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Dua Lipa’s management company TaP Music to choose UK’s 2022 Eurovision entry

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 21 October 2021

After BMG’s choice sent us home with nil points this year, artist management company TaP Music has been selected to choose next year’s Eurovision entry for the UK. The company works with artists including Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey and Ellie Goulding. So, yeah, just send one of them.

“We’re really excited to be teaming up with the BBC for this event and will use Eurovision to authentically reflect and celebrate the rich, diverse and world-class musical talent the UK is globally renowned for”, says TaP co-founder Ben Mawson.

“For many years”, he adds “we’ve witnessed the United Kingdom not doing as well as we would’ve liked, when pop music is something we usually excel at. The simple fact is it’s time to show what we can do and the wonderful musical talent we have – ultimately we can’t blame politics”.

Blaming politics is something people like to do when explaining the UK’s constant Eurovision woes, of course. Many blamed Brexit for the devastating loss of 2021’s contest, although that does ignore the fact that both Germany and Spain also did incredibly badly.

And Mawson is right, the real problem – certainly this year – was more that the standard of the UK’s entry simply wasn’t up to that of the rest of the contest. While other countries put on a show, the UK had a man in a big leather jacket standing under some massive trumpets. Trumpets that really just highlighted what was the worst part of the song.

“It’s time for the UK to mirror the positive spirit of our European counterparts and really deliver the best of what we have to offer”, Mawson continues. “We should unite as a country and champion talent representing our country on the global stage”.

“Look at our wonderfully diverse and hugely successful talent across sport and entertainment – Dua Lipa, a British Kosovan is the number one female artist in the world right now; Emma Raducanu, a Brit of Chinese and Romanian heritage breaking incredible records in tennis; not to mention the British nations football teams representing so well at the Euros – all high profile examples reflecting today’s modern, diverse British culture”.

TaP’s other co-founder, Ed Millett, adds: “The UK is not lacking in talent. Talent has never been the issue. In fact, we are overflowing with talent. Rather than viewing Eurovision as just a bit of fun, let’s look at it for what it is: the world’s biggest live music event – 200 million viewers at last count, with an audience skewing younger each year”.

“Win or lose or somewhere in between – we’re going to go for it”, he goes on. “We really want the entire nation to get behind the UK Eurovision act like never before. As a team, we’re incredibly focused on finding a really special act that creates excitement for the UK – both in the build-up to the final and beyond”.

Great stuff, Dua Lipa it is! Although, also commenting on the Eurovision/TaP announcement, she says: “I’m a proud Brit whilst also being a proud Kosovan. I’m happy to lend my manager to the cause. I’ll be cheering them on!”

Hmm, that doesn’t sound like she thinks she’s doing it. Well, I guess that’s because TaP is currently appealing for the entire music industry to put forward acts for consideration. Though that does seem like a bit of a waste of time when Dua Lipa is right there.