The Guardian view on Eurovision 2020: don’t blame the public
Asked why Britain struggles so badly at the Eurovision song contest, Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus made it sound simple in a recent interview. It was, he said, a question of finding “the right songwriters”.
Yes indeed. But what might seem straightforward for Mr Ulvaeus has become horribly complicated for the United Kingdom, which has underperformed in the competition to a startling degree for more than 20 years. Britain’s last victory came in 1997, with Love, Shine a Light by Katrina and the Waves. Years of failure and sometimes outright humiliation followed, most famously in 2003, when Jemini finished last with no points at all. Last year Michael Rice fared little better, scoring a miserable 11 points and also finishing at the bottom of the pile.
The BBC, which both screens the event and presides over the selection of the UK entry, has decided this year that enough is enough. Courageously, given current rows over the future of the licence fee, the corporation has in effect fired the general public, which has dismally failed to pick anything resembling a winner for the past four years. Responsibility for choosing and shaping this year’s British offering, which will be unveiled on Thursday, has been farmed out to the record label and publisher BMG. One BBC spokesperson, speaking with a little less than total conviction, said the deal with BMG was “a turning point for the UK at Eurovision. We very much hope this marks the start of an exciting new chapter.”
The rest of us can only wait and see whether a suspension of democratic process brings a new, ruthless focus to Britain’s approach, as it seeks to win friends in post-Brexit Europe. But it is far from clear that the catalogue of failures can be blamed solely on the audience on the sofa. In 2007, for example, the BBC itself chose the six candidate acts from which the public then selected the winner. The bubblegum pop group Scooch was subsequently accused of turning the nation into a laughing stock with Flying the Flag (For You), accompanied by a bathetically erotic dance routine in which the band dressed up as airline stewards; it achieved joint 22nd place. In 2012 and 2013 the public had no role in the selection process at all. Playing safe with old stagers such as Engelbert Humperdinck and Bonnie Tyler, Britain still finished 25th and 19th.
In truth, the priorities of the UK music industry, traditionally one of the most successful and creative in the world, have usually been elsewhere. As Mr Ulvaeus points out, Britain has not seemed to be trying very hard at times. Until losing badly year after year became a bit annoying, much of the nation appeared to revel in the late Terry Wogan’s annual performance of wry amusement. All in all, Britain came across on finals night as a bit too cool for school, a look that almost certainly led other countries’ jurors to exact an obvious form of revenge. Well, who’s sorry now? BMG has identified its priority as “coming up with a good song”. That seems the right place to start.
