This morning on BBC Radio 2, the DJ Ken Bruce played James Newman’s song ‘Embers’ which is the UK entry for Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam in May.
James was of course due to go to Eurovision in 2020 with his song ‘My Last Breath’ and was thrilled to be asked to represent the United Kingdom again, stating
‘I’m so excited and honoured to be getting a second chance at representing my country in the Eurovision Song Contest. I haven’t stopped making new music in lockdown and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the song I’m taking to Eurovision in 2021.’
‘Embers’ is co-written by James Newman, Conor Blake, Danny Shah, Tom Hollings and Samuel Brennan and the track has a soaring brass section, provided by Swedish composer/arrangers Mattias Bylund and Magnus Johansson, known for their work with Max Martin and The Weeknd.
Before the track debuted on the radio, James chatted with Ken Bruce and said
‘We managed to safely get together a writing camp in London with some of my friends and we wanted to write something that was a banger as everyone has been through so much’
He also talked about his Eurovision experience so far, saying
‘I’ve had so many nice comments from the Eurovision Community, lovely comments and positive feedback has been so nice.’
He also revealed he will be in Rotterdam in person and how it will work, being locked in a hotel until he goes into the Arena, with lots of testing and social distancing in place for safety.
You can watch the video for ‘Embers’ here: