United Kingdom 2021: James Newman - Embers (1 Viewer)

Aim for the win, but don’t expect it, I think

I mean we haven’t even made top 10 since 2009.

I guess that’s where the obsession with stunt casting set off. They thought “let’s try another famous producer”. But after the ill-judged idea that PWL was going to command the same level of respect as Andrew Lloyd Webber...

then after Blue they were like “ok let’s try another name” without the key ingredient of relevant famous people so we had a few years of Englebert and Bonnie.

I guess James isn’t a big enough name to be following this strategy; I guess they are trying to be cool :|
 
I still think, given the current paucity of them in the contest generally, a top notch banger is the way forward. A female-led banger even better.
 
It's weird with Fleur. She's said she'd do it, she'd be PERFECT for it, our new HoD seems like he'd be aware of this... but nada.

I imagine it's complicated BBC bollocks.
 
It's weird with Fleur. She's said she'd do it, she'd be PERFECT for it, our new HoD seems like he'd be aware of this... but nada.

I imagine it's complicated BBC bollocks.
I remember people clamouring for that to be our entry when it was released and, like you say, she herself was up for it. I’m guessing the beeb are quite rigid in how they approach the contest, like ploughing ahead with sending an electro swing song in 2015 after the band they’d originally signed backed out.
 
I remember people clamouring for that to be our entry when it was released and, like you say, she herself was up for it. I’m guessing the beeb are quite rigid in how they approach the contest, like ploughing ahead with sending an electro swing song in 2015 after the band they’d originally signed backed out.
Oh I never knew there was someone else waiting in the wings in 2015? I presumed they’d just lost the plot.
 
I'd be so up for the Frock Destroyers TBH.

They are professional performers, at least one of them can actually SING, they'd be good fun and fan faves, they could possibly pick up votes from Drag Race fans on the continent...

Get MNEK to write them a song and you've potentially got the best, and most memorable, UK entry in DECADES!
 
Oh I never knew there was someone else waiting in the wings in 2015? I presumed they’d just lost the plot.
From what I know, they’d signed up an established electro swing group who then backed out. Rather than open the field for other entries, the Beeb decided they simply MUST have electro swing, even if written by a bloke most known for a couple of advert jingles in the 70s.
 
We don’t exactly help ourselves, either. Kiss the Stars by Pixie Lott was written for the 2012 contest, but because she was under 90 at the time she was considered too young for our purposes.

And then, we had THIS (ft. actual ORBITAL) which was rejected in 2016
 
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That said I’d take whoever the Frock Destroyers are over SAM BAILEY (who was touted at some point last year, as every artist in the country was).
 
We don’t exactly help ourselves, either. Kiss the Stars by Pixie Lott was written for the 2012 contest, but because she was under 90 at the time she was considered too young for our purposes.

I didn't know this, was it written intended for HER to do it? I can't imagine she would have, given she had an actual career at the time (and yeah, I know that's not how it should be looked at, but we know that's how it is for many) plus she didn't exactly tick the vox and performance boxes. And Kiss The Stars is a bit nothing - well I say that, I've not heard it in nearly 10 years :D I imagine all in all it would have bombed horribly, especially in 2012.

But someone with a bit of star power (which doesn't mean an actual star..) and some LUNGS and it might have finished in a respectable position. It would have been a move in the right direction, but that's the trouble, any time we make progress, it's ALL FORGOTTEN.
 
Jade to fucking JOSH
Blue to ENGELBERT
Molly to ELECTRO SWING
Even Lucie to Pizza Express Waitress.

Reverting to square one, over and over.

I'd even argue Javine showed a foot in the right door - decent-ish performer and more of a banger than we've ever really sent in the last 15/20 years, and at least trying to be a bit relevant. Yeah it was generic and got swallowed in similar sounding songs, but then she was a bit screwed over in the running, too. It still wasn't a bad stab.

I can't see that James last year was any more progress than sending James Fox, other than it being slightly better.
 
I didn't know this, was it written intended for HER to do it? I can't imagine she would have, given she had an actual career at the time (and yeah, I know that's not how it should be looked at, but we know that's how it is for many) plus she didn't exactly tick the vox and performance boxes. And Kiss The Stars is a bit nothing - well I say that, I've not heard it in nearly 10 years :D I imagine all in all it would have bombed horribly, especially in 2012.

But someone with a bit of star power (which doesn't mean an actual star..) and some LUNGS and it might have finished in a respectable position. It would have been a move in the right direction, but that's the trouble, any time we make progress, it's ALL FORGOTTEN.
I can't find the mention of it on Google but I've heard from a couple of different people that Kiss the Stars was written as our entry and that there were doubts over whether she could sing live (Which I guess answers the question about whether she'd be the performer). To err on the side of caution, they went for Englebert because they were sure he absolutely couldn't sing live.

Looking through our national finals, we could have been so much better than we were. Even just the 2016-2019 period:
2016 - When You Go or Until Tomorrow
2017 - Lucie because that was our best entry of the 21st century
2018 - Legends
2019 - Sweet Lies

I'm not saying we'd have had amazing results, but we'd have at least have fielded songs with character and a pulse (I know I was a MASSIVE Michael Rice apologist at the time but the live performance was SHIT so he burned his bridges)
 
Also heard last weekend that The Flood by Katie Melua was touted as our entry

why they never went with that, I’ll never know
 
Jade to fucking JOSH
Blue to ENGELBERT
Molly to ELECTRO SWING
Even Lucie to Pizza Express Waitress.

Reverting to square one, over and over.

I'd even argue Javine showed a foot in the right door - decent-ish performer and more of a banger than we've ever really sent in the last 15/20 years, and at least trying to be a bit relevant. Yeah it was generic and got swallowed in similar sounding songs, but then she was a bit screwed over in the running, too. It still wasn't a bad stab.

Her bad vocals didn't help, obviously not her fault after the infection but I'm not sure being 100% healthy would have made things much better either.
 
Also heard last weekend that The Flood by Katie Melua was touted as our entry

why they never went with that, I’ll never know

It was literally offered to them on a plate and they said no the stupid bastards.

If we had something like that now, it could be our Anouk moment.

Until they follow it up with Ablisa that is.
 
The Flood would have been spectacular on stage at Eurovision had they recreated the video with the fun piano and dancers. :disco:
 
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The only thing about The Flood is how it would work as a three minute version? Surely you need the rise and fall throughout?
 
2016 - When You Go or Until Tomorrow
2017 - Lucie because that was our best entry of the 21st century
2018 - Legends
2019 - Sweet Lies

Yeah it's shocking how even when we kept a consistent national final process, we still picked the wrong one 3/4 times :D

Legends and Sweet Lies weren't great but it would have been UK CHARACTER BUILDING of sorts - a few more Lucie-type results to keep us steady.

For some reason we were at the 2016 one, and walked out before the end because I was FURIOUS those two nice but useless boys and their nice but useless song won. Literally everything else was better!
 
Yeah it's shocking how even when we kept a consistent national final process, we still picked the wrong one 3/4 times :D

Legends and Sweet Lies weren't great but it would have been UK CHARACTER BUILDING of sorts - a few more Lucie-type results to keep us steady.

For some reason we were at the 2016 one, and walked out before the end because I was FURIOUS those two nice but useless boys and their nice but useless song won. Literally everything else was better!
Darline were the clear standouts but for some reason Carrie Grant slagged them off. I loved the folk band Dulcima but I imagine they’d be a tougher sell at Eurovision :D
 
Fucking hell imagine a Xenomania offering especially back then

Imagine sending Mini Viva with "One Touch"! :disco:

And imagine our tears when it came 21st because girl on the right fell over :(
From what I know, Xenomania pulled out because Radio 1 refused to guarantee they’d play the song. I mean, the BBC should just DEMAND they playlist it, I’m sure they can find time in their busy schedule of playing songs by producer ft. named vocalist and trying to make us care about shit London rappers.
 
From what I know, Xenomania pulled out because Radio 1 refused to guarantee they’d play the song. I mean, the BBC should just DEMAND they playlist it, I’m sure they can find time in their busy schedule of playing songs by producer ft. named vocalist and trying to make us care about shit London rappers.

Do we know what year this was? Somehow that makes it even more awful, I mean it's not like even then Xenomania were strangers to having their own productions ignored on the radio, Girls Aloud and a couple of oddities aside..

You would think the BBC could insist but then that's part of the problem and aiming for Radio 2 style songs
 

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