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The Eurovision Song Contest’s history started with the EBU’s Marcel Bezençon’s idea. After Italy’s Sanremo Music Festival, the Contest model intends to push the boundaries of live television broadcast technology.
The inaugural contest was conducted on May 24, 1956, with seven countries. The contest blossomed into a fundamental pan-European institution, with a full orchestra as the standard in the early years and easy sing-along tunes on every radio station.
When it comes to Eurovision triumphs, the United Kingdom is right up there, behind just Ireland (7) and Sweden (6) with five. But it’s been 19 years since Katrina, and The Waves let Love Shine a Light in Dublin, and it’s been 19 years since the country had cause to celebrate, capturing douze points from around Europe. So, what went wrong? Why is it that the United Kingdom no longer wins Eurovision? To acquire an answer to that subject, we decided to poll a past winner, several Eurovision experts, and contest enthusiasts. Let’s explore why does nobody vote for UK in Eurovision.
If you’re curious about how cultural perception, media strategy, and national branding affect more than just Eurovision — including how the world views UK-based creative industries — UK Startup Mag explores the intersection of music, media, and entrepreneurial identity in the UK.
Is It True That Bloc Voting Is to Blame?
We’ve been saying that Western European countries can’t win Eurovision since the song contest was enlarged to include nations from all around Eastern Europe and as far away as Azerbaijan.
Everyone votes for their neighbours, we exclaim year after year, but is this the case?
People often say we can’t win because of political voting, but people said that to us in 1997,” recalls Katrina Leskanich, the last UK winner in Dublin in 1997. Everyone said, ‘Well, it’s a powerful song, and it should win, but it won’t because of the political voting,’ but give people a strong song, an irresistibly strong song, a song you’ve heard once. You want to hear it immediately again, and they will vote for it, and the UK could win, and there’s no reason why a country that produces the best music in the world couldn’t do better.”
Nicola Chase, the Swedish Ambassador to the United Kingdom, concurs. A piece for Radio Times magazine before 2016 final that although the bloc vote has power, it isn’t strong enough to control the race. Voting for your neighbours has always been an essential aspect of the contest. It will never be enough to swing the contest on its own: the only way to win is to collect points from the continent.” Everything usually starts and ends with a beautiful song.
According to the past champion, the UK must continue to take the competition seriously to win: You should observe how the Swedish selection process works. The Swedes are the individuals that take the Eurovision selection process very seriously. They begin selecting their song for Eurovision in November, holding multiple national finals in towns around the country in a Melodifestivalen.
It perplexes me that the UK no longer strives to win the competition. It is especially true given that the United Kingdom boasts one of the most outstanding music businesses in the world. Even if the PR benefits of sponsoring the tournament aren’t enough to entice a significant name, there are compelling financial reasons to participate. Since winning Eurovision in 2012, Swedish artist Loreen’s song Euphoria has been downloaded over 200 million times.
It’s just that we Swedes seem to love Eurovision more than everyone else does. And that is something we take very seriously, too. This year, there were 28 songs to choose from, and 33,000 people came to Sweden’s selection final, Melodifestivalen, to see them. In the middle of the night, they cast twelve million ballots. Sweden is home to more than ten million people. Some say that the Love of the programme and the capacity to unite as a country to support a big hit song is something that the UK lacks.
Pop music no longer unites the country in the way it once did. The concept that a country can unify behind one half-decent pop hit doesn’t happen because if you walk out on the street and ask anybody what’s number one. It contends that we do not have a large enough pool of talent willing to compete anymore. It’s been a long time since an ABBA has won the Eurovision Song Contest.
So, Why Does Nobody Vote for UK in Eurovision?
The Eurovision Song Contest is a genuinely terrible event meant to demonstrate how low standards of taste, style, manners, and musicianship may descend.
As the only European country with a global reputation for modern popular music (with the apparent exception of ABBA), the UK would never take this event seriously. Its success would be a major humiliation to the whole UK music business.
Specifically for four reasons
- Because of the empire, the UK is still seen as a significant bully globally.
- The United Kingdom is one of five nations that mostly pay for the Eurovision charade. They go directly to the final, which will likely sting many countries. Okay, start paying for it, and you’ll be able to go through it as well.
- Voting is always political, with nations voting for their neighbours. The UK has just one, and Ireland isn’t our greatest supporter right now.
- Throughout the decades, the United Kingdom has created some of the world’s greatest and most influential music. It regards this comedy as a farce. It has never been taken seriously in the United Kingdom. As a result, Britain seldom brings in successful performers and instead gives a cheap and fast show from an unknown act. We don’t give it any genuine faith since it’s a bit of a joke here.
Conclusion
Everybody hates the United Kingdom. Neighbours of England don’t like it very much. Everyone, even the English, doesn’t like the country. As a result, it’s no wonder that England does poorly in Eurovision. The media refers to England as “we,” ignoring that Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales are not in London. The rest of Europe sees the UK Eurovision entry as a thing of red buses, black taxis, cups of tea, and everything English.
