Entertainment
James Newman reveals ‘silver lining’ after Eurovision Song Contest disaster scoring nul points
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
James Newman has shared the ‘silver lining’ he experienced after scoring an upsetting nul points at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest for the UK.
On Saturday night, the singer sang his heart out while performing his song Embers at the Eurovision grand final in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
While James, 35, didn’t receive any points from the jury or the public vote, he earned roars of support from the audience and fellow acts at the Rotterdam Ahoy arena, who cheered him on as he took his loss on the chin.
On Wednesday’s edition of Lorraine, Lorraine Kelly welcomed James on for a virtual interview to discuss the competition.
Despite landing at the bottom of the Eurovision leaderboard, all was not lost for James, who was delighted to learn that Embers had climbed the music charts.
‘It’s amazing. The whole reason I got into doing this is so that I could sing music to people and get my song out to the world. So, it’s definitely done that job,’ he said.
‘Coming home to see that my song was Number 1 on iTunes in the UK. I was like “Oh my God, that’s amazing” so everything’s got a silver lining, and that’s a pretty big silver lining.
James added that he didn’t have any regrets about his time in Eurovision, describing the grand final as ‘one of the best nights of my life’.
‘I sang in front of 200 million people and I got into music because I wanted to sing on stage to people and that was what I was doing. I got to work with all these amazing, talented people. No regrets at all,’ he stated.
So what can the UK do in future to try and raise the ranks among its Eurovision competitors.
In James’ opinion, it’s all about making sure that the nation keeps ‘trying’ and ‘putting in your best efforts’.
‘Putting in the best of British and showing Europe that we care about the Eurovision Song Contest. I think in other countries, it’s a huge thing and we’ve lost touch a little bit,’ he said.
The musician said that he felt like ‘everyone was so behind me’.
‘The support I’ve had from the UK has been amazing. I was so proud that everyone was behind me,’ he said.
Plenty of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK fans are calling for the United Kingdolls to represent the UK next year, made up of Drag Race UK season two competitors Lawrence Chaney, Bimini Bon-Boulash, Tayce and A’Whora.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, James said that he thinks the United Kingdolls would ‘smash it’, saying: ‘That would be really fun – I’d love to write a song for them.’
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV.
Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Share your views in the comments below.
