United Kingdom

Mae Muller

© EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett About Quick Facts NameHolly Mae Muller Born26 August 1997 Nationality🇬🇧 British National SelectionInternal Selection 2023 In Eurovision2023 Liverpool SongI wrote a song (2023) Biography Holly Mae Muller is a British singer-songwriter. She was born in London in 1997. When she was only eight years old, Mae started writing her own songs. She attended the Fine Arts College in London. When she was 10 years old, she had a role in the video for Mika’s hit “Grace Kelly”. As a teenager, Mae started working in a drag bar in Kentish Town to keep working with music. She uploaded a few demos to SoundCloud in 2017. When she shared a video of herself singin into instagram, she was discovered. Mae Muller’s first EP, “After Hours”, was released in February 2018. In September of the same years, it was followed by a second one, “Frankly”. On 5 April 2019, Muller released her debut studio album, titled “Chapter 1”. She opened for Little Mix on their 2019 tour. Following the tour, she released a single called “Therapist”. Muller also announced her first national tour, visiting five cities across the United Kingdom to support the trans community. Her third EP “No One Else, Not Even You” was released on 6 November 2020. The EP was supported by a tour across the United Kingdom and Europe. In 2021, Muller appeared as guest vocalist on “When You’re Out” of Billen Ted. She joined the Swedish artist collective Neiked and the American rapper Polo G on the single “Better Days”. That song became an international chart succes, reaching the charts in the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Ireland. The singer could perform the hit on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On 27 October 2022, Muller released her single “I Just Came To Dance”. As of March 2023, it has been streamed on Spotify over 2.5 million times. On 3 March 2023, she released a single in collaboration with Sigala, Caity Baser and Stefflon Don called “Feels This Good”. This was shortly followed up by her solo single “I Wrote a Song”, which was then revealed on 9 March 2023 to be the United Kingdom’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. She ended up in 25th place in the Grand Final. Entries I Wrote A Song Country🇬🇧 United Kingdom Year2023 LanguageEnglish LyricsKaren PooleLewis ThompsonMae Muller MusicKaren PooleLewis ThompsonMae Muller BackingsAnnabel Williams DancersSophia TurnerTheo SimpsonCurtisha KruythoffCharlie Goddard Results Semi Points: –Position: –Running order: – Results Finals Points: 24Position: 25Running order: 26 https://youtu.be/tvJEE2ryCRQ

It’s Mae Muller for the United Kingdom

Mae Muller will represent hostcountry United Kingdom in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. That was reveiled this morning in Zoe Ball’s BBC 2 Breakfast Show.As the United Kingdom is one of the Big Five ánd the host country, the song “I wrote a song” will be placed directly in the final. The song is written by Mae herself in cooperation with Lewis Thompson and Karen Poole. You can listen to it here:

7 cities on shortlist UK

Seven cities are on the shortlist to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. These are Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield. Not only the place itself was a subject, but also how the cities want to reflect Ukrainian culture in the festivities. Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest this year but cannot organize it itself. That is why the United Kingdom and the BBC are taking on the organization. photo: EBU The next step is to create a bid book. In it, the cities show how the festival is organized in their city. The venue where the festival is held is also discussed: it must also be suitable. The infrastructure and availability of hotels are also discussed. The city must also present the financial picture. The BBC and the EBU will make a decision together, which is likely to fall in the autumn.

Dame Olivia Newton-John passed away

Today, the sad news came to us that Dame Olivia Newton John passed away. The Dame was 73 years old. Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, but the family moved to Australia when she was only 5 years old. She returned to the UK in the sixties. She had her first hits in 1971: “If not for you” became a huge hit in several countries, followed by “Banks of the Ohio”, which became a number 1 hit in Australia. As a good friend of Cliff Richard, she was interested in participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1974 she represented the United Kingdom. Out of 6 songs, “Long live love” was chosen. She was not too happy with the choice of the British audience, who voted with postcards. However, Olivia was one of the hot favourites at the bookmakers. In the end, she became 4th. Shortly after the Eurovision Song Contest, Olivia moved to the USA. She scored no less than 5 number 1 hits, only in the years 1974 and 1975. Her worldwide breakthrough as an actress came in 1978, when she and John Travolta performed in the teenage movie “Grease”, a movie that became and still is an evergreen. The movie produced hits like “You’re the one that I want”, “Hopelessly devoted to you” and “Summer nights”. Another worldwide movie hit was “Xanadu”, two years after “Grease”. The title song was a world wide hit as well. After these two movies she scored a worldwide hit again, the song “Physical”: After “Physical” she kept on having hits, although it became more difficult for her to have worldwide top hits. The exception came in 1990, when she and John Travolta teamed up again to record the “Grease Megamix”. In total, Olivia Newton John released 26 albums, 6 live albums and several soundtracks. In 1992, Olivia had cancer for the first time. The cancer returned in 2013 and again in 2017. In 2019, Newton-John was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, including for her contribution to cancer research. Since then she was allowed to call herself Dame.

We Are Domi

©EBU/Louise Bennett About Quick Facts Members Dominika HaškováCasper HatlestadBenjamin Rekstad Formed2016 Nationality🇨🇿 Czech/🇳🇴 Norwegian National SelectionESCZ 2022 In Eurovision2022 Turin SongLights off (2022) Biography We Are Domi, also known as DOMI, is a Norwegian-Czech electro-pop band, founded in 2018 and based in Prague in the Czech Republic. The band’s crew consists of front vocalist Dominika Hašková, daughter of the former ice hockey player Dominik Hašek, guitarist Casper Bjelland Hatlestad from Stavanger and keyboardist Benjamin Rekstad from Nesodden. We Are Domi was founded in 2018 in Leeds, UK. The three met while studying jazz music at the Leeds Conservatoire. The band is known for energetic performances and mixes different genres such as dance, electro-pop and Scandinavian-inspired pop. In August 2020, the band moved from the UK to the Czech Republic, due to the strict virus restrictions in the UK. In the autumn of 2021, the band was announced as one of seven entries in the Czech music competition ESCZ 2022. The competition was organized by the Czech national broadcaster ČT. On Thursday 16 December 2021, the broadcaster announced that the band We Are Domi had won the competition. The result was that they represented the Czech Republic in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin with the song “Lights off”. Entries Lights off Country Czech Republic Year2022 LanguageEnglish LyricsAbigail Frances JonesDominika HaškováBenjamin Rekstad MusicEinar Eriksen KvaløyAbigail Frances JonesDominika HaškováCasper HatlestadBenjamin Rekstad BackingsNikol Držmíšková Results Semi Points: 227Position: 4Running order: 18 Results Finals Points: 38Position: 22Running order: 1 https://youtu.be/EGRzSefqOm0

In the spotlights: Sam Ryder

Tomorrow, the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 will take place in Turin. One of the favourites for the win is Sam Ryder, who represents the United Kingdom. But who is Sam Ryder? Sam Ryder is a familiar face to TikTok users, but he will be a newcomer to millions if they see him represent the UK at Eurovision 2022. Sam was born on 25 June 1989 in Maldon – United Kingdom. As a child he started singing, and after seeing the Canadian Rock band Sum 41, he knew from a young age that he wanted to become a professional musician. It was 2009 when he made his debut as a singer and guitarist in 2009 with the band “The morning After” of which he was the co-founder. In 2010, when he was a member of the band The Morning After, Ryder stepped in to replace Casey Jones as a backing vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Blessed By A Broken Heart, a Canadian glam rock band, that was touring Europe at the time. In July 2012, Ryder joined the band full-time and appeared on their single “Out of Control”. The band broke up two months later and Ryder became the lead singer of Close Your Eyes, an American Christian hardcore band from Abilene, Texas. Ryder replaced old “Close Your Eyes” frontman Shane Redmond, which caused concern among the band’s fans. Nevertheless, the band’s 2013 album Line in the Sand was well received. On December 15, 2014, Ryder announced his decision to leave the band. He returned to “The Morning After” as lead singer and guitarist. From 2014 to 2019, “The Morning After” toured American coffee houses and farmers markets. He became known via TikTok in 2020, when he started posting his music covers. He found new famous fans such as Sia, Justin Bieber, Alicia Keys and Elton John. By the end of the year he became the most followed British artist on the platform. Sam soon signed a record deal with Parlophone and in 2021 he released his debut EP, “The Sun’s Going to Rise”, followed by a sold-out tour. The United Kingdom has not done too well in the Eurovision Song Contest in recent years, but now Sam Ryder is high in the polls, and he is, next to Sweden and Ukraine, even tipped as the winner! Is that going to happen? We will know tomorrow. In any case, we wish Sam Ryder a lot of success!

Sam Ryder

© EBU About Quick Facts NameSam Ryder Robinson Born25 june 1989 Nationality British National SelectionInternal selection In Eurovision2022 SongSpaceman (2022) Biography Sam Ryder is an English singer, songwriter and social media personality. Ryder was born in Essex, England. He made his debut as a singer in the band The Morning After, which he co-founded. In 2010, he became a member, and later the leadsinger, of the band Blessed By A Broken Heart. The band split up in 2013. With the American rock band Close Your Eyes he released an album. In 2016, Ryder decided to start a solo career. He recorded an album in Nashville with producer Bryan Wilson. However, the album was never released. Ryder went to Hawaii, running a vegan café there. His real breakthrough came when, due to COVID-19, there was a lockdown. In this first lockdown Ryder started to post covers of songs on TikTok. That cought the attention of artists like Justin Bieber, Sia, Elton John and Alicia Keys. He became the most-followed artist from the UK on TikTok. It resulted in a record contract. An EP, “The sun’s gonna Rise” was released, followed by a tour. “The sun’s gonna rise” was streamed no less than a 100 million times. Sam Ryder was chosen by the BBC to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest of 2022. He became 2nd in the contest. Entries Spaceman Country United Kingdom Year2022 LanguageEnglish LyricsSam RyderAmy WadgeMax Wolfgang MusicSam RyderAmy WadgeMax Wolfgang BackingsJay VermaAdam WadeLewie Allan Results Semi Points: –Position: –Running order: – Results Finals Points: 466Position: 2Running order: 22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ0hqX_92zI

Day 8: Of good voices and proper acts from the Big Five!

It’s the end of the individual rehearsals every year: those of the Big Five. And every year it is the disappointment of a group of countries that seem to be unable to bring anything good to the stage. Last year there was already a noticeable change in this, but this year the countries really surprise! Rehearsals Big Five FRANCE: For the first time since 1996, the Breton language can be heard at the Eurovision Song Contest. Back then France finished at the bottom. That won’t happen now, but the act made quite a messy impression during rehearsals. The points will really have to come in thanks to the song and enthusiasm of Alvan and Ahez. ITALY: The performance of Italy, now that Blanco is around, is rather disappointing. This is mainly due to the poor vocals of both. Mahmood is dressed in black, Blanco in white and there is a lot of light. But that doesn’t help much if the vocals remain as bad as they are now. However, our friends from songfestivalweblog.nl remember that Mahmood did not excel during the rehearsals in 2019 either, but when it came to the jury final and the final, he really showed his best. Perhaps that will happen again three years later. UNITED KINGDOM: Sam Ryder stands amid scaffolding singing his song. And that is all he needs for this song. His strong voice seems to be enough for a very high score, something for which the British have to go way back. The British will also finally experience that you can end up high with a good song. SPAIN: We remember the act, in which singing and dancing are combined, from the Spanish national final. This usually has an effect on the singer’s voice. Not so with Chanel. Because with this performance she proves that she is more, much more than an average pop singer. Like the British, the Spaniards can look forward to the festival with confidence. GERMANY: With guitar and drum machine Malik Harris manages to show an act that is not bad at all. As far as vocals go, Malik continues to do well. The act is not directly in the top-5 with the bookmakers, and the song is perhaps just a bit too anonymous for that. One thing is certain: Germany is also out of the lower regions this year. Conclusion: unlike in previous years, the Big Five seem to be doing reasonably well this year and there is even a potential winner. Has Måneskin’s win brought new impetus to these five countries? Who’ knows…?

Day 6: The Big Five

And then we have the Big Five; we hadn’t heard or seen anything about it until now. So today that has changed. FRANCE: Lots of green on stage with Alvan and Ahez’s French entry. The group members are dressed in black and gold. Eurovision.tv reports very solid bass. Lots of flashes of light and, to the beat of the song, Pyrotechnics can be seen coming from two pots on either side of the stage. ITALY: We see Mahmood, but instead of Blanco there is a stand-in. The grand piano plays a part in the act. Mahmood is dressed in a long black coat. He wears white sunglasses. Mahmood and hist stand-in (Blanco in the next rehearsal) are standing face to face. UNITED KINGDOM: Sam Ryder performs in a huge scaffold that appears to be made of steel. Lots of flashing light on Sam, who is wearing a black jumpsuit. Eurovision.tv praises the strong vocals of the sympathetic singer. SPAIN: Chanel wears a matador outfit, but entirely in silver. The song requires a lot of dancing and there is. Three men and two women, dressed in black, complete the dance act. GERMANY: Malik Harris is featured separately with just his guitar. He wears black pants and a white shirt. Only when the rap part can be heard, everything looks slightly different: according to eurovision.tv there is a big contrast with the rest of the act.

Sam Ryder to wave the United Kingdom’s flag

Today the last big 5 country, the United Kingdom, presented it’s Eurovision artist and song. Sam Ryder will sing his song “SPACE MAN” at the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. The English artist became famous in the first lockdown by posting covers on his TikTok account. At the moment Sam has a following base of 12 million people. His most popular song “Tiny Riot” has the same amount of streams as his followers on TikTok. Sam will perform in the Eurovision final on the 14th of May. ????: Edward Cooke