Eurovision: You Decide! Who are the contestants aiming to represent UK in Tel Aviv this May?

The BBC is airing its annual show where six contestants try to convince the British public to send them to Eurovision. We caught up with this year's hopefuls

Eurovision contestants, clockwise from top left: Holly Tander, Jordan Clarke, Anisa, Michael Rice, MAID and Kerrie-Ann (Rob Holley)

Eurovision: You Decide airs Friday 8 February on BBC Two, with the aim to find a candidate to represent the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Israel.

The hype surrounding the world’s most loved and ludicrous song competition has kicked off earlier than usual this year.

On Monday 4 February, Daz Sampson chucked his baseball cap into the ring of the Belarusian national competition ...three hours later Belarus lobbed it back. Last week, Nineties trance legend Darude was confirmed to be flying the flag for Finland in one hand, while waving a glow-stick with the other.

Even the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, is rumoured to be following in the footsteps of Michael Flatley by popping up during Eurovision’s interval. All this glorious buffoonery in just one week, and there are still 100 days before the grand final is broadcast live from Tel Aviv on Saturday 18 May.

This Friday, it’s our turn to enter the fray, as Eurovision: You Decide returns to our screens with six potential picks for the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. A crack team of Euro-poptimists has been assembled to aid our decision: ESC superfan Rylan Clark-Neal is joined at the judges' table by pop-stars-turned-broadcasters Mollie King and Marvin Humes.

This year, the judges are being presented with two versions of three different songs. It’s up to Rylan and co to send one version packing, whilst advancing their preferred rendition to a poll. Then we, the great British public, vote on the three remaining viable options. You listening, Theresa?

This format is a further evolution of the Beeb’s slowly-but-surely maturing approach towards Eurovision. The songs are all passable as entries; the production has been moved to their Salford studios (so no repetition of the limited camera work from last year); and they’ve picked a bunch of enthusiastic artists who are no strangers to a big stage.

We caught up with You Decide’s six competitors last week. As per the contest itself, we were limited to three minutes with each of them. Just enough time for a set of quickfire questions and a mobile snap of their best “nul points” and “douze points” faces…

Kerrie-Anne – "Sweet Lies"

(Rob Holley)

This former primary school teacher from Plymouth has been given a frantic, up-tempo version of "Sweet Lies", and it’s the track most hardcore fans have pinned their hopes on. With a bit of post-victory polish (the intro and middle-eight both need tweaking to create some distinctive “moments”) this song could go down well in Tel Aviv.

Kerrie-Anne, you’ve got the banger of the bunch but with great bangerz comes great responsibility - how are you going to execute a winning performance?

Kerrie-Anne: I’ll admit there’s a lot of pressure to deliver but I always dedicate myself to the task ahead of me. No doubt this is a big song so I’ve been working on my vocals, my look and my moves because I want to give the best performance I can. Sweet Lies has a ‘90s retro vibe which resonates with me because I love that era, and I’ve got plenty of sassy signature moves to go with the track.

Anisa – "Sweet Lies"

(Rob Holley)

Anisa’s pop pedigree is impressive. She’s co-written for Ariana Grande (look up Piano on Yours Truly) and Frans (Sweden’s 2016 Melodifestivalen winner) but this is the first time she’s recorded a song written by someone else. Sweet Lies v.2 is a Leona-esque rendition that really showcases Anisa’s vocal abilities.

Anisa, of all the tracks going up against one another, Sweet Lies possibly has the widest chasm between the versions - how do you feel about that?

I’m grateful to the BBC for having carefully crafted this scenario, because the whole time I was working on my version, I knew I wanted to deliver a lot of emotion on stage. I love Kerrie-Anne’s version, and I love the fact that our songs are so different - it makes it less of a competition between us two.

Michael Rice - "Bigger Than Us"

(Rob Holley)

On paper, Michael’s nabbed the strongest version of "Bigger Than Us", which has it’s been pushing past the other tracks in terms of YouTube views (second only to Kerrie-Anne). However, it’s a fine line between anthemic Eurovision-ready gospel-bop and early noughties X Factor winners’ single, so performance and staging will be the key to winning. Whatever the outcome, Michael’s infectiously positive about the entire experience.

Michael, you’ve had quite a year, from winning All Together Now to potentially representing your country at Eurovision...

Absolutely. I’d never have thought two years ago when I was busking and working in McDonalds that I’d now be on this path, so representing my country at Eurovision would be crazy. I’d be so, so proud. Even this morning I was listening to the track with me mam when it went on iPlayer and I was like “wow, it’s a really good song”. I’m so proud to be singing it - it’s a massive honour to be performing this song.

Holly Tandy - Bigger Than Us

She’s got a fight on her hands going up against Michael’s anthemic rendition of "Bigger Than Us". Her secret weapon is charisma, and that will shine through as it did when Sharon Osbourne mentored Holly to The X Factor quarter finals in 2017.

Holly, you mentioned that "Bigger Than Us" is about love in all its different capacities – do you love Eurovision?

I bloody love it! I’m so excited to be a part of You Decide. I’ve only come to Eurovision relatively recently, but I loved watching Lucie Jones a couple of years back, and I loved Fuego last year. So now I’ve been going through YouTube watching all the classics like Celine, ABBA and Bucks Fizz - though I’m not sure how the Making Your Mind Up routine would go down these days!

Jordan Clarke – "Freaks"

(Rob Holley)

Jordan’s probably best known for reaching the 2013 Britain’s Got Talent final with his band The Luminites. Freaks currently lags behind the view counts of Michael and Kerrie-Anne, but it is annoyingly catchy - and when you’ve only one shot at winning over the audience, having an earworm counts for a lot. He’s also super likeable. Definitely the dark horse to watch out for on Friday.

Jordan, you’re good mates with one of Joe and Jake (the UK Eurovision contestants from 2016) - has he given you any advice?

That’s right, I know Joe! He told me to be myself, do the best I can and grab the opportunity with both hands. He’s right - this is a huge opportunity for me. I’d be so proud to represent my country on the Eurovision stage, and I’m gonna give it my all on Friday. I’m a big Eurovision fan, as I assume we all are.

MAID – "Freaks"

(Rob Holley)

And finally, girl group MAID were formed in 2018 having met each other at drama school. They’re all classically trained, write their own music and play various instruments. We caught up with Kat and Blythe (third MAID member Miracle was busy doing the Rocky Horror Show with Beverley Callard, so couldn’t make the press evening) to chat about their chances.

Love a girl group! How’d you decide on the name MAID?

[Blythe] We initially wanted a name that represented strong, powerful women, so we were looking at things like “Empress” and “Queen” but all these strong and obvious names were taken, so we thought about it, and said “you know what, let’s represent the underdog”, and there are some great maids throughout history…

Eurovision: You Decide, hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Måns Zelmerlöw, will air on Friday 8th February on BBC Two at 7:30pm. You can listen to all the songs on iPlayer and YouTube.