The British national broadcaster, BBC, has confirmed today that it will be joining forces once again with TaP Music in order to determine the 2023 British Eurovision act and entry after this year’s mega success with Sam Ryder who placed 2nd at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin.
The Brits will be sticking to the same formula that they used this year to search for their Eurovision hopeful once more after Sam Ryder reached the highest score for the UK for the first time since 1998. TaP Music will be collaborating with the BBC in order to search and selec the 2023 British Eurovision act.
The BBC have released the following statement regarding their plan of action for Eurovision 2023:
The BBC has today confirmed selection plans for the United Kingdom’s song and act for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.
For the 2023 Contest the BBC and BBC Studios will once again be collaborating with TaP Music, the global management and music publishing company behind some of the world’s most successful pop artists, such as Lana del Rey, Ellie Goulding, London Grammar, Dermot Kennedy and Mabel in order to choose a song and act that will represent the United Kingdom.
The 2023 collaboration follows a hugely successful debut in the 2022 contest for the partnership which saw Sam Ryder and his song SPACE MAN soar in the contest with the song finishing in second position in the Grand Final, resulting in the United Kingdom’s best result since 1998 and giving the country its first top three result since 2002.
SPACE MAN went on to be a critical and commercial success, topping the Official Singles Sales and Downloads Charts and reaching a peak of number two in the UK Singles Charts. The song also enjoyed success around the world, charting in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden amongst others plus it reached the Billboard Global 200. Ryder continued to perform at a number of events and festivals following the contest including the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone, The Platinum Party At The Palace, Capital FM’s Summertime Ball and Boardmasters 2022 and is set to go on his first European tour in Autumn 2022.
The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final will be once more broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One. The BBC press release reads:
The broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final on BBC One continues to be one of the most popular Entertainment programmes on the BBC, with the most recent broadcast reaching one of the biggest overnight audiences on TV this year with an average audience of 8.9m and a peak audience of 10.6m tuning in to see the United Kingdom’s Sam Ryder taking second place in the contest, making it the second-biggest Eurovision broadcast in the UK since new records began in 2002. It is also one of the most popular Entertainment programmes for younger audiences on the BBC with 1.8 million 16-34 year olds tuning in.
Rachel Ashdown (BBC Commissioning Editor) says:
We are thrilled that Ben Mawson and Ed Millett plus the team at TaP will once again bring their unrivalled expertise to work with the BBC and BBC Studios to find an act and song to represent the UK at Eurovision. I hope we can find another artist who will not only be a brilliant ambassador for Eurovision but like Sam will sing their head off with a stand out song.
Suzy Lamb (MD for BBC Studios Music and Entertainment) says:
BBC Studios are looking forward to working closely with the team at TaP again to continue to build on the success of this year’s collaboration. After Sam Ryder’s incredible result in Turin, we have a hard act to follow, but are looking forward to the challenge of finding a stand-out act and song for Eurovision 2023 that will be cheered on by a home crowd!
Ben Mawson and Ed Millet (TaP Music) say:
TaP are very excited to be back working with the BBC to select the UK entry for Eurovision 2023. Last year we wanted to change the narrative around the UK and Eurovision to something much more positive. We focussed on what Eurovision is all about – we found an brilliant artist, an unforgettable song and an incredible person in Sam Ryder – we’re so proud of his fantastic success, coming 2nd in the competition and then achieving a number 1 single. 2022 will be a hard act to follow but we’re more than ready for the challenge – Eurovision being held in the UK for 2023 is such an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of British musical talent. Our search starts here!
The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in the United Kingdom next year. A total of 7 cities have been shortlisted in the host city race. The BBC and EBU will reveal the name of the 2023 Eurovision host city in Autum.
Source: BBC
Photo credit: Corinne Cummings/ EBU
