Blue have said that the Eurovision Song Contest is too political, ahead of the second semi-final tonight (May 21).

The boyband – Antony Costa, Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe – represented the UK at the annual singing competition in 2011, where they finished in 11th place with 100 points.

Duncan said: “I think there’s a lot of politics involved unfortunately. You get certain countries voting for neighbouring countries – the Eastern Bloc… all vote for their neighbouring countries – so it is more of a political contest than voting for the song.

“We found out we would have come fifth in the public vote if it was just a public vote, but we got marked down by the judges.”

Electro Velvet (BBC/Sarah Dunn)
Electro Velvet (Sarah Dunn/BBC)

Musical duo Electro Velvet are the UK’s choice this year, and will perform their song Still In Love With You at the grand final on May 23.

Simon added: “Eurovision for me is always about expression and that’s what I like about the different cultures that come together on this one plane – that’s the World Cup of music as we call it – and basically have a laugh with it. That’s what it’s supposed to be about, it’s supposed to be fun.

“A lot of other countries take it a lot more seriously. We, coming from the UK, are not really that involved in it because we’re this tiny little island that seems to get beaten on all the time.”

He continued: “When we did it and we got to the other side of the leaderboard, it showed us that sometimes having a great song would help.”

Blue performed I Can at Eurovision in 2011 (Frank Augstein/AP)
Blue performed I Can at Eurovision in 2011 (Frank Augstein/AP)

The group said appearing on the Eurovision stage opened new doors for them, and introduced them to new fans.

“All that has happened since is a big thank you to Eurovision,” Simon explained.

“Back then we didn’t have a label. We decided to find out about the music business ourselves and we found out the hard way. If it wasn’t for Eurovision, I don’t think we would have been able to reach out to all of those European countries with one hit.”

Conchita Wurst Eurovision
Conchita Wurst won the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest (Frank Augstein/AP)

The lads’ favourite act is last year’s winner, Conchita Wurst.

“Conchita was a definitely stand-out act. She really stood out because of the way she looked and sang,” Duncan said, with Antony adding: “She was amazing.”