Never Gonna Make You Cry

Rick Astley, Lights Out, 7 June 2010
I was at an Eurovision Party last night where someone brought up the idea of creating a community in Facebook to get Rick Astley to represent the UK in 2011. If it had been in the 80s, there's no doubt Rick would have won with either "Never Gonna Give You Up" or "Together Forever". His new single "Lights Out", though, is unlike those hits from the 80s - it's the sort of epic pop that BBC2 and Magic FM love, the sort of song that Gary Barlow could have written for Take That. It's his first release in the UK charts in 17 years!

I personally don't think that every Eurovision country hates the UK and that's why we are always at the bottom. The problem is that the worst sort of bland and forgettable acts get sent to the Eurovision to represent us. Could Rick Astley turn this trend around and give the UK a win? His new single is definitely miles ahead of anything that has represented this country in the past few decades years. And I bet he's got massive fans in plenty of those countries who still clutch his vinyl records to their hearts, not to mention the many who participated in that meme a few years back.

I think Rick would do us proud.

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