 The United Kingdom has not joined the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, but one year later! Since then there were 53 songs from the UK in the ESC, so this year it’s going to be the 54th entry. The UK, Spain, France, Germany and Italy don’t have to take part in the qualification rounds; they are automatically set for the final each year. Nevertheless, songs from UK were mostly very successful and it is the country with most 2nd places, even 15 times! And five victories makes the UK one of the most popular ESC countries: “Puppet on a string” by Sandy Shaw (#1) in 1967, “Boom Bang-a-Bang” by Lulu (#1) in 1969, “Save your kisses for me” by Brotherhood of Man (#1) in 1976, “Making your mind up” by Bucks Fizz (#1) in 1981 and “Love Shine a Light” by Katrina & The Waves (#1). The UK entries had a big advantage over the years and that was the language! A good song sung in English received generally more votes than the same song sung in Finnish. Furthermore the UK songs have often been very contemporary and closely orientated to the UK charts of that year. Nowadays every country can sing in English or the preferred language. If the song is good, a song can also win in Serbian, like in 2007 which is the best evidence against this prejudice. This year there hasn’t been a national final, the BBC determined the group Blue to be the 2011 representative for the UK in Düsseldorf. The song was announced later in a TV program. The group was founded in 2001 and the most popular songs were “All rise”, “Too close”, “If you come back” as well as “Sorry seems to be the hardest word” feat. Elton John. The group broke apart and had a reunion in 2009, now they can have a very big gig on the Eurovision stage. Due to their popularity among the younger people this will certainly get high votes. The message of “I can” is a very positive statement, which can be transferred to anybody. The song is a modern pop song with a catchy chorus, which probably will remembered very well also due the attractiveness of the singers. The UK is one of this year’s favourites. It would be great to see the Olympics 2012 and the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 being held in London. |
Participant(s): Blue
