leave my brain!
the first one i think of is the swiss song from that year!
the fact that butterflies song made it through the semis is an absolute disgrace and we really should talk about it more
@@Georgie-M the fact that butterflies replaced the much better far away is an absolute disgrace, also why did the band go from an emo rock song to a ballad
I think Daz Sampson "Teenage Life" (UK) and the horrific "Do it for Your Lover" from Spain (I don't remember the guy's name). As well as "Leto Svet" (Estonia). Strangely though, I don't mind Dustin the Turkey's "Irelande Douze Points" 😀
Oh yes, bring on the icebergs for the sh*t show that was Eurovision 2024! 😁
Where dizzy lost the points was as my bf said. It was trying too hard to be "shockingly gay" while zorra also was being "shockingly gay" but it had a certain class to it while Dizzy felt like it was using somewhat stereotypes to portrait that.
I love the song and still listen to it all the time, but I hated the sex in public bathroom that looks like the one from Saw staging 😂😅
I loved Dizzy and I loved the "in your face" staging. The reason you think Zorra was classy and Dizzy wasn't, is that people still find gay sex threatening. So, when the gay guys are prancing around in heels (Zorra) they are non-threatening and that is the stereotype of gay men (camp, like wearing women's clothes, act like women, a girl's best-friend). Whereas Olly's performance reminded people that gay men aren't camp (admittedly Olly is) but the dancers were masculine and you could imagine them f*cking Olly ragged. Nobody could imagine the dancers from Spain having sex. Olly's performance was this year's Paul Oscar (Iceland, 1997). Spain 2024, Belgium 2023, Australia 2022 are prime examples of stereotyping gay men. Olly did more for gay male representation this year than any of those queens did.
@@Beckford4000 I somewhat agree, but it's not appropriate for a TV show advertised to families to allude to somebody being potentially "fucked ragged", as you say it. That goes for some straight performances in the past aswell. Honestly, I liked neither performance - Spains just felt like fetishization, and the UK went too far. Sure, homosexuality in media tends to shy away from rougher portrayals and we need those, but that doesn't mean we need dry humping on stage 😭
I can't believe I'm using the "family show" argument. I'm mostly on the other side of that (like people saying Aikos outfit in the rehearsals was too sexy or distracting - like are we seeing the same outfit guys?!) but in this case I agree for once 😅
Yes, Ollie ended up very dizzy after doing whatever he was doing in that moving toilet.
I think Olly was going too niche to get enough people to vote for it in all countries. Even if it were to come, say, 14th and not last in a country, that doesn't get you points. I think the staging was fun, but the song was very medium and didn't stand out.
I found James Newman to be such a sweetheart and I really liked his 2020 song, so I was excited for his 2021 entry. I felt so bad for him then but he still took it like a champ 😭 nothing but kudos for that man
You touched on a demonstrable truth and pattern of success when you said Space Man was authentic to the country it came from. Italy are masters of this and France are an excellent case study too. Without wanting to get too wordy, the message is - lean into stereotypes. We can use our international image to our advantage by making our Eurovision entries a caricature of the Britain the world wants to see, not necessarily the Britain we are. But on top of that, it has to be accessible and *good.* If you lean in too hard, it becomes novelty (which could work too, punk rock palace guards on broomsticks anyone?) but done right, it's just as you say. The Elton John/Queen vibe, to pick one example, will go down much better in Europe than the Lily-Allen-talky-singing, which is more domestic.
Yes! As a German, I was so excited when we sent LotL. It might not have went well, but at least we went down with something that felt German. Just like Norway did this year (which, so undeserved, I was absolutely devastated). We probably won't be doing that again in a long while, due to the result...
i agree. Finland started sending stuff we as a nation actually enjoy in 2021, and that has felt like such a good approach for us. The Rasmus and Windows95Man may not have done incredibly in their respective years, but people are starting to vibe with our flavour of rock and wacky.
coming out as a still in love with you defender as it is my 3rd place of 2015. it's just a bop
BANNED
I heard 'I Wrote a Song' in a shopping centre here in Australia a couple of weeks ago and maybe got a little bit too excited that I finally heard a Eurovision song out in the wild 😅 The only other Eurovision song I've heard is Jessica Mauboy's 'We Got Love' but also only occasionally at the shops. (I'm not counting Rosa Linn's 'Snap' as that only got on the radio because of TikTok) Eurovision songs just don't play here in Australia, including our own, so well done to Mae Muller for making it on the radio of a random shopping centre in Adelaide 😂 (I do actually quite like that song too, but I agree with you about the live performance)
Coles radio had One Milkali the other week and I nearly fell over!
@@azazzlenic Ahh that's so cool! I'll have to keep an ear out next time I'm at Coles, though I will also probably nearly fall over haha!
10:37 I remember the moment Surie's mic was stolen and I was like: thank you, thank you, thank you.
This followed by an even bigger thank you when I heard Surie rejected eurovision's offer to sing the song again at the end, saying she was content with the first try.
Yeah cause Dr Active
Completely agree with you, Gabe, over the tendency for the UK to send this inoffensive, middle-of-the-road pop sound. I suppose we look to Sweden a lot and presume that "appeals to all" pop that doesn't really reflect the nation is the best way to win. But it's such a shame because the UK's diversity is surely something that sets us apart from the rest of Europe, however what we send always seems to be sourced from the same small corner of the country.
The UK needs a good performer who can sing live and a vocal led high tempo dance song with a great melodic instrumental hook (Europeans really love this e.g. don’t be so shy). We need someone we can also market to Europe as not just a UK entry for the competition but in a way introducing them to the continent as their next pop diva after the competition.
A very entertaining summary of the past decade plus. Pretty much agree with your ideas for the future. Would much prefer a small selection of quality acts like UMK, than (as I like to describe MESC) a monstrosity of mediocrity. And I echo your groveling pleas to the BBC to send something other than generic mainstream radio-friendly pop.
Im getting seriously worried about Ireland after watching this video. Alot of people believe their amazing result this year marks the beginning of Irelands comeback and i honestly hope it is 🙏im not even irish but i always find myself rooting for them at eurovision😅 i honestly hope they take back the crown from Sweden one day ❤️ 🇮🇪
They aren't gonna find someone like Bambie every year, but a) there's a national selection, and b) someone like Bambie made it into that national selection - so the important thing is that the avenues are open for unique, memorable stuff in the future. Think there's a better chance of them learning the right lessons from that than the bin fire of UK selections in recent years!
I remember hearing Tiny Riot by Sam Ryder for the first time and thinking:"Yeah he definetly should go to Eurovision"
Hot take, I like Still in love with you. I rooted for you in 2015.
Studio version was okay but the performance was terrible.
@@BleedingEdgeOfProgress Yes
new gabe video, please thank you
As a German, I know how hard it is to be a fan of Eurovision for the home country while the national broadcaster gives shit about it. The last 3 Songs of the UK were decent. At Sam Ryder everything worked. at Mae Moller it were mostly her voice that didnt made up for it and this year Olly were too much of everything. I felt more molested and turned off by all that sexual movement then the singing or the song. the Song were a typical English Popsong and surely a bit more vocal work wouldnt hurt then it would slammed. But the hole concept were more like "lets sell gay Sex aggresively and add spinning so people feel dizzy". If they just copied the Music video ideas on to the stage i think the song wouldve worked better.
I want Rina Sawayama at Eurovision!
We all want her, she is incredible artist but I just think that uk isn’t that loved country in competition like Ukraine, Italy and Sweden
@@famemosterrrrr what does that have to do with it
@@FeeESC it means that even if they send the best artist or song they will not be as loved as the countries I mentioned. If "I wrote a song" or "dizzy" were by Sweden they both have been in the top 5
@@famemosterrrrr tell me you are a new eurovision fan without telling me you are a new Eurovision fan. Dizzy is not a GREAT song, it didn't chart well in the UK. The Italian, Swedish and Ukrainian song were all popular in their own countries BEFORE Eurovision. A songs success in its own country is often an indicator of how much success in will have abroad. Secondly, how do you explain Greece being a 'loved' country in Eurovision up until like 2013. They were unstoppable in the 00s. No one started hating Greece after 2013 all of a sudden as a country, their system became stale and that's why a flop era started for them. Russia is prolly one of the most hated countries ever in Eurovision. They did great. So y'all should stop just coming up with shit. Is the jury biased towards Sweden bc of the fact that Sweden is the pop factory in the world and they like what they produce? Yes. But these countries do the best because their systems are arguably the best.
@@famemosterrrrrUkraine Italy and Sweden are loved in the competition because they always send great songs. If the UK sends a great song they can join them, easily.
I will say:
If we sent Dave, Stormz, or Sims, we would do well
If we sent IDLES, TLDP, or Wet Leg, we would do well
If we sent anyone from any of the genres we are currently seeing explode, we would do well
So naturally we aren't? Why? Look at Ireland and Croatia! The witch and farmboy will live on as well remembered figures in the shows history, even outside of their countries, because they dared to change it up. We need some of that.
Controversial but I really liked our 2020 song, My Last Breath. I feel sorry for James Newman, because I think it was much better than Embers.
Finally someone who thinks that. It’s a decent song.
I do nort understand the hate electo velvet gets because the song is SO GOOD
As expected great takes from you Gabe! For me, the result we got in 2023 did not matter one bit because the ultimate goal of that year was for us to take advantage of hosting and get the public properly back on side with the contest, which we ABSOLUTELY did (I mean, 4 songs in the top 10??? loads more in the top 100?? that's incredible). Finishing 25th wasn't ideal, but the fact that the British public found songs they genuinely loved was amazing to see (I heard people at school talking about Kaarija 5 minutes before my Biology GCSE exam ffs!!). The main thing was to get a half decent result in 2024, and by that I mean top half at a minimum. Did we go for it? Oh yes we did, but we also paid the price for it, and whilst 18th is still better than most years and Dizzy is WAY better than 99% of songs we've sent this millennium, we seriously need to change tack on our pop centred focus. i don't count ballads as pop because there's FAR less emphasis on production, which is only a good thing for eurovision, and so for me next year my realistic hope is that we get a ballad in (because i am VERY doubtful that the bbc will even go near anything else, as sad as that is), or rina sawayama (yes i'm delusional). and as for the nf, if we do end up doing one I really want to see something similar to what yugoslavia used to do, where each regional section of the bbc would submit a certain number of songs of their own into one big nf - that way we're FAR more likely to see a cultural song not from an english artist and from someone from scotland, wales or NI.
becky hill for eurovision!! especially seeing as some form of drum and bass can do well in the code!!
i think the uk is going through an r&b girl group revival and artists like Flo and Say Now have both the domestic and international fanbase to have a leg up at ESC, a song like Walk Like This or Bitch Get Out My Car would be great
Not this video being how I find out the UK is pulling out of Junior Eurovision 😭😭 WHY?????
Argh!! I'm feeling attacked - in addition to Electro Velvet I really liked SuRie's Storm as well! 😭😅 I have a personal tradition of disliking our entries, but those were the standout ones that were the exceptions to the rule over the past gawd knows how many years.
Amazing video Gabe, I was so excited for it and it did not disappoint! However, please can yo7 show text slides (like at 10:14) for a few secs longer pls, it’s unnecessarily challenging to be able to get our hands to the screen and pause it by the time it leaves if we want to read it. Great otherwise though, keep it up!!!
Basically: how do we replicate Eurovision 1994-1996 in terms of blasting the actual music industry into the contest?
Edit: in a way the GB Song Contest from 95 to 99 actually did a pretty good job of being some form of pre-UMK NF.
I've heard Mae Muller saying that she don't usually do choreography, which in term put a strain on her voice. So yeah I agree that whoever goes to eurovision should be able to sing live,
and I do think Olly did a decent job, he's very expressive with his body while singing. Perhaps the UK should take a note from Ireland. They took a big chance with Bambie Thug and it payed off.
1:18 A certain country singing Set me free is much more ironic
Well, it was about her treatment as a black Ethiopian woman in Israel.
superb review and analysis
Thank you!
Can't wait! 😊
I honestly would love to see a Scottish or Welsh entry join Eurovision for the UK
I think Graham Norton could/should get involved and do some sort of selection on the "Graham Norton Show". Hey, it worked for Ireland this year. :)
I love Electro Swing and cannot stand the Still in Love with You slander. Is it really that bad?
Dizzy did worse with televote, because of a bunch of factors. First, the songs that do qualify from the semis are all televote qualifiers, second both semis this year had a bunch of televote friendly songs, third Israel did whatever it did to get the second spot in televote ( which in my opinion was unfair, but that is a discussion for another time). Therefore Uk was not that bad in order to receive zero point from the overall audience.
I loved blue i was so excited getting the left side of the board
I truly believe that now that the Sugababes are back in their original lineup and touring so successfully for the last 2 years, they would be a great act to send for the UK
Absolutely not!
definitely won't be as good vocally as they need to be
In short, we need to send smaller, more creative artists to Eurovision who can also deliver vocally. A decent national final might help with that
I think the problems began way back to 1999 when the language rule was dropped. The BBC didn't know what to do since they lost the advantage of being the few countries to sing in English, an advantage they had for 22 years. Ireland is included in this advantage as well, and Malta improved significantly in 1975 and in the 90s and early 00s when they switched all their entries from Maltese to English after placing last twice in a row in 1971-72. The BBC and the general public gave into the notion that "Europe hates the UK, it's all political, and that's why we do terribly," even though it was more the BBC cheapened out when it came to entries. They stopped selecting any popular contemporary artists and stopped taking risks. Well, I don't think they took many risks in their Eurovision history, but I digress. Ever since the UK's "crash" in 2003, the BBC just started throwing things in the wall and hoped that something stuck. They got lucky with Jade Ewen in 2009, Blue in 2011, and Sam Ryder in 2022, but everything else the BBC sent was failure for mostly sending either utter garbage, or middle of the road cardboard. Finally, they don't promote the entries outside of the UK, like at all. Can't you give the artists some money to travel Europe and promote their song.
Here are my reason each entry flopped (or somewhat messed up):
2010: The BBC thew Josh to the wolves with that song AND those backing vocalist
2011: Blue messed up in the jury final, but they still succeeded with the public due to their popularity. Under the current system, they would have placed 8th.
2012: BBC cheaped out and got a very non-current artist participate and chose a random song. Song is fine, but not for Eurovision.
2013: Same as above
2014: Great entry, but unfortunately it was clear she was inexperienced. Also, bad staging.
2015: Electro Velvet had ABSOLUTELY no chance with that song AND backing vocalist. It was the first entry I saw live that was cringe. Under the current system they would have been last.
2016: Good chaps, but the song was a nothing burger.
2017: It's a great entry, but the timing was poor. Here's my hot take. Sending a song titled "I'm Never Giving Up On You" right at the height of Brexit negotiations doesn't put the song in a good light.
2018: I was there live when in Lisbon the stage invasion happened. Everyone was just shocked. Utter props to SuRie on how she handled it. Still, the song was cardboard.
2019: Great vocalist, terrible song. Also, this song was written by John Lundvik, who was participating AT THE SAME TIME as Michael Rice for Sweden? It was a pay to win move that failed spectacularly.)
2020: The Coof. Song was meh.
2021: James Newman is a good songwriter and decent singer. However, "Embers" did not fit him at all. If he used a another artist, it might have gotten points. However, that double nul points was the kick to the nuts the BBC finally need to wake up.
2022: Ukraine. (He was my winner 😞) First song in a VERY LONG time where a song actually gave me hope.
2023: BBC support or promote Mae at all. The nerves got to her, too. She couldn't sing the song she was given live, and the performance was a hot mess. Shame, as it's still a bop.
2024: Crashing expectations with a MTR song, below average performance that was only about two degrees away from being considered soft-core pr0n version of Saw: Boxer Power Bottom Edition.
Thank You for reading my TED Talk.
I NEED CHARLI TO REPRESENT THE UK MY GRANDMA WOULD BE SO PROUD
i am an unapologetic You're Not Alone defender. Something about that repeating guitar riff in the back is sooo good. It's budget Coldplay sure, but it's my budget coldplay
yeah yeah okay, how about the uk sends GABE for eurovision.
Gabe not the reanimated corpses 💀💀💀
Also, no shame, I love Embers and still listen to it 👀
the song was decent in studio but the staging was awful and his vocals weren't suited for the song
me too 😁👀
A national selection with a public vote would, at the very least, pick something that might hold up in the ESC televote. But that national selection needs to be pretty open rather than only shortlisted by the BBC shirts that have selected such safe, middling garbage in the past. Could you ever see a Baby Lasagne or Bambie Thug even being uncovered and shortlisted here? National selections are only pointless if they're a cheese board made exclusively of mild cheddar.
Sam Ryder was clearly an exception, and the creative input experts you mentioned were what put the shine on it - 2023 and 2024 were flawed, committee-led art from the outset. Nobody - particularly given the standard at ESC now - is going to gravitate to these kinds of song. And we do need to prioritise the song rather than an artist whose face 'fits'; other countries are sending anthems, while we are sending album tracks.
And if we don't have the money for a national selection? I honestly think the Beeb could pick the first maverick that sends them a demo tape, hand them over to experienced creatives to handle the staging, and half of the time it'd do better than much of the dreck we've sent recently.
12:19 I work at a sports retail store in the United States and they play that song all the time on the store radio 😭
nah i am an electro velvet defender and i don't even like electro swing as a genre
i would LOVE to see a proper NF from the UK, something like UMK would be great and id love to see inclusion of a range of genres instead of just pop, the UK needs its metal lmao
also imo itd be cool if it was set in one particular city, like with sanremo or benidorm fest, liverpool fest would be sick!!! :D
I get why so many people dislike the 2010 entry, but the studio version is actually one of my fave UK entries ever 😭😭. The performance flopped ofc, but the song reminds me of the Golden Girls intro and I love it 😭
Electro Swing is great wdym
Honestly what uk needs to do is either leave Eurovision or just double check the vocal abilities of the artists they send. Sam will be the only best result if they are keeping making the decisions they make.
If you send a boring song (let's be honest, "Dizzy" was just really...mehh?) then do it at least with a singer who can sing live. And I am saying this as a German who was not a fan of *our* song initially because it was a really generic pop song. BUT Isaak sang the hell out of it and gave it his all while Olly could not hold one note - I am sorry but my ears hurt after that performance and the staging also didn't help 😅
Rina, Leigh-Ann Pinnock, JADE, but also looking towards acts such as Royal Blood, London Grammar, Alfie Templeman - we can either continue down the Capital FM pop route or engage with R1 as mentioned in the video, and i think that's more likely to pay off. Acts that aren't household names generally, but ones that could be bumped up to household names with a top 10/5 result.
Please the UK send Lauren Mayberry to Eurovision, she will do an amazing job 🥺❤️
Nowadays I don't decide if I like or dislike a eurovision song until I see a live performance of it. Mostly I prefer infinitely the live performance of it. Dizzy is an exception, incidentally.
I think the UK is held to an unfairly high musical expectation at Eurovision. It kind of falls victim to being a major music exporter.
Tbf we don’t help ourselves by sending stuff that is overly trying to be high standard.
I think that's what's keeping them from sending something risky. It's not that people are unfairly saying the UK entries are boring - they are high quality, but mostly boring. It's that the people responsible feel like they can't send something innovative and out there in fear it'll ruin their reputation of "at least being good radio pop". Maybe some of the entries would do a bit better if sent by Moldova or Lithuania (random examples), but it wouldn't save them. In my opinion.
If you send shit, you will get shit. Stop crying
I loved Engelbert's entry and thought he deserved much better. Electro Velvet's entry was okay in the studio version. And i thought Lucie Jones could have been Top 5 with the original version of the song, they ruined it by turning it into generic modern pop.
The fact is, is that our big artists are so good, that Europe's charts are full of their songs.Dua Lipa was(as I write) exceptional at Glastonbury, and it was live streamed across the world, no doubt by ESC fans. They're the people we're supposed to be convincing to vote for our song and they never do. Eurovision is the one time of the year when they want something different. Norton never mentions this 😮
So we have to send something different, send Latin, send grime, send something in Welsh, get Radio 1 involved
I _liked_ Electro Velvet! But then, I do have a broad range in musical tastes and I'm very fond of old-school jazz / Charleston type of music from the '20s/'30s and the modern retro versions of same. Caro Emerald was doing much the same kind of thing around that time ("That Man", "Dr Wanna Do"), so I guess they took a punt on it working at Eurovision. However, the fact that Germany had also taken a jazzy punt with "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" by Alex Swings Oscar Sings! a few years previously in 2009 and didn't pull it off (came 20th), maybe should have given them pause for thought. Both those tracks still cheer me up, though - sorry it's your musical Kryptonite!
I'm dreading to see what BBC do in 2025 with the recent cuts...we could seriously go backwards and not forwards as we did in 2022 (and 2023 and 2024 to some degree). I hope I'm wrong but hoping we do that a new direction and as you say untap the potential of artists that we got in the UK. We will see early next year I guess?
Also can we maybe send someone who’s not white…? The UK music scene is so multicultural yet the UK hasn’t had a non-white performer since Simon Webb in Blue 13 years ago… Some much less multicultural countries in Europe have done so much better in this regard
I do worry that part of the 'safe' nature of the UK's recent selections is picking someone whose face 'fits'. Primarily this means 'marketable pop star', but yes, that absolutely exposes it to other institutional biases.
The UK has so many cultures making music across diverse genres. If we leaned into that, we also stand a chance of finding something fresh and memorable that other countries aren't sending.
For real we’re one of the most diverse countries and that isn’t reflected at all
I think I can no longer watch your video’s Gabe… that opinion on electro swing is unforgivable😁
(I promise there’s good electro swing out there)
WHAT THE FUCK?? MAE’S HIGH NOTE ATE
How??😭 I feel sorry for her but it was a mess..
I can remember the national final 2019. I preferred Holly Tandy's country-version of "Bigger than us" over Michael Rice's version.
The moment Michael's version was chosen over Holly's, I knew the UK was heading for disaster.... again.
tfw when i, an electro velvet defender for life, have to witness a brit's opinion on it 😭😭
they gotta take the dnb note from nemo! it's ur culture it could be so good
I remember so many ordinary folk this year say ‘we almost won last year’ like Mae Muller never existed. I guess this is mainly part to Sam Ryder being so memorable.
2010 2012 and 2013 are all such a guilty pleasures for me
Central Cee for Eurovision 2025 pls
Olly Performance was terrible who Goes in a dirty shower, and people mocked it Expected for Jigsaw from saw to pop up. The televoters were right, giving them 0.
Also, I still like in love with you. This was meant to be a Gener of the great gasby what killed it was the backing singers.
Also they did get points from the jury.
Also lucie jones 15tb was respectful
Another thing to say about 2019 was that the UK entry was co-written by that year's Swedish entry, and you could kind of tell he'd kept the better song for himself... I just couldn't imagine a world where anyone would rather vote for UK 2019 than Sweden 2019.
"Bigger than Us" was the better song, he originally wanted to compete with that one in Sweden instead.
Storm is still one of my favourite songs out of Eurovision, and I still listen to it today. Not great staging, but I’ll defend the song to my dying day.
If we want to win, we need to understand in depth the peculiar nature of the ESC, its cultural backdrop and its idiosyncratic voting system.
Doomsday Blue has 3000 years of European history in it, from paganism to glam!
Uncles and grandmas from Estonia don’t know Olly Alexander or Dubstep! But they know Elton John and Queen… that what they saw and heard in Sam Ryder.
It's very unfortunate Engelbert had his song in 2012 and not 20 years earlier because while dated, I do think it's a beautiful song which I love.
Also yes. Children of the Universe sweep.
as a British person I am slightly disappointed with the songs we sent in 2023/24 but I will always respect mae and olly and how they did their best after the NUCLEAR bomb that was Sam Ryder
I’m so glad the uk still has hope for Eurovision and I pray that we sort ourselves out by next year
A very well thought out description of an underachiever. The one point I would highlight is that you need to know your audience. I actually thought Dizzy when released in the video was a left side song. However that staging was way, way, to alternative to garner any major point from any nation. Eurovision has a well deserved reputation for inclusiveness, and I myself embrace that about Eurovision and the community, but you can not shove that in the face of people who view this contest as a family friendly contest. There are countries in Europe where that staging would have been a huge turn off. It is no problem if you are homosexual or trans, but if I had one piece of advice for any performer of that persuasion, make it part of your staging, but do not make it all your staging. Nemo did it beautifully by wearing the skirt and making it part of their fashion style, and while all of us who know their lifestyle, loved it, as far as others were concerned it was just part of his costume. Having five guys writhing around a public toilet cubicle and touching themselves and each other in the way that was communicated here, leaves nothing to the imagination.
UK, you CAN fix yourself, but for some dumb reason you simply choose not to. The fanbase of Eurovision is incredibly disappointed in you.
I don't think the UK want to win and have to pay for the whole thing (apart from helping out Ukraine).
@@ar50000 they don't need to win, they just need to perform well, that's all I'm asking for.
@@resolvanlemmy But are they deliberately not making an effort for fear that they might win?
@@ar50000 I keep seeing some news articles from the BBC speculating why they keep failing, so... I think they just hate themselves or something.
I hope you send Paris Paloma! The UK needs to take a risk and send something alternative and unique like Ireland did.
BBC does not care it pays the 1/2 million in fees. submits a songs and get 4 hours of prime time tv on a sat night and filles up it weekly schedules with the semi finals. It does not want to fork out the expense of paying for the thing
Who else remembers UK's 2007 entry Flying the Flag by Scooch?🤣
kinda sad you didn't talk about pre 2010 songs because some of those were abominations (cough 2003 and 2006)
Honestly some of the events of 2024 need individual icebergs of their own, good luck my dude
Gabe, you can't slander electroswing like that without listening to trap or reguetón. I prefer Vogon poetry than any of those two genres. Sadly my neighbourhood thinks the opposite.
I want Becky Hill at Eurovision!
can we get charli xcx to write the song for next year..like simply put what we need is GOOD SONG. no impressive stage show xan save a subpar song. its not rocket science
Okay honestly i like Electro Swing though it most certainly is a marmite song, but they where put on too early, after 2020 would have been better given the resurgence of this kind of music during that period.
I wonder if Gabe will break down Australia's Eurovision selections someday.
YESSS. RINA SAWAYAMA IS AMBSOLUTLEY AMAZING!!!!!!!
The one thing I've noticed is that vocals matter a great deal these days and bad vocals can flunk a song. I honest don't care for Sam Ryder nor his song but his vocals impressed a lot of people. Mae and Olly had really good songs which I've much preferred but no one was impressed with their vocals so they flopped.
I'm so sad The Uk didn't brought up Bob the Builder in the grand final to perform Can we fix it.
Still in Love With You is one of my Eurovision guilty pleasures. Is the song objectively bad? Yes, definitely. I just love the crazy colorful vibes. Other songs on the list are 2014 France’s Moustache and Belarus’ Cheesecake. They just scratch my brain just right with their ridiculousness