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United Kingdom: Rina Sawayama was approached by the BBC for Eurovision 2023!

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Rina Sawayama was on the verge of accepting the invitation and represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

Being guest on the podcast, The Euro Trip, Nick Levine claims that Rina Sawayama told him during an interview that she had been offered to fly the Union Jack flag herself last May.

Apparently, she thought a lot about the offer to perform at Eurovision, and she was about to accept the offer, however when she replied to the British delegation, she did not receive a response.

You can listen to the podcast below:

Rina Sawayama was one of the most discussed singers to represent the country and many thought that she would be the one, until the moment of the BBC’s announcement. The singer also responded to many fans on social media, creating a positive atmosphere regarding her representation.

@rinasawayamaofficial #duet with @Vanya #eurovision ♬ Frankenstein – Rina Sawayama

If all of the above is true, then it seems that the BBC and their partner, TaP Music, made a serious effort to have a big name for the Contest. Also, if an artist like Rina Sawayama was interested in participating, it seems that in the United Kingdom, there is no longer the reputation of previous years, that Eurovision is a risk for the big names of the music industry.

In the end, Mae Muller was the representative of the United Kingdom in Eurovision 2023, with her song “I Wrote a Song”, ending up in 25th place of the Grand Final:

https://youtu.be/tvJEE2ryCRQ

Source: The EuroTrip Podcast

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

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Eurovision 2023: United Kingdom’s First Rehearsal!

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Today is the fifth day of rehearsals in Liverpool and the first rehearsals of the BIG 5 countries are going to be held today! Heading towards the end of this group’s rehearsals, next up on stage for their first rehearsal is the United Kingdom and Mae Muller with the song “I Wrote A Song”.

Who is Mae Muller?

Holly Mae Muller is a English pop singer and songwriter. She started by uploading demos of her songs in SoundCloud in 2017. Two years later, she was an opening act for Little Mix tour, where she started gaining fans. She is known worldwide with her pop hit “Better Days” in 2021 that charted in both UK and United States. Her Eurovision entry is the first entry from United Kingdom that debuted on the UK Singles Chart’s top 40 in over a decade.

The Rehearsal

Unfortunately this year, accredited journalists don’t get the chance to watch the first and second rehearsals, so we only get the information and content that the organizers officaly release to the public.

Mae’s outfit consists of total black, she combined trousers with a corset jacket. The performance starts on a raised plinth in front of the LED wall with a feature of huge pop art-style graphics. There is also a face split of Mae’s happening in two horizontally, giving the impression that she is inside her own head. It gives the vibe like it’s already taped and looks great live.

Corinne Cumming / EBU

She’s accompanied by four dancers dressed in red and black, who join her at the front of the stage for a choreography in the second half of the song, the choreography is described like a dance routine. This performance builds up to a big old pop banger finish. What a better choice to close the Grand Final of Eurovision 2023!

Corinne Cumming / EBU

Below you can watch a small clip from the United Kingdom’s first rehearsal on TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/@eurovision/video/7229416418452753690?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7227990472449377818

The second rehearsal for the United Kingdom will be held on the 6th of May, when we will know how things will appear on screen for the United Kingdom’s entry.

Follow us on all social media, so you do not miss a moment of what will happen in Liverpool:

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for all the latest developments regarding United Kingdom’s entry in Eurovision 2023!

 

 

Eurovision 2023: King Charles and Queen consort to reveal Eurovision stage!

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Their majesties King Charles and the Queen consort will be in Liverpool on April 26.  During their stay they will visit the M&S Arena facilities, where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held.  During their special visit, the king and the queen will unveil the stage, which will be ready by then.

Marking the first Eurovision contest to be held in the United Kingdom in twenty-five years, the King and Queen of the United Kingdom will be in Liverpool on April 26th to attend events related to the contest.  According to the official statement:

Their majesties will reveal this year’s stage and tour the M&S Arena, meeting the creative team, presenters and this year’s UK contestant Mae Muller.

After a visit to the arena, they will also visit Liverpool Central Library to mark the twinning of the library with the Regional Science Library in Odessa, Ukraine.  King Charles will unveil a twinning monument with the city of Odessa, in a live broadcast between the two cities.

This is not the first time that the royal family of a host country has attended the Eurovision Song Contest. As fans may remember, members of the Danish royal family, Prince Frederik and Princess Mary attended the 2014 Eurovision final in Copenhagen.  Also in 2010, Princess Mette-Marit and Marius Borg Høiby of the Norwegian royal family were present in Oslo.  In 2021 King Willem visited the stadium where the competition would take place to oversee the preparations.  In fact we can go back as far as 1986, when Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise and Prince Haakon Magnus attended the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 in Bergen, Norway.

As you can see, the Eurovision Song Contest has a significant importance in many countries apart from being a music festival.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates about Eurovision 2023!

Eurovision 2023: Full lineup of Eurovision Village announced!

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Visit Liverpool has announced the full lineup of artists set to perform at this year’s Eurovision Village.

There are plenty of events planned at this year’s Eurovision Village, scheduled from 5 to 13 May, with live acts, dancers and many more every day.

The Eurovision Village at the Pier Head will have a capacity of 25,000 people who will be able to watch the contest live. Entering on all days will be ticket-free, with the exception of the final night, where there will be a £15 ticket.

The Eurovision Village will consist of the main stage, but also a special area called “Discover Ukraine”, which will be dedicated to Ukrainian creations.

The complete lineup of Eurovision Village is as follows:

  • May 5 – 17:00 – 23:00 – Welcome to Eurotopia

The Eurovision Village will open with a performance from last year’s  Eurovision winners, Kalush Orchestra.

  • May 6 – 10:30 -23:00 – A Royally Good Party

To mark the King’s Coronation, the Eurovision Village will offer live viewing of the event alongside a range of live performances from Eurovision acts.

  • May 7 – 12:00 till TBC – Firstival

The day will start with A children’s festival will occur with live performances and appearances from the BBC kid’s channels (CBBC and CBeebies) shows. Later local emerging artists presented by the LIMF academy will perform, including Ni Maxine and vocal harmony band Mic Lowry and the House Gospel Choir.

  • May 8 – 12:00 – 23:00 – This is Ukraine

Live performances with new music the BBC Introducing and a lineup of Ukrainian music from acts, including Antytila, Go_A, Alyona and Jerry Heil.

  • May 9 – 12:00 to 23:00 –  Night at the Opera and Semi-final 1

The day will start with the English National Oprea dose Eurovision, conducted by Stephen Bell and joined by former Eurovision contestants. This will be followed by a live screening of Semi-Final 1.

  • May 10 – 12:00 to 23:00 – United by Music

The National Lottery presents United by Music. Live performances from break-out stars and music icons, including Michael Aldag, The Lightening Seeds, Miles Kane and Girls Don’t Sync.

  • May 11 – 12:00 to 23:00 – Jamala presents QIRIM and Semi-final 2

2016 Eurovision winner Jamala will premiere her new album QIRIM, inspired by the folk songs of Jamala’s native Crimea.  The BBC Philharmonic will join the singer orchestra. A live showing of semi-final 2 will also take place.

  • May 12 – 12:00 to Midnight – EuroEve

The stage will be used for Tik Tok’s Eurovision Legends, while later in the day, an all-female lineup will feature live performances from acts such as Sophie Ellis and other pop stars. Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon will perform its very last show at this event.

  • May 13  – 14:00- 02:00 – Eurovision 2023 Final

The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will be shown live. The preshow will include acts such as Katrina (Katrina and the Waves) and The Vengaboys. This is the only ticketed event in the Eurovision Village.

You can watch the EurovisionFun team, reacting to the song representing the United Kingdom in Eurovision 2023:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the XX participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: BBC και Visit Liverpool

United Kingdom: Listen to the acoustic version of “I Wrote a Song” by Mae Muller!

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The representative of the United Kingdom in Eurovision 2023, Mae Muller, released an acoustic version of her song “I Wrote a Song”, on her personal YouTube channel.

Listen to the acoustic version of “I Wrote a Song” by Mae Muller below:

The United Kingdom, as part of the Big 5, automatically qualifies for the Grand Final on May 13 and to be exact, it will be the closing act of the competition part of the night, as Mae will perform 26th in the running order.

You can watch the reaction of our editors, enjoying the British entry for Eurovision 2023:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the British participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Eurovision 2023: 10 cities in the UK will broadcast the Grand Final outdoors!

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In more and more cities across the UK, it has been announced that the Eurovision 2023 Grand Final will be broadcast live in an open space. More than ten cities in the host country will hold a public screening on Saturday 13 May.

According to a BBC announcement, Birmingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Darlington, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield will broadcast the contest in outdoors.

 

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Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη BBC Eurovision (@bbceurovision)

The nine cities announced by the BBC had either submitted a bid to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, which will be held in Liverpool, or were considering submitting a bid. Plymouth has already announced its plans for public viewing of the Final.

Martin Green CBE, the BBC’s Managing Director for the Eurovision Song Contest, said:

“We’re thrilled to roll out Eurovision to more UK cities. So many people here are huge Eurovision fans and for those new to the Contest they will get to experience the joy of watching the Grand Final surrounded by thousands of others right there in their local city.”

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest developments!

Source: BBC

UK: Mae Muller criticized over political tweets

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Mae Muller will represent the United Kingdom for Eurovision on May this year.  As most of the fans know, public broadcaster BBC internally selected Muller to represent the host country in Liverpool.

However, not everyone is pleased with this decision by the BBC.  Some political tweets made by Mae Muller about former Prime Minister Boris Johnson have resurfaced recently.  The news was covered by conservative newspaper The Telegraph which criticized Mae Muller calling her an anti-Boris Johnson left wing activist.

Muller wrote the aforementioned tweets in 2019-2020.  In her tweets it is clear that she had a negative opinion of the British Prime Minister.  In one of her tweets readers may find distasteful, the singer said she “did not feel sorry for Boris Johnson” and that “she has no sympathy for him”.  Former PM Boris Johnson was hospitalized at the time because of Covid.

Muller added: “The same nurses you praise in your speeches are the same nurses you chose to cut all their benefits, and CHEERED while doing it. The same nurses that can’t even afford protective wear, and are LITERALLY dying because of YOU. Boris does not have my sympathy and NEVER will.”

Apart from this, the UK representative made clear her support for the Labour Party during the 2019 elections.  In one tweet Muller wrote ‘f** the Tories’.  She also added “‘Please register to vote today! And when you do vote please vote Labour! We have the power to take those racist elitists down so lets do it!'”

However, the criticism does not only come from the media.  There has also been a reaction from Conservative politicians.  For instance, Tory MP Lee Anderson criticized BBC’s internal selection.  He further accused the public broadcaster for ‘planting their own Left-wing entrant into Eurovision’.

In contrast former cabinet minister David Jones said in a more conciliatory tone that the singer is ‘genuinely very talented’ and ‘has excellent career prospects’ although she should have been ‘a bit more human’ as ‘Boris Johnson was close to death’.

It must be noted that the UK song for Eurovision is not political in nature.  Also, political statements and activism made by the artists outside the contest do not affect the non-political nature of Eurovision.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ21grjN6wU&ab_channel=EurovisionSongContest

Source: The Telegraph

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more news about the United Kingdom in Eurovision!

Poland: The Polish Eurovision Party 2023 is today!

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Today, for the second year in a row, the Polish Eurovision Party 2023 will take place in Warsaw. The hosts of the evening will be Poli Genova (Bulgaria 2011 & 2016) and Konrad Zemlik (the organizer of the event).

At this year’s Polish pre-party, twenty-five artists will appear, who are participating in this year’s Eurovision or have participated in the past.

The Eurovision 2023 entrants who will perform tonight are:

  • Albina & Familija Kelmendi – Albania
  • Alika – Estonia
  • Diljá – Iceland
  • Joker Out – Slovenia
  • Let 3 – Croatia
  • Mae Muller – United Kingdom
  • Monika Linkytė – Lithuania
  • Pasha Parfeni – Moldova
  • Piqued Jacks – San Marino
  • Reiley – Denmark
  • Sudden Lights – Latvia
  • The Busker – Malta
  • Vesna – Czechia
  • Wild Youth – Ireland

The remaining sixteen artists who will accompany this year’s participants are:

  • Anne-Marie David – Winner of Eurovision 1973 with Luxembourg
  • Eye Cue – North Macedonia 2018
  • Felivers – Tu bije serce Europy 2023 (Polish National Final)
  • Filip Baloš – Pesma za Evroviziju ’23 (Serbian National Final)
  • Gromee – Poland 2018
  • Inis Neziri – Festivali i Këngës 56 & 59 (Albanian National Final)
  • Krystian Ochman – Poland 2022
  • Kuba Szmajkowski – Tu bije serce Europy 2022 & 2023
  • Lindsay Dracass – United Kingdom 2001
  • Melovin – Ukraine 2018
  • Oceana – Unser Song für Dänemark
  • Poli Genova – Bulgaria 2011 & 2016
  • Senhit – San Marino 2011, 2020 & 2021
  • Slavko – Montenegro 2017
  • Sunstroke Project – Moldova 2010, 2017
  • Viki Gabor – Winner of Junior Eurovision 2019 with Poland

 

Stay tuned EurovisionFun for all the news regarding Eurovision!

United Kingdom: Is this the song that will represent the host country in Eurovision 2023?

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A rumor that has been circulating in the last few hours on the internet about United Kingdom’s representation in Eurovision 2023 that has set everyone an alarm, since if it is confirmed then we will be talking about a very popular artist in the international music industry that could bring UK’s 6th win in their own home.

Will Birdy represent the United Kingdom in Eurovision 2023?

According to what is been said through the internet among eurofans, it is rumored that Birdy will be the one that will represent United Kingdom in this years Eurovision. We oficially know that BBC has announced that at the beginning of March it will announce a female artist that will raise the flag of the United Kingdom after Sam Rider’s success in Eurovision.

The fact that Birdy will release her new single on 3rd of March and also that the London Eurovision Party and the Crystal Ball ESC account on twitter (which this year revealed many artist who were confirmed afterwards as representing their countries in the contest) have filled with rumors indicating her as the choice from the British Broadcaster.

A while ago Birdy released a teaser on twitter of her new song called “Raincatchers”, down bellow you will find the teaser:

This rumor was enough to propel United Kingdom at the 4th place in the odds, which will intensify when the news will be confirmed by BBC.

 

Who is Birdy?

The British singer Jasmine Lucilla Elizabeth Jennifer van den Bogaerde (aka with her stage name as Birdy) was born at 15th May in 1996 is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Previously, she won the Open Mic UK music competition in 2008, at the age of 12 which is when her huge music career began.

Her first ever single was a cover of the song “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver, that single was what made her famous, entering the charts all over Europe and becoming six times platinum in Australia. Her self-titled debut album, Birdy, was released on 7th November of 2011 and it was an instant hit for that time, reaching the number one spot in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Her second album, Fire Within, was released on 23rd September of 2013 in the UK and she was nominated for the Best British Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards in 2014. Her third album, Beautiful Lies, was released on 25th March of 2016 and her latest album, Young Heart, was released on 30th April of 2021.

Birdy’s name comes from the nickname her parents gave her when she was a baby because she opened her mouth like a little bird when she was been fed.

Her success has gone beyond the borders of Europe, having won many Gold and Platinum records both in America and Australia. At the age of 16, she even sang at the Italian Festival Di Sanremo.

Would you like to see Birdy in the Eurovision Song Contest? Do you like the teaser of Raincatchers?

Stay tuned on EurovisionFun for all the news regarding United Kingdom’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

United Kingdom: TaP Music CEO reveals information about Eurovision 2023!

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In a post on his personal Instagram account, TaP Music Co-Founder and Co-CEO, and famous artist manager, Ben Mawson, has revealed information about the selection process for the UK’s representative at Eurovision 2023, which will be held in Liverpool.

As he reports, Eurovision 2023 is fast approaching and the search for the United Kingdom’s representative is ongoing.

 

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Η δημοσίευση κοινοποιήθηκε από το χρήστη Ben M (@bentap77)

Of particular interest, however, is what he revealed in the comments of this post, many of which have since been deleted. So, apart from clarifying that the UK representative has not yet been chosen, Ben Mawson has also put an end to the rumours that famous singer Rina Sawayama would represent the United Kingdom with her song Frankenstein, released last September. However, he did not rule out the possibility of Rina Sawayama participating with another song.

As a reminder, the United Kingdom will follow the same formula for selecting a representative and song, which was followed in 2022, for Eurovision 2023. As such, the BBC and BBC Studios will once again work with TaP Music (a group of international music labels), which is behind highly successful pop artists such as Lana del Rey, Ellie Goulding, London Grammar, Dermot Kennedy and Mabel, to select the song and singer who will represent the United Kingdom in May 2023 in Liverpool.

It was a successful formula, as the UK was represented at Eurovision 2022 in Turin – via the same selection process that will be followed this year – by Sam Ryder, scoring the 2nd place in the Grand Final and 1st place in the jury vote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ0hqX_92zI

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding the UK’s participation in Eurovision 2023!