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Team United Kingdom press conference and interview

16 May 2009 at 16:04 CEST

There was a large media presence for the United Kingdom press conference, as Jade had only held one press conference to date in Moscow, preferring to hold a second conference with the rest of the songwriting team who arrived here just a few days ago.

New BBC commentator Graham Norton mediated proceedings, and introduced the rest of the delegation. He opened by saying that he wished Terry Wogan was still here, although he is very excited and proud to be doing the job as commentator.

An Australian journalist asked Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren about what challenged they faced with trying to create a song which lasted only three minutes, yet still needed to capture the hearts and votes of the public and juries who were watching. Diane simply added "Well, I can't say much more than you have to make it a great song!" Andrew said "Well, I felt that we needed something for the occasion, something that shows off Jade's voice in the best way, this year especially there is a lot of staging, and antics going on during the performances. At the end of the day, this is a song contest, we wanted to represent Jade as the singer with a simple staging. I hope that the voters will appreciate that."

Diane Warren said that she hadn't heard very much about the Eurovision Song Contest prior to arriving here, and that in the United States of America, it is hardly known. She didn't rule out the thought that a similar event may work there however, and even suggested it may be called Americavision!.

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A journalist commented to Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber that his participation in the contest was merely a footnote in his career as it was insignificant in comparison to his West End musical career. He responded "Well, it's actually been a great deal of fun. Although my day job is musicals, I don't regard this as a footnote in my career. When the BBC approached me to do something this year, I told them I wouldn't be able to do a casting show for a musical this year, as I would be so busy with the new Phantom of The Opera 10 years on musical Love Never Dies. But when the Eurovision challenge was put to me, I thought why not, i'm up for the challenge, and I can't possibly do any worse than the United Kingdom did last year!"

Jade was asked about how she had promoted her song in the build up to arriving in Moscow. She adds "We did a promotional tour of around 13 countries where I performed at a lot of the national selections, we have done a lot of media work also, giving interviews to media and television, and our representative Dmitry in Russia has arranged for my CD single to be distributed with OK magazine in Russia".

In one question addressed to both Jade and Andrew Lloyd Webber, a journalist suggested that people may vote for the name Andrew Lloyd Webber rather than the song. Jade added "I am very happy and priveleged to be working with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren, it helps me that they are here and if people like our show and song they will vote for us irrespective." Andrew wittily said "I think Andrew Lloyd Webber would be a bad song title so I don't think that people would vote for that!".

The press conference was rounded off by a photoshoot where the press got their opportunity to take their shots.