Olly Alexander admits it's a 'huge career risk' to do Eurovision

29 February 2024 , 14:36

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Olly Alexander admits it's a 'huge career risk' to do Eurovision

Olly Alexander says he is "honoured" to be heading to Eurovision to represent the United Kingdom - but admits it is "risky" at this point in his career. The former Years and Years frontman, 33, will perform Dizzy on behalf of the UK at this year's song contest in May.

Ahead of the song being released at the end of the week, Olly said of entering Eurovision: "It is risky, but that's why it's exciting. It's literally a competition, where everyone is there to pull every little detail apart and judge you against all the other performances. They literally rank you. It's totally unique in that aspect, it's not something you would usually face as an artist, but I think that's fun."

In an interview with Graham Norton to coincide with the song release, Olly spoke of his joy at heading to Sweden, where he will be amongst the favourites to win. He said: "I wonder if this is what sports people feel like? I feel kind of honoured, I am going to be flying the flag for the UK and I'll be part of this legacy with other artists that have done it. I threw my hat in the ring, I really wanted to do it. Last year I was making my new album and I just thought, wouldn't it be amazing if I could take one of these songs to Eurovision."

Olly Alexander is representing the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest this year (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

The singer-songwriter will perform the song Dizzy at the contest in May (BBC/Universal Music)

Olly says his love of Eurovision stretches back to when he was a child. He explained: "I genuinely have always loved Eurovision, there is nothing else like Eurovision. Growing up my family would always have watch along parties, it was always this one night of the year that was full of insane craziness, a chaotic mix of fun, with all these different musical styles, and amazing performances, and I would just look forward to this night where I could watch it all happen."

The song itself was not written especially for Eurovision but was one of a batch of songs written when the idea of appearing in the competition was firmly in Olly's head. It was co-written by Alexander and Danny L Harle, who has produced hits for Dua Lipa, Chic and Charli XCX.

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He explained: "The song is called Dizzy, I wrote it with Danny L Harle, super pop producer to the stars. The song is about being dizzy, an overwhelming dizziness from how much you love someone. It's funny as I have never had a song with this much anticipation.

"Me and Danny wrote loads of songs and we wanted one of them to go to Eurovision. So we had it in our heads. All of the references and all the music that we love is very 80s, Pet Shop Boys, Erasure. It was one of those songs that when people heard it they thought ‘that’s a good one’, so it ended up getting picked."

Olly, pictured performing at a concert last year, has said that he is 'honoured' to be representing the UK (Getty Images)

Olly will hope to improve on the UK's disappointing Eurovision performance last year, when Mae Muller came second to last. The UK hasn't won since 1997, and its recent track record has been largely disappointing. But bookmakers Paddy Power this year have Olly as a 17-1 with only six countries shorter priced than him, including favourites Ukraine.

Asked if Dizzy could go all the way and win, Olly said: "[I] think its got a good shot. I'm just going to give it my best. No matter what happens, I already feel so happy that this song is going to be performed on the stage, so it's already a win!

"I want to be memorable, I want to leave an impression and I want people to be a little bit surprised. I am quite a happy-go-lucky guy, but the performance is going to be strong and have a lot of impact."

Eurovision 2024: Graham Meets Olly is on BBC One at 10.40pm on Friday and available on BBC iPlayer.

Mark Jefferies