Introduction

The greatly promised announcement of the UK entry for Vienna was just a disappointing presentation of the video clip. The first reactions in the internet were disastrous as the high expectations might have not met. The flourishing music country UK is coming with the only gimmick song this year, does not take the ESC seriously and will plunge established singers and composers in future.

Electro velvet is a new duo which consists of Bianca Nicholas and Alex Large. The 26 years old Bianca Nicholas was born in Kent, UK. At an early age Bianca was interested in performing arts, played in small roles later, even alongside with Johnny Depp in “Sleepy Hollow”. She has participated in The X Factor show and released the single “Hold On To Your Dreams”, which reached the UK Top 100 single charts. Bianca also performed for a charity show in a duet together with Will Young in front of Prince William, Prince Harry and Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. Bianca is suffering from metabolic disease cystic fibrosis she takes singing as a part of her therapy to get along with this disease.

Alex Large is 35 years old and was born in Welwyn Garden City, close to London, UK. He developed his passion for music in the age of 15 when he listened to the music of Oasis. He started to play the guitar, singing and composing. Alex also has a solid job as a primary school teacher. Beside of this he is also the lead singer of the group Rollin’ Clones a tribute the music of the Rolling Stones.

The UK entry “Still In Love With You” is an up-tempo electro swing song, which has been composed by Adrian Bax White and David Mindel, who has been producing songs for Barry Manilow, Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta and the Shadows. The vintage style of the song is obvious, maybe it’s a bit too exaggerated that it loses credibility. The only cool thing in this song are the strings and trumpets which might generate some points from Australia. But the song feels like an eternity with boring verses and interludes and the “Kermit the frog” performance of Alex is not beneficial either.

History

Debut: 1957
Participations: 58
Finals: 58
Top 10: 41
Chance for Top 10: 71%

This year it will be the 58th time for the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest. The UK had its debut in 1957, one year later than the very first ESC, when it was still called “Grand Prix d’Eurovision de la Chanson”. In 1957 the United Kingdom has withdrawn, so it’s one of the participating countries with the longest stand in the ESC history. Especially this year this fact might be interesting as it’s the 60th anniversary of the ESC. The BBC had the honour to organize a special concert with previous winners and participants in March, 2015. It was a fulminant show with a lot of memories and melodies with an enthusiastic audience in the Apollo Hammersmith Theatre in London. Unfortunately, this concert has not been broadcasted live and the show will not be shown all over Europe.

Over the years the United Kingdom has become one of the most successful countries with five victories and 15 2nd places and 41 Top10 placings. Especially in the 60’s and 70’s the ESC was very important for the music market, but this has changed a lot. Nevertheless the UK entries have mostly been contemporary and radio friendly. The English speaking countries always enjoyed the language advantage. Since the language rule has been eased, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta have suffered a lot. Additionally the general interest has been impacted as well, which is mainly due to the funny, sarcastic and snappy comments of the BBC commentator Terry Wogan. There was less good will and appreciation, unfortunately the music of the ESC has been put in the trash corner with the consequence that this music event is not being taken seriously anymore. With the effect that established singers and composers make a wide berth around the ESC. Even if the BBC has send Blue, Engelbert Humperdinck and Bonnie Tyler as “old weapons” into the contest, it did not bring any big success anymore as all those singers seem to reactivate their career. There are so many talented singers and composers in the UK, those should be motivated and encouraged instead for the world biggest music event.