National Final Throwback: Holly Brewer – Wish I Loved You More

The United Kingdom have been chopping and changing their Eurovision selection strategy over the years, but as of 2016, the nation decided to hold a national final and have since stuck with the format of Eurovision You Decide. Having been underwhelmed by almost every entry of the national final over the last three years, picking a somewhat promising entry proved to be a challenge, but I’ve landed on the song Wish I Loved You More by Holly Brewer.

At the time it felt easy to write off all the competing entries in the national selection, but in hindsight, that would be doing a huge injustice to this song. Looking back now, this was probably the most promising entry we’ve heard from the UK, and in some ways is reminiscent of Molly’s entry Children of the Universe.

Although not the most revolutionary or innovative, the song featured a sturdy structure with a catchy melody and incredible vocals. Had it been sung by a mediocre vocalist it would have revealed the flaws in the basic back beat of this song, but with Holly serving up a flawless vocal performance, the song was elevated to a whole new level. Props to the backing vocalists as well, who manage to perfectly chime in during the performance which adds yet another layer.

The song has the drama that would have made it a memorable entry for the UK at Eurovision, and of course the vocal performance which surely would have been a hit with the juries. Do I think it’s a missed opportunity? In some ways yes, but comparing with the actual winner Lucie Jones, I can’t confidently say that Holly would have brought a better result, as I think they would have been on par.

It would have been nice to see this play out at Eurovision, especially knowing the effort that was put into Lucie’s stage performance. This song could have been lifted to a whole new level, but unfortunately only one song can win, and it wasn’t this one.

For the song alone I probably would have given this a fairly mediocre score, but as a whole performance, this was a standout – and I never imagined saying that for a Eurovision You Decide entry! For me, it’s an 8/10.