United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

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Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country United Kingdom
National selection
Selection processEurovision: You Decide
Selection date(s)7 February 2018
Selected entrantSuRie
Selected song"Storm"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Nicole Blair
  • Gil Lewis
  • Sean Hargreaves
Finals performance
Final result24th, 48 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. The British entry for the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal, was selected via the national final Eurovision: You Decide, organised by the British broadcaster BBC. On 16 November 2017, it was announced that Måns Zelmerlöw, winner of the 2015 contest for Sweden, would join the show as co-host alongside Mel Giedroyc. The national final took place on 7 February 2018 at the Brighton Dome. Six acts competed in the national final, with the song "Storm" performed by SuRie being selected the winner.

As a member of the "Big 5", the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Background[]

Main article: United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, the United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty times. 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 the song "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. To this point, the nation is noted for having finished as the runner-up in a record fifteen contests. Up to and including 1998, the UK had only twice finished outside the top 10, in 1978 and 1987. Since 1999, the year in which the rule was abandoned that songs must be performed in one of the official languages of the country participating, the UK has had less success, thus far only finishing within the top ten twice: in 2002 with the song "Come Back" performed by Jessica Garlick and in 2009 with the song "It's My Time" performed by Jade Ewen. For the 2017 contest, the United Kingdom finished in fifteenth place out of twenty-six competing entries with the song "Never Give Up on You" performed by Lucie Jones amassing a total of 111 points.

The British national broadcaster, BBC, broadcasts the event within the United Kingdom and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. BBC announced that the United Kingdom would participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 on 29 September 2017.[1] Between 2011 and 2015, BBC opted to internally select the British entry. For their 2016 entry, the broadcaster announced that a national final would be organised featuring a competition among several artists and songs to choose the British entry for Eurovision. The same process was used in 2017.

Before Eurovision[]

Eurovision: You Decide[]

Main article: UK national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision: You Decide was the national final developed by the BBC in order to select the British entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. Six acts competed in a televised show on 7 February 2018 held at the Brighton Dome in Brighton and hosted by Mel Giedroyc as well as Måns Zelmerlöw, who won the contest for Sweden in 2015 with the song "Heroes". The winner was selected through the combination of the votes of a professional jury panel and a public vote. The show was broadcast on BBC Two.[2] The national final was watched by 900,000 viewers in the United Kingdom with a market share of 4.8%.[3]

Competing entries[]

On 29 September 2017, BBC announced an open submission for interested artists to submit their songs in the form of a video recording. The submission period lasted until 27 October 2017. The received submissions from the open call were reviewed and a shortlist was compiled by the UK branch of the international OGAE fan club. Additional entries were provided to the BBC by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) who ran a songwriting competition amongst its members. The BBC also collaborated with the former music director of RCA Records and founder of Innocent Records, Hugh Goldsmith, to consult with music industry experts including writers, producers, artist managers and members of the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in order to encourage entry submissions and involvement in the national final. Multiple songwriting camps were also held to promote the submission of entries. Songs from all entry methods were included in a final shortlist which was presented to a professional panel that ultimately selected six finalists to compete in the national final.[4] The six competing songs were announced on 24 January 2018.[5][6]

Final[]

Six acts competed in the televised final on 7 February 2018. In addition to their performances, guest performers included Måns Zelmerlöw and 2017 British representative Lucie Jones performing an ABBA medley.

A combination of the votes from an eight-member professional jury panel and a public vote consisting of televoting and online voting selected the winner, "Storm" performed by SuRie. The jury panel consisted of David Grant (vocal coach, head of the jury), Caroline Sullivan (music journalist), Roisin O'Connor (music correspondent), Steve Tandy (regional radio promoter), Sara Sesardic (Spotify music editor), Alastair Webber (A&R manager), Marco Sensi (MTV Music editor) and Kele Le Roc (singer).[7] A panel of experts provided feedback regarding the songs during the show. The panel consisted of Rylan Clark-Neal (singer, television presenter, television personality and model), Rochelle Humes (singer and television presenter) and Tom Fletcher (singer-songwriter and guitarist).[8]

Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s)
1 RAYA "Crazy" Emil Rosendal Lei, Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir, Samir Salah Elshafie
2 Liam Tamne "Astronaut" Ashley Hicklin, Jacob Pedersen, Jeanette Bonde, Rune Braager
3 Asanda Jezile "Legends" Christopher Wortley, Laurell Barker, Roel Rats
4 Jaz Ellington "You" Ashley Hicklin, Herman Gardarfve, Laura White
5 SuRie "Storm" Nicole Blair, Gil Lewis, Sean Hargreaves
6 Goldstone "I Feel the Love" Eric Lumiere, Joakim Buddee, Laura White, Roel Rats

At Eurovision[]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 took place at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May and the final on 12 May 2018.[9] According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", the United Kingdom automatically qualifies to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, the United Kingdom is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 29 January 2018, the United Kingdom was assigned to broadcast and vote in the first semi-final on 8 May 2018.[10]

In the United Kingdom, the semi-finals were broadcast on BBC Four with commentary by Scott Mills and Rylan Clark-Neal, while the final was televised on BBC One with commentary by Graham Norton.[1] Mel Giedroyc announced the United Kingdom jury results.

Final[]

SuRie performed 9th in the running order during the Grand Final. In the middle of her performance, a stage invader grabbed her microphone and shouted: "Modern Nazis of The UK media, we demand freedom! War is not peace!", before being removed by security and taken into police custody. SuRie was without her microphone for about 10 seconds, but was nevertheless able to finish her performance. She was offered the opportunity to perform again by the EBU after the final country, Italy, had performed, but declined, claiming she and her team were "proud of her performance". After returning to The UK, in an interview on This Morning, SuRie revealed she had some bruises on her hands where the invader had grabbed her and also on her shoulder where he had barged into her, but she said that she had not been seriously harmed by the incident.[citation needed]

At the close of voting, she had placed 24th, receiving 48 points: 25 from televoting and 23 from juries.

Voting[]

Points awarded to the United Kingdom[]

Points awarded to the United Kingdom (Final)[11]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points  Ireland
8 points  Israel
7 points
6 points  Australia  Italy
5 points
4 points
3 points
 France
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by the United Kingdom[]

Detailed voting results[]

The following members comprised the British jury:[13]

  • Richard Beadle (jury chairperson) – musical director, orchestrator, composer
  • Michelle Escoffery – singer-songwriter
  • Natalie Shay – singer-songwriter
  • Toby Lawrence – club and radio DJ
  • Eady Crawford – singer
Detailed voting results from the United Kingdom (Semi-final 1)[12] hide
Draw Country Jury Televote
R. Beadle M. Escoffery N. Shay T. Lawrence E. Crawford Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Azerbaijan 11 18 18 16 7 16 15
02  Iceland 9 19 14 17 14 17 16
03  Albania 2 2 3 10 5 4 7 10 1
04  Belgium 5 8 16 15 15 11 13
05  Czech Republic 19 15 8 6 19 13 9 2
06  Lithuania 18 17 15 19 16 19 1 12
07  Israel 7 5 4 1 3 3 8 6 5
08  Belarus 12 14 17 9 8 14 14
09  Estonia 8 3 5 14 6 5 6 7 4
10  Bulgaria 4 1 2 3 2 1 12 5 6
11  Macedonia 13 16 19 12 12 18 17
12  Croatia 6 6 9 13 4 6 5 19
13  Austria 3 4 1 5 1 2 10 11
14  Greece 17 7 7 18 13 12 8 3
15  Finland 16 11 11 2 10 8 3 4 7
16  Armenia 10 9 6 8 11 9 2 18
17   Switzerland 1 12 12 11 18 7 4 12
18  Ireland 14 13 10 4 9 10 1 2 10
19  Cyprus 15 10 13 7 17 15 3 8
Detailed voting results from the United Kingdom (Final)[11] hide
Draw Country Jury Televote
R. Beadle M. Escoffery N. Shay T. Lawrence E. Crawford Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Ukraine 23 19 10 13 14 18 23
02  Spain 17 17 11 24 3 10 1 22
03  Slovenia 12 18 21 5 11 13 24
04  Lithuania 16 8 12 23 12 17 1 12
05  Austria 1 2 1 8 1 1 12 19
06  Estonia 15 3 7 16 2 5 6 11
07  Norway 4 21 3 11 7 6 5 15
08  Portugal 21 15 19 19 13 23 18
09  United Kingdom
10  Serbia 24 22 24 14 9 20 25
11  Germany 22 12 23 21 10 19 8 3
12  Albania 3 5 4 3 8 4 7 16
13  France 19 13 17 15 15 22 21
14  Czech Republic 6 23 8 10 16 11 6 5
15  Denmark 20 24 22 12 24 24 9 2
16  Australia 13 11 16 22 23 21 10 1
17  Finland 11 7 13 6 6 7 4 14
18  Bulgaria 14 1 2 4 5 3 8 5 6
19  Moldova 8 9 18 9 22 14 7 4
20  Sweden 2 16 20 20 19 9 2 20
21  Hungary 9 6 14 18 25 15 12
22  Israel 5 4 5 1 4 2 10 4 7
23  Netherlands 10 20 6 17 20 16 13
24  Ireland 18 10 9 2 18 8 3 2 10
25  Cyprus 7 14 15 7 21 12 3 8
26  Italy 25 25 25 25 17 25 17

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Jordan, Paul (29 September 2017). "BBC opens public song submissions for Eurovision 2018!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  2. ^ Jordan, Paul (16 November 2017). "UK national selection to be held in Brighton - with a Swedish twist!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  3. ^ Granger, Andy (8 February 2018). "United Kingdom: Less Than 1 Million Viewers Watched Eurovision: You Decide". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  4. ^ "UK: BBC opens song submissions for Eurovision 2018...as Greta Salóme joins songwriting camp". wiwibloggs.com. 29 September 2017.
  5. ^ "Six acts and songs revealed for Eurovision: You Decide 2018". BBC. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  6. ^ "BBC reveals six Eurovision: You Decide hopefuls". ESCXTRA.com. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Voting - Eurovision: You Decide". BBC Eurovision. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  8. ^ McCaig, Ewan (6 February 2018). "United Kingdom: You Decide panelists revealed". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  9. ^ Jordan, Paul (25 July 2017). "Lisbon revealed as Host City of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Eurovision 2017: Which country is in which Semi-Final?". 31 January 2017.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "Results of the First Semi-Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  13. ^ Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.

External links[]

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