The Eurovision 2025 final is tonight and all eyes will be on UK act Remember Monday to see if they can give us a decent placing.
The last time the UK placed anywhere of note was in 2022 when Sam Ryder was awarded 466 points and came second. Had the competition not happened just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ryder could very likely have won with his song ‘Space Man'. Since we reached those dizzying heights it's been diminishing returns.
In 2023 Mae Muller gave a very flat performance of her song ‘I Wrote a Song' and ended up at number 25 with only 24 points. 2024 entry Olly Alexander fared a little better placing at 18 and scoring 46 points with his song ‘Dizzy', but like Muller gave a vocally poor performance. Alexander also caused controversy with his steamy production, which divided fans.
Selected by ‘industry experts' Remember Monday – Charlotte Steele, Holly-Anne Hull and Lauren Byrne – are being thrown to the wolves at this year's final in Basel, Switzerland. The trio rose to fame on ‘The Voice UK' after being mentored by Jennifer Hudson and since then they've struggled to make much impact with their original music. All three members have stage backgrounds and they've become known for their tight harmonies.
The debut of their entry, ‘What The Hell Just Happened?', started plenty of chatters from Eurovision fans. The song has proven divisive with some fans absolutely loving it and tipping it for big things, and others expressing their disappointment at what they consider to be another poor UK entry. Musically the song is all over the place. Oddly it's being marketed as Country-pop, which it definitely isn't, and the stage training of the three members is clear to hear. If you imagine Katy Perry's ‘Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)' covered by ABBA in the style of Queen's ‘Bohemian Rhapsody', you'll be somewhere in the right ballpark.
The UK, unlike many of the Countries in the competition, gets an automatic pass to the Eurovision final as it's one of the big 5 funders. Still, Remember Monday took to the stage on Thursday night in the second semi-final to perform the song. How did it go? Honestly, not great. The trio started strong but issues with timing, nerves and a lot of pitchy shrieking in the second half of the song left many fans underwhelmed. There's no doubt the trio can sing, and the song is challenging to perform, but they're going to have to really pull it out of the bag if they want to impress the juries and the public tonight.
If they manage to do that, they still face stiff competition. Sweden's KAJ is the favourite to win with their song ‘Bara Bada Bastu' while Austria's JJ has emerged as the dark horse thanks to his operatic vocals on the stirring ‘Wasted Love'. Israel's Yuval Raphael, with her power ballad ‘New Day Will Rise', could be the surprise winner. Even though Israel's participation in the competition has led to protests for a second year running with false equivalences being made with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in regards to the current war in Gaza, the viewer vote could change everything like it did for Eden Golan and her song ‘Hurricane' last year.
So can Remember Monday win Eurovision for the UK? I doubt it is the honest answer. The song is too divisive, the stage production is underwhelming when compared to other acts and the buzz just doesn't seem to be there. Fingers crossed the trio can grab themself a place in the Top 20 but I'll be very surprised if they manage to break the Top 10.
The Eurovision Final 2025 airs at 8pm tonight on BBC One and iPlayer.
