Olly Alexander says he’ll ‘fly the flag in the gayest way possible’ at Eurovision

Olly Alexander has said he wants to “fly the flag for the country in the gayest way possible” after being announced as the UK’s entry at Eurovision 2024.

The Years & Years star was announced as the surprise entrant on Saturday evening (December 16) and will head to Malmö, Sweden – the hometown of current winner and Rolling Stone UK cover star Loreen – for next year’s contest.

In a statement released after the announcement, the ‘Desire’ singer said he wanted to “fly the flag for the UK in the gayest way possible” and will “put on an unforgettable performance”.

Details of the song remain under wraps, but it is known that Alexander has co-written the song with Danny L Harle, who recently produced Dua Lipa’s comeback hit ‘Houdin’ alongside Tame Impala leader Kevin Parker.

Having explained that he had wanted to do Eurovision for “a long time”, Alexander has now discussed his entry in an interview with the BBC.

“It’s gonna be electronic, something you can dance to,” he said.

“But I can’t say much more than that. I just can’t wait to get out there and meet the fans and everyone else taking part. It’s going to be the wildest experience of my life.”

He also told the BBC that it marked the beginning of releasing music under his own name, adding that he had “wanted to do it for a while” and it “felt like this was the right time to start releasing music under my name”.

Discussing the UK’s past poor track record in the contest, he added: ““It’s a competition, so you never know what’s going to happen on the night.

“I’m just going to give it my best shot and not think about any of that and make the most of it.”

Mae Muller represented the UK in 2023 with ‘I Wrote A Song’ and came second to last, but Sam Ryder achieved the UK’s highest result in over 20 years when he came second with ‘Spaceman’ in 2022.

A release date for Alexander’s track is yet to be confirmed.