Stop mocking Eurovision and try harder, boss tells UK The UK should stop mocking Eurovision and enter through the qualifying rounds to have any chance of winning again, the […]

The UK should stop mocking Eurovision and enter through the qualifying rounds to have any chance of winning again, the contest’s producer has said.

Christer Björkman, the executive in charge of next month’s final in Stockholm, said this year’s entry by Jake and Joe would continue the UK’s woeful failure to emulate Katrina and the Waves’s 1997 victory.

Björkman said the mocking commentary tone adopted by the late Terry Wogan and subsequently Graham Norton contributed to the UK’s inability to succeed at the event.

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He urged Britain to swallow its pride, give up the permanent place the nation has been granted in the live final since 1957 and join Moldova and Azerbaijan in the qualifying semi-finals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8oTtSTRdSw

‘The flippant tone doesn’t work’

How UK can win Eurovision “The song needs to be contemporary sounding, a little bit in the middle of the road and it has to have a simple hook that lasts in the memory. Can it sound like something else? Yes, as long as it’s not too obvious. The viewer is not stupid. It’s not a singing competition or a song competition, it is music entertainment. It is the performance that lasts in the mind of the viewer but they vote for the combination.” Christer Björkman

“Terry Wogan did the commentary for 25 years and it was always mocking,” Björkman said. “Now Graham Norton also has this flippant tone. It doesn’t work. It’s a lot easier to joke than to win.”

Björkman, who sang for Sweden in 1992, attacked the UK’s failure in front of an audience of record industry executives at a London lecture ahead of the Polar Music Prize, awarded in Stockholm.

Afterwards he told the i paper that pre-qualifying gave songs the European exposure they need to win. “I can understand why you don’t risk taking that step but if you look at the songs that travel, they start in the semi-final and they become stronger and stronger during the week.

“Conchita (Wurst, Austrian drag singer who won in 2014) wasn’t even mentioned as one of the favourites before the semi-final and then she became a shooting star – that’s only because she revealed herself before. And you need to do that.”

Block voting by European rivals wasn’t the cause of the UK’s failure. “That is something you’ve made up. You sound like the French now. We all love you. We all want you to be good in this competition,” he said. “It’s just that you don’t send any good stuff. Why don’t you?”

Björkman said: “You have to say ‘we are taking this seriously and we will not stop doing it until we succeed. You have to accept what Eurovision is – it’s not a singing competition or a song competition, it is music entertainment.”

A nationwide contest to find the winning entrant, judged by Simon Cowell and modelled on Sweden’s hit selection series Melodifestivalen, would transform the quality of UK entrants, Björkman predicted.

The UK should escape the dreaded nul points in Stockholm though. “Joe and Jake is a fairly good song and the boys are charming. It’s a step in the right direction but no, it won’t win. If you sent another Katrina singing Love Shine A Light, that would make a huge difference.”

UK Eurovision failures

Jemini, 2003

Liverpudlian duo humiliated with nul points after out-of-tune performance of Cry Baby in Latvia.

Andy Abraham, 2008

X Factor runner-up finished joint last after Even If failed to make the grade in Belgrade.

Josh Dubovie, 2010

That Sounds Good To Me didn’t to anyone else relegating Essex singer to joint last with 10 points in Oslo.

Engelbert Humperdinck, 2012

Sending for veteran crooner backfired with Love Will Set You Free placing last with 12 points.