It’s A Sin Star Olly Alexander To Represent UK At Eurovision 2024
Image: Olly Alexander. Image: Facebook
Olly Alexander will represent the United Kingdom at the 2024 Eurovision, promising his fans that the performance will be a “wild ride”.
The Indie pop singer songwriter announced his plans to represent the country during the live finale of Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday.
Strictly Come Dancing host Claudia Winkleman expressed her gratitude to Alexander for performing at the finale before asking the singer if he could share any details for the planned performance.
Alexander promised that he would “fly the flag for the UK in the gayest way possible” in next year’s Eurovision. The 2024 Eurovision will take place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, following the country’s victory with the song, “Tattoo” by Loreen.
Following the official announcement the Years & Years singer told the BBC that he was both “scared” and “excited”.
A Dream Come True
“I’ve wanted to do this for a really, really long time. It’s all a bit of a blur”, he said. Alexander teased the song he would be performing, stating, “I mean, it wasn’t gonna be a ballad. Or maybe it could have been a ballad. I love a ballad. Am I saying too much now? It’s not a ballad”.
The singer wrote the song with producer Danny Harle (known for writing hits with singers including Charli XCX, Clairo, Dua Lipa and Skrillex), and described it as something that people would be able to dance to.
“It’s gonna be electronic… but yeah I can’t say much more than that”, he said.
As the front man for Years & Years, Alexander is known for his popular hits, “Desire”, “If You’re Over Me” and “Shine”. He has amassed five UK top 10 singles and two number one albums over the last decade. The performer also won a BAFTA nomination for his lead role in Channel 4’s AIDS drama, “It’s A Sin”.
UK Emerge Favourites
He will have large shoes to fill after the UK poorly performed this year, with Mae Mullet placing second last, narrowly beating German rock band, Lord of the Lost. In recent years, singers Michael Rice and James Newman came last in the 2019, and 2021 Eurovision, respectively.
The last time the UK won Eurovision was in 1997 with Katrina and the Waves’ song, “Love Shine a Light”.
Alexander was recently awarded the BRIT Billion Award for his songs amassing more than 6.5 billion streams globally. The singer has collaborated with household names including Kylie Minogue and Elton John.
The singer gushed at the opportunity to represent his country at the longest-running annual international televised music competition, sharing, “I’ve loved watching Eurovision ever since I was a little kid and I’m beyond excited to be taking part next year”.
“As a young boy I always looked forward to this incredible event of unbridled joy, the wonderfully chaotic mix of musical styles, theatrical performances, heartfelt emotion and humour. I can’t really believe I’m going to be part of such a special legacy,” Alexander said.
He declared that it felt like the right time to begin releasing music for himself and that his goal was to put on an “unforgettable performance for you all”.
The 2024 Eurovision is organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), and Australia’s national broadcaster, SBS, is set to air the event. However, there are still discussions to see whether Australia will compete as the contract between SBS and the EBU, which expired in 2023, has not been renewed at this time.
Lovely news from a genuinely LOVELY sweetheart of modern day popular music. Doesn’t hurt that Olly remains super gorgeous pretty young man. Look where he’ll be performing in it…..Sweden! The country that gave us [significantly boosted] the most marvellous pop act to ever emerge from The Eurovision Song Contest……..”Whoa YEAH!” ABBA! Although (in a true & fair world) being such a well in tuned foursome ABBA should have been able to have succeeded regardless!!!!![It will be quite literally, if it lands on 6TH April] Marking 50TH Anniversary since A B B A won it for themselves in 1974 with “Waterloo”, in Brighton. UK. The vibes couldn’t be more promising. Upon hearing Olly was the UK entrant. I worried he might be over qualified, already being a successful pop star. However the more I think about it, I WILL only be TOO pleased if he came through as the victor on the night. I WILL actually be tuning in to Vote for him. So I hope he will choose an uptempo number he can surely do “pop magic” with! Bring It On! I will be getting involved beyond indifferent casual viewer for this reason in 2024. One hopes Australia will maintain the classy entrants it has to date, I’m thinking Budjerah would be the precisely perfect contestant! Has anyone heard this beautiful young man sing & perform with such earnest passion? The perfect answer to Olly Alexander, who will dazzle & shine in his own style!