The British song was revealed on March 1st - with the song's release on streaming sites from midnight, the video premiere on YouTube later that morning and an in-depth interview with Graham Norton in the evening. On 16th December, during the grand final of Strictly Come Dancing, it was announced who the representative would be. The song title was made public at a later date, as were snippets of the song and video. The United Kingdom song for Malmö is "Dizzy" by Olly Alexander.
Oliver Alexander Thornton was born in 1990 in the former Eurovision host town of Harrogate. He studied Performing Arts at the Hereford College of Arts but dropped out after he started getting acting roles and prioritised these over his studies. Early roles included parts in CBBC show Summerhill, Channel 4's Skins as well as numerous film parts. He has also acted in the West End and was the main character in "God Help the Girl" a film was written by Stuart Murdoch frontman of Belle and Sebastian, The acting role he is most famous for was in Russell T Davies' "It's a Sin", which earned him much critical acclaim. Along side this he was also furthering his musical ambitions. The band Years & Years, which hired him as a singer, formed in 2010 and "I Wish I Knew" - their first release - came out in 2012. After signing with French label Kitsuné they released "Traps", their second song, in September 2013. In January 2015, they were announced as winners of the BBC's "Sound of 2015" poll. The band's most successful song "King" got to number 1 in the UK in 2015 as did the companion album "Communion". In 2021, Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Türkmen left the band leaving Alexander to pursue Years & Years as a solo project.
Dizzy is a trance infused song with pop influences. The main part of the song follows a verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure. The verses are more sparse and soulful in the vocal and the backing track reflects this tone. During the chorus, the tune and beat becomes much more prominent. Olly's vocal is lower in the range during this part and has an intriguing quality. The chorus is also cleverly constructed as it is the same section repeated twice each time. After the shorter second verse and chorus there is a brief post chorus which leads to the bridge. This part is a spoken/rapped part where he repeats the same lines over and over again. This section really builds up the end of the song and gives the song (and Olly) a chance to regroup before one last repetition of the chorus. After this the music echoes out to a finish which is a little on the sudden/unexpected side.
The video is well produced and has a revolving house setup. The fast paced movement really reflects the name of the song (quite literally). The cuts between shots are longer in the verses than the chorus mirroring the changes of pace. Although the full set up would not be possible on stage some of the more technical and televisual ideas might be used. Olly's choreography and execution is amazing and I quite enjoy the jerky movements in the bridge. There are rumours that he will be on stage with 4 dancers which will hopefully really set off that pop edge as well as create interactions that will echo the mood and lyrics of the track.This is a nice friendly radio tune which would be heard around Europe and the world. The verses and chorus really take their weight in the song all the way to the end. My main concern is that although this is a wonderfully written and produced track, I have always had concerns about Olly's live credentials. I have not always found his live vocals to be that palatable as he sometimes looks carried away by the performance, the dancing and the response from the crowd. Will he be able to perform this to a good enough standard live and balance the needs to the visual show? Although the performance needs to be memorable, if it is at the detriment of the vocal then the juries (who should lap this up) will penalise this entry.
ARTIST - Olly Alexander
SONG - Dizzy
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Dimitris Kontopoulos, Elke Tiel
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