Comedian Bill Bailey has confirmed that he is writing a song to submit as a potential UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
- READ MORE: Eurovision 2021 was a giddy reminder of the joys of live music (and that no one likes us)
The musical comic initially threw his hat in the ring last month, after James Newman’s performance in Rotterdam saw the UK earning a dreaded “nul points”.
Posting on Twitter after the loss, Bailey said he would “be happy to throw my hat in the ring” for next year’s event, and make an unlikely bid for glory.
Appearing at last night’s BAFTA TV Awards 2021 red carpet, the comic confirmed he’s taking the prospect seriously, telling fellow funnyman Tom Allen that he is already working on a tune for the competition.
“Yes, do you know what? I was writing [a Eurovision song] today,” he said, per Radio Times.
“This very day… because I just thought, why not? Come on, we’ve not been doing well lately.
“It couldn’t have gone worse,” said Bailey of Newman’s disappointing result. “We need to inject a bit of fun, I think.”
He also previously described Newman’s track ‘Embers’ as “a bit underwhelming” and said that Eurovision entries instead needed to “celebrate the eccentricity of Britishness”.
Bailey previously made the same suggestion to enter Eurovision back in 2007, promising to share several songs and allow fans to vote on their favourite for him to perform at the long-running song contest. 2008 instead saw Andy Abraham perform ‘Even If’ as the UK’s entrant.
On the subject of Newman’s “nul points” showing this year, NME wrote: “The Yorkshireman sings well on the night but gets hobbled by basic staging: yes, his song has an effective horn breakdown, but does this mean he needs to be flanked by a pair of giant trumpets?
“Newman doesn’t deserve to finish rock bottom with nul points, but nothing about his performance stands out. If we really want to finish higher next year, we need to punch up our visuals as well as our pop hooks.”
Bailey, meanwhile, recently tasted success in a televised entertainment contest after winning Strictly Come Dancing in December last year, including an impressive performance to ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica in the show’s semi-finals.
The post Bill Bailey confirms he’s writing a song for Eurovision 2022 appeared first on NME.
