The UK has its best shot of winning Eurovision since Sam Ryder
With a bit of luck, we'll never forget Remember Monday.
The UK’s entry for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest is here – and it might just be our best shot at Eurovision glory since the Spaceman himself, Sam Ryder.
Brits back home watching events unfold in Basel, Switzerland on May 17 will be pinning our hopes on girl group Remember Monday and their aptly titled song, What the Hell Just Happened?
The trio – Holly-Anne, Charlotte, and Lauren – are already known to British TV viewers after they reached the quarter-finals of The Voice UK in 2019, and they all have major history on the West End.
What the Hell Just Happened? is an ambitious vocal masterclass that the three self-dubbed ‘theatre girlies’ are sure to match on the night of the Eurovision grand final, what with their history of needing to perform immaculately in front of massive crowds.
Their musical backgrounds already give them the edge over the two previous UK entries – the lovely Mae Muller and Olly Alexander, bless them both, whose live performances just didn’t cut it for the European public in 2023 and 2024.
Talking about her performance of I Wrote a Song, Mae herself admitted in 2023: ‘Anyone who tries to drag me for my vocals at Eurovision is wasting their time cos I already know they were trash. I got nervous and ya girl didn’t give her best performance vocally.’
Olly jokingly referred to his 2024 entry, Dizzy, as ‘the 18th most popular song at Eurovision’ when he performed it in front of a live audience after the grand final in 2024.
But if Remember Monday can match the vocal chemistry of the single version of What the Hell Just Happened?, and if the staging complements the song’s outlandish nature, the TV audience at home is set to be wowed.
Coached by EGOT winner Jennifer Hudson – who still mentors the group – Remember Monday have already amassed a huge TikTok following.
After seven years together, which have seen them release two EPs and a dozen singles, they’re ready to hit the European stage with their full chest, with an outrageous and highly technical song that shoots for the Moon – it would sound equally at home both at Eurovision and on Broadway.
Make no mistake, Remember Monday have gone with something bold as brass for their Eurovision entry that shows off the trio’s incredible vocal chemistry throughout and pays tribute to their roots as a country pop group.
What the Hell Just Happened? tells the story of the trio waking up after a wild evening out, trying to piece together and corroborate the events from the night before. But more than just being the song’s title, reading the words ‘What the Hell Just Happened?’ feels like Remember Monday have already predicted most peoples’ reactions to the song.
Because this goes for it.
What the Hell Just Happened? premiered on Radio 2 this morning (Picture: BBC Radio 2/Instagram)What the Hell Just Happened spends its tight three-minute runtime darting through more tempo changes and mood swings than you can shake a stick at.
It’s hyperactive and fidgety pop, trying to keep a smile on its face despite a crippling hangover – it doesn’t slowly wake up bleary-eyed and groggy after hours of hard partying, it aims to bolt straight upright and recapture the high from the night before despite the heavy head.
Lyrically, the trio crawl out of bed, regretting every decision they made while they were several shots deep 10 hours ago, thinking ‘Argh, god, my head – what the hell just happened?’ But the energy of their performance suggests otherwise – it’s as if they got up fresh as a daisy at 6am and helped the birds sing their morning song as the sun rose.
The song pieces together the events from the night before… (Picture: Instagram/@remembermonday_)With the major worldwide success of Wicked in 2024, the unabashed, full-hearted sincerity of theatre kids feels like it’s having a moment right now, and Remember Monday are striking while the iron is hot.
There are moments during What the Hell Just Happened? when Ariana Grande-Butera’s Galinda Upland creeps into view as Remember Monday’s modern pop voices mesh beautifully with their inner Broadway theatricality.
Our hopes rest with Lauren, Holly-Anne, and Charlotte (Picture: @remembermonday_)I am partly concerned that, while Remember Monday will be rewarded by the jury for their technical prowess on May 17, the voting public might feel confused or insecure in the face of such brave, open, wild performances and therefore hesitant to commit to voting for them.
But… what’s the problem with going over the top? Especially at Eurovision. If you ask me, irony and ostensible trendiness have ruled for far too long in pop.
It’s about time pop was reclaimed by people who leave every bit of themselves on that stage, regardless of whether or not they’re perceived as cool. Ireland’s entry for 2024, Bambie Thug, took my breath away last year because they clearly did not give one solitary heck about what might be said about them afterwards.
Sam Ryder came oh so close in 2022 with his song Spaceman (Picture: PA)Sam Ryder got up there with the biggest smile on Earth for the UK in 2022, stole the show with an almost unnaturally high falsetto, and took the UK to its best Eurovision finish for a generation.
We’re the country that birthed glam rock, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Girls Aloud’s progtastic Biology. We put the very concept of rock opera on the world stage. We’re also the country that produced the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Bananarama, and Little Mix.
Why shouldn’t we combine these ingredients and take them to Eurovision?
The very last line of the song – ‘What the hell just happened? No clue, but l liked it’ – is gloriously meta, too, with Remember Monday comparing their whirlwind song with the whirlwind night that inspired it, daring Europe to agree with them.
So come on, girls. Bring it home.
Keep up with Eurovision 2025 across the BBC – May 13 to May 17, 2025.
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