Here's Molly!!!

Well after much speculation, rumour-mongering and quite frankly, myth-peddling, it turns out that everyone was wrong! Thankfully no Geri, Rylan, Petula or Cilla. This year the BBC has chosen a new act to represent the UK in Copenhagen. Amen to that. 

What might have worked on paper with Blue, Engelbert and Bonnie did not translate into votes. Of course debates rage on about the quality of songs, the strength of performance or even the age of the singers. Whether or not fans like it, Eurovision, for the BBC, was first and foremost, a TV show. Having those "big" names meant that there was more interest. Simple but genius. Or was it?

The interest in the UK entry this year was phenomenal. The BBC played a blinder and did so well in keeping up the suspense. A friend told me that I was being criticised on one of the fan sites for not revealing the name of the UK act. I never knew who the act was, nor did I claim to know, I just enjoyed the fireworks!

So the UK act, Molly Smitten-Downes, will perform "Children of the Universe" at Eurovision in May. Molly was discovered by BBC Introducing, a way for new artists to break through. I applaud this decision by the BBC; Eurovision is a fantastic platform for launching new talent and boy do we have a lot of it in the UK.

"Children of the Universe" is an anthemic offering, and a rather unusual one at that. For me, the thing which stands out the most, is Molly's voice and stage presence. In her interview she was really positive and has a really healthy attitude, in my opinion, to an event which is surely a dream opportunity for a new star. 

Already the entry is riding high in the betting odds and some are predicting that it will give the UK its best placing for years. I really hope that's true. Win, lose or draw though, we have a singer who will do us all proud.

Good luck Molly!

UK Eurovision entry 2014

Eurovision season is in full swing now with various national selections taking place across the continent. The BBC are still remaining tight-lipped as to who is representing the UK. Contrary to what some people might think, I don't know who this is. I do know that the name has been chosen though and that an announcement will be made in due course. Watch this space!

A festival of melody!

The Eurovision season is about to fully kick off. This weekend Finland and Switzerland choose their songs for Copenhagen. The big news is of course the first heat in the Swedish Eurovision selection process, Melodifestivalen!

For those of you who have been living in a cave, Melodifestivalen is the mother of all Eurovision selection programmes. In total there are six live shows featuring some of the biggest names in the Swedish music industry. Melodifestival is a truly remarkable television format, creating dozens of hits every year and is a huge money-spinner for the Swedish national broadcaster SVT.

Some criticise Melodifestivalen music, "it's the same old Swedish schlager", and I used to be one of them. However this is a show for Swedish audiences, it's what works over there and the viewing figures confirm this. Melodifestivalen is the biggest show of the year in Sweden, even bigger than Eurovision itself! Of course some fans like anything Swedish, that'll probably never change. However as a person that falls in love with anything Estonian, I'm not one to judge.

There are some big names lined up for 2014 - Yohio, Shirley Clamp, Linda Bengtzing, Sanna Nielsen are competing against Martin Stenmarck who won MF in 2005 and represented Sweden in Kyiv. The one to watch and the news story of the year is the return of Helena Paparizou, who won Eurovision for Greece in 2005. Helena is a Swedish Greek and it seems only fitting that in these times, where immigration is such an abrasive subject, that there are positive representations of immigrants. Helena sees no issue in representing Sweden after having won for Greece. Good for her.

Something like MF is unlikely to work in the UK, although it shows that it's possible to produce hits on the back of a song contest which takes place once a year... Broadcasters in other countries might do well to sit up and take note. Regardless of the musical merit of Melodifestivalen, it's an impressive television format, long may it continue!

UK entry for Eurovision 2014

Last week I was invited onto BBC Breakfast to talk about Eurovision. As soon as I announced that I was going to appear I received texts and tweets asking if I knew about the UK entry. This then turned into a rumour that I was announcing Jessie J as the UK entry for 2014! Not sure how that all started but it was hugely entertaining to say the least. 

It looks like it'll be another internal selection this year. If that's the case, then at this stage it's likely that a name will have been chosen by now. When the deal is done, BBC staff, newspapers and other media will have the name well before it is announced to prep and write the story as happened with Engelbert. Of course it all depends on whether they stick to the embargo, as we saw with Bonnie last year and Blue in 2011, everyone wants a scoop! Contrary to what many think, the BBC aren't in a blind panic and struggling for people to sing for the UK. It's just that at the minute, in January, it's not at the top of the list. That doesn't mean that things aren't moving behind the scenes. Perhaps we just need to chill a little?

I can appreciate that some people miss the build up to Eurovision since we no longer have a national final. I understand why fans are eager to know who is representing the UK and it must seem frustrating when it appears that there's a wall of silence coming from the BBC. I do think they could do more with Eurovision and could use it as a great way of launching fresh new talent as they did in 2009. I'm a realist though, these are difficult economic times and the BBC, like many other organisations, are making cuts. It's unlikely that we will see a large-scale national final for some time. Eurovision is first and foremost a television show which gets large ratings for the BBC. This is the logic behind the selection of Blue, Engelbert, Bonnie. A big name will be more likely to get bigger viewing figures on the night. Simples. Whether this is right or wrong, or translates into votes, is of course, another matter...