Could this be a turnaround in the UK's fortunes?
Fingers crossed for Sam Ryder and "Space Man"!
Last week was when we first heard the refrain of the UK's entry OFFICIALLY - of course, this song had been released on 22nd February, giving "Space Man" a life before becoming a Eurovision entry, something that is a change of tack for the UK's PR push. I have to say that on first listen on the radio, this song did not give me chills or make me wonder who this was - what did blow me away was his first live performance on The One Show that same evening:
For me, this was a moment like Jeangu Macrooy's "Grow" in 2020 - the official video and song on their own did not produce a wow moment but the live was a totally different matter. Sam has a stage presence, movement and charisma that is instantly engaging - not just a 'good ambassador' but somebody that immediately grabs your attention with how he looks, how he appears on screen and of course how he sounds. This is the UK's best entry for many years, definitely since Lucie Jones in 2017, and as long as the UK delegation do not spoil this with ridiculous staging, we will hopefully be looking at our best chance of a top ten since the last one in 2009. I will be reviewing all the songs soon, so I will not go into great detail yet about any one song as I was doing at the beginning of the season - let's just say that with two entries still to announce (come on Azerbaijan and Armenia!), this is the first time that I can remember my having the UK in my top five pre-Eurovision! Sam kicked off this week's show:
The first of ELEVEN entries for Turin - only five more to go, including the revamp from Israel. There was also seven songs which were favourites of the fans of the show - have a look at the playlist...
"SPACE MAN" - Sam Ryder
"Boys Do Cry" - Marius Bear
"Ela" - Andromache
"Miss You" - Jérémie Makiese
"Halo" - LUM!X ft. Pia Maria
"Die Together" - Amanda Tenfjord
"Hold Me Closer" - Cornelia Jakobs
"Með hækkandi sól" - Sigga, Beta og Elín
"Saudade Saudade" - MARO
"I Am What I Am" - Emma Muscat
"Lights Off" (ESC Version) - We Are Domi
"Hold Me" - AISEL
"Lako je sve" - Feminnem
"Hold Me Now" - Johnny Logan
"Let Me Be The One" (Eurovision live) - The Shadows
"Love Is All We Got" - THE ROOP
"Kingdom Come" - Anna Bergendahl
"You Can't Hurt Me Anymore" - Kate Miller-Heidke ft Jaguar Jonze
"En Livredd Mann" - Mørland
"Love You To Love Me" - Ulrikke
"Absolutely Fabulous" - Queentastic
"FOMO" - Luka
"Fugle" - Jørgen Olsen
"Ingen Ängel" - Ellen Benediktson
"Napad Na Serce" - Viki Gabor
What l will say at this point is what happened with the technical side of things on show night. If you listened on 103.4FM then you will have had a two hour show with no problems - thank you for listening and also let me know where you are because you have to be local to Bradley Stoke! For everyone else who listens on DAB and online, we had issues throughout the two hours - my partner raised them immediately but a few members of the station weren't having the intermittent problems she was having. By the end of hour one, everything had gone off online, hence why I circulated the Mixcloud of the show as soon as I could. Tech issues rarely happen (I can only think of one or two other instances over 188 shows) but apologies for not having your usual live experience on Tuesday. As for the show, here are those SEVEN fan favourites, starting with the three all time Eurovision entries for five new members of the LMBTO Eurovision Facebook group...
When you know the background to this and what has happened to both artists in the past, this song and video are truly powerful in the impact they have. No more to be said really...
![]()
Show 189 SHOULD have the rest of the entries for Turin on it but the only one I can (hopefully) guarantee is Armenia's entry by the lady above, Rosa Linn. We have heard a leaked version of what should be the song "Snap" but the official release is this Saturday. We still do not have a commercial release of the entries for Georgia/North Macedonia/Azerbaijan plus Israel's revamp, so who knows? Maybe next week's show will be a bit 'last minute', although the promo parties are starting soon and there will be special guests aplenty. For instance, the first of those is the new Barcelona PreParty on Saturday 26th March and one of those special guests is somebody from 2011, 2020 and 2021...
Senhit's "Stand By" has yet to make an appearance on LET ME BE THE ONE...
Let's rectify that in next week's show!