Support ESC Insight on Patreon

Five Alternatives To A UK National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest Written by on September 26, 2012 | 36 Comments

Let’s make two assumptions around the United Kingdom’s entry for the 2013 Eurovision. The first is that there’s not going to be a traditional National Final show. The second is that the BBC will want to have some form of public involvement in the selection process – perhaps for no other reason than to be able to share the blame with the UK public if the chosen act ends up in 25th place once more.

Putting aside the fan dream of 32 top-of-the-line musical acts touring the country in a sell-out Melodifestivalen-style production, what other meaningful ways are there to select the UK’s song for Europe?

Later with Jools Holland

Back in 2010 when it was unclear if there would be a National Final or an internal selection for Düsseldorf (in the end Blue were chosen by the team), I put forth the idea that the ‘Later…’ show from Jools Holland would make a perfect vehicle for a selection show. I still think that people involved with the music industry will be far better placed to pick a popular song for Eurovision than the team behind Children in Need.

In these belt-tightening times, a single ‘Later…’ show with four or five bands selected by Holland and some of the big ‘new music’ fans from around the BBC (Vic Galloway, Zane Lowe, Edith Bowman, and Bruce Dickinson spring to mind) each championing one performer or band in the show would be a fantastic format to find the UK Eurovision entry.

No reality show histrionics, no light entertainment fluff, just the music, the performances, and a decision at the end of the day. It might even given the winning act an air of respectability in the music press.

This would work on so many levels - 'Barton Hollow' by The Civil Wars

The Graham Norton Show

The BBC’s big Eurovision name is Graham Norton, and he conveniently has his own show. Why not use that show over a number of weeks to showcase potential performers and songs? It’s not quite a National Final, but the benefit of singing on a prime-time TV show may be attractive to a number of artists. Of course The Graham Norton Show is a rather high-profile show, and tends to pick up all the ‘Hollywood’ and ‘A-List Musicians’ that are doing the press tours. The BBC may not want to trade away that ability to give a platform to a new track from ‘We Were Promised Jetpacks‘.

Scotland's WWP Jetpacks, with 'It's Thunder and It's Lightning'

But the biggest problem here is Norton’s show is pre-recorded and edited, which would make any live voting on the songs a touch problematic, but not insurmountable (Estonia seem to manage just fine with pre-recorded semi finals). If we want the live experience, though, there’s already an answer on the BBC schedules.

The One Show

The BBC’s nightly magazine program, going out live at 7pm Monday to Friday, is probably the best TV venue for a National Selection. A ‘Eurovision Week’ could see four acts perform their songs Monday to Thursday at the end of each night, with an extended one hour show on Friday to recap all the songs and take care of the voting.

If some form of public involvement is going to be used for the UK’s 2013 entry (and remember, the EBU would like the public to be consulted as much as possible during national selection) then my money would be on The One Show being the vehicle.

The One Show goes Eurovision with Dustin the Turkey in 2008

The Mercury Shortlist

All credit to Sharleen for this one, but if you want a prestigious music competition that could get the United Kingdom a credible act with a mix of showmanship, style, and part of the modern zeitgeist, then the UK need to be looking at the shortlist for the annual Mercury Prize as the contenders. I would love a situation where the Mercury shortlist becomes the de facto Eurovision shortlist, with the winner getting first refusal.

That would mean the 2013 UK finalists would be Alt-JBen HowardDjango DjangoField MusicRichard HawleyMichael KiwanukaLianne La HavasSam LeeThe MaccabeesPlan BRoller Trio, or Jessie Ware. I could live with that.

Pelican, by The Maccabees

Of course you come up against the expected UK mainstream media reaction against someone entering Eurovision, so it might be tricky for the first year or two, but if this is the route to go, then expectations need to be set by the BBC PR machine so the performer is not hampered with an insanely confident “we are going to win it this year” that Engelbert Humperdinck had to deal with.

Ask the Popmaster!

Eurovision starlets come and go, songs are sung (lost) and forgotten, but there’s always been one constant in the UK’s coverage. Since 1988 the dulcet tones of Ken Bruce have brought commentary from the back of the hall to the airwaves of Radio 2.

While it might not show off the visuals, if we’re looking to really bring the cost in, let’s use ‘The One Show‘ idea of showcasing the artists and having a selection, but put them on the radio instead. There would be a lot more time to explore their music, play a few songs (unplugged, or perhaps a session at the Maida Vale studios), and a chance to really get to know the artists and their music. With a listenership of over 7 million during 2012 this would probably be the selection format that would involve the UK public the most.

ESC Insight's Terry Vision catches up with Ken Bruce in Baku

…Over to You!

How would you choose a song for Eurovision? We’ve went through five ideas that aren’t the traditional national final format, but everyone will have their own ideas what could work. Let’s go over them in the comments and come up with some options for 2013 and beyond.

 

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

Read more from this author...

You Can Support ESC Insight on Patreon

ESC Insight's Patreon page is now live; click here to see what it's all about, and how you can get involved and directly support our coverage of your Eurovision Song Contest.

Have Your Say

36 responses to “Five Alternatives To A UK National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest”

  1. Ahem. Back in 2005 I put forth the idea that the BBC should use the Jools Holland format with the Mercury shortlist. Not exactly what you put above, but still…

    😉

  2. Ewan Spence says:

    Well Sharleen gets the credit because (a) you’re old (b) I never saw it, but most importantly (c) Sharleen punches me harder than you do. 😉

  3. I disagree that Eurovision should be chasing “credibility” with the music press. No light entertainment fluff?! But… it’s *EUROVISION*.

  4. Ewan Spence says:

    I think that ignoring it kills the musos credibility, Sean… one of the few songs in the Top 5 of the charts this year that wasn’t on the Radio 1 playlist, even after it reached #3? Euphoria. A song that charted in 18 countries. But the idea of Eurovision actually being credible is not soemthing for a comment.

  5. Glen says:

    Like the idea of having 10 songs in a preselection show on the radio by up and coming/established composers and then the top 5 go through to a live Saturday night show :)!

  6. I really think that having a national selection via the One Show would really not work. The fact it would be on the One Show would mean that the types of acts that would want to do it would be limited and the song that would be selected would more than likely send us back to cheesy pop. I agree that the idea of a pre-recorded show with judges chosing 5 or so songs from each to go through to the final would work well. Then a live televised final will bring in the viewers, it would also be helpful if the BBC actually enabled both phone and sms voting.

  7. Ewan Spence says:

    Anthony, I believe there are issues in validating an SMS vote in the short amount of time a live show requires.

  8. Ben says:

    The problem with the Mercury prize shortlist or Jools Holland is considering who would actually accept the Eurovision job. When you bring Eurovision into the context of a show that normally does not showcase the kind of music you would expect to hear at Eurovision, the dynamic of the music on said show must change if the idea is to work.

    Eurovision’s an untapped hitmaker, Euphoria’s just the tip of the iceberg. The UK needs to send a song that will be a hit around Europe, by a performer who will deliver without a measure of doubt. Doesn’t matter who it is. I think we’re overthinking it all too much.

    I’m fine with the internal selection, I’m just not so sure about the ideas of the people who choose them. They seem to focus more on the person than the song, and it’s only ever going to be a great song, flawlessly executed that will win this thing for us again.

  9. Ben says:

    My prediciton for 2013 is that the BBC will end up internally choosing an act that they will make a big deal about because of how famous they, *cough*, were. They will then follow this with an earnest but not exhaustive and relatively brief promo campaign, chart success of the song will be very limited, the press and public will continue to be snide and ignorant, and the rest is up to the performer.

  10. Ewan Spence says:

    Hold on a mo, Ben… “a brief promo campaign around a number of BBC television and radio shows“, there fixed it for you.

  11. Gavin says:

    It’s such a shame that the UK couldn’t fund a Melodifestivalen style show. I’m sure it would work well, as people would get more involved as the show visits all the different towns.

    Whatever method is used, the BBC would have to give it a couple of years to get the public used to the format.

  12. Ewan Spence says:

    But yet again i come back to the idea of where you would find enough artists willing to go on the show… and lose. And not only lose, but lose at Eurovision. The mainstream media would push back so hard on them it would be the end of any respectable career. Do you think Blue would have entered a National Final? Humperdinck? That’s where other countries have the edge – they can pick the best of the best. The BBC and the relationship of media to Europe means the UK gets ‘the people who have nothing to lose’

  13. Sam Smales says:

    Introduce the Melodifestivalen style, and make it so that is is the best song of the best that wins, then if they fail at Eurovision, the artist is not affected by it because that song was the best of the best.

  14. Ewan Spence says:

    And what about the 31 ‘fails’ at the National Final level? If you had Muse AND Blur in there, one would be labelled a ‘failure’ and neither could take that risk in the UK media.

  15. Ben says:

    A Melodifestival style show in the UK is just not realistic. It doesn’t fit with the British public/media’s idea of, not just Eurovision, but our music stars in general. I get the feeling that the size of our music industry has led it to become quite complacent and that actually, British popular music isn’t a shade as good as it was before I was born. Yeah there’s the occasional good song like Elbow’s One Day Like This but most of it is just autotuned hip hop, frankly. Famous British musicians just like to be coddled by their sense of entitlement to international fame and most of them would not be willing to prove themselves on any competitive basis whatsoever.

    Eurovision just happens to be the scapegoat here, which isn’t helped by the, let’s face it, fair number of awful entries each year. But frankly, Britain just cannot seem to fathom the idea that as long as we take it seriously, any other entry could possibly be better musically, or better performed on the night.

    Rather than suggest Eurovision is divisive and political with the music irrelevant, I would suggest the complete opposite. While the country of origin no doubt has a limited effect, it ultimately is down to the quality, commercial relevance and impact of the song on the night that will decide the winner. No matter what you can conventionally judge as good or not good, it will always be the best combined execution of song and performance that will win this contest, no matter where you come from or who you are.

    If the UK wants to “get” Eurovision, let alone win it, then we need to get off our high horses and realise that a famous singer from the great land of the United Kingdom, home to (I believe) the 3rd largest music industry in the world, does not by any means magically entitle us to the win. We can send Robbie Williams, sure, but if he steps up on the night and spends his time plodding through a mediocre ballad while spending half the song yelling at the audience instead of singing the bloody thing, he is not going to do very well at all.

  16. Sam Smales says:

    It would just be better if the UK Split up, I would rather support a Welsh or Scottish entry, if there is more effort, rather than the BBC just plodding along and selecting a mediocre song with a mediocre artist to represent us.

  17. Ewan Spence says:

    Sam, how would four mediocre entries from BBC Wales, BBC Scotland, BBC Northern Ireland, and presumably “The BBC” for the English entry be any better? There would be less money for each region, they would all likely have to go through the semi-final system, and where would you draw the line for other countries. Bavaria? That Vatican? What about the Basque region of Spain?

  18. Sam Smales says:

    I’m sure that Scotland and Wales would put more effort into Eurovision than the BBC currently do, why, because they are fed up of rubbish English songs going to Eurovision

  19. Ben says:

    Have they actually gone on record to say that, though, Sam? Or is that just your own hunch? 😉

  20. Ewan Spence says:

    Who in Scotland, Sam? BBC Scotland? Stv? As they say, citation needed. Ditto for Wales

  21. Sam Smales says:

    In Wales they were considering a début at JESC 2008 contest, and have Cân i Gymru as their selection, if they were to enter ESC. Also the quality of music would improve if the four home nations were competing against each other, to be the best. Also a Scottish entry in 2015 is almost a certainty if Scotland gain independence in the referendum. STV is already a member of the EBU, and the EBU have said that there is nothing stopping Wales or Scotland from entering the contest.

  22. Ewan Spence says:

    Not buying it Sam. Looking at JESC in 2008 is a long way from “Wales would put more effort into Eurovision”. As to Scottish broadcasting after a vote (and assuming the vote is for independence, which is not a foregone conclusion), I doubt STV Group (STV North/Grampian and STV Central/Scottish) or ITV Border/TyneTees have the budget to do Eurovision, or the audience goodwill to opt out of the Saturday night “Got Talent” schedule. As for BBC Alba ::rolleyes::

  23. Sam Smales says:

    I was just saying it would be a nice idea, the Artists in Britain should take risks, they do everywhere else, and it would be nice for an internationally liked, modern artist to represent us, save us from a last place every year

  24. Vorty says:

    I don’t think the public should be involved at all – we’ve chosen some dreadful songs in the past. I’m happy to stick with the current format – I just think the BBC should shift their approach slightly to put forward more ‘new music’ or alternative choices with less care for where we come (I genuinely believe the BBC don’t care where we end up on the score board anyway but care more about the ratings hence the hype every year for the fact it’s our year – the audience always wants to know we might win it). Whilst I would like to see a couple of years of the eurovision stage being used for new music, I’m curious to know what happened to The Pet Shop Boys – apparently appraoched by the BBC for 2012, a song partly written called ‘Written’, yet it ended up as their tribute to the Olympics – what went wrong?

  25. Ewan Spence says:

    First up, there’s been no confirmation that the Pet Shop Boys were approached this year (how many times will I write this!). They were (a) approached in the past and (b) thought the “Winner” song was “a bit Eurovision”, whatever that means. (a) and (b) are not linked!

  26. Sam Smales says:

    I disagree, I think the UK public should take part, it is our nation that the act will be representing, and lets face it, the BBC are about as good as the public in choosing acts, with the exception of Blue.
    Germany have proved that the formula to actually do reasonably well, is to take the contest seriously, that won’t happen if the Eurovision community are against the approach that the BBC make

  27. Ewan Spence says:

    Sam, I agree on public participation, just that splitting up into the home countries is not a good idea. It’s also not just the right formula of the show, it’s the support, the back-room staff, the PR, and a little bit of luck.

  28. Sam Smales says:

    It is, but this year, all the promotion was for the UK getting behind the Hump, not Europe behind the Hump, which it should have been, and that is where the BBC went wrong, well, apart from teh song and artist choice :). But they need to fight the promotional battle on two fronts. Get the uk public and chart success. and at the same time, get the European public attention and chart success

  29. Chad Brown says:

    What about the winner of The Voice? And if they don’t want to do it then how about the runner up gets to represent the UK or someone else from the finalists?

  30. Ewan Spence says:

    I seem to recall that the contract between Universal and The BBC precludes any association between The Voice and Eurovision. To be honest I don;t think it would be a great fit – and the image of runner-up being Eurovision does devalue ESC.

  31. Sam Smales says:

    Also the voice isn’t that popular, also it is quite late in the eurovision year for a eurovision entry, because after that they will have to make a song for them to sing at eurovision, if they were going to use any show it would have to be X Factor, if they were going down that route

  32. Guilep says:

    UK should choose internally Jack White

  33. Nick says:

    After browsing the BBC website for a bit too long recently, I stumbled upon their “Sound of 2013” list and an idea came to me. What if the BBC organized a standalone national final that consisted of some of these artists? Here’s my idea.
    First, have each of artists create a song that fits the rules for Eurovision. They’ve already been picked by experts and, at least to my ears, are all pretty good. This serves as an ideal début opportunity for these up and comers. Then, post all 15 songs online and have voters choose the top six, similar to what’s being planned in Germany. After that, have a show where the final six compete for a spot at Eurovision, as well as a massive PR push by the BBC. If they replicate the machine they put behind Jade Ewen in 2009, I think that, not only will the BBC have a fighting chance in Malmö, the heavy negative stigma associated with Eurovision in the British media would be, hopefully, removed.
    Also, why is everyone so goo-goo in love with Melodifestivalen? I mean, it’s fun and glittery, but it’s not the best format. If the BBC ends up doing something with multiple shows, then they’re better off doing something along the lines of Eesti Laul or Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, i.e. something smaller with a higher, more consistent, quality. Just my two “pence.” 😉

  34. Ewan Spence says:

    Nick, some great ideas in there, I’ll address a few.
    The big one is the “massive PR push by the BBC” around Jade Ewen. From various accounts this was the record company pushing, and Andrew Lloyd Webber personally, not the BBC budget. THe year after when the BBC ran the PR and published the song it was far less evident. THe show itself did feel the ‘contractual use of ALW for 2009’.
    THe negative media stigma is tied up to Europe as a whole, that’s even tougher to address.
    Melodifestivalen is a complicated beast… how about it’s a broadcaster that makes an effort, and the genre associated with it (schlager) while not the predominant genre is one many ESC fans like.

  35. Nick says:

    Ewan, thank you for your reply! To address your points, it makes sense that someone like Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was taking a pretty big risk by signing onto the project, would do everything in his power to not fail and that the BBC wouldn’t really care, which qualifies your comparison to Josh’s flop in Oslo (not that PR could’ve really saved that one). I can’t really say anything about the British media, but it seems odd how a country so close to Europe could be so negative toward it.
    I guess that schalger would have something to do with it, but the whole production seems so over-the-top. It’s sort of off-putting to me, but I understand why some people really love it. Hmm, that’s just the wonderful variety of Eurovision! 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *