She first entered our miraculous Eurovision world last year and now, she’s taking the national final season by storm. Canadian-British songwriter Laurell Barker has become a familiar face and now also has her first true Eurovision entry in her pocket!
From Holly Brewer to ZiBBZ
Holly Brewer was Laurell’s first Eurovision hopeful. She took part in the UK national final, Eurovision: You Decide, last year. “I Wish I Loved You More” was one of the most praised entry in the final, despite losing out to Lucie Jones and her “Never Give Up On You”.
We first saw a song she wrote in Lithuania’s Eurovizijos. Sadly, Mia’s “Arrows” failed to make it out of the heat.
Last weekend, however, Laurell took us all by storm and she’s not done yet. On Saturday, her weekend was off to a good start. Her act Renaida made it to Andra Chansen in Melodifestivalen with “All The Feels”. Just a day later, Laurell Barker won a national final for the first time in her songwriting career: ZiBBZ landslided the Swiss national final with “Stones”. If that wasn’t enough, the runner-up, “Compass” by Alejandro Reyes also has Laurell’s name attached to it. And her season isn’t over yet. The frontrunner in the United Kingdom, Asanda’s “Legends”, is also one of hers!
I wrote “Legends” at the DWB Eurovision UK songwriting camp with Roel Rats and Christopher Wortley. At the first UK camp I also met the A&R for swiss Eurovision Pele Loriano, and he invited me to the SUISA ESC songwriting camp last summer where I wrote “Stones” with ZIBBZ and “Compass” with Alejandro Reyes and Lars Christen. (Alej came 2nd and is so awesome!) In the Swedish Melodifestivalen “All The Feels” was written just as a pop song with Pete Barringer and Swedish producers Jon Hallgren/Lucus Hallgren during a cowrite in the UK. We submitted the song to Mello and miraculously, we got in with Renaida, who is going through to second chance in Sweden!
How did she get here?
It’s not like Laurell Barker comes out of nowhere. How did this Canadian-British songwriter end up at the Eurovision Song Contest? We of course asked her about it, to which she said:
I am drawn to Eurovision because it is a huge opportunity to take a song and a message to the world! As a former artist who always struggled with choosing one style, I am so happy that I get to write for this contest because there is so much variety! And being a Canadian/Brit, I was brought up in a diverse society, so it gives me warm fuzzy feelings seeing all of these countries come together to make music for each other. Truly, I think it’s a great moment for the world each year.
To summarise: Laurell Barker has been on a remarkable rise and journey over the past twelve months. We can only applaud someone who’s so involved with the contest and tries to deliver quality time after time.
What is your favourite Laurell Barker song? Let us know!
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