In recent years the BBC has opted for an internal selection, and for 2015 the BBC announced back in October that they were looking at additional options, including an open submission for entries. Potential artists and composers had until the 7th November to submit videos.
The result of that open submission process was a very impressive collection of songs, of every conceivable type, that came in from a huge variety of amateur and professional writers and performers.
Some of the submitted songs were easily good enough to be commercial tracks straight away and others had clear potential, so it wasn't hard to draw up an initial shortlist of interesting contenders. What the BBC did next, was to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each song in detail, with the realities of the Contest foremost in mind. They also gave the shortlisted writers an opportunity to come back with any further suggestions or refinements which they thought would really maximise the impact of their songs.
In the opinion of Producer Guy Freeman
Ultimately, one song stood out as having both instant impact and real memory staying power.
When and where to watch?
Viewers in the United Kingdom will be able to watch the presentation via the Red Button service, straight after The Voice has aired on BBC1 at around 22:25 CET.
Shortly afterwards at around 22:40 CET viewers across the rest of the world will be able to watch the song on Eurovision.tv.
Who will it be?
In recent years there have always been many rumours circulating as to who would represent the United Kingdom, with several famous names regularly cropping up in the press and social media each year. In 2014 the BBC took many by surprise by opting for the relatively unknown artist Molly Smitten-Downes, who came to the attention of those in charge of choosing the UK entry via the BBC Introducing scheme, This has led to speculation that the BBC may once again opt for a relatively unknown artist via the same scheme? Or perhaps, with the song presentation taking place just after transmission of The Voice, that it might be an artist that has been associated with that particular talent show? Or will it be a suprise choice that no-one has even considered as being in the running?
Last year the song presentation was recorded in front of an audience days before the official announcement, leading to the details being leaked across the internet. This year the BBC recorded the song presentation just a few days ago on a closed set.. Later today, we will all know who will represent the United Kingdom in the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday the 23rd of May.
