You have to have a thick skin to take part in Eurovision which might be why last year’s UK entrant, singer Olly Alexander, has already reached out to this year’s hopefuls to talk about the pitfalls of putting yourself out there.
Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull, and Charlotte Steele – members of the country-pop girl group Remember Monday – say they plan to get a drink date with the Years And Years singer before they perform in the contest in May.
Lauren says they had a “lovely chat” with Olly, and “drinks are pending” after he “reached out to us and has sent his well-wishes and given us some advice”.
Of course, positivity is a must if you are the UK’s Eurovision entrant (Olly only managed 18th place) and thankfully Remember Monday have quite a history of setting their critics to music, performing medleys on TikTok of some of their trolls’ funniest comments.
“Some people, you just won’t be their cup of tea, so, yeah, we started kind of singing those insults,” Lauren explains.
Holly-Anne says the overall reaction to their song What The Hell Just Happened has been “overwhelmingly positive”, admitting they have been “taken aback by how kind and positive everyone’s been”.
So who are this trio? Well, they have a background in musical theatre and have known each other for years.
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As Holly-Anne explains: “We met at sixth form college, we were all in the same performing arts class.
“We were kind of known as the three girls that constantly sang every genre, everything, and I guess that’s kind of still what we’re doing.
“Our teachers constantly would knock on the door. I think we had an A level final paper due or something… which was not even slightly a priority. The priority was getting an incredible cover of My Milkshake Brings All The Boys To The Yard down pat,” she laughs.
Like former UK runner-up Sam Ryder, they have already got a huge fanbase of over half a million followers on TikTok, which has to be a help in terms of winning votes.
Although the girls are big fans of Bucks Fizz’s “iconic” 80s performance, they say they’ve no plans to rip off their skirts on the big night.
Charlotte refuses to say much about the staging itself, but adds that “we are all from theatre backgrounds and I think that you can definitely expect some theatrics”.
Holly-Anne says they have “some incredible people working with us in terms of creative direction and styling.
“We just can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
Eurovision being non-political did not stop politics creeping its way into last year’s event with several of the finalists referring to ongoing global disputes in the build-up.
This year, between the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, it’s hard to imagine we will not see similar scenes.
But Lauren hopes the peaceful message at the show’s heart remains the focus, as Eurovision “was designed to bring people together and bring countries together and celebrate artists from all around the world.
“So we’re just really looking forward to doing that and celebrating, you know, the music and the artistry that we get to kind of witness.”
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Around 200 million viewers are expected to watch the competition in the Swiss city of Basel, where Remember Sunday take on 36 other hopefuls.
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The band has two months to hone their performance and perhaps the faces they will have to make when the votes come in, too.
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While they look cool, calm and can’t stop singing now, Charlotte says to start worrying if they go quiet nearer the time, as the marker of them feeling nervous is “we go completely silent, like right before we go on stage.
“If we’re nervous, you will be able to tell…but hopefully not on stage.”
