United Kingdom UNITED KINGDOM 2021 - James Newman - Embers

[escYOUnited]

Sometimes I know my fire burns low
But as long as you're with me I'll never get cold
'Til day and night, 'til darkness and light
I never worry when you're by my side

Oh, feelings change and seasons fade
But nothing will burn us out
Nothing can stop us now

Out of the embers
You and I are gonna light up the room (Yeah, you and I gonna light up the room)
Out of the embers
There's a fire burning for you (Yeah, there's a fire burning for you)
I feel the heat here
There's still a chance for us
Down herе in the ashes, yeah, thеre's something growing
Out of the embers
You and I are gonna light up the room (Yeah, you and I gonna light)

Light up the room
Light up the room

You and me forever, we're free
We're cool under pressure, and that's all we need
So take my hand, and forget the past
We're in this together, there's no looking back

Oh, feelings change and seasons fade
But nothing will burn us out
Nothing can stop us now

Out of the embers
You and I are gonna light up the room (Yeah, you and I gonna light up the room)
Out of the embers
There's a fire burning for you (Yeah, there's a fire burning for you)
I feel the heat here
There's still a chance for us
Down here in the ashes, yeah, there's something growing
Out of the embers
You and I are gonna light up the room (Yeah, you and I gonna light)

Light up the room

Out of the embers
You and I are gonna light up the room (Yeah, you and I gonna light up the room)
Out of the embers
You and I are gonna light up the room (Yeah, you and I gonna light up the room)​

 

[hawadharma]

BBC finally admitting what we all know. That they don’t take the competition seriously.

UK, withdraw if necessary, please

 

[Iker]

I've been following events without posting for a number of years but I feel like I have to break that so I can express how shocked I am by how horribly the UK entry was staged. The whole thing looked like a middle school talent show performance created in someone's garage/backyard.

1. Those stupid trumpets. The most worthless and pointless props in ESC history?
2.. Why was the stage so dark? The colors should have been bright and vibrant. The lights should have been far more active too.
3. James clothes. Even the Ferrero Rocher costume he wore in a rehearsal was better
4. James wrote a pretty nice song and seems to be a nice guy but he is not a good performer. But those who saw any performance of his ballad (entry from last year) would have known this. Too bad they couldn't get SuRie to do it she would have knocked it out of the park
5. Those "backing dancers"....good god they were terrible (not their fault though). James is not the most charismatic or active performer so they should have been picking up the slack but their moves were low in energy and total cringe. Their interaction with him was non-existent, why? Why were they all dressed conservative and in white and not in something fun and colorful? Why no girls? The less said about those stupid instruments and their fake playing the better. If they weren't doing complicated dance moves why weren't they doing backing vocals to give the song more punch?


True the song wasn't all that, but it wasn't D.O.A. and there was a strong potential there to uplift it to become more with some creative staging and a committed performance by James and crew. A number of entries were saved by the staging and "Embers" could have been one of them. If they had done that they could have easily finished mid-table and match Lucie's 15th. Honestly, in my personal opinion, all the songs that finished after Russia (9th) were in play for the UK to beat if they had truly committed and that's what really sucks about it. The lack of energy at all levels was appalling.

Yeah, that dancing was lame. I remember nothing out of it while I vividly remember the choreography of Cyprus.

 

[Lance Esgard]

I honestly forget there was dancing at all.

 

[Chrisiam]

To be fair, can you really call it dancing?

 

[crashworld]

Take what you want from this:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1397198989565509638

And Chris Martin from Coldplay is such a nice person.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1397682754456850434

 

[Chrisiam]

I think what is worth baring in mind with the Survey results is that a key part of the question was:

"The UK finished the Eurovision Song Contest last weekend with nil points, the only country to do so. Whether or not you watched it, what do you think is the most likely reason we got no points?"

So naturally you are going to get people who didn't watch it voting "They hate us". Plus people who take part in these surveys tend to be more politically active so naturally they are going to give the most political answer.

Also apparently Chris Martin Facetimed James after the contest to see how he was doing and give him his support. So a very nice chap indeed.

 

[GWTW1939]

Joking aside, the only reasons I can think of for them not using the Live-On-Tape is if there is a marked difference in the quality of James's performance (Its better or worse than at the finals) or that the staging was different to what we got at the finals and they don't want anyone saying what they had at the Live-On-Tape was better.

The BBC's response to a bad Eurovision result is always the same; deflect from their errors and blame someone else, ideally the other nations or slag off the contest itself by proxy (putting forwards segments like the one above in Question Time as well as get commentators on air to support the company's aim without knowing it.

The problem they have however is that strategy is working less and less. More people are watching the contest and seeing the quality of the acts there in; gone are the days of people dressed like garden gnomes and rapping space men, now are songs and acts with a sound on par with what they listen to at home and what the BBC broadcasts on their Radio stations.

And increasingly we see less people, broadcasters, journalists doing the whole "They hate us bit" and more so blaming the BBC.

So sooner or later something has to give because if it doesn't then the BBC could find themselves having their results in the contest being used against them in the future. Its only damaging their own reputation. And it is plainly obvious the ITV are chomping at the bit to take over the contest. So the BBC needs to stop acting like they know best and that they can just continue to screw around with this forever, because the way things are going they are only going to end up handing one of their biggest shows off to another broadcaster and it will be no one else's fault but their own.

I think you got it right. It's all about the BBC protecting themselves. They probably did notice the increasing "**** BBC and it's lack of effort" reaction after Saturday and less "Europe hates us" and it's got them scared.

People will find a reason to criticize the tape, they always would have. The BBC don't want to pour anymore gasoline on the fire that people are trying to light under them. They want to sweep it all under the rug and hope by next year people forget and it's back to "Europe hates us." This way no change required

 

[crashworld]

I think you got it right. It's all about the BBC protecting themselves. They probably did notice the increasing "**** BBC and it's lack of effort" reaction after Saturday and less "Europe hates us" and it's got them scared.

People will find a reason to criticize the tape, they always would have. The BBC don't want to pour anymore gasoline on the fire that people are trying to light under them. They want to sweep it all under the rug and hope by next year people forget and it's back to "Europe hates us." This way no change required

But then it will be a low move from BBC to put the "blame" on the artist.

Because from the announcement on the Eurovision official website, it is mentioned that "both artists want the live performance they delivered in Rotterdam to be the version that people remember.". So it means that the artist (ie. James) does not want the 'live-on-tape' performance to be broadcasted, which is kinda strange when James is pretty graceful on how he handles the the zero point situation and he is still positive about the entire experience.

 

[GWTW1939]

But then it will be a low move from BBC to put the "blame" on the artist.

Because from the announcement on the Eurovision official website, it is mentioned that "both artists want the live performance they delivered in Rotterdam to be the version that people remember.". So it means that the artist (ie. James) does not want the 'live-on-tape' performance to be broadcasted, which is kinda strange when James is pretty graceful about the zero points and he is still positive about the entire experience.

Honestly I wouldn't be shocked if the BBC asked him not to let it be released and he said fine whatever. He probably doesn't really care one way or the other, he's done with it and moving on.

Like I said people will shit on the tape no matter how good or bad it is. And who will the trash talk be aimed at? The BBC and like Chrisiam said they got no problem going low of they got to. They already got enough heat on them

 

[Chrisiam]

Well either he doesn't want it to go out because he feels the live version is the better version or the whole thing is still so raw about the whole issue he isn't sure about it out of not wanting to relive it all again. Or he is fine either way and the BBC just made the choice for him. Like, he might feel his live performance was better and when asked about what performance to use he might have effectively said "I don't mind, pick whichever" so they picked the live one and said it was his choice because it kind of would have been.

As I said before there is a chance that part of the reason that they aren't showing the live on tape for the UK is because there might be a marked difference between the staging and/or performance compared to what we saw on the night. So it is being done to save face and avoid criticism of some element some way down the line.

Unlike what I have read about the situation with Ireland and them not showing the on tape performance I don't think the situation with the UK is a matter of bad sportsmanship or sour grapes on the artists part. The broadcaster maybe. And if that is the situation then James giving a vague enough answer might have been enough for the BBC to avoid criticism.

I mean, lets be honest, I doubt when the delegation and BBC staff responsible for the UK at Eurovision got back to BBC HQ it was handshakes over a job well done. I imagine there has been some stern meetings taking place. And the last thing some of those in those meetings need is footage that confirms that the UK was either doomed from the start or that the creative choices from the date of the Live-on-tape onwards possibly scuppered the UK's chances in the finals.

I grant you that might sound a little conspiratorial, but I wouldn't be too surprised if that wasn't partly the case.

 

[Ianp16]

After almost a week of processing the 0 result, I really am fully in support of UK withdrawing for at least a few years. Either that or HUGE changes before the next contest. Before I used to roll my eyes at demands for UK to withdraw but I really think it would be best that us fans don’t suffer humiliation year after year. I massively doubt big or effective changes will ever come. I’m so sad about it.

 

[Lindon]

Great Britain’s performance at the Eurovision Song Contest has reached the British Parliament. Brexit minister David Frost was to be asked in the House of Lords whether he would take responsibility for “insults” at the ESC.

 

[MopManMoss]

Its the United Kingdom and Lord Frost hasnt been a Brexit Minister in a year and a half, I would also not take any notice of what is said on the floor of the commons or the lords it will have no impact on the UK's continued membership of the EU or its participation in Eurovision

 

[crashworld]

If UK withdraws, then their monetary contributions to the contest would need to be shared by the remaining big 5 countries or "spill" over to be covered by the semi-finalists countries + host country (which would likely cause some of the countries with limited budget to sit out of the contest).

Regardless of what kind of entries the big 5 send (and how critical we are of them), they are still very needed in the contest so I would hate any of them to withdraw.

 

[MopManMoss]

The UK will never withdraw the BBC is very happy to get a guaranteed 8 million viewers every year for minimal cost and effort

 

[Lindon]

Its the United Kingdom and Lord Frost hasnt been a Brexit Minister in a year and a half, I would also not take any notice of what is said on the floor of the commons or the lords it will have no impact on the UK's continued membership of the EU or its participation in Eurovision

There is a world outside of the UK where he will always be the "Brexit Minister".

 

[TheJeb]

There is no UK withdrawing. Just the BBC giving up their broadcasting rights for the contest which is unlikely. ITV will end up taking it up as they are also an EBU broadcaster.

 

[eurovizian]

After almost a week of processing the 0 result, I really am fully in support of UK withdrawing for at least a few years. Either that or HUGE changes before the next contest. Before I used to roll my eyes at demands for UK to withdraw but I really think it would be best that us fans don’t suffer humiliation year after year. I massively doubt big or effective changes will ever come. I’m so sad about it.

Ireland should do the same, because they've been awful for years. Ireland's 2017 flop "Dying to Try" was even co-written by none other than James Newman. If people have suppressed this entry, it had a huge balloon on stage (the only interesting thing about it).

 

[MopManMoss]

There is a world outside of the UK where he will always be the "Brexit Minister".

We dont come into the Latvia thread and spout nonsense about what is said on the floor of the Saeima so you coming here and commenting on ridiculous stuff that is said on the floor of our legislature adds absolutely nothing to the discussion, can we please just keep politics out of this for god sake

 

[Sammy]

We dont come into the Latvia thread and spout nonsense about what is said on the floor of the Saeima so you coming here and commenting on ridiculous stuff that is said on the floor of our legislature adds absolutely nothing to the discussion, can we please just keep politics out of this for god sake

What's Latvia doing in a discussion you're having with an Austrian?
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