Introduction

The BBC has made an internal selection like in the previous years. Unfortunately, a European country with one of the biggest music industry does not organize a national final. Due to the fact that there are uncountable talents in the UK music scene which would be glad to have an opportunity for their career, the BBC is making its own decision. The outcome of these internal selections was not really successful, even if there were big names like Blue, Engelbert and Bonnie Tyler, stars who have already had their career’s zenith. The general interest in the UK is still high but it would be more exciting for everybody if there would be more enthusiasm shown from the BBC.

The UK representative is Molly Smitten-Downs, who was born in Leicestershire in 1987. Molly is a British singer and songwriter who studied music at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guilford. Her first EP “Fly Away With Me” was released in 2011. She has already had a top 10 hit in the UK charts “Raindrops” a common project with DJ Sash. In the music event “The Best Of British Unsigned Music Awards “ Molly received the price for the best song “Lost Generation”.

The Eurovision song from Molly is called “Children Of The Universe” and has been composed by herself. She describes her music to break down political barriers this might be very suitable in these days. The Eurovision song from the UK is an anthem like song with a universal message of love and unity. The last time the UK had such an anthem song was “Love Shine A Light” from Katrina & The Waves, which made the first place in 1997. As the UK is automatically in the Grand Final it depends on the starting position and how strong the competitors from the semi finals will be. Maybe the song is a bit too calculating to please everybody?

The song is animating and positive with a strong chorus – very catchy though. Accompanied by her choir and the band in the video clip this song will rock the B & W Hallerene in Copenhagen. 

History

Participations: 57

Debut: 1957

Biggest success: 5x 1st place “Puppet On A String” by Sandie Shaw in 1967, “Boom Bang-a-Bang” by Lulu in 1969, “Save Your Kisses For Me” by Brotherhood of Man in 1976, “Making Your Mind Up” by Bucks Fizz in 1981, “Love Shine A Light” by Katrina & The Waves in 1997, 15x 2nd place “Sing Little Birdie” by Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson in 1959, “Looking High, High, High” by Bryan Johanson in 1960, “Are You Sure?” by The Allisons 1961, “Love The Little Things” by Matt Monro in 1964, “I Belong” by Kathy Kirby in 1965, “Congratulations” by Cliff Richard in 1968, “Knock Knock Who Is There?” by Mary Hopkin in 1970, “Beg, Steal or Borrow” by The New Seekers in 1972, “Let Me Be The One” by The Shadows in 1975, “Rock Bottom” by Lynsey de Paul & Mike Moran in 1977, “Go” by Scott Fitzgerald in 1988, “Why Do I Always Get It Wrong?” by Live Report in 1989, “One Step Out Of Time” by Michael Ball in 1992, “Better The Devil You Know” by Sonia in 1993, “Where Are You?” by Imaani in 1998, 3x 3rd place “Power To All Our Friends” 1973 by Cliff Richard, “Love Is Enough For Two” by Prima Donna in 1980, “Come Back” by Jessica Garlick in 2002, 2x 4th place, 1x 5th place, 2x 6th place, 4x 7th place, 1x 8th place, 1x 9th place, 3x 10th place

For the 57th time the United Kingdom is taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Only two times the UK did not take part, the first year of the Eurovision 1956 and 1958. But it became quite clear that the UK is one of the strongest contenders in this music contest. The big advantages of the UK in Eurovision were the language and the being one world centre of popular music, with a lot of contemporary music, which was always very radio friendly music and entered the charts not only in the UK. With the opening of the language rule that every participating country must sing in the native language, the power of the UK has suffered quite heavily. So the general interest in the ESC is also impacted. Even though the UK still belongs to the most successful countries in the ESC:  there were five victories so far: “Puppet on a string” by Sandy Shaw in 1967, “Boom Bang-a-bang” by Lulu in 1969, “Save your kisses for me” by Brotherhood of Man in 1976, “Making your mind up” by Bucks Fizz in 1981 and “Love shine a light” by Katrina & The Waves in 1997. Also worth to mention is the runner up position, 15 times the UK came second, and often it was close to victory. There were also many Top 10 positions. As already mentioned before, the UK did not shape up very well in recent years, the best position could be achieved was the fifth with “It’s my time” by Jade Ewen, composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber in 2009. Once in history the UK came last with “Cry Baby” by Jemini in 2003, zero points for the United Kingdom, almost unimaginable.