INCYMI, it’s the Eurovision Song Contest this weekend. Every year, the countries of Europe put forth their cheesiest, perkiest musicians, channel the power of 1,000 spirit singers and come together for the campest night showbiz has to offer. This year it’s in Vienna, after Austria’s Conchita Wurst won last year's competition with Rise Like A Phoenix. We came 17th. Nice one UK.
But we were curious about what it’s really like to enter the world’s biggest music competition – it’s watched by an estimated 125 million every year, so no eye rolling about Eurovision’s credibility in the back there. And 125 million Europeans can’t *all *have terrible music tastes, right? Don’t answer that.
So we called up Javine Hylton, who represented our country back in 2005, after winning Making Your Mind Up – a TV show where we all voted on who we should send over to Kiev to sing a song in the name of the United Kingdom. Already a successful solo artist, Javine smashed her performance on Eurvoision, only to end up placing 22nd. Again #wewererobbed.
Anyways, we got Javine to tell us what representing the UK on Eurovision is really like once you get past the sequins and the dodgy English translations. Oh, and by the way, on those rumours that there’s an unknown Kanye West at 1:41 in her music video for 2003’s Real Things, she’s not sure.
‘Is it him? I wasn’t sure. I’ve had tweets about it, but I don’t know if it is. He was probably quite a big producer at the time, but I probably thought it was just a lookalike. Maybe it is. That’s kind of cool,’ she says.
The Debrief: So Eurovision 2005, how did you get involved?
Javine Hylton: At that point, I wanted to start making cooler music. So Eurovision probably wasn’t the best move to make. I was like, 'I can’t do that! I can’t do that!' But my new manager sold it to me and it was one of the most exciting six months I had, to be honest. It’s such a big event. I’d never done anything as big before.
Your song was called Touch My Fire – how’d that one come about?
I ended up writing Touch my Fire, which is very cheesy, with an amazing guy, and thank God that they went for that one because there were some really dire ones in the line-up! Going on Making Your Mind Up made it more interesting and exciting, too. Katie Price was up for it, as well. I didn’t think I really had a chance because she had such a big fan base, but I beat her, which was fantastic.
Ah, Katie Price. Was she a good loser?
She wasn’t vey nice to me, to be honest! When I first met her, she was pleasant and then I think I made a small comment, saying she hadn’t got the best voice in the world. But not in any kind of nasty way… I just said it how I thought. From then on, there was a lot of tension between us. So no, we’re not the best of friends in the world!
So how’d you pick your outfit?
Well, the whole Touch My Fire thing helped the theme. We had this beautiful gold, kind of Grecian-y dress and everything was in gold. And then the songwriter’s friend lent me a beautiful £1 million yellow diamond ring, which was lovely. That was nice. That was very nice.
So how’d you do?
It was a stressful time. I think I came 21st or something like that. I don’t think I deserved to come that low, but what can you say?
Same! Greece won and they didn’t have any fake flames or anything…
She was quite good, though. We were quite similar.
Why do you think it is that the UK never do well?
I think I did a pretty good performance, enough to at least be in the top 10. They’ve just got something against us! I think everyone says that, but I think it would be a shame if we came out of the competition. We’ve been doing it for so many years. You think people aren’t really so much into it now, but people do still really love it here.
Um yes, he_llo_...
Sorry. I should have done some research, is it this Saturday? Where’s it being held this year?
Copenhagen. What was up with your Janet Jackson moment in the semi-finals?
Oh, my boob came out, and it wasn’t done on purpose or anything. I didn’t actually even know it came out until the next morning when it was in the paper. I think I’d just won it, so I was obviously really excited and dancing full-out like, ‘Yeaah!’ and got a little bit excited. It just popped out and popped back in again very quickly, so most people didn’t even notice. But, yeah. Embarassing.
In the UK, we erm, don’t take it quite as seriously as the other countries. What are the other competitors like?
Backstage it was really intense. I mean, I was taking the performance seriously, but winning? No. It would have been great, but I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve got to win this, I’ve got to get to a certain position.’ When they were doing all the votes at the end I was like, ‘Thank God, it’s over!’ because we had our little table and I was having a drink, and I just kind of giggled when I saw my score. It wasn’t like oh-my-goodness heartbreaking, it was just funny.
We picture everyone backstage and the British and the Irish getting pissed and having fun, and everyone else being very serious. Is that right?
Ha, yeah. It is.
Do you remember any of the weirder performances from your year?
Oh my gosh, there was one group that had bagpipes. I don’t remember many, though. I didn’t sit and watch all the performances.
**Understandable. So what are you up to now? **
I’m signing a record deal. I can’t really say much, though! I’m still auditioning for acting roles too. It’s really hard in this industry – you know what, being an actress and a singer, you grab every job you can get. And the last three big things that I’ve been up for I’ve been so close, I’ve had six call-backs. I’ve been almost touching the part and then obviously it goes to someone else. I think you’ve just got to keep on going until one bit part comes your way.
Fingers crossed for that and hopefully something will come your way! Bye Javine! Watch Eurovision this weekend!
Thanks! Bye!
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Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.