Graham Norton teased the UK’s entry and singer on Saturday night prime time TV, increasing speculation on who would be representing the UK.

James Newman has been selected to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam on Saturday 16^th May. James is the brother of John Newman and he has written songs for the likes of Little Mix, Ed Sheeran and Jess Glynne. James also has won a Brit Award for writing the smash UK number one single Waiting All Night by Rudimental back in 2014.

James hopes to improve the UK’s reputation at the Eurovision Song Contest with his song ‘My Last Breath,’ an up-tempo ballad. The UK has scored poorly in recent years, with Michael Rice coming in last place back in Tel Aviv last year. However, James’ song is different from previous songs, being authentic and it could easily be passed as a One Republic Song. The song has a strong pre-chorus which builds into the chorus.

This year the BBC has changed its selection process, ditching the public’s ‘You Decide’ contest which ran from 2016. Instead, the selection process has been replaced with selecting the song and artist through BMG records. The UK’s entry premiered on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 and if the radios keep getting behind this entry then the UK’s support for this song may improve.

Many people in the UK still do not take the contest seriously with many criticising Newman’s entry moments after it was released. However, the BBC has obviously put a lot of effort into this year’s entry with a proper music video to match its tune. The song has a powerful chorus and stands out among the other Eurovision entries for this year’s contest.

The song’s guitar intro sounds reminiscent of Adele’s ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and hopefully with the correct staging the UK can deliver a strong performance which will go down well with Europe. Moreover, the song’s euphoric post-chorus ‘woah-oh-ohhh’ will definitely get the crowd chanting this in Rotterdam in May. Lyrically, James is basing this song on a lover when singing ‘if you had nothing left/I’d give you my last breath.’

The UK hasn’t been victorious since 1997 with Katrina and the Waves ‘Love Shine A Light.’ However, as the UK is part of the Big Five of the European Broadcasting Union, James will automatically qualify for the grand final of the contest and will not be required to participate in the semi-finals.

Despite the mixed reaction from UK audiences, within the first day of release, the song peaked at number six on the iTunes chart and the music video was trending second on YouTube. Overall, the song is a strong entry and will do well with international juries at the contest. The song will hopefully break the UK’s Eurovision curse.