Eurovision Song Contest 2024 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Country | United Kingdom | |||
National selection | ||||
Selection process | Internal selection | |||
Selection date(s) |
| |||
Selected entrant | Olly Alexander | |||
Selected song | " Dizzy" | |||
Selected songwriter(s) |
| |||
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
|
The United Kingdom is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. The British broadcaster, 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.
Prior to the 2024 contest, the United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-five times since its first entry in 1957. [1] Thus far, the United Kingdom has won the contest five times: in 1967 with the song " Puppet on a String" performed by Sandie Shaw, in 1969 with the song " Boom Bang-a-Bang" performed by Lulu, in 1976 with " Save Your Kisses for Me" performed by Brotherhood of Man, in 1981 with the song " Making Your Mind Up" performed by 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]
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]
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]
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 Bambie Thug ( Ireland), Gåte ( Norway), Iolanda ( Portugal), Megara ( San Marino), Mustii ( Belgium), Nemo ( Switzerland), Saba ( Denmark), Silvester Belt ( Lithuania) and 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]
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will take place at Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden. It will consist of two semi-finals held on 7 and 9 May, respectively, and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and 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]
Olly Alexander will take part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. [40]
I think we will continue going to specialists in the industry to help us pick our act going forward.