UK Entry: Joe And Jake - You're Not Alone

May 16, 2016 Critic Jonni 0 Comments



Well I thought Joe and Jake hadn't released a video, but guess I was wrong. I always review the UK entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest for my Eurovision Special so that I am not just choosing my country over other countries. Honestly, this is a grower of a song, but on the night, the nerves clearly got the better of them, failing to capture the audience the way we all expected them to do. Performing in front of '200 million people' (according to Måns Zelmerlöw), clearly got the better of them. As for the music video... Joe and Jake perform You're Not Alone whilst a wall of lights change colour. Jake Shakeshaft is stiff and unrelaxed as Joe Woolford totally out performs the song. This duo look more alone than together.

These two formed a duo after competing in the fourth series of The Voice UK. Joe Woolford was on Team Rita Ora and got to week two of the live shows. As for Jake Shakeshaft, he was on Team will.i.am, where he was eliminated during the knockouts. They paired up and entered Eurovision: You Decide, where they won the UK national final, not that there was much of a choice. They were a clear favourite, but this song is a total grower, not for Eurovision unless you are going to promote it and give a brilliant visual performance, which didn't happen on the night. The song was written by Matt Schwartz, Justin J. Benson and S. Kanes.

The music video is a pure performance piece. They don't work that well as a duo, their on-stage presence is either too much from Joe Woolford or not enough in the case of Jake Shakeshaft. They don't mesh at all, and the ending looks completely awkward.

Joe Woolford is a natural performer, however he totally is trying too hard. He's loving every minute of the music video and everything that goes with being part of Eurovision.

Jake Shakeshaft just looks like he's embarrassed, he's not sure he wants to be here, let alone sing this song for Eurovision. He hides behind his guitar in the opening of the video, and even when he puts the guitar on his back, he's not as involved as he should be.

Overall this is a slight improvement on the Grand Final performance they did last Saturday, but this wouldn't have helped them get a better result. It's an all right effort, but considering what the rest of the world is sending for Eurovision, with great promotion, the UK needs to pull something out of the bag.
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