Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

BBC chose internally Olly Alexander for United Kingdom at Eurovision song contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. Olly himself told the news on December 16, 2023 during the final of Strictly come dancing, and the song Dizzy was premiered on March 1, 2024. The music video was shot in mid February in Tbilisi, Georgia.  Oliver Alexander Thornton (33) is an actor, singer and LGBT+ activist. He was the singer of Years & Years before the band ended its journey by 2023 it being already more or less Olly's solo project since 2021. As Years & Years they released three studio albums (two #1s, one #3) and five Top-20 hits including #1 King . For this blogger the most familiar hit is Dreamland with Pet Shop Boys though. Other collaborations include Tove Lo , Elton John and Kylie Minogue (twice) Besides music Olly has a successful acting career going on since teenage years and has been nominated to various awards over the years. Besides movies (13 so far) he has done theater and musicals on s...

Ebu made the painful but sensible decision not to let the 2023 Eurovision song contest be held in Ukraine, the 2022 winning country due to ongoing Russian aggression and full blast war that seems to not be ending anytime soon sadly.  When the speculation started immediately, or even before their win, many broadcasters and countries stepped in line more or less seriously to have it from Italy to Poland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain but the Ebu decision fell on BBC and United Kingdom, the historical back up country and this time also the runner up with the official announcement on July 25. By then most every UK city has expressed its willingness to host Eurovision 2023: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Brighton, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Sunderland and Wolverhampton.  This will be 9th time United Kingdom hosts the contest: 1968 London, 1977 Wembley/London, 1982 Harrogate, 1998 Birmingham after...

James Newman, United Kingdom's 2020 Eurovision hopeful has now released The things we do EP that collects all his four songs released this year starting with his entry My last breath and followed by Better man and Enough , and finally Alone. All quality tracks and one can only hope BBC will call him up again for 2021 and he's willing to do it with better luck this time, and hopefully with even better song that My last breath is!

Kim Wilde has been around since 1980 and sold 10 million albums and 20 millions singles and has had her ups and downs, and has had her own gardening show in television and has hosted radio programmes. Rleased 14 studio albums, scored 7 top-10 singles in the UK and one US #1. And she's still going strong with her latest album Here come the aliens released this spring. She tours Europe and is a household name most everywhere thanks to classics like Kids in America , Cambodia , You keep me hanging on , You came , If I can't have you ..... I have been a fan since 80's and still think it wouldn't be too late for her to do it, should BBC go internal.... Below is her smashing pop anthem Pop don't stop - it even clocks 3'00..... Kandy Krush and Birthday from the latest album prove she's still got the perfect pop formula in her. 

BBC hosted it's first national final since forever and six acts took the stage. No frills simple staging for everyone and a lot of weak vocals. In the end the best vocals were by Joe and Jack, and Karl did well, too, but the rest.... A bit surprisingly Joe and Jake then won it, too, with You're not alone. Here's a photogallery by EurovisionJack on the spot. Enjoy! Bianca didn't win Darline should have won..... ...Karl had good vaocals but meh song Matthew James was meh altogether Måns was there So was Katrina who was boombastic with her Love shine a light ! Moments before the results.... The End.

BBC is revealign their six entries this morning. And the first one is Joe & Jake , two 20somethings from The Voice with You're not alone . Next is ex-girlbander  Bianca with Shine a little ligh t , co-written by Leona Lewis among others. And then we have  countryesque  Dulcima with When you go .  Ex-bad Boys Inc frontman Matthew James next with A better man . I'm liking this...... Fifth one is Darline with Until tomorrow . My fave so far by far! 18 and 20 years country girls with guitars. Love. It seems the last one is Karl William Lund with Miracle . It's the Melodifestivalen reject sounding one. All fans go crazy now! For the time being to listen the songs go here or here

Compromise. Not a pretty word. That's what BBC is doing. Add OGAE and you will end up a total mess. Ask YLE. Finland involved OGAE members and various juries in the selection and ended sending Edea in 1998 leaving Jari Sillanpää home and his song is an evergreen today while Edea? Or the song.... And again in 2000 Nina Åström won without being anyone's favorite and is today a totally forgotten one while Anna Eriksson  wnet on to win OGAE Second chance and is totday a megastar and what to say about  Nightwish ? A true missed chance.  So, good luck BBC and prepaire for the worst. Ok anyways, the procedure is that 45 OGAE UK members divided in five groups of nine will each review 60 song and pick up their personal top-5. Actually this might be the saving aspect of this method. As a smaller group of persons hear only a smaller group of songs. Then each groups top-5 is sent forward so there will be 25 most likely heavily compromised and melodifestivalized songs to dea...

UK has just announced they will be having a large scale song hunt for the Eurovision song contest 2016. I am hoping also The Shires will hear the call and have a song ready. Pretty please? The Shires or Ben Earle and Crissie Rhodes is a British country duo and even if I'm not a huge country music fan maybe the European touch makes their music more likable? They are also the very first British country act to be signed by a major Nashville label. Their debut album Brave was released this year and went to #1 in the UK country charts and has provided five singles so far. Funnily the were formed about the same moment The Common Linnets were.... Who was first? Ok, they are not as similar as it might seem at first glance..... Below is State lines . 

BBC has revealed more information on the selecting process for their 2016 entry for the Eurovision song contest and OGAE members have a key role (so, Brits and fans alike can only blame themselves is they don't hit success this year! Clever!) OGAE is the world's largest independant Eurovision fan club founded in Finland in 1984 (this blogger was the member no.15!). The UK branch alone has around 1.000 members while there are over 40 national clubs today.  The submission of anyone over 18 (and not 16 like in the Eurovision generic rules state) will be accepted until November 20, 2015. Then BBC will use the help of the OGAE UK to shortlist the songs. Also BASCA (The British Academy of songwriters, composers and authors) is called in to join the fun. The shortlisted demos will be then presented to a special panel that has the final say of those that will get to be the final group of songs that the puclic may choose their winner for Stockholm 2016. Hugh Goldsmith (linked to At...

No more internal selections. BBC will have a X Factor like talnt hunt to find the represent for Stockholm 2016 Eurovision. Up and coming axts can submit their original tracks for BBC, a pabel will chose the finalists and the ultimate say is given to the tv viewers.  The BBC's Guy Freeman: "This year really will be the biggest song search for Eurovision the BBC has ever undertaken. With input from key industry figures and fan associations, plus with the public having the final say we are looking forward to seeing a true People's Eurovision entry representing the UK at next year's competition in Sweden." So, after many many years the Brits can onlly blame themselves if they bomb again..... 

Lucy who? Lucy Rose is an indie artist whose music has been played in various tv-shows and ads, and if BBC wants to go for something different and fresh she might be the one. She reminds me of Finnish-French duo Eva & Manu at times and that's only positive in my books. Her second album released this year made it to #9 in the UK charts. She's cute and likable somehow, with good catchy songs. What could possibly go wrong? Below is one of her songs but check more here , there's plenty of good stuff! 

EBU has finally revealed its way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Eurovision song contest. A specila concert will be held in London on March 31, 2015 in Apollo Hammersmith. It will be hosted by Graham Norton and Petra Mede so it's not going to be too serious for sure! The first confirmed artists to appear are reigning Eurovision Queeen Conchita Wurst, the Swedish winners of 1984 the Herrey brothers and french Natasha St.Pier, 4th in 2001. More acts will be announced as soon as the deal is done. And surely there will be surprises so most likely all of them won't even be known beforehand (publicly at least) so let the rumour mill beging! Jan Ola Sand commented: “Over the last 60 years, the Eurovision Song Contest has become a true European institution that has led the way in TV entertainment. We are delighted that the BBC is launching our diamond jubilee celebrations with this special event and that TV viewers from across Europe and beyond will also get to enjoy it too...

The rumours about Geri Halliwell representing the United Kingdom in the coming Eurovisin song contest 2014 in Copenhagen have been all over the internet for weeks if not months already. Certainly she hasn't done anything to stop them, on the contrary. If chosen - or it seems rather if she accepts the job - she kind of continues the BBC trend, The Hump was big in the 70's, Bonnie in the 80's and Geri along with the Spice Girls in the 90's. In a couple of years BBC might give us something from the 2010's if we are lucky.... Anyways, Geri would be just taylor made for Eurovision in many ways. She could have an instant pop song, fabulous over the top staging and a house hold name in the most parts of Europe. And a lot of adoring (gay) fans, likable and funny enough personality to keep the media busy and entertained. The only excuse and fear she might have to face and not to accept the job is the possibility of bombing in Eurovision (too). But as her come back with ...

Out of nowhere comes Spicy Geri Halliwell 's comeback with Half of me . Would BBC have a half of sense to consider her for Eurovision 2014? Isn't she after all taylor made for it? Hungarian hipster ByeAlex is back with Csóró itt minden han , another brilliant song that won't maybe open up with the first hearing but has some haunting qualities.... French Guéna LG features one of my favorite Danish voices, Bryan Rice in Stay awake . Quite fantastic club anthem with a nice retro vibe and of course, Bryan's vocals. Me likes! Cher is back with a new album and apparently it's filled with uptempo disco numbers but then there's also I hope you find it . A tender ballad, showcasing once again what a great singer she is. I wish she did this kind of stuff more, like the good old days of Dark Lady ....

It's been confirmed! The british media is going wild with the rumor it's Bonnie Tyler (61) representing UK in this year's Eurovision in Malmö. Born as Gaynor Hopkins and owing her youthful looks to biannual Botox injections, as she credits herself, she scored her first world hit with It's a heartache in 1977. Songs like Total eclipse of the heart and Holding out for a hero are her biggest hits from her Jim Steinman produced albums in the early 1980's that are among this bloggers favorites. The entry is apparently called Believe in me and written by American Desmond Child who needs no presentation.... Bonnie + Desmond promises very good things... it's almost like getting Cher to do Eurovision! Ravishing ! Update : Just to prove she is still somebody somewhere, the news about her were online in Finnish media within an hour after BBC. The only other Eurovision 2013 related news to get any interest has been Tony Iommi's link to the Armenian song........

Pet Shop Boys continue their Eurovision talk. Neil Tennant said in a BBC interview: "British artists - Elton John or David Bowie - have not traditionally wanted to do it because they think it looks too crass. But now reality television is possibly even more crass than Eurovision. So I think the winner of X Factor should represent Britain. The timing is perfect. And you will get the A&R input, either good or bad, that goes with that. The BBC have asked us a couple of times if we'd be interested in writing a song for Britain's entry. Our feeling about it was that if we had the right song then we wouldn't be embarrassed in giving it to them." Read the whole thing here . Well, their new album is coming out and all publicity is good but words like Eurovision, crass and embarrassment don't go very nicely together in a fan's vocabulary...   Despite that, if you wish to have a prelisten to their new album   Elysium you can do so here tonight a...

I knew it. I have always thought it's just a matter of time (even if their time is slowly and sadly passing by) but Pet Shop Boys have been already asked not once but twice by BBC to write (and not perform?) the UK entry for the Eurovision! And judging Neil Tennant's words it's something they are still considering once the right song comes along. All this was revealed in an interview where the boys talked about their new album Elysium out this month and the new single Winner . Neil tells: "The song was written during and after the Take That tour last year. Every night we would leave the stadium and Take That would come on singing this song they had called “ The Greatest Day ”. Chris said, "Why don’t we try writing a mid-tempo anthem?" We finished it off in the autumn, but the truth of the matter is that, from my perspective, I was thinking about the Eurovision Song Contest. The BBC have twice asked us to write the Eurovision entry for Britain and ...

"I would go to Eurovision. Totally." told Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters on BBC Radio Five live. "If I was asked I would gladly do it for you. I'd be happy to! " So, after BBC asked Jason Donovan and apparently Hurts this year and ended up wwith Engelbert Humperdinck and 25th place, maybe they should not look any further than this. Scissor Sisters would actually be pretty perfect for an Eurovision stage, especially in Sweden. They might be American (but so is Katrina of The Waves) but they call the UK their spiritual home and have a following in Europe. This could also be of course only a publicity stunt as their new album Magic Hou r hits the stores this week.... The latest single is Only the horses and other hits include  I don't feel like dancing , Any which way and  Fire with fire . They could surely stage one Eurovision cliches filled 3 minutes! In a good way...

Time to gossip a bit. There's a rumour BBC is aiming big this year and two Mcs are in the running; McFly and most of all Joe McElderry. This blogger is first to admit I am not familiar with either of them at all but apparently both are big. Joe McElderry is a gay singer-model who won the X Factor in 2009 and Popstar to Operastar in 2011. Doesn't that sound like a match made in heaven for Eurovision? His hits include UK #1  The Climb , Ambitions and Someone wake me up . His latest is Andrea Bocellis' Sanremo track Time to say goodbye . (Maybe he better stick to English as language tho). And here's Solitaire  and a bit more opera .   McFly has been around since early 2000's and can claim seven UK #1's to their credit (even if it's five years since the last, Baby's coming back . Their latest effort is That's the truth . The mcFly boys have been also busy in reality shows. The drummer Harry Judd won Strickly come dancing and guitarist Dougie Poynter ...