Tonight is the final of this year’s Eurovision song contest, so we’ll see how well this year’s British entry, “What The Hell Just Happened?” by Remember Monday gets on. You can read my verdicts on this and some of the other entries on Tuesday’s post.
Last May, the theme was my favourite all-time Eurovision songs, and so this May I’m focussing just on those that have represented the United Kingdom. As usual, you can listen along on Spotify.
- “Love City Groove” by Love City Groove (1995). Yes, the song and the band have the same name. This was the first time that the UK entry featured rap. Though the band have released two albums, their other songs haven’t been played enough on Spotify to even show the number of streams.
- “Ooh ahh… Just A Little Bit” by Gina G (1996). I’m pretty sure that this is the most well-known of all of the songs on here as it had a good life outside of Eurovision too. The opening bars are like a klaxon for summoning people to the dance floor.
- “Love Shine a Light” by Katrina and the Waves (1997). A year later, and the UK won – indeed, this was the last time the UK won. Katrina and the Waves are of course better known for Walking on Sunshine.
- “Where Are You?” by Imaani (1998). The UK hosted Eurovision in 1998, following our win in 1997, and this was a good song. The rest of Europe mostly agreed, and it came second to Diva by Dana International.
- “Say It Again” by Precious (1999). Precious were a girl band, and this is classic pop. It came fifth, and whilst Precious did an album, they didn’t last much longer. Former member Jenny Frost found further fame when she replaced Kerry Katona as a member of Atomic Kitten, and later as a TV presenter.
- “Flying the Flag (For You)” by Scooch (2007). I’ve missed a few years as these were mostly forgettable, but the band Scooch re-formed for this one off song. Again, it’s pure pop, and came with a great performance based on the band as flight attendants, but it didn’t score highly with our European neighbours.
- “It’s My Time” by Jade Ewen (2009). A string of disappointing Eurovision results left the UK with no choice but to unleash its secret weapon: Andrew Lloyd Webber, who co-wrote the song. It mostly paid off, ranking fifth and the UK’s best result for seven years. Jade Ewen would join the Sugababes later the same year, replacing the final original member Keisha and completing their Ship of Theseus transformation.
- “Children of the Universe” by Molly Smitten-Downes (2014). 2009 turned out to be a blip with more disappointing results to follow. This came 17th but deserved to do better. Molly was better known as being part of Stunt, who collaborated with Sash! for Raindrops (Encore une Fois) in 2008.
- “Still in Love with You” by Electro Velvet (2015). I like a bit of electro swing, and whilst it wasn’t the best song, I have a soft spot for this. There’s a fun mash-up with the Bird’s Eye Potato Waffles tune. Alas, it came joint last in Eurovision that year.
- “Space Man” by Sam Ryder (2022). And finally, our last big success in 2022. Whilst Ukraine won that year, we managed to come second, and hosted the 2023 contest in Liverpool due to the ongoing conflict.
