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.
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.
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.
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
“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!
@@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 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
It's just irritating seeing that in any given year there will be multiple UK artists topping the charts, multiple UK artists with top billing at music festivals of every genre, and UK artists names popping up when talking about new genres and trends in music. Then you switch on Eurovision and get a paint by numbers pop song performed by a reality TV contestant. The UK isn't the only country that doesn't send its best, but it's the most egregious example.
@@fehzorz I think that’s that the problem, the uk music industry is far bigger and significant than Eurovision. So the best will never touch it because it’s more of a hinderance. It’s not like Ukraine or Latvia or other countries where Eurovision is a huge opportunity to showcase them. For uk artists appearing on Eurovision doesn’t help them. The ones who do represent us are either rolling the dice or aren’t good enough. It’s an attitude problem that will never change
@patter4795 the UK should send acts outside of pop (rock, hip hop, etc.) - the kind that may want to do a european tour anyway - instead of D list popstars. It removes the problem of it being embarrassing if they dont win, funding, and doing Eurovision could be novel for those acts careers.
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.
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'm a Brit. One of my favourite bands is Lord Of The Lost, German's entry this year. Obviously they got no points, but they didn't care. They've got a loyal fanbase. When the singer asked if they'd do it again, he said he'd love to. No points didn't bother him, he enjoyed the experience. I love that attitude
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
He's a sweetheart but his performance was not likable at all. He clearly has a good voice but it didn't work for that particular song and it all sounded very unpolished and weird. The song is not bad but it's definitely something that would've been released by Lost Frequencies in 2014. There was absolutely no way for him to compete with some of the strongest songs we've had in ESC in the past 10 years.
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.
@@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 😅
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 can honestly just say that Olly maybe tried to follow the stereotype of Eurovision to "implement lgbt aspects in the perfomance", but he really went too far with that. It really felt those men from performance would really start doing that activity, which is out of bounds for me and should not be casted on television.
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.
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.
@@injuringchip3161 they would be able to fund the preseason and good staging (those acts tour Europe anyway), and it wouldn't matter if they didn't win (because there's the excuse that it isn't pop). The UKs Eurovision entry could be a chance to test whether an underground or alternative music style has mainstream appeal - do for entire genres what Eurovision does for individual artists
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.
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.
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
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.
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)
20:40 i mean TECHNICALLY svt should be totally ad free but for some reason they allow ads in big scenarios such as mello/eurovision, the euros and world cup, the summer and winter olympics and certain ski competitions. probably to relieve the taxpayers and get more out of public service, which i applaud them for even though i really hate the ads, but it is nice to know that the world cup and the euros etc are always gonna be available to watch for free as a swede :/
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.
@@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 completely understand why the UK can't send Charli XCX or Ed Sheeran or Coldplay etc., but why can't the UK send its top artists outside the realms of pop music? If Bring Me The Horizon don't win Eurovision, it's not embarrassing for them (understandable that a general audience wouldn't necessarily vote for them), but it makes the night much more interesting.
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 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
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.
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 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
Say what u will about That Sounds Good to Me - but the hook has lived rent free in my head for 14 years whenever someone says the title in regular conversation 😂
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.
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.
Thinking about what Gabe said about BBC Radio 1...I struggle to comprehend why on earth the BBC is sitting on the pool of talent that is BBC Introducing and not making use of it. BBC Introducing is generally at festivals (the largest being Glastonbury), so these are new artists who are already being prepped for big stage work, are actively demonstrating live vocal talent and stage presence and some of them are just INSANELY talented. Surely there must be some artists who work with BBC Introducing who would love the opportunity Eurovision provides? It seems a no-brainer to me but good judgment has never exactly been the beeb's strong suite.
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.
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.
I still remember The Darkness were meant to represent the UK back in 2007 (But no, the UK have picked Scooch instead...), which is a bummer because you have yet to have a rock band representing the UK and historically, Britain always deliver great rock acts from grassroot bands to established bands. Italian Eurovision winner Maneskin even kept prying the UK to bring a rock act during their Interview with BBC.
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.
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 really don't know why, I don't have any relation to the UK whatsoever, but every year except 2024, it's my guilty pleasure. I cannot fathom so many last places 😭
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'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?
In our opinion the problem with oli Alexander was the staging. Eurovision in my opinion is a familyshow. But 2024 i wanted to cover the eyes of my children many times, and uk was one of them. From the german view: yes estabished artists will never compete because everyone will raise an eye on them
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.
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!!!
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.
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.
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
Hahahaha I love how similar I am to you regarding the 2018 entry. I didn't care one bit for Storm and I am one of the least patriotic people you will find. But after the stage invader I genuinely wanted to wave a flag especially after seeing how Surie came back from it! Regarding the future - I am not sure we'll ever sustain any consistent positive performances whilst tethered to the BBC. I also hate how year on year people blame the rest of Europe for our poor results. Our results are poor because we put barely any effort into the competition. Why can't we put on regional contests open to professionals and amateurs like other countries do culminating in a live final? This will also drive interest in the competition too and may prompt regions to get behind their representative.
It feels that most countries have their acts start with signing their songs a capella, and then producing them, while in the UK the trend is to produce something and then try to wedge a voice into it, hence no one realizes that these "pop singers" can't actually sing. That is basically the case of Sam Ryder (a capella singer) versus Mae/Olly/James (pop singers).
As a Spanish Eurovision fan the same happened to Spain after 2022. After the 3rd place that Chanel got in Turin many Spanish ESC fans thought that Spain would win Eurovision with almost no effort and after we flopped in 2023 many ESC fans in Spain went back to say that Europe hates Spain and that no matter what we send we will never get a good result when literally in 2022 we scored 459 points and got a 3rd place. (Also Spain should have won ESC 2022 by far.)
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
SVT is a public service network, like the BBC. If they can make exceptions from the rule of taking sponsorship money for live crowd events like sports tournaments and Melodifestivalen, why wouldn't you be.
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.
When you talked about UK participation in 2015 it sounded like you were criticising them soo much that I almost dropped a glass of water, also what does the geneva convention has to do with this can you or someone explain this to me or is it just of an example of how you can bring drama to eurovision 6:53
This last YT video I watched (before this video) was about the US Presidential Debate. This video is about the UK at Eurovision. What does the US Presidential Debate and the UK at Eurovision have in common? They are both an absolute disaster and I think it would be very difficult to defend either one
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.
I will also happily defend Lucie Jones but no the staging wasn't good. It was focusing on mainly her big voice instead of the feelings and themes of the song.
![All Winners of Eurovision Song Contest [1956-2023]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/V5bu_lZMb8E/mqdefault.jpg)
![All Winners of Eurovision Song Contest [1956-2023]](/img/tr.png)
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.
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.
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
@@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 !!
“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 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
It's just irritating seeing that in any given year there will be multiple UK artists topping the charts, multiple UK artists with top billing at music festivals of every genre, and UK artists names popping up when talking about new genres and trends in music. Then you switch on Eurovision and get a paint by numbers pop song performed by a reality TV contestant.
The UK isn't the only country that doesn't send its best, but it's the most egregious example.
@@fehzorz I think that’s that the problem, the uk music industry is far bigger and significant than Eurovision. So the best will never touch it because it’s more of a hinderance. It’s not like Ukraine or Latvia or other countries where Eurovision is a huge opportunity to showcase them. For uk artists appearing on Eurovision doesn’t help them. The ones who do represent us are either rolling the dice or aren’t good enough. It’s an attitude problem that will never change
@patter4795 the UK should send acts outside of pop (rock, hip hop, etc.) - the kind that may want to do a european tour anyway - instead of D list popstars. It removes the problem of it being embarrassing if they dont win, funding, and doing Eurovision could be novel for those acts careers.
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
Electro Swing slaps
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
Spain's 2024 song was an absolute banger and I won't hear a bad word said about it
I'm a Brit. One of my favourite bands is Lord Of The Lost, German's entry this year. Obviously they got no points, but they didn't care. They've got a loyal fanbase. When the singer asked if they'd do it again, he said he'd love to. No points didn't bother him, he enjoyed the experience. I love that attitude
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 ❤
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
He's a sweetheart but his performance was not likable at all. He clearly has a good voice but it didn't work for that particular song and it all sounded very unpolished and weird. The song is not bad but it's definitely something that would've been released by Lost Frequencies in 2014. There was absolutely no way for him to compete with some of the strongest songs we've had in ESC in the past 10 years.
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 😭
😬
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 😂😅
@@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 can honestly just say that Olly maybe tried to follow the stereotype of Eurovision to "implement lgbt aspects in the perfomance", but he really went too far with that. It really felt those men from performance would really start doing that activity, which is out of bounds for me and should not be casted on television.
Oh yes, bring on the icebergs for the sh*t show that was Eurovision 2024! 😁
coming out as a still in love with you defender as it is my 3rd place of 2015. it's just a bop
BANNED
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.
I remember hearing Tiny Riot by Sam Ryder for the first time and thinking:"Yeah he definetly should go to Eurovision"
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.
@@injuringchip3161 they would be able to fund the preseason and good staging (those acts tour Europe anyway), and it wouldn't matter if they didn't win (because there's the excuse that it isn't pop).
The UKs Eurovision entry could be a chance to test whether an underground or alternative music style has mainstream appeal - do for entire genres what Eurovision does for individual artists
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.
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
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.
Not this video being how I find out the UK is pulling out of Junior Eurovision 😭😭 WHY?????
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
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.
new gabe video, please thank you
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!
20:40 i mean TECHNICALLY svt should be totally ad free but for some reason they allow ads in big scenarios such as mello/eurovision, the euros and world cup, the summer and winter olympics and certain ski competitions. probably to relieve the taxpayers and get more out of public service, which i applaud them for even though i really hate the ads, but it is nice to know that the world cup and the euros etc are always gonna be available to watch for free as a swede :/
I honestly would love to see a Scottish or Welsh entry join Eurovision for the UK
Here I am again nearing the start of the Eurovision season praying the UK sends something half decent
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.
becky hill for eurovision!! especially seeing as some form of drum and bass can do well in the code!!
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 completely understand why the UK can't send Charli XCX or Ed Sheeran or Coldplay etc., but why can't the UK send its top artists outside the realms of pop music?
If Bring Me The Horizon don't win Eurovision, it's not embarrassing for them (understandable that a general audience wouldn't necessarily vote for them), but it makes the night much more interesting.
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
I disagree completely with Gabe's view on electro swing but as a fan of the genre, I wasn't a fan of this.
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.
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 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
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.
What we need is an act that's more geared to live performance instead of the radio.
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. :)
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 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
We need charlie and troye for esc 25
Say what u will about That Sounds Good to Me - but the hook has lived rent free in my head for 14 years whenever someone says the title in regular conversation 😂
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.
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.
Thinking about what Gabe said about BBC Radio 1...I struggle to comprehend why on earth the BBC is sitting on the pool of talent that is BBC Introducing and not making use of it. BBC Introducing is generally at festivals (the largest being Glastonbury), so these are new artists who are already being prepped for big stage work, are actively demonstrating live vocal talent and stage presence and some of them are just INSANELY talented. Surely there must be some artists who work with BBC Introducing who would love the opportunity Eurovision provides? It seems a no-brainer to me but good judgment has never exactly been the beeb's strong suite.
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.
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.
For a second I imagined Charli XCX at Eurovision, and then remembered she hates singing without auto tune, or at least that was true a few years ago.
Why do I feel like Arctic Monkeys (when they were younger) could’ve actually had a chance lol
I still remember The Darkness were meant to represent the UK back in 2007 (But no, the UK have picked Scooch instead...), which is a bummer because you have yet to have a rock band representing the UK and historically, Britain always deliver great rock acts from grassroot bands to established bands. Italian Eurovision winner Maneskin even kept prying the UK to bring a rock act during their Interview with BBC.
I do nort understand the hate electo velvet gets because the song is 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.
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
2010 2012 and 2013 are all such a guilty pleasures for me
What's next for the UK? Say his name and he appears, I believe in Joe Hendry.
I really don't know why, I don't have any relation to the UK whatsoever, but every year except 2024, it's my guilty pleasure. I cannot fathom so many last places 😭
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'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?
tfw when i, an electro velvet defender for life, have to witness a brit's opinion on it 😭😭
In our opinion the problem with oli Alexander was the staging. Eurovision in my opinion is a familyshow. But 2024 i wanted to cover the eyes of my children many times, and uk was one of them.
From the german view: yes estabished artists will never compete because everyone will raise an eye on them
I wonder if Gabe will break down Australia's Eurovision selections someday.
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.
Everything you said was true and accurate. That downfall after Sam Ryder was just sad. Im rooting for a UK win, but i think they are cursed a bit.
2016 and 2017's uk entries would've done better in a different year (assuming they got the same ammount of points)
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!!!
I loved blue i was so excited getting the left side of the board
superb review and analysis
Thank you!
Electro Swing is great wdym
Is there a way for songwriters/artists to apply for UK?
they gotta take the dnb note from nemo! it's ur culture it could be so good
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 NEED CHARLI TO REPRESENT THE UK MY GRANDMA WOULD BE SO PROUD
WHAT THE FUCK?? MAE’S HIGH NOTE ATE
yeah yeah okay, how about the uk sends GABE for eurovision.
I'm so sad The Uk didn't brought up Bob the Builder in the grand final to perform Can we fix it.
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.
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
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
Hahahaha I love how similar I am to you regarding the 2018 entry. I didn't care one bit for Storm and I am one of the least patriotic people you will find. But after the stage invader I genuinely wanted to wave a flag especially after seeing how Surie came back from it!
Regarding the future - I am not sure we'll ever sustain any consistent positive performances whilst tethered to the BBC. I also hate how year on year people blame the rest of Europe for our poor results. Our results are poor because we put barely any effort into the competition. Why can't we put on regional contests open to professionals and amateurs like other countries do culminating in a live final? This will also drive interest in the competition too and may prompt regions to get behind their representative.
It feels that most countries have their acts start with signing their songs a capella, and then producing them, while in the UK the trend is to produce something and then try to wedge a voice into it, hence no one realizes that these "pop singers" can't actually sing. That is basically the case of Sam Ryder (a capella singer) versus Mae/Olly/James (pop singers).
Also lucie jones 15tb was respectful
As a Spanish Eurovision fan the same happened to Spain after 2022.
After the 3rd place that Chanel got in Turin many Spanish ESC fans thought that Spain would win Eurovision with almost no effort and after we flopped in 2023 many ESC fans in Spain went back to say that Europe hates Spain and that no matter what we send we will never get a good result when literally in 2022 we scored 459 points and got a 3rd place. (Also Spain should have won ESC 2022 by far.)
Children of the Universe is great? Can't see it myself.
Is there going to be Junior Eurovision Content?
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
Can't wait! 😊
SVT is a public service network, like the BBC. If they can make exceptions from the rule of taking sponsorship money for live crowd events like sports tournaments and Melodifestivalen, why wouldn't you be.
There’s an exception written into law in Sweden that doesn’t exist in British law
@@escgabe Oh right, I didn't know that. Maybe time for a petition?
@@escgabe
Time to amend the royal charter to allow it, could fund the new national selection🤔
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.
When you talked about UK participation in 2015 it sounded like you were criticising them soo much that I almost dropped a glass of water, also what does the geneva convention has to do with this can you or someone explain this to me or is it just of an example of how you can bring drama to eurovision 6:53
Gabs what’s your opinion on independent entires from all UK member states, wales and Scotland have more musical culture than England 🫣😭
Not possible because of EBU rules - would also open a can of worms and potential for bickering with Spain (Gibraltar)
This last YT video I watched (before this video) was about the US Presidential Debate. This video is about the UK at Eurovision. What does the US Presidential Debate and the UK at Eurovision have in common? They are both an absolute disaster and I think it would be very difficult to defend either one
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.
You didn't send littel Mix to ESC
I will also happily defend Lucie Jones but no the staging wasn't good. It was focusing on mainly her big voice instead of the feelings and themes of the song.
Please the UK send Lauren Mayberry to Eurovision, she will do an amazing job 🥺❤️
My problem with I Wrote a Song is that parts of it sounds a lot like Mika’s Yo Yo, a far superior song.