United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019

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Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Country United Kingdom
National selection
Selection processEurovision: You Decide
Selection date(s)8 February 2019
Selected entrantMichael Rice
Selected song"Bigger than Us"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Laurell Barker
  • Anna-Klara Folin
  • John Lundvik
  • Jonas Thander
Finals performance
Final result26th, 11 points
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2018 • 2019 • 2020►

The United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The British broadcaster British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) organised the national final Eurovision: You Decide 2019 in order to select the British entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel.

As a member of the "Big 5", the United Kingdom automatically qualified to compete in the final of the contest. The United Kingdom came in 26th place (last) with 11 points from 41 international juries and the Public.

Background[]

Main article: United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2019 contest, the United Kingdom participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-one 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 2018 contest, the United Kingdom finished in twenty-fourth place out of twenty-six competing entries with the song "Storm" performed by SuRie amassing a total of 48 points.

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 announced that the United Kingdom would participate in the 2019 contest on 19 September 2018.[1] Between 2011 and 2015, the 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 the contest. The same process was used in 2017 and 2018, and changes were brought in for 2019.

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 2019. Six acts competed in a televised show on 8 February 2019 held at the Dock10, MediaCityUK in Salford and hosted by Mel Giedroyc as well as Måns Zelmerlöw, who won the contest for Sweden in 2015 with the song "Heroes". The Dock10 venue previously hosted All Together Now and The Voice UK. The show was broadcast on BBC Two. The national final was watched by 1,17 million viewers in the United Kingdom with a market share of 6.4%.[2]

Competing entries[]

On 19 September 2018, BBC announced an open submission for interested composers to submit their songs in the form of a video recording. The submission period lasted until 26 October 2018. 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 consulted 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. Greig Watts replaced Hugh Goldsmith as music consultant to the BBC. 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 of international experts that ultimately selected three songs to compete in the national final.[3] The three competing songs were matched with two artists each and were announced on 23 January 2019 through social media as well as online via the BBC Eurovision website.

Final[]

Six acts competed in the televised final on 8 February 2019. In addition to their performances, guest performers included Måns Zelmerlöw performing a medley of past British Eurovision songs with past British representatives Bucks Fizz and Katrina Leskanich, produced by Edward af Sillén, Netta, who won the contest for Israel in 2018 performing the song "Toy", and 2018 British representative SuRie performing a piano rendition of her entry "Storm".[4]

A panel of experts provided feedback regarding the songs during the show. The panel consisted of head judge Rylan Clark-Neal (singer, television presenter, television personality and model), Marvin Humes (singer, television presenter and radio presenter) and Mollie King (singer-songwriter, television presenter, radio presenter and model). The winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, each song was performed by two artists in different versions and the expert panel selected one artist per song to proceed to the final round. In the final round, the winner was selected entirely through a public vote from the three remaining combinations of artist and song.

Duels round[]

In the duels round, the expert panel selected "Sweet Lies" performed by Kerrie-Anne, "Freaks" performed by Jordan Clarke and "Bigger than Us" performed by Michael Rice to proceed to the final round.

Draw Artist Song Songwriter(s) Votes of the Expert Panel Result
Clark-Neal Humes King Total
Duel 1
1 Kerrie-Anne "Sweet Lies" Maria Broberg, Lise Cabble, Esben Svane X X X 3 Advanced
2 Anisa "Sweet Lies" Maria Broberg, Lise Cabble, Esben Svane 0 Eliminated
Duel 2
3 Jordan Clarke "Freaks" Jon Maguire, Rick Parkhouse, Corey Sanders, George Tizzard X X 2 Advanced
4 MAID "Freaks" Jon Maguire, Rick Parkhouse, Corey Sanders, George Tizzard X 1 Eliminated
Duel 3
5 Holly Tandy "Bigger than Us" Laurell Barker, Anna-Klara Folin, John Lundvik, Jonas Thander 0 Eliminated
6 Michael Rice "Bigger than Us" Laurell Barker, Anna-Klara Folin, John Lundvik, Jonas Thander X X X 3 Advanced

Final round[]

In the final round, a public vote consisting of televoting and online voting selected the winner, "Bigger than Us" performed by Michael Rice.

Draw Artist Song
1 Kerrie-Anne "Sweet Lies"
2 Jordan Clarke "Freaks"
3 Michael Rice "Bigger than Us"

At Eurovision[]

The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 took place at the Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel and consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May and a final on 18 May 2019.[5] 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 was automatically qualified to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, the United Kingdom was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals; as such the United Kingdom voted in the second semi-final on 16 May.

Final[]

United Kingdom performed sixteenth in the final, following the entry from Norway and preceding the entry from Iceland. At the end of the show, United Kingdom placed last (26th) in the final, receiving a total of 11 points: 3 points from the televoting and 8 points from the juries. With the 2013-15 voting system, United Kingdom would have ranked last (26th) with 0 points.

Voting[]

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member, as well as the nation's televoting results, were released shortly after the grand final.[6]

At the final, the United Kingdom's jury voting results were announced by Rylan Clark-Neal.[7]

Points awarded to the United Kingdom[]

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

Points awarded by the United Kingdom[]

Detailed voting results[]

The following members comprised the British jury:[6][10][11]

  • Pete Watson (jury chairperson) – musical director
  • Jai Ramage – vocal coach
  • Adele Roberts – BBC Radio 1 DJ
  • AJ Bentley – singer, actor
  • George Ure – actor
Detailed voting results from the United Kingdom (Semi-final 2)[9]
Draw Country Jury Televote
P. Watson J. Ramage A. Roberts AJ Bentley G. Ure Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Armenia 14 17 15 11 17 17 17
02  Ireland 17 10 11 17 13 15 8 3
03  Moldova 6 14 5 9 3 7 4 16
04   Switzerland 10 12 14 7 14 12 5 6
05  Latvia 15 18 8 18 15 16 14
06  Romania 7 6 4 10 5 6 5 10 1
07  Denmark 16 3 10 1 18 5 6 13
08  Sweden 3 2 1 4 2 2 10 7 4
09  Austria 18 16 18 16 16 18 18
10  Croatia 5 8 3 2 8 3 8 15
11  Malta 4 11 6 8 12 10 1 3 8
12  Lithuania 13 7 17 15 10 14 1 12
13  Russia 8 4 13 6 7 8 3 9 2
14  Albania 11 15 16 14 6 13 11
15  Norway 12 13 7 13 11 11 2 10
16  Netherlands 9 5 12 12 4 9 2 6 5
17  North Macedonia 1 1 2 5 1 1 12 12
18  Azerbaijan 2 9 9 3 9 4 7 4 7
Detailed voting results from the United Kingdom (Final)[8]
Draw Country Jury Televote
P. Watson J. Ramage A. Roberts AJ Bentley G. Ure Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Malta 10 15 14 14 13 14 15
02  Albania 16 9 12 20 8 13 20
03  Czech Republic 23 12 10 3 12 10 1 16
04  Germany 21 16 19 19 18 23 24
05  Russia 8 5 15 6 6 7 4 13
06  Denmark 17 6 5 4 21 8 3 5 6
07  San Marino 20 25 22 25 24 25 21
08  North Macedonia 2 1 2 2 2 1 12 18
09  Sweden 1 2 3 8 1 2 10 6 5
10  Slovenia 24 23 9 24 25 20 23
11  Cyprus 11 17 23 17 19 19 10 1
12  Netherlands 5 7 13 11 3 5 6 7 4
13  Greece 19 22 25 22 22 24 19
14  Israel 18 19 17 18 17 21 17
15  Norway 15 10 4 12 11 11 1 12
16  United Kingdom
17  Iceland 14 21 24 23 16 22 3 8
18  Estonia 9 11 21 16 7 12 12
19  Belarus 12 20 18 13 15 18 22
20  Azerbaijan 3 8 8 5 4 4 7 8 3
21  France 7 3 20 10 9 9 2 14
22  Italy 25 18 11 9 20 15 11
23  Serbia 13 13 16 15 14 16 25
24   Switzerland 6 14 6 7 5 6 5 4 7
25  Australia 4 4 1 1 10 3 8 2 10
26  Spain 22 24 7 21 23 17 9 2

References[]

  1. ^ "BBC opens public song submissions for Eurovision 2019". BBC Media Centre. BBC. Retrieved 19 September 2018.
  2. ^ Granger, Andy (9 February 2019). "United Kingdom: 1.17 Million Viewers for Eurovision: You Decide". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Six acts, three songs, You Decide returns in 2019!". BBC. 30 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Zelmerlöw i svenska flaggan-kalsonger: Trippel svensk succé i Storbritanniens uttagning till Eurovision" [Zelmerlöw in Swedish flag-underpants: Triple Swedish success in Britain's selection for Eurovision]. Schlagerbloggen (in Swedish). 9 February 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Tel Aviv to host Eurovision 2019! - Eurovision Song Contest Israel 2019". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  6. ^ a b Groot, Evert (30 April 2019). "Exclusive: They are the judges who will vote in Eurovision 2019!". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  7. ^ Ling, Thomas (25 April 2019). "United Kingdom reveals Eurovision 2019 spokesman". Radiotimes.com. Immediate Media Company Limited. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  8. ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Tel Aviv 2019". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Sophie Ellis-Bextor replaced on Eurovision UK jury by George Ure". BBC News. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Ellis-Bextor quits UK's Eurovision jury". BBC News. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.

External links[]

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