UNITED KINGDOM

The United Kingdom entry was revealed on March 7th via a music video and interview on the BBC Red Button service presented by Scott Mills. The artist and song had not be revealed at all before the broadcast. The song chosen was "Still in love with you" sung by the duo Electro Velvet.

Like the last few years, the BBC decided to internally select their artist and song for Eurovision. However, there was a more 'open door' policy to submissions. As well as having submissions directly from record labels and artist organisations, members of the public could also forward entries. This meant that anybody could send in a clip of a possible song directly to the judging panel and it seems that it was through this process that this particular song came to the panels ear.

The song is a fun, quick-tempo dance number in a Charleston 1920/30 style with electronic elements. The songs structure is a little unusual as there is no real verse/chorus alternation. There is a main hook and tune which is repeated albeit with slightly different lyrics but these are inter-dispersed with small instrumental breaks, bridges and scatting. In some ways this makes the main tune of the song others may see it as too repetitive. Many might see this as dated compared to acts like Doop! and the recent mash-up using the Birds Eye Potato Waffle ad was pure genius.

The duo is made up of singers Alex Larke and Bianca Nicholas. He is currently the lead in a Rolling Stones tribute act whist she is a former auditionee on the Voice UK. Neither of them are very well known outside of these spheres and probably the reason why the secret was kept so well under wraps for so long. As the reveal was made in the form of a music video it is hard to judge their vocal ability or confidence. Although the song is quite simplistic the lines can be quite long and rambling which might cause a few tongue twisters.

This is very much a Marmite song - you either hate it or love it. One cannot accuse anybody of this being safe or boring. The video concept is really good but achieving anything like this will be impossible with 6 people on stage, unless they have some kind of old-film type backdrop like a Steve Silk Hurley video. It would be nice to have some Charleston dancers on stage, especially some who can do some of the shouty bits in the middle. Also the ultraviolet effect would be really good if possible on the Eurovision stage and would be a great visual trick for a very distinctive song.

This is not a safe song and not to everybody's cup of tea but at least it is a song that will get people talking. People who like this style of music and dancing will love this - I can already see a Charleston on Strictly Come Dancing being performed to this. What I am not sure about is how likely people are to vote for it. I'm not sure which type of juror would give this votes and I'm not sure if the people who like this type of music watch Eurovision. Either way, it will stick out like a sore thumb during the Eurovision final and possibly add a moment of madness to an otherwise middle of the road evening. A good try but on the right hand side of the scoreboard.

ARTIST - Electro Velvet

SONG - Still in love with you

MUSIC - David Mindel, Adrian Bax White

LYRICS - David Mindel, Adrian Bax White