UNITED KINGDOM

The UK Final was held on February 26th at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London, hosted by Mel Giedroyc. There was a panel to give opinions of the songs and performances, consisting of Carrie Grant, Katrina Leskanich ( both former UK Eurovision representatives) and Jay Revell (stage choreographer and dancer). Although they had no influence or weighting on the final result. The winner was chosen solely by televoting or via internet voting. The wining song was “You’re not alone” sung by Joe and Jake.

The song is a contemporary stadium-anthem song in the style of Coldplay. The two boys are backed by two drummers sat behind full drum kits. The song grows and builds in a really good way. The verses are relatively short which means they can get through a verse/chorus cycle no time at all. The chorus has a good balance of oh-oh-oh-oh-ing and actual singing. The boys seem to work together well and their voices are kind of similar which makes the singing together parts sound nicer than it possibly should. . It has a Swedish production quality which makes it easy on the ear as a live or radio song.

Both Joe and Jake were solo performers that participated in the 2015 edition of The Voice UK. Joe joined Rita Ora’s team and advanced through the battle and knockout rounds only to get eliminated in week 2 of the live rounds. Jake joined team will.i.am and survived the battles rounds only to be eliminated in the knockout segment. The two solo singers then became a duo when the show was over.

First of all I have to support and thank the BBC’s decision to put on a national final – the first in years. Although it was 'relegated' to BBC Four, some of the songs were a bit boring, the set a little lacklustre and the panel a tad on the predictable side it was all in all a good show with a great atmosphere and Mel was a really good humoured host.

This was the best song on the night, not the best sung, but one does not need vocal gymnastics to perform this number. The boys have good chemistry and the song is not a bad one. The staging is a slight issue. The national final staging was very small and intimate and I don’t think this staging could work on a much bigger stage. That said, they did well considering what they had and I also think they will work hard to make it work. It would be nice to keep the rainbow flashing light motif as that really brightened the whole place up. I feel that the boys need to work on their stage craft. Personally I would let Jake lose the guitar and get him to move round a bit more. I would have them choreographed within an inch of their lives so they can punctuate the powerful parts of the song. This is a good song and should get votes from televote and jury, especially if the jury is advised to look for contemporary styled songs. Anything above 15th would be a brilliant result.

ARTIST – Joe and Jake

SONG – You’re not alone

MUSIC - Schwartz, Justin J. Benson, S. Kanes

LYRICS – Schwartz, Justin J. Benson, S. Kanes