Did the BBC overhype Olly Alexander’s song before its release? Yes, they probably did.
Does that mean it’s a bad song? Well, to listen to Eurofans (especially British Eurofans), the answer is yes.
But those Eurofans are wrong:
I get that people were expecting the Second Coming of Jesus (aka Sam Ryder), but I think that the letdown over the release has resulted in people not giving this song a fair chance. Especially since – even among Eurofans – the success of the UK at Eurovision seems to be (unfairly) viewed by the metric of scoreboard placement, rather than whether the song is a hit or performed well or makes people happy.
Because on those last three metrics, Dizzy has done it for me. One of the more frequent complaints about the UK’s Eurovision involvement is that it has a thriving music industry and many famous bands, and yet can’t seem to replicate their success in the contest. But Dizzy is a song that manages to recreate that British sound. Between Olly and producer Danny Harle, Dizzy is a song that evokes the best in British synthpop while still sounding fresh. I keep comparing it to something by the Pet Shop Boys – and yes, I know they were a band with their biggest hits in the 1980s and 1990s, but that’s what chart hits are hearkening back to today.
As an autistic person, Dizzy hits all the pleasure centres of my brain with its squonks and bleeps – and those bells! The best part, though, is the spoken work bit in the middle. Nothing represents the UK’s USP better than a British accent – just ask Lake Malawi, who played up the mockney in Friend of a Friend.
The other fear I’ve heard voiced is that Olly Alexander won’t be able to pull out a competent live performance. Again, I think that this has been disproven through his various appearances in British media:
I look forward to seeing him perform it more at the pre-parties, but I believe he can deliver it.
Look, I’m not a mindless booster for the UK entry. I may live in London, but like Silvester Belt, Monika Liu, Aiko, and many others, I’m just a foreigner in this country. But what bothers me is the fact that Dizzy, a really delightful pop song, seems to have largely been written off by the Eurovision community, and it deserves an honest assessment, free from all the baggage of being the British entry with all that entails. Pretend Olly Alexander is from San Marino and give it another listen. It’s probably better than you remember when you heard it for the first time.
dudepoints.fun 