It's Blue for the United Kingdom!

And the news from the Big Five is coming fast and furious this week (well, except for Italy...but they've been out of the game for fourteen years, so I suppose we can forgive them for being a bit slow on the uptake, right?).

After months of teasing and rumors from the United Kingdom, with names as varied as Mika, Charlotte Church, Pixie Lott, and Katherine Jenkins being tossed around as possible representatives, the BBC just threw Eurofans a massive curveball by announcing that the recently-reunited boy-band Blue would be the British flag bearers for Düsseldorf!  Not only that, but the BBC has taken all of the fun out of the Preselection process...by completely eliminating the Preselection in the first place!  This is the first time since 1994 that the UK has gone for an internal selection, and the first time since...well...ever...that the British public will have no say over either the singer or the song!  It's hard to tell if this is to cut down on costs, or if Blue's selected song "I Can" is just too good to pass up.  (The song has yet to be released, so it's still a bit of a mystery for the time being.)

Blue first formed back in 2001, broke up in 2005, and reformed in 2009.  They've had a string of hits that charted not only in the UK, but also all over Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.  They've even released some of their songs in Italian to a positive reception.  They're not as well-known in the United States, but one of their first major hits was a remake of R&B group Next's "Too Close".  They've also had some fantastic collaborations, with artists from Lil' Kim to Stevie Wonder, Angie Stone, and Sir Elton John.



This might be Blue's first trip to Eurovision, but some of the individual members of the group have toyed with the ESC in the past.  Member Lee Ryan wrote a song that was submitted to the 2005 Preselection (Andy Scott Lee's "Guardian Angel"), Antony Costa performed in the Preselection the following year ("It's a Beautiful Thing"), and Duncan James was a member of the panel that helped select Jade Ewan in 2009. 

For me, though, as soon as I heard that Blue would be the British representative this year, my mind automatically went to a scene from one of my favorite movies, "Love Actually".  Sadly, I can't embed the clip in this post, but here's a link!  Enjoy (I hope the members of Blue, at least, have had a good laugh about it...if not...::awkward!::)!