United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

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Eurovision Song Contest 2024
Country United Kingdom
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)
  • Artist: 16 December 2023
  • Song: 1 March 2024
Selected entrantOlly Alexander
Selected song"Dizzy"
Selected songwriter(s)
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2023 • 2024

The

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), internally selected Olly Alexander as the country's entrant for the 2024 contest with the song "Dizzy
".

As a member of the "

Big Five
", the United Kingdom automatically qualifies to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Background

Main article: United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2024 contest, the United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-five times since its first entry in

Bucks Fizz and in 1997 with the song "Love Shine a Light" performed by Katrina and the Waves.[2] After its latest win, the United Kingdom has failed to be consistently successful, only reaching the top ten four times: in 1998, 2002, 2009, and 2022; and ending last five times: in 2003 (the first time in the country's history in the contest), 2008, 2010, 2019, and 2021.[3] In 2023, the United Kingdom was represented by Mae Muller with "I Wrote a Song", which finished in 25th place.[1] The United Kingdom is the country that has hosted the contest the most times, with nine in total (in 1960, 1963, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1977, 1982, 1998, and 2023
).

The British national broadcaster, the BBC, broadcasts the event within the United Kingdom and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The BBC has used various methods to select its entry: From 1957 to 2010, it organised a national final which featured a competition among several artists and songs to choose the British entry for the contest. Between 2011 and 2015, the BBC opted to internally select the British entry.[4] For its 2016 entry, the broadcaster announced that a national final would be organised again.[5] The same process was used in 2017 and 2018, and changes were brought in for 2019. From 2020, the BBC opted to return to an internal selection.[6]

Before Eurovision

Olly Alexander (pictured in 2019) was internally selected by the BBC to represent the UK.

Internal selection

On 1 August 2023, TaP Music, the label with which the BBC had collaborated to internally select the British act in 2022 and 2023, announced that it had terminated their partnership with the broadcaster.[7] On 24 August, the head of entertainment at BBC, Kalpna Patel-Knight,[8] commented on the news, indicating that the broadcaster's intention was to look for another specialist team for 2024.[9]

On 17 October 2023, the BBC revealed that executive producer Lee Smithurst and Will Wilkin, commissioning executive at BBC Music, had led the search for both the 2024 act and song during the summer.[10][11] By October, Olly Alexander was selected, which the artist himself announced during the final of the 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing on 16 December.[12] His song for the contest, titled "Dizzy" and co-written with Danny L Harle, was released on 1 March 2024.[13] Later that evening, Alexander appeared on a special broadcast on BBC One, titled Graham Meets Olly, where he was interviewed by Graham Norton, followed by the first full televised broadcast of the song's music video.[14]

Preparation and promotion

On 16 February 2024, Alexander travelled to Tbilisi, where he met with Georgian representative Nutsa Buzaladze before filming the music video for "Dizzy" in the country.[15]

Following the release of "Dizzy", Alexander made appearances on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2, where the song received its radio premiere on The Radio 2 Breakfast Show with Zoe Ball.[16][17] Alexander performed "Dizzy" live on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on 9 March 2024, as part of the End of the Show Show segment. The day prior to this performance, 8 March 2024, Alexander performed "Dizzy" for Vevo's Live from Vevo Studio series.[18] On 1 May 2024, the singer will make a cameo appearance on an episode of the soap opera EastEnders, where he will be seen rehearsing his Eurovision performance.[19]

As part of the promotion of his participation in the contest, Alexander confirmed his presence as the headline act at the London Eurovision Party on 7 April 2024, as well as at the PrePartyES in Madrid on 30 March 2024, the Eurovision in Concert event in Amsterdam on 13 April 2024, the Nordic Eurovision Party in Stockholm on 14 April 2024, and the Copenhagen Eurovision Party (Malmöhagen) on 4 May 2024.[20][21]

Controversy

See also: Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 § Calls for exclusion

After his reveal as the British entrant for the contest, it emerged that, in October, Alexander had signed a letter by LGBT association Voices4London which accused Israel – one of the participating countries – of committing apartheid against Palestinians and "Zionist propaganda" of pinkwashing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.[22] The Israeli embassy in London, as well as spokespeople of the Israeli government in the UK, criticised Alexander's views as "biased" and the BBC for "sending an entrant to Eurovision who espouses [...] partial views of Israel and promotes [...] dehumanising language of Israelis".[23][24] The BBC commented that it was not in a position to cut ties with someone who is not a journalist over their personal use of social media, thereby confirming Alexander as the 2024 UK representative.[25] The incident occurred in the backdrop of the Israel–Hamas war, which has led to calls for Israel to be excluded from the contest.

On 29 March 2024, Alexander released a joint statement with other Eurovision 2024 entrants – namely

Windows95man (Finland) – calling for "an immediate and lasting ceasefire" in Gaza as well as the return of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.[26] Alexander received negative criticism over his refusal to boycott the contest despite Israel's participation and a dedicated petition signed by over 450 queer artists, with a protest calling for his withdrawal taking place outside Outernet London on the day of the London Eurovision Party.[27][28]

At Eurovision

The

Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete in the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big Five", the United Kingdom automatically qualifies to compete in the final on 11 May 2024. In addition to its participation in the final, the United Kingdom is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This was decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 30 January 2024, when it was announced that the United Kingdom would be voting in the first semi-final.[29][30] For the first time for a contest held outside of the United Kingdom, the BBC made the draw available on its online platform BBC iPlayer.[31] Despite being an automatic qualifier for the final, the British entry will also be performed during the semi-final.[32]

In the United Kingdom, all three shows of the contest will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, with semi-final commentary by Scott Mills and Rylan Clark, and the final on BBC Radio 2, with commentary by Mills ans Clark.[11][33][34][35][36] In addition, as part of the Eurovision programming, the BBC cooperated with DR and SVT alongside other EBU member broadcasters – namely ARD/WDR, ČT, ERR, France Télévisions, NRK, NTR, RÚV, VRT and Yle – to produce and air a documentary titled ABBA – Against the Odds, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Sweden's first victory at the contest with "Waterloo" by ABBA.[37][38] The BBC also rebroadcast the 1974 contest in full as part of the anniversary celebrations; the contest aired on BBC Four on 7 April 2024 and was preceded by an introduction from 2023 co-host Hannah Waddingham.[39] A BBC-produced documentary following Alexander's Eurovision journey will premiere during the week of the contest.[19]

Final

Olly Alexander will take part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May.[40]

References

  1. ^ a b "United Kingdom". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  2. ^ Eames, Tom (11 May 2023). "UK at Eurovision: Who has won the Song Contest for the UK and when have they finished last?". Smooth. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  3. ^ "United Kingdom in Eurovision Voting & Points". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  4. ISSN 0040-781X
    . Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  5. ^ "Public to help choose UK Eurovision entry". BBC News Online. BBC. 30 September 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  6. ^ "BBC drops Eurovision selection public vote". BBC News Online. BBC. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  7. ^ Stephenson, James (1 August 2023). "United Kingdom: TaP Music Ends Eurovision Partnership with BBC". Eurovoix. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  8. ^ "Kalpna Patel-Knight appointed in new Head of Entertainment commissioning role". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
  9. ^ SuperTV [@superTV247] (24 August 2023). "The head of BBC entertainment also commented on selecting a #Eurovision artist for 2024, following the departure of TaP […]" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 August 2023 – via Twitter. I think we will continue going to specialists in the industry to help us pick our act going forward.
  10. ^ Adams, William Lee (18 October 2023). "United Kingdom: BBC confirms Eurovision 2024 participation...and says artist search took place 'over the summer'". Wiwibloggs. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  11. ^ a b "United Kingdom participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is confirmed plus all three live shows will be broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer". bbc.co.uk (Press release). BBC. 18 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  12. ^ Savage, Mark (17 December 2023). "Olly Alexander says it will be 'a wild ride' and confirms song is 'not a ballad'". BBC News Online. BBC. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  13. ^ Griffiths, George (6 February 2024). "Olly Alexander reveals name and release date of UK Eurovision 2024 entry". Official Charts. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Graham Meets Olly". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  15. ^ Shalikashvili, Mariam (16 February 2024). ევროვიზიის ბრიტანელი მონაწილე კლიპს საქართველოში გადაიღებს [The British Eurovision participant will shoot the clip in Georgia]. 1TV (in Georgian). GPB. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  16. ^ Bijuvignesh, Darshan (28 February 2024). "United Kingdom: Olly Alexander to Release 'Dizzy' at Midnight on March 1". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  17. ^ Savage, Mark (1 March 2024). "Eurovision 2024: Will Olly Alexander's Dizzy put the contest in a spin?". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  18. ^ Granger, Anthony (8 March 2024). "United Kingdom: First Live Performance of Olly Alexander's 'Dizzy'". Eurovoix. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  19. ^ a b Bijuvignesh, Darshan (24 April 2024). "United Kingdom: Olly Alexander Set to Appear on Eastenders & New Upcoming Documentary". Eurovoix. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
  20. ^ Granger, Anthony (11 March 2024). "United Kingdom: Olly Alexander Announces Four Date Pre-Party Tour". Eurovoix. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  21. ^ @malmohagen_eurovision_party (24 March 2024). "Reminder of Acts 1-16 in our line-up. Get ready to vote live on your top 10 songs in the MalmöHagen Grand Final Show and Concert: the only Pre-Party for Rest of World Eurovision Week visitors to unite with European based visitors in the same place!". Retrieved 25 March 2024 – via Instagram.
  22. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  23. ^ Kanter, Jake (21 December 2023). "BBC Urged To Fire UK Eurovision Entrant Olly Alexander After He Signed Letter Accusing 'Apartheid' State Israel Of Genocide". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  24. ^ Goodman, Naria (23 December 2023). "בריטניה: שגרירות ישראל יוצאת נגד השתתפות הנציג הבריטי - אירוויזיון 2024" [Great Britain: The Israeli embassy opposes the participation of the British representative]. EuroMix (in Hebrew). Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  25. ISSN 0307-1235
    . Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  26. ^ Mancheño, José Miguel (29 March 2024). "Varios artistas de Eurovisión 2024 firman un comunicado conjunto pidiendo un alto al fuego en Gaza" [Various Eurovision 2024 artists sign a joint statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza]. ESCplus España (in European Spanish). Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  27. ^ Mouriquand, David (29 March 2024). "Queer artists urge UK's Eurovision entry Olly Alexander to boycott competition over Israel". Euronews. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
  28. ^ Stephenson, James (9 April 2024). "EBU Releases Statement Regarding Treatment of Eurovision 2024 Artists". Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  29. ^ Van Dijk, Sem Anne (13 December 2023). "Eurovision 2024: Semi-Final Allocation Draw on January 30". Eurovoix. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  30. ^ "Eurovision 2024: Semi-Final Draw results". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  31. ^ Granger, Anthony (21 January 2023). "United Kingdom: The Draw to be Available on BBC iPlayer". Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  32. ^ "Major changes for Malmö: Big Five & Sweden perform LIVE in Semi-Finals and you can vote for longer". Eurovision.tv. EBU. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  33. ^ Heap, Steven (27 August 2023). "United Kingdom: BBC Confirms Semi Finals Will Stay on BBC One in 2024". Eurovoix. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  34. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest, 2024, Semi-Final 1". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  35. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest, 2024, Semi-Final 2". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  36. ^ "Radio 2 Loves Eurovision - Eurovision Grand Final with Scott and Rylan". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  37. BBC Media Centre
    . BBC. 14 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  38. ^ "Record number of EBU Members unite for new ABBA documentary". ebu.ch. EBU. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  39. ^ Granger, Anthony (27 March 2024). "United Kingdom: BBC Four to Mark 50 Years Since Eurovision 1974". Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  40. ^ "Eurovision 2024: Rehearsal Schedule". Eurovisionworld. 25 April 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.

External links

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