It’s the final member of the Big 5 in my countdown this year, and it’s my home country, 5-times winners, the United Kingdom. With a few exceptions, the last twenty years have been lean times for the UK but the amazing Lucie Jones took us to our best result in several years last year (and deserved even higher in my view), can Eurovision veteran and Twitter queen, the equally lovely SuRie keep up the momentum?
Many people didn’t expect this to be the UK’s entry in the run up to the UK national final – it was all about another of songs, “Legends” by Assanda. But in the final itself, the live performance just didn’t match the hype, and SuRie was a clear winner both in the Brighton Dome itself and with the viewers at home. SuRie’s strong live performances with clear vocals and engagement with the crowd have been evident from the start and at every pre-party that she has attended (which has been most of them); added to that there is the anthemic, upbeat nature of the song, and a chorus it is easy to sing along to (and which everyone invariably does!)
SuRie is absolutely lovely (and myself and close friends have met her in person), and proving to be an amazing ambassador for the UK; amusing and delighting people on Twitter; engaging at all the pre-parties; she even stepped in to sing the English version of France’s song at Eurovision in Concert when the lead vocalist was too ill to perform – she had less than 24 hours to learn the song and perform live with the other half of the French duo. That’s true Eurovision spirit. I really hope that lovely and funny nature and her enjoyment of all the madness that leads up to the contest will translate to some votes.
I think it’s hard for me to be completely unbiased in how I think this will do – I think (and hope) the anthemic nature of the live performance and the obvious support and participation from the crowd will come across on the TV. Likeable songs like this sadly don’t always translate to votes (German entries of late certainly know this) but the UK at least can count on some televotes from Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and Spain and I think the excerpt from the song that will probably be used for televoting sequences will be voter friendly. SuRie also has plenty of Eurovision experience – being backing singer for Belgium’s entries in 2015 and last year (which each came fourth in the final). Having seen (and met) SuRie live on several occasions in the run up to the contest, she is doing us proud, whatever the results may be and you couldn’t ask for a better ambassador for us than she has been.
Official music video:
Live at ESPreParty in Madrid:
United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest:
First entered: 1957
Appearances (excluding this year): 60
Best result: Winner 1967, 1969, 1976, 1981, 1997
Last year’s result: 15th