STAND UNIQU3 will represent the United Kingdom at Junior Eurovision 2023 with their song "Back To Life".
The BBC have confirmed that girl group STAND UNIQU3 will represent the United Kingdom at this years Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Nice, France, with their song “Back To Life”.
The three girls were told that they would be representing the United Kingdom at Junior Eurovision 2023 by BBC Radio 1’s Dean McCullough in a dance studio in Central London, where they were under the pretext they would be undergoing one final audition.
The three members of the group – Hayla, Masie and Yazmin, were all chosen by the BBC via an extensive and internal audition process. The three girls were brought together by the producers, who noticed a great chemistry between them all. But who are they?
Hayla is 12 years old and comes from Eurovision 2023 host city, Liverpool. Aside from music, where her biggest insipration is Rihanna, she enjoys playing football, as a striker. Her ideal day would be eating lots of chocolate whilst watching lots of movies and hanging out with her brothers.
Fun fact: Hayla’s grandfather was one of the backing dancers for the United Kingdom’s Eurovision 1987 entry, “Only The Light” by Rikki.
Masie is 13 years old and comes from Esssex. She loves to sing, dance and act on stage. In her free time, she enjoys collecting crystals and going clay Pigeon shooting with her grandfather.
Yazmin is 12 years old and comes from Newcastle. She enjoys Latin and Ballroom dancing, and is therefore, no stranger to the stage. In her free time, she enjoys going shopping, writing and spending time with her Chihuahua Tinkerbell.
STAND UNIQU3’s song “Back To Life” is about facing your fears, and has been written by Sky Adams, Jakke Erixson and Jack Hawitt, who have written for artists such as Jason Derulo, Lauren Spencer Smith, Kylie Minogue and Ava Max.
The United Kingdom returned to Junior Eurovision last year in Yerevan, Armenia, to great success, where we saw Freya Skye topping the online vote and finishing in 5th place overall. The contest was broadcast on BBC and CBBC for the first time, and achieved good ratings.
Following on from their success in 2022, Suzy Lamb, MD of Entertainment & Music at BBC Studios, is thrilled to see the United Kingdom back to the contest again.
“BBC Studios are once again excited to have led the song and artist search for Junior Eurovision after a successful debut year for the BBC in 2022. STAND UNIQU3 are a really fresh girl band who had immediate chemistry during the audition process. With an infectious pop song written by hugely successful writers, matched with STAND UNIQU3’s incredible vocals it promises to be another exciting year for the UK in the Junior contest.”
Patricia Hidalgo, Director of BBC Children’s and Education, has high hopes for the girls in Nice this November, and encourages everyone to get behind STAND UNIQU3: “The Junior Eurovision Song Contest was a real spectacle and success for us last year and we’re very happy that we have a new calendar moment for fans of Eurovision and a brand new girl group for audiences to get behind. We have a great song and high hopes for our brilliant trio, STAND UNIQU3, and we want families everywhere to cheer on Hayla, Maisie and Yazmin and watch them represent the UK in the competition across BBC Two, CBBC and iPlayer.”
The BBC have also confirmed that singer and television presenter HRVY, and television presenter and journalist Lauren Layfield will be returning as commentators for the contest.
The United Kingdom are one of the founding members of Junior Eurovision, having participated in the very first contest in 2003. They participated a further two times before withdrawing. Their early participations saw a third place finish in 2003, second place finish in 2004 and a 14th place finish in 2005.
The BBC announced their return to Junior Eurovision back in August 2022, and just a few weeks later, it was announced that Freya Skye would be the United Kingdom’s representative. She performed “Lose My Head”, which earned her first place with the online vote, fifth place with the juries, and fifth place overall.
Have you heard “Back To Life” yet? What are your thoughts on the United Kingdom’s entry for Junior Eurovision 2023? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Photo credit: Justin Downing / BBC
