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...

  Liza is a living legend and in the late 80's became among all the other things also a pop singer helped by the Pet Shop Boys, so what's there not to love? I did. Full time. Check out also

  I don't know if I can really say I've been a fa on U2 but I did enjoy listening some of their songs, the ones here and especially the 1991 release One , one of the best songs ever in my opinion. They are still around and these songs are classics.... Check out also:

  Pet Shop Boys, one of my favorite bands ever. I got onboard in a very early stage and I'm still onboard and they're still doing music I like. I have also seen them live and my little wish is to see them do Eurovision sometime soon. I think they might be amused to do it if BBC lets them..... Check out also:

Funny how James Blunt - who's latest UK Top-10 single as lead artist is from 2013 btw - comes out almost every year after Eurovision telling how he'd like to do it, like this tweet already in 2015: You have had already three years to actually take your words into action. What have you done about it? Another one out there indirectly again, Robbie Williams. Would he like to represent Russia? UK? whatever. As much as I would love to see Robbie do Eurovision  and should he win it, host it the year after, or simply host it should UK ever win it again this kind of free publicity is so cheap. And it is so funny how all websites fall for it every year. Oh yes, I'm here with it, too, but as you can see with another kind of approach.  Honestly I'd rather see Pet Shop Boys rethink and re-enter the game again....

Not even the queen of pop has avoided recording a Motown classic. Marvin Gaye releases I want you in April 1976 and scored a #15 US hit as well as #1 in Billboard Hot r'n'b/Hip hop charts, and widened his success even to a new disco era public.  Massive Attack was asked to participate in the Marvin Gaye tribute album in 1995 and was ment to record this with Chaka Khan. Various legal problems between labels led to Madonna, an origina Detroit girl just like Motown, to do it instead. They however never met but Madonna was so pleased with the finished product she included it in her own compilation album as well and released it even as a  promotional single and video. Legality problems between Motown and Madonna's label prevented the commercial release she would have wanted as the lead single off the album.... The song is co-written by Arthur T-Boy Ross, Diana's brother. Diana recorded her version of the song in her 2007 album.... Pet Shop Boys used the lyric...

Did you know Motown had alternative genre labels for Latin, Rock, Jazz and so on, including shortlived Gaiee Records, that released in 1975 Valentino's I was born this way , an openly gay anthem -  way before Village People and others? This was the very first gay related release by a major record label anywhere. Actually it took the writer four years to find someone not only to publish and promote it, but also to record it. It was an instant hit. Valentino's version was a #1 in UK Disco charts, while Bean's #15 in the US Club charts. It was remixed by Shep Pettibone in 1986 as Better Days mix and other remixes came by Next Plateau record in 1995, Pet Shop Boys in 2005, Jimmy Somerville,   DJ Gomi .... And I certain Lady Gaga got heavily " inspired " by it ..... never though admitting it really.  Magnus Carlsson released the song as well in 2008. Charles Valentino Harris, a dancer actor singer poet songwriter pretty much disappeared from the spotligh...

Pastora Soler returns with Te despertaré , and it follows nicely the power ballad trend. The video features her hugging trees, escaping waves and having black and white dreams of her man. Or something. Pet Shop Boys are back! Their latest release has been getting only good critics and it has also charted higher than any their releases the past 20 years scoring top-5s in UK, Spain, Norway, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Czech Republic and even US in Dance/Electric albums. Well done guys! Vocal is the lead single from it. Also Vanessa Paradi s has made a comeback with a new album and single Love song . It seems though that it has not been a exactly as fortunate as PSB, but.... Finally Roberto Kel Torres won the New Wave 2013 and here's his Alle lieben Berlin with all its rolling r's. Enjoy!

I have been wondering where a fine Israeli singer and songwriter Ivri Lider has gone and finally decided to check on him. He has become The Young Professional! He and Jonathan Goldstein form this electro duo that is set to become the next big thing, signed in France and already scoring hits. And they even have remixed the new Mylène Farmer track Á l'ombre ! So, one can only say things are going fine with them.... All this reminds me a bit of Pet Shop Boys remixing Madonna in the late 1980's. Even their photo shoots are clearly inspired by PSB but I have always loved and adored PSB's sense of style and image so I totally forgive TYP! And to tell the truth PSB have grown a bit tired and uninspired the last decade, maybe TYP will fill that hole? Or are they a bit too similar? Here's their new single and video Be with you tonight which is excellent, and here are TYP D.I.S.C.O and  20 seconds , 

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 ...

Surprised? This must be the song I have listened the most in 2011. Lauri Ylönen of The Rasmus fame did a solo album and the first single was Heavy , a very pop oriented song in very much the Pet Shop Boys style in all it's poppy melancholy. The PSB influence comes rather evident in the remix . Love it! It was first premiered live on TV in February and then charted for 12 weeks peaking at #2. The story continues in the follow up, In the city . And now The Rasmus will make a comeback in the UMK final in February. I will feature in this series the five songs that have marked my year 2011, the ones that made me go ooh when they started playing on radio, the songs that I sung to myself the most in my head during the year and that still I like to listen and like the most. Simple as that.

A perfect summer song and video. Have you been domino dancing this summer yet?

A video can't be much more summery than this one: shot in colorful Cuba, shots in the discos... funny how a Pet Shop Boys classic talking about the Milanese fashion trend in early 1980's mixes with Moscow nightlife on 2010's and Cuban sun. Judge yourself here . And just for the qood measure the PSB original here .

I already liked their debut Please but the second album Actually totally won me over and made me follow them until this day. It's a sin (UK #1) , What have I done to deserve this (UK #2) with fabulous late Dusty Springfield,  one of my all time favourites Rent UK #8), originally offered for Madonna Heart (UK #1) and in between released Elvis tribute Always on my mind (UK #1) made me go crazy for them. It couldn't happen here , also a title of the movie they did at the time and King's Cross are also worth mentioning off the album. One more chance was released as a single in some markets as well. These are hits that have stayed on my playlist for over 20 years by now, sometimes helped by remixes and covers, like Liza Minnelli's fantastic Rent or Tracey Horn's King's Cross from 2007. This is one of Pet Shop Boys's most succesful albums selling triple platinum in the UK 4xplatinum in the US. In Finland it has also sold over 65.000 copies, platinum.

And here it is, the number one. A total of 215 votes against runner ups 138. Teuvo Loman's cover of Pet Shop Boys New York city boy turns into Helsinki city boy. I would like to point out he's no singer and this must be a joke. Luckily his singing career was very short lived. Campier than camp itself and I refuse to believe gays like this so who does??  Just when you thought it can't get worse here's more, the English version ! Unfortunately. (I apologize everyone for this post! :-) ) The only decent way out is the original version - sounds like a different song though!

Pet Shop Boys wrote this masterpiece of a pop song to Patsy Kensit's Eight Wonder. Re-hearing it now makes it sound as fantastic as it did back then, 20 years ago. Pure 80's orgasm! And there's also the French version! http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPiddv6_i24 and http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmngspBz-lI

Now that France is sending Patricia Kaas Uk should have answered with similar name. And what would have been more British, more pop and more Eurovision friendly than Pet Shop Boys? They're about to release their new album Yes and the first single is Love Etc. that you can hear here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYzsV4RzdE . Besides they are honored with the Outstanding Contribution to Music Award at the February 18th Brit Awards. What if UK had sent this?