Eurovision Song Contest 2024 #4

[Miss Begotten]

Michael Ball and Sonia though? I mean they’re OK, but they’re not exactly cool and I doubt that either of them would claim to have universal appeal.
I think that one of the issues is that a lot of other countries pick artists who are already established, and they take the selection process really seriously (eg. Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival).We seem to either go for complete unknowns, random X factor contestants or has beens, and then complain when we do badly. I mean Engelbert Humperdinck ffs.
I think our internal selection process clearly doesn’t work. We got extremely lucky with Sam, but I think he was an anomaly. If we do actually want to do well in the competition we need to either do it properly or expect to do badly.

My Slimane obsession appears to be spiralling out of control. It’s worse than my inexplicable fancy for lovelyChingizfromAzerbaijan
Mr Begotten is one chorus of Je t’aiiiiiiiiiiiime away from citing him as the 3rd person in the relationship

 

[londongirl2001]

As a none brit I think UK should do better if BBC had competitions letting people vote like other countries have, you don't know if a song is a banger before you tested it at people. UK have lot's of good song writers and artists, think the problem is that BBC don't take ESC serious just choosing a song and an artist. If that happen in Sweden oh my gosh it would be riots!

Germany’s had the public vote on their entry many times and it did work well a few times (around the time Lena won for Germany), but when the official broadcaster took over again, it went downhill asap. Germany doesn’t have that many great song writers and German audiences vote for material that just doesn’t work for other countries. It can backfire spectacularly, so it’s not a safe strategy, sadly.

 

[IndominusRex]

Michael Ball and Sonia though? I mean they’re OK, but they’re not exactly cool and I doubt that either of them would claim to have universal appeal.

I’m not suggesting they do it again now just saying that’s how it worked when they represented us back in the day.

 

[Miss Begotten]

I’m not suggesting they do it again now just saying that’s how it worked when they represented us back in the day.

Oh no I know! They were naff enough when they did represent us!

 

[IndominusRex]

Fair enough I’m not a huge fan of either I just like that method of song selection

 

[CovergirlD]

Lucie was a decent public choice to be fair. I quite liked the early 90s system of the BBC picking a singer (Michael Ball, Sonia etc) and then the public choosing the song.

Oooooo this I could really get behind
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I can't bare rebecca... sorry.. never have done. Yes she can sing but her voice isn't pleasant to me at all. Plus hasn't she got the personality of a dish cloth

I would much rather louisa johnson

I think we could possibly see Sam doing it again within the next 5 years

OMG I HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF LOUISA. Her music career never took off, her vocals are insane, she’s very feisty/charismatic on stage. Only thing is I know the song they would give her would again be generic BUT it would still do better than Mae & Olly because the vocals would atleast give it an extra oomph. She is the exact kind of vocalist we need if we want to continue going the contemporary/young route.

 

[DanDanTheIceCreamMan]

Michael Ball and Sonia though? I mean they’re OK, but they’re not exactly cool and I doubt that either of them would claim to have universal appeal.
I think that one of the issues is that a lot of other countries pick artists who are already established, and they take the selection process really seriously (eg. Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival).We seem to either go for complete unknowns, random X factor contestants or has beens, and then complain when we do badly. I mean Engelbert Humperdinck ffs.
I think our internal selection process clearly doesn’t work. We got extremely lucky with Sam, but I think he was an anomaly. If we do actually want to do well in the competition we need to either do it properly or expect to do badly.

My Slimane obsession appears to be spiralling out of control. It’s worse than my inexplicable fancy for lovelyChingizfromAzerbaijan
Mr Begotten is one chorus of Je t’aiiiiiiiiiiiime away from citing him as the 3rd person in the relationship ☺

I always remember a Eurovision show (probably on Channel 5 or something) where Cheryl Baker reminisces about Engelbert being picked, she saw his picture come up on the telly and immediately thought "Oh Engelbert's died".

At least he wasn't that godawful bloke that Pete Waterman picked... Josh Dubovie, with the ironically titled "That sounds good to me" which was anything but. He was about as on key as Gemini were.

I'd like to see us send more West End performers... ones who earn their bread and butter singing live and consistently hitting the right note.

 

[Miss Begotten]

Oooooo this I could really get behind
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OMG I HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF LOUISA. Her music career never took off, her vocals are insane, she’s very feisty/charismatic on stage. Only thing is I know the song they would give her would again be generic BUT it would still do better than Mae & Olly because the vocals would atleast give it an extra oomph. She is the exact kind of vocalist we need if we want to continue going the contemporary/young route.

Perhaps that’s part of the problem? I must admit I have absolutely no idea who she is, but can we really send someone whose music career didn’t take off to a music competition and expect them to be successful?

 

[Merpedy]

can we really send someone whose music career didn’t take off to a music competition and expect them to be successful?

Sure we can as long as they’re actually able to deliver

Eurovision gets plenty of contestants that are only just debuting or have a few songs at best and they don’t all crash and burn

 

[CovergirlD]

Perhaps that’s part of the problem? I must admit I have absolutely no idea who she is, but can we really send someone whose music career didn’t take off to a music competition and expect them to be successful?

Definitely. Her career didn’t take off for lack of talent. Furthermore anyone with a really established career doesn’t need Eurovision. She’s young, pretty and very vocally secure. I think she was fucked over by Simon Cowell’s label after she won X factor as were many artists

 

[Mrs Fluff]

Mr Begotten is one chorus of Je t’aiiiiiiiiiiiime away from citing him as the 3rd person in the relationship ☺

Well you've got me Je t'aiiiiiiming now!

 

[CabalofBolorneaise]

I mean if we're going for a woman with a voice who loves Eurovision there's only one real answer.

Hannah Waddingham who would be insane to agree

I can see Hannah agreeing to be honest but I think she’d make the same mistake Olly did and assume her reputation would carry her… and I suspect she’d insist on singing something very operatic and showing her range just because she could and I don’t know how that would go down with a Eurovision audience.

 

[didisaythatoutloudoops]

Definitely. Her career didn’t take off for lack of talent. Furthermore anyone with a really established career doesn’t need Eurovision. She’s young, pretty and very vocally secure. I think she was fucked over by Simon Cowell’s label after she won X factor as were many artists

I agree with you, although my concern is that many countries send beautiful, very talented singers each year. What makes a winner appears to be their personality both inside and outside their performance. I would worry that Louisa has yet to show that.

 

[CovergirlD]

I agree with you, although my concern is that many countries send beautiful, very talented singers each year. What makes a winner appears to be their personality both inside and outside their performance. I would worry that Louisa has yet to show that.

I think she’s very likeable and ‘real’. All depends on the song though.

 

[TheArtisticMouse]

I feel like it doesn’t matter who we send if even the British public don’t know who they/doesn't see anything of them before th Saturday night. Whoever the bbc choose, they have to invest in actually promoting them and the song. You can tell other countries’ fans know their song by heart, whereas for us most people are hearing the song for the first time in the grand final.

 

[Kakan]

Perhaps that’s part of the problem? I must admit I have absolutely no idea who she is, but can we really send someone whose music career didn’t take off to a music competition and expect them to be successful?

Not necessarily, neither Måns Zelmerlöw or Loreen did great in Idol and their careers did not take off afterwards but they came back years later and won the ESC.

 

[Vanelope]

Olly had lobbied for the job and the BBC saw it as a popular appointment and after Mae flopped I guess they didn’t want to pay that agency again or spend any money after hosting to find someone (I thought Olly was with them as well until reading here).

The Great British Public cannot be trusted not to take the piss with a choice - we are the nation that gave the world Boaty McBoatface and I remember a song for Europe quite often gave a similarly rubbish result.

Sam was huge on TikTok when everyone was really into it (pandemic) even though I hadn't heard of him millions had and he’s really nice. I love Stefania as a tune and if there was no war I think it would still have been really close.

I don’t care if we win, but I want us to take it seriously and send a singer and a song that is worthy of the great history of UK pop music. And I also want another metal/rock band.

 

[Miss Begotten]

I don’t care if we win, but I want us to take it seriously and send a singer and a song that is worthy of the great history of UK pop music. And I also want another metal/rock band.

Yes and YES.
I just find it really frustrating that as a country we can’t do better. One of the few things that Britain does well is music - we have a long history of iconic singers and bands in a variety of genres, but we seem to lose our minds when it comes to choosing an act for Eurovision and end up sending some utter dross - Gemini, Engelbert, that Josh bloke, Daz Sampson. I mean we nearly end up sending Katie flipping Price.

 

[Merpedy]

I feel like it doesn’t matter who we send if even the British public don’t know who they/doesn't see anything of them before th Saturday night. Whoever the bbc choose, they have to invest in actually promoting them and the song. You can tell other countries’ fans know their song by heart, whereas for us most people are hearing the song for the first time in the grand final.

Yeah but most Brits aren’t going to be able to vote for the UK

Spain usually gets behind their entries - I remember I sat in front of some Spanish fans last year and they were praying before the song started for example - but it doesn’t seem to pay off

I think the whole being able to see people’s personalities behind the scenes and develop a bit of a parasocial relationship with them is great but doesn’t necessarily make a winning act

We just need a decent enough song with staging that isn’t random bs and someone who can actually sing

Though after this year I wonder if a lot of people will be put off from putting their name forward: (a) Israel may, and honestly probably will, participate next year and that’s likely going to be a mess again, and (b) there’s been a lot of discussion about how stressful it is behind the scenes with just the work in general. Not really worth it to represent a country that generally does pretty badly overall

 

[Corona]

Have you guys listened to Dua Lipa's new album? I didn't realise I was listening to it and I swear I thought they were Eurovision bangers I hadn't heard