Eurovision stars Remember Monday: ‘We’re not everyone’s cup of tea – that’s fine’
The girl band formed 14 years ago after meeting in high school!
Since appearing on The Voice in 2019, Remember Monday have amassed a supportive group of fans.
Now, years later, they spoke to Metro and other media about what it’s like to perform on one of the world’s biggest stages, at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.
The trio – Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull, and Charlotte Steele – first met in high school in Hampshire and used to ditch classes to work on music together.
It was how the name for the group came about – with the girls reminding each other to ‘remember Monday’ as it was their day to rehearse.
After years spent pursuing their dreams to perform together, in 2019 they decided to sign up for the ITV talent show – where they turned the chairs of will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson, Sir Tom Jones and Olly Murs.
They chose to be mentored by Jennifer, but were eventually sent home in the Knockout stages.
Holly-Anne Hull, Charlotte Steele and Lauren Byrne have been friends since high school (Picture: BBC Studios/ Rob Parfitt)A few years after their TV stint the band were earlier this year announced as the UK’s act for the Eurovision Song Contest – where they’ll compete in Saturday’s Grand Final with the song What The Hell Just Happened?
Ahead of their performance in Basel, the trio shared how they were feeling leading into the final – where they’ve already sailed through to due to the UK being an automatic qualifier as part of the Big 5.
Despite this the UK has largely struggled in recent years, coming last in 2019 and 2021, second-to-last in 2023 and third from bottom in 2018.
In 2003 and 2021 the UK also received ‘nul points’ while last year Olly Alexander received 46 points from the jury but zero from the public vote.
Remember Monday previously told Metro they ‘weren’t in Eurovision for the points’.
Although reviews of What The Hell Just Happened? have been largely positive, they’ve faced critics who question if they’ll be able to turn the UK’s fortunes around.
They competed on The Voice UK in 2019 (Picture: Rachel Joseph/ ITV/ Rex/ Shutterstock)‘You just have to accept that everything you do isn’t going to be loved by everyone. We can’t be for everyone and that’s fine,’ Holly-Anne shared when speaking to Metro and other UK media soon after they arrived in the host city of Basel.
‘We built a following online and have had a few negative comments, but we turned them into something funny,’ Charlotte shared as the girls spoke to press before their first rehearsal.
However, Lauren said that while they have ‘loved every minute to date’, they are ‘obviously nervous because it’s a high-pressured performance’.
‘I want us to be proud. Obviously we’d love some good numbers to come up but that’s not something we can control. We just want to be proud of what we do on stage,’ Charlotte added.
Before pursuing Remember Monday full-time, all of the girls had performed on The West End. But making the decision to pursue their band was a daunting prospect.
The wrote the song What The Hell Just Happened? for Eurovision (Picture: BBC Studios/ Rob Parfitt)‘When we were doing The Voice we were still doing our full-time jobs as individuals and TV was the first taste of what it might be like to do the band full time. We had the most amazing experiences,’ Holly explained.
‘We didn’t win it, but we feel like we did because we had an amazing mentor in Jennifer Hudson. We had the time to do the band every day. It was a great stepping stone.’
After The Voice, Charlotte returned to her job as a deputy head teacher, while Lauren and Holly-Anne starred in shows like Phantom of the Opera and Six: The Musical (Charlotte previously appeared in Mary Poppins on the West End too).
The trio explained how they ‘never wanted to put pressure on each other’ to quit their jobs for the band, which is why it ‘took us so many years’.
‘We all had to get there in our own time,’ Lauren shared.
Holly-Anne previously starred in Phantom of the Opera on the West End (Picture: Steve Bealing/ Landmark Media/ Alamy Stock Photo) Lauren played Miss Honey in Matilda the Musical (Picture: Anthony Devlin/ Getty Images for The National Lottery)‘I feel like there was a real turning point,’ Holly-Anne went on. ‘When we came out of lockdown, we put on our first headline gig after Covid, and we’d built up quite a following on TikTok. We didn’t think anyone would come, but it sold out in a day. We came onstage that night, and everyone knew every word to every song. That was definitely a moment.’
After opening for Billy Joel at BST Hyde Park in July 2023, that was ‘the final piece in the puzzle’.
‘If there were any doubts, it was gone in that moment. That first gig was in February and Billy was in July so we had that time to mull it over and so we decided to jump,’ Charlotte added.
That was 18 months ago. When asked to represent their country in Eurovision, the girls say sharing the news with their families was a highlight.
‘We’ve had so many moments of setbacks and near misses and telling our parents we got this was something we’d dreamed of for so many years,’ Lauren said.
Asked about whether they have what it takes to win Eurovision, the band admits: ‘It’s hard for us to imagine that. I absolutely think we have the ability to but who knows.’
The band are hoping to get enough points to finish in the Top 10 (Picture: Ken McKay/ ITV/ Shutterstock)However, they went on to share they’d love a Top 10 placing.
Although more than half of all the Eurovision winners have been female solo artists, a girl band has never won, a record Remember Monday is working towards breaking.
Regardless of what happens though, Charlotte said it wouldn’t change their friendship.
‘We’re a band that have been together for 14 years now and we put our friendship first. I think that is our superpower – we really love each other and no matter what happens we will be solid at the end of it. We are buzzing this is an experience we get to do together.’
The Eurovision Song Contest continues until Saturday night, with the second semi-final on Thursday and the final on Saturday airing on the BBC. Remember Monday will perform tomorrow night too.
Remember Monday will also perform at Capital FM’s Summertime Ball on June 15, with a UK tour starting soon after.
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