United Kingdom: SuRie – Storm

Martin: In the immediate aftermath of SuRie’s victory in the UK final, I wrote that the process had been another step in the right direction for the BBC, and I stand by that assessment.

What has changed in the meantime is that lots of countries have selected entries that are clearly superior to “Storm”. That’s always a risk when you hold your national final relatively early in the season – the pleasant surprise of a friendly and decent selection quickly wears off when the big hitters start entering the game. It’s become increasingly hard to imagine the average viewer watching 26 songs and coming to the conclusion that the United Kingdom is the one they simply must vote for.

What hasn’t changed in the meantime is that, while “Storm” may be an absolutely average, straight-down-the-middle composition with little to distinguish itself, it is lifted hugely by SuRie’s performance and stage presence. She comes across as a radiant, almost beatific presence at the heart of this otherwise average entry, and any steps the UK takes outside of the bottom few positions on the scoreboard will be entirely thanks to her.

I wish her every success in that task – she’s top fun on social media and has embraced the ESC experience like almost no British entrant before her. But I also suspect she’s realistic enough to know that she’s facing an uphill battle here.

Felix: What’s “superior to ‘Storm’?” In my book, only one song is superior, and that’s Albania. I love the UK this year, as my second favourite, as a positive and uplifting pop song in major scale, a thing that became so rare in 2018. I love it, I’ll vote for it.

Shi: My sister and I actively like this, just so you know. Other than that, worse songs have done well in Eurovision solely by the ability of a performer to convince you the song is way better than what it is. I think SuRie is one of those performers, and I think she’s very memorable regardless, which automatically helps her when voters have to vote for something and need their memory jogged.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv