*The opinions made in this article only reflect those of the writer; it is not representative of the views of the entire Phoenix team, the EBU, Eurovision, the artists or the BBC*
It has been two days since the end of Eurovision 2025 when I begin writing this article, and it feels a little like deja-vu. Itās a strange feeling and one I imagine a lot of UK based Eurovision fans will also be feeling – weāve admittedly taken a step forward, but weāve also taken what seems like a step back.
As we look back at the UKās run in Eurovision 2025, weāll remind ourselves of where we began with the season, and, again, what the future holds for a nation whoās last left-hand side result is becoming more of a distant memory. So strap in as we ask, āWhat The Hell Just Happened?ā for the UK in Basel.
Reflecting On 2024
As usual, we start this article taking a small moment to reflect upon the year prior. Olly Alexander represented the UK with āDizzyā in Malmƶ, and for the first time in over a decade it seemed that finally, mainstream-names were interested in representing the UK in Eurovision again. Olly was announced through one of the UKās biggest TV Showās finals, Strictly Come Dancing, in December 2023 with the song being released in February to a mixed reception. The staging itself received and even more mixed response, praised for itās polished and professional feel whilst criticised for its risquĆ© choreography. Ultimately, Olly did well with the jury placing 13th, but finishing in 26th with the televote on 0 points – leading to a total of 46 points overall and 18th place. A disappointing end to the initial hype and campaign, but also marking the second best result for the UK in the 2020s. You can read more about our 2024 analysis here.
Remember Mondayās Selection & Announcement
Take yourself back to January 2025 – no news had been revealed about the UKās artist for Eurovision in Basel, rumours around an announcement were swirling and names were thrown out across social media about who it could be. Then, a Greek site reported that the BBC had selected a girl band – and suddenly the name Remember Monday began to pop up, not just online, but also across mainstream press in the UK. The group, consisting of Holly-Anne Hull, Charlotte Steele and Lauren Byrne are a country-pop girlband and, individually, musical theatre stars that found fame through competing on The Voice UK in 2019. You can read more about them below.
Despite pretty much every press site in the country reporting this information, unusually, the BBC kept quiet. In 2022, 2023 and 2024 press rumours were often followed by the announcement of the act soon after – however this year, there was nothing. Instead, the UK’s Head of Delegation Andrew Cartmell appeared on The Eurotrip Podcast in early February alongside David May – Sam Ryders former manager, who had been drafted in to help with the search. In the interview, Andrew and David both discussed their approach to finding the 2025 artist and explained that they wanted to have everything in place for the announcement, as the song was still being developed. On the song, May said the following:
Weāre going back to the UK heritage of music; threads of what we do best. And I think weāve encapsulated that. I think the world wants to see that. Thereās things that we do very, very well musically, itās very, very broad, but we do it very well, and thatās what we wanted to bring to the table.
BBC Introducing, BBC Music and BBC Radio were all involved in the selection of the artist for 2025, and Cartmell assured that the song would not be novelty. He also expressed their desire with finding the right song that will attract jury points – but also one that will attract the televote too (more on this later).
Eurovision now is a contest with outstanding vocals. Almost all of those artists who get top fives year in, year out have got outstanding vocals.
So once weād done this search of what was out there, you then had to go, āOK, who can measure up? Whoās got great vocals? Who can perform live day after day during the week? Who can nail it in the Jury Final?ā. Weāre very, very aware that the Jury Final is so important.
If we put in place an artist with great vocals, that is one of the criteria for the juries. The tricky bit is the next bitā¦ How can you get the audience and the viewers to vote? That isnāt easy because youāre then in a bigger pool of ā and I hate to use the term, but ā more novelty songs which naturally viewers are more drawn to on the night.
After weeks on continuing rumours, a song titled ‘What The Hell Just Happened?’ was released on TikTok, pushed as a comeback for Little Mix by many accounts – unlikely, due to the groups ongoing hiatus and solo careers. Then, merchandise with the title both abbreviated and in full appeared on Remember Monday’s Spotify merch store – something which was quickly taken down after being shared online by beady-eyed fans. Alas, it was still a few more days until we finally recieved confirmation that the UK’s Eurovision 2025 act would be announced on March 7th 2025 – and it just so happened to be Remember Monday with ‘What The Hell Just Happened?’. The song was a step away from their country style – drawing comparisons with the likes of Little Mix-does-Queen-does-Bridgerton, featuring Charlotte, Holly and Laurens signature, stellar harmonies over an entry which felt like a couple of songs in one. It got mixed reviews – but it’s divisive nature at least made it a talking point, despite it being released the same week as entries like Austria’s ‘Wasted Love’, Czechia’s ‘Kiss Kiss Goodbye’ and, a day later, the conclsuion of the Melodifestivalen Final seeing ‘Bara Bada Bastu’ be picked for Sweden. In a year that also became relatively dominated with novelty, the song was a refreshing addition to the lineup – and whilst Cartmells televote hopes seemed unlikely to come to fruition in a year that appeared to be so heavily skewed (or so we thought) towards this audience vote, maybe a jury-bait song would be the best idea.
Remember Monday were contacted regarding Eurovision in November 2024, recieving confirmation around Christmas that they’d be representing the UK. The song was written in January during a session with Thomas Stengaard, Billen Ted and Julie Agaard – also featuring credits from Samuel Brennan and Tom Hollings. They went on a short round of promotion on British TV & radio following their announcement.
Pre-Eurovision
Priot to Eurovision, Remember Monday headed out on the pre-party circuit – headlining London Eurovision Party, and performing at PrePartyES and Eurovision Calling in Amsterdam. They also sang at the Swiss embassy, did pop up shows in The Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark and appeared on TV across Europe for interviews, most notably in Iceland – where they also recorded a cover of ‘Husavik (My Hometown)‘ from Netflixās Eurovision: The Story Of Fire Saga movie. Their former The Voice UK Coach Jennifer Hudson also promoted their song on her talk show in the USA.
A week before the Grand Final, the BBC released an interview with the girls as they sat down with Graham Norton to talk about their thoughts ahead of the show, with the group explaining a little more detail regarding the songs backstory and lyrics:
We kind of just said, what would wanna say or what would we feel or say when we come off stage from doing Eurovision, and we just said we’d probably say ‘What The Hell Just Happened?’. […] We grew up together so like our first nights out – you know when you’re 18 – we went through all of that. Charlotte really did lose a shoe. We do often end a night in a tattoo parlour.
Graham also asked the trio what they thought of the section of British viewers who say that the UK will never win Eurovision:
We do not subscribe to that idea. Actually I feel like we’ve won a lot of people over. When the song was released we had a few comments going ‘oh lets hear them sing it live’ and I feel like we’ve won them over with our live performance so we feel ready, we feel good.
Eurovision 2025
In the same interview, the girls said they wanted people to feel like they came to a Remember Monday show for their 3 minute performance. The staging was done by Ace Bowerman, who also took on the staging for Azerbaijan’s entry ‘Run With U‘, and featured a boudoir and giant chandelier in different sections of the stage. We first got to see the song live during Semi Final 2, and again, the performance and staging received mixed reviews – but one thing was for sure, these girls could sing live. Drawn to perform 8th during the Grand Final, they pulled out their best performance – clearly enjoying every single moment on the stage together as they made their way through the song.
As the jury results began, it seemed a little worrying – until Luxembourgās jury awarded the song 6 points. From then, they seemed to keep rolling in at a steady pace – at one point rocketing Remember Monday into 6th place, thanks to ā12 cheesy pointsā from Topo Gigio, who was presenting the Italian juryās scores.
By the end of the voting, the band had achieved 10th place in the jury with 88 points – and now all eyes were on the televote whichā¦didnāt quite go as well. At all.
The camera turned to Remember Monday. The hosts got ready to announce the televote result.
0 points.
This solidified the result as 19th overall, a disappointing end to what was an incredibly turbulent night with the voting. Remember Monday took it in good humour, and werenāt alone – even more shocking was Switzerlandās ZoĆ« MĆ«, who finished 3rd with the jury, also receiving 0 points from the public.
What Went Right, and What Went Wrong
What Went Right
So, what went right this year? If weāre being honest, thereās only a couple of things – but itās best to start off on the positives, which were 1. Remember Monday & 2. an attempt to promote them.
Starting with the girls, they showed a similar approach to the contest to Sam Ryder back in 2025 – threw themselves entirely into the experience, had an impressive run at pre-parties, and fought back against the naysayers who, as usual, decided that the UK are hopeless in the contest – which sounds ironic after the televote score, but weāll get to that later. Even post contest, Holly-Anne, Charlotte and Lauren have appeared on TV and radio to talk about their time in the contest, telling Scott Mills:
We honestly feel so buzzed – we had the best time of our lives, it was the best thing weāve ever done. Top 10 jury was all we wanted – I actually think the 0 points was extremely iconic. [ā¦] I feel like our results covered all bases when it comes to Eurovision [ā¦].
Their post-contest attitude is a joy to see – an act truly embracing their time in the contest, and at least for now sounding like they had an incredible experience. Mae Muller has recently come out on X following on & off cryptic comments alluding to her time in the contest in 2023, saying:
sorry but they put me up there to sing a song which is meant to be sung with heavy auto tune (just the vibe of the song) with no proper background vocals, and i was nervous as hell which didn’t help but like they fed me to the LIONSSSS omfg
Olly Alexander also appeared on The Graham Norton Show earlier in 2025, stating that his advice to future participants would be to āMaybe just get yourself a really good therapist, cause youāll have a lot to talk about, for yearsā. Hearing Remember Monday speak so positively about their Basel journey hopefully shows that there has hopefully been changes made to ensure UK artists at least, wonāt come away feeling negative and hurt by taking part in Eurovision.
Their jury score, 88 points, is the highest since 2022, and third-highest since the change in the voting system in 2016. Despite the televote result, the girls also have the third-highest score for a UK act since 2016, and their placing 19th, is one of the UK’s best in 10 years.
- Sam Ryder (2nd)
- Lucie Jones (15th)
- Olly Alexander (18th)
- Remember Monday (19th)
- Joe & Jake (24th)
We touched on the promotion earlier, but the BBC sending Remember Monday out beyond just the pre-parties (whilst a little redundant considering their televote result) is a step in the right direction. They did the same with Sam Ryder, and they need to continue to do so. Promoting entries in Europe can, like it did in 2022, be the thing that – when the song is strong enough – seeās the UK soaring back up the scoreboard.
Post-Eurovision, ‘What The Hell Just Happened?’ reached Number 1 on the UK’s iTunes chart, and rose in the Official Charts to a new peak of #31 (it initally charted at #95 in March). This continnues a 5-year streak of all UK entries charting within the Top 100 in the UK, and makes this the first time since 2023 that a UK entry has hit the Top 40. Remember Monday are also alongside Little Mix, Sugababes and FLO as one of the only UK girlgroups to debut a single within the Top 100 in the 2020s. They’re also set to play Wembley Stadium as part of the Capital Summertime Ball lineup and have an upcoming UK tour towards the end of the year – despite the result, it seems like a flourishing career is on the cards for Remember Monday, and one that is fully deserved,
What Went Wrong
Now, what went wrong? I feel like this section can often get a little repetitive year on year – but we have to talk about it, because, to hark back to the title of our overview in 2023, they’re not really taking the wrongs and making them right (beyond choosing performers who can perform live). In April, I wrote an article about the UK’s difficulties with the televote and why that could be, which you can read here. Using your views on the song and predictions for it’s result, it’s safe to say that the responses got it spot on – the majority of people predicted a Top 10 in the jury and a bottom 5 result in televote. But now that sparks the question – if 200+ Eurofans can predict another poor televote, why can’t the delegation?
Yes, at the time of asking all songs had been released – a privilege the delegation didn’t have back at the time of selection and creation of the song, but instant reaction from fans wasn’t overwhelmingly positive. Arguably neither was it with Sam, but the difference between the response to ‘What The Hell Just Happened?’ and ‘Space Man’ is that “locals” seemed much more enthralled by the entry. The delegation, as we saw earlier, seemed to be working towards creating a song that will get televote points as well as jury points – but how could they not foresee what locals and fans could instantly on the day of the song release? When you look at the televote breakdown by country, it’s a bleak sign that somwehere within the delegation, something is out-of-touch with what televoters lean towards nowadays.
However, there can be an argument here that the televote this year was allegedly not ‘natural’ or in line with the usual televote results of previous years, something multiple broadcasters have since questioned. The EBU have also released a statement stating their intention to look into the workings of the televote and promotional tactics – you can read more about the ongoing fallout from the show by clicking here. At the same time however, it’s unlikely the UK would’ve got any points anyway – here’s a breakdown of this yearās UK televote placements.
Countries highlighted in bold gave the UK jury points.
| Televote Placement | Country |
| 26th (Last for NQ Countries) | Montenegro, Belgium, Georgia, Czechia |
| 25th (Last for Finalists) | Albania, Lithuania, Poland, Finland |
| 24th | Sweden, Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia, Netherlands, Serbia, Armenia, Spain, Austria, Italy |
| 23rd | Greece, Azerbaijan, |
| 22nd | Cyprus, France, Germany, San Marino, Portugal, Switzerland, Luxembourg |
| 21st | Israel, Norway, Ukraine |
| 20th | Denmark |
| 19th | Australia, Estonia |
| 18th | Malta, Ireland, Iceland |
The UK, were nowhere near getting points from any country – 30 countries putting the song below 20th place, with the best results coming from Ireland & Malta – two countries the UK have a relatively decent voting history with, and Iceland – where Remember Monday did a lot of their promotion. This is one of the worst televote showings for the United Kingdom, but the girls, thankfully, seem unfazed by it.
Lets also look at the staging – the United Kingdom is known for a big prop – starting with those polystyrene trumpets in 2021 (the less said about that, the better), then Sam’s huge structure in 2022, Mae’s box and stairs in 2023, Olly’s gym set up in 2024 and now the boudoir and chandelier in 2025. However, despite their Disney Princess-like outfits keeping things bright, I personally felt like the staging – especially the synchronised swimmers on the LED floor – felt disjointed, and the whole thing was almost too dark? The Bridgerton comparisons were only slightly applied, with their performance on The One Show arguably having better staging compared what appeared in Basel. Ace Bowerman is undoubtedly a talented staging designer – but it felt a little like they missed a trick here. The concept from the music video was used, but not to its full potential. The lighting made the performance look dull, and ultimately, the staging wasn’t advanced enough for a 2025 Eurovision entry from a Big 5 country. In an era where staging is bigger, bolder, slicker and more ‘conceptual’, the UK’s didn’t seem to get the memo – which also wasn’t helped by coming on before the eventual winner Austria, who was staged by one of Eurovisionās most exciting and new staging designers Sergio Jaen. Whilst they may have pulled back from going the music-video style after Olly Alexander’s 2024 result, there’s also a way to make the viewer feel immersed in the world of the singer – which missed the mark here.
Things Have To Change
It’s clear things have to change, but where? Letās look at the delegation. Lee Smithurst’s departure in 2025 put it back in the hands of Andrew Cartmell, whose run of results speak for themselves. Cartmell was in charge in 2012, 2013, 2021-22 and 2025. These have delivered the results 25th, 19th, 26th, 2nd and 19th. Using these same years – without 2013 due to the absence of televote figures, the UKās televote scores add up to 231 points – 183 of those are from Sam Ryder. In that same timeframe with this HoD, the UK have scored 451 jury points – again, most (283) from Sam. Within 4 years, the UK has received 0 in the televote on three occasions – it is simply not good enough. Cartmell no doubt has impressed BBC bosses with his tenure despite the results – heās also the executive producer of the show on the BBC & was behind the scenes when it came to Liverpool in 2023 – but at the same time is there not a feeling within the BBC that maybe changes have to be made?
In his defence, this is not however entirely his fault – 2022 clearly came together, Lee Smithurstās involvement and willingness to communicate with fans seemed like a step in the right direction and Cartmell has come out of the shadows in recent years to give interviews. He clearly has an understanding of whatās needed at Eurovision, his EuroTrip interview was enough to show this, but thereās a clear issue somewhere within the delegation that shows that thereās a huge disconnect between what theyāre saying publicly and whatās going on behind the scenes. The BBC have been open about their selection process, and if weāre being honest, in the hands of Cartmell, Smithurst and Adam Wydrzynski (in 2023), the UKās efforts have improved. Even āEmbersā as a studio track is arguably stronger than most of what was put forward in the 2010s, but when it comes to the contest itself something isnāt working. Having involvement from the likes of BMG, TaP Music and David May are clear indications that people are willing to work with the UK to find a solid entry – and they have done – but there is no point having a great studio track if it will be let down by live vocals, staging or lack of promotion.
Speaking of, the promotion of Remember Monday may have been decent in Europe – where was it in the UK? Obviously, we canāt vote for ourselves in Eurovision – but drumming up more home support may have helpful. They did appear on radio stations such as Capital and BBC Radio 2, but speaking entirely from my consumption of Eurovision content this year, ITV and Capital seemed much more into promoting them and the contest than I saw from the BBC. Two appearances on The One Show (one in March, one a week before the contest), a Graham Norton interview shoved on a Friday night at 10:40pm, no iPlayer documentary like Olly, James and Sam got – their biggest area of promo came on TikTok, where their comments were flooded with criticism and hate. The broadcaster should, like they did with Sam, be encouraging UK viewers to support their act as much as they should be encouraging this in Europe – look at how the Swedes got behind KAJ, how the French cheered on Louane, how the Spanish championed Melody, how the Irish supported Emmy. The list goes on. The UK public have a tendency to be cynical, but this year more than usual it was some of the worst cynicism Iāve seen. Just maybe, if the BBC pushed the girls a little more here, theyād have had a much easier ride with Brits.
We have no idea what is going on internally at the BBC, and personally, I would be sceptical about them ever bringing back a national final considering the quality of You Decide, the publics history of voting in UK national finals and the improvement of internal entries being clear to see. However, a lot of comments I have seen this year have called for the public to have a say, and whilst I doubt the BBC will go this route we have seen countries like Spain successfully bring in a national final which, despite being in a relatively similar position to the UK results wise in the 2020s, have managed to establish Benidorm Fest as a national final to keep an eye out for. A national final that, whilst not necessarily producing fantastic results beyond Chanel, has given us fan favourite entries, and songs that the Spanish public are passionate about from the moment theyāre selected.
What Needs To Be Considered For 2026
As Austria gets set to host the 2026 contest, the United Kingdomās selection process resets. Itās unlikely weāll hear anything for a while – but if weāre going to get better, we need to look at Eurovision in the 2020s and play the game as well as everyone else. Hereās what the UK should consider in 2026:
- Send a different genre of music. The UK has a huge market beyond just pop music – what is the harm in stepping out of the comfort zone and sending something like rock, indie or Britpop?
- Send someone from outside of England. The UK is made up of 4 nations – Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. Look at selecting acts from one of the other three nations and give them the opportunity to get recognition on the Eurovision stage.
- Follow the 2022 blueprint. Let the song come out first, allow speculation to happen but NOT in the way it did in 2025 – let the song be known and played on the radio before itās even announced as the entry, let people get familiar with the artist prior to then announcement, and then follow up with promotion in Europe and the UK once itās known to be the Eurovision entry.
- Become well versed in the staging of songs that have done well in the last few years, and aim to give the UK entry the same chance to have a great staging design to go alongside a strong song.
- Continue to make sure the artist(s) being selected can pull off their entries live.
My final point, that may be a little controversial, is donāt be afraid of novelty. Yes the UK went a little overboard in the 2000s where novelty became more of a protest against the voting, and the UKās versions of novelty just werenāt great. But novelty done well has proven to attract televoters. Look at the televote successors in the last few years – āCha Cha Chaā, āRim Tim Tagi Dimā, āEspresso Macchiatoā, āBara Bada Bastuā – these are songs that soared up the scoreboards and got people invested because they werenāt just novelty, but they were novelty done excellently – just enough for people to say āthis is SO Eurovisionā, but also good enough to be attracting televote points. āEspresso Macchiatoā may not have been performed the best, but Tommy Cash managed to achieve the best Estonian result since the 2000s thanks to its complete takeover on TikTok from the very moment it won Eesti Laul. Having a song that can get a crowd on side isnāt a bad thing – but if this is the route the UK go, then donāt mistake novelty for joke acts. Cartmell has clearly recognised that this is where the televote lean now, but there is a massive difference between a song like āBara Bada Bastuā and āFlying The Flagā. Even though it didnāt qualify, Australiaās āMilkshake Manā made more waves than this years entry for the UK – fun can be done well if the delegation understand how to create and market it.
Ending on a personal note, and on a feeling that I imagine also reflects that of many Eurovision fans from the UK, Iād love absolutely nothing more than to see the UK finally āgettingā what Eurovision is about nowadays. Despite our faults, that taste of success we had in 2022 was genuinely one of the best moments Iāve had as a Eurofan and Liverpool 2023 proved that the UK has literally everything ready for when we do finally win again. As we approach the 29th year since Katrina & The Waves took home the trophy, my wish is that next year weāll not be demanding change and asking, āWhat The Hell Just Happened?ā after the results, but weāll be proving that 2022 wasnāt just a fluke result – showing both the UK & the rest of Europe that we do care, and have sent something worthy of a top 10 result overall.
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