[DAL1189]

Doesn't bode well for the UK I fear

I concur.  Last year we had a good song and Sam Ryder had toured Europe promoting it for months. We sort of won, it was only the phone vote that turned it, and we know that was based on just support for Ukraine which Sam even encouraged with his shout-out at the end of his performance.

Last year we had:

[*]popular established TikTok performer
[*]bloke with a beard and long hair
[*]sparkly suit
[*]great voice
[*]great stage set
[*]Oh, and the song was really good!


We ticked all the Eurovision boxes for once.

This year, we have a weak entry with a song called "I wrote a song".  Blimey, is that really the best they could come up with? We deserve nil point.

This year we have an upcoming young artist who already has had a top 50 hit both in the UK and in the States, as well as a song that reflects where UK pop is today. I think people have been way too harsh about Mae's performances thusfar, if you've been following her pre party performances you'll know they've been experimenting with how much dancing she should do and it seems they're getting closer to a good balance that creates a stage presence that doesn't leave her out of breath by the end of the song. Other performers, including the highly tipped Norway, have had similarly flat pre party performances due to the variable acoustics available in these venues. Really only Spain, Austria, and Slovenia in my opinion have had consistently strong vocal performances regardless of where they perform. Come Liverpool, a controlled acoustic environment with playback vocals balanced well against the live performance, I'd be very surprised if Mae's live vocal ability was a major factor. The song is a bop, I think audiences are responding well to its catchyness and I've already heard it getting air play over here in Flanders where I live. A top 10 finish should be on the cards.