THE eyes of the nation will be on Brighton tonight as Eurovision comes to town – but the performers aren’t the only ones set for television stardom.

Music students from BIMM Brighton will appear on BBC Two programme Eurovision: You Decide to speak about the annual song contest.

The winner of the event, which is broadcast live from Brighton Dome at 7.30pm, will represent the UK in the final in Lisbon in May.

BBC producers visited BIMM to conduct a series of interviews with students based around one question: what makes a successful Eurovision Song Contest entry?

Music journalism student Amelia Bronger said the interviews had made her consider what makes a pop hit.

“It was interesting because I’ve never really thought much about what’s behind the music of Eurovision,” she said.

“I’ve always listened to it and enjoyed it, but now I’ve actually thought, ‘this is quite poppy, or quite different, and that’s why I like it’.”

Amelia Bernard said that studying at BIMM had stood her in good stead to analyse why certain songs strike a chord with the nation.

“In our first year we had a whole module on styles and genres, which is about deconstructing different elements of pop music,” she said.

“We even did musicals at one point. You learn about what makes those genres do so well commercially.

“That was quite useful to use those techniques for something like this. It is putting what you’ve learned in a real-life context.”

UK entrants in the competition have achieved mixed results over the years.

Sandie Shaw, Lulu, Bucks Fizz and Brotherhood Of Man all triumphed while Jemini’s infamous “nil points” effort in 2003 lingers in the memory like a bad dream.

Among the six acts hoping for success tonight are girl group Goldstone, whose singer Aimie Atkinson lives in Brighton.

BBC producer Gemma Hodson said BIMM students were perfectly placed to judge the quality of each of the songs that will be aired at Brighton Dome.

She said: “We came to BIMM because you’ve got these incredible songwriters on the verge of pursuing their career in music.

“They’ve got so much love for what they do.”

Eurovision: You Decide is on BBC Two at 7.30pm.

The acts going head-to-head tonight

GOLDSTONE

Brighton resident Aimie Atkinson met her bandmates Helen Wint and Rhiannon Porter when the trio were acting in the stage show of Dirty Dancing, which should tell you how theatrical Goldstone’s show is. Their Eurovision song I Feel The Love is an upbeat, energetic and infectious tune. 

JAZ ELLINGTON

The seasoned soul singer has been making music for most of his life. Jaz started singing in churches when he was a teenager and was recently seen on talent show The Voice, when he was knocked out in the semi-finals. He’s performing a ballad called You which he describes as “beautiful and yet sad”. 

RAYA

The singer, real name Rachel Clark, graduated from BIMM London and has gone on to perform across the world. She’s also had experience in television and theatre as well as being a trained dancer and DJ. She calls her song Crazy is “about that new guy or girl you can’t get out of your head no matter how hard you try”.

LIAM TAMNE

Like the members of Goldstone, Liam is a musical theatre star who has performed in Wicked, Hairspray and The Phantom Of The Opera among other West End shows. He’s singing Astronaut, which he believes will resonate with people. “We all need that someone to pick us up and whisk us away.” 

SURIE

The actress and singer has plenty of Eurovision experience, having performed as a backing vocalist in 2015 and acted as a musical director in 2017. She’ll be belting out Storm. “It’s a dynamic combination of an intimate, piano-lead style and this anthemic, soulful pop party,” she says. 

ASANDA

The 16-year-old singer first came to the attention of the public when she wowed the judges on Britain’s Got Talent aged just 11. She reached the final of that competition with her covers of Beyonce and Rihanna. In Eurovision she’ll be performing Legends, which has an “inspirational message”.