Biography + fun fact (and please a photo too, if you don’t mind)
Hello! My name is James Scanlan, I’m 31 and I live in London in the United Kingdom. I love
to learn and have many passions, including travel, writing, languages and of course, music
and the Eurovision Song Contest!
Travel and exploring new places are very important to me, and I am very fortunate to have
visited 62 countries and territories on 4 continents. I’ve always been fascinated by the world
around me, even at a very young age, and am always looking for new places to learn about
and visit. My travels have also greatly influenced my writing and my most recent work,
Europe in a Day: Day Trips to the Continent (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europe-Day-Trips-
Continent-ebook/dp/B086K3MDXN) was published last year on Amazon Kindle. Looking at
budget travel to 30 different countries and territories around Europe, the book includes both
world-famous cities such as Prague, Amsterdam and Budapest and lesser visited places like
Liechtenstein and San Marino. Europe in a Day also has a website
(https://europeinaday.wordpress.com/) that continues to explore the continent with new day
trips to countries such as Albania and Belarus. In addition to this, I regularly publish
translations of different words and phrases in 50 languages on the website and host a
Birthday Eurovision every summer among all the countries featured in the book and on the
website – which means that places like the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar and Vatican City also get
to cast their votes for the winner!
I’m also one of the Senior International Editors over at Eurovision Ireland
(www.eurovisionireland.net), a fan site dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest. There, I’m
probably best known for my two YouTube series: #ReVu2, where I give my quick-fire
thoughts on the songs heading to that year’s contest, and the Best of Eurovision, where fans
vote in our polls to crown their favourite entries from a particular country and I talk viewers
through the Top 10 picks. I also taught a lesson on Northern Sami for fans of the Norwegian
band KEiiNO and am currently developing a series of lessons to teach Eurovision fans
heading to Turin some Italian.
Fun Fact: I’m fascinated by foreign languages and speak 13 languages to varying degrees of
fluency. The way that languages work, different grammars and scripts, the way they
conceptualise the world and express ideas… it’s all utterly amazing to me! I have a rather
extensive library of foreign language materials with resources in things like Luxembourgish,
Manx, Alsatian, Romansh Sardinian, Occitan, Uzbek… and Europe in a Day’s website
translates words and phrases into a range of languages including less widely spoken ones
such as Monégasque and Greenlandic. I love being able to speak the local language when I
travel, even if it’s just a few pleasantries and have had some amazing exchanges in Albanian,
Polish and Russian, despite not really being able to speak any of them!
Let's start the interview.
Have you grown up in a music family or weren't your parents interested in
music?
Oh definitely! While no one in my family plays an instrument (even though my dad dabbled
with guitar well before I was born), there has always been music in our home. The radio was
on constantly growing up and both my parents love music – albeit it very different kinds! My
mum loves music from the 60s and 70s, R&B, Motown, whereas my dad was more into rock
and the likes of Neil Young and Lead Zeppelin. My mum sang to us all the time as children
(and still sings to her grandson), so music has always been a part of my life from the moment
it started!
Why do you love music as much as you do?
I think for me the fact that it’s always been a part of my life growing up means that I can’t
imagine a life without music! It’s just always been there! I love how it can tap into our
emotions so easily and make us feel on top of the world, or utterly heartbroken. You can be
having a really terrible day, but when you play one of your favourite songs you can’t help but
be lifted by it and have it change your mood completely – I mean, how amazing is it that
sound can do that to us?! I also love music’s ability to transport us through time. You hear a
song you haven’t heard for years, maybe even one you’ve forgotten about and instantly
you’re taken back to a different time and place. A song that reminds you of someone the
moment you hear it. That melody that was the playlist on a special trip that you’ll never
forget. The music that was playing the moment you realised you’d fallen in love… honestly,
it’s nothing short of magical what music can do to us!
For how long have you been listening to music, and what genre(s) do you like?
I’ve been listening to music practically since I was born! As I said before, the radio
was always on in our house growing up and my parents had quite different tastes in
music, which I think they both passed on to me and my brothers! My taste in music is
really eclectic – which often surprises people! Many suspect that if you’re a
Eurovision fan, you have a very specific taste in music that centres on pop and
schlager. If you say on top of that you like music written for stage shows, things like
Elisabeth: Das Musical and Les Misérables, that’s not too much of a stretch for them
– but when they find out I really enjoy things like symphonic rock, indie, classical, folk
music… that confuses them no end! My love of languages has definitely played into
my love of music and I’m always amazed how different emotions and feelings can be
so exquisitely expressed through different languages: the melancholy of Albanian,
the romance and poetry of Italian, the bittersweet yearning of Bosnian… I think last
time I counted, my MP3 player had songs in at least 40 different languages covering
a whole range of genres!
For how long have you followed Eurovision and/or Melodi Grand Prix?
My earliest Eurovision-related memory is singing along to Gina G‘s Ooh Aah Just A
Little Bit – which means I would have probably been 5 or 6 years old! I remember
seeing Marie N’s winner’s reprise in Tallinn back in 2002, but the moment I count as
my first “proper” Eurovision memory was seeing Ukraine win the 2004 contest with
Wild Dances. I was amazed by Ruslana’s energy and captivated by the performance
–that was the moment that I remember think “I really need to watch this show next
year!”. Even all these years later, being someone for who the contest is such a big
part of my life, I still smile when I think back to the teenager who caught a glimpse of
that song by chance and that’s where it all started! Wild Dances clearly left an impact
on me as it also became one of the first singles (remember those?) that I ever
bought!
Admittedly, I never used to be a big fan of watching national selections – I know that
sounds strange for a Eurovision fan, but my reasoning was this: you hear a song in
the national selection, you fall in love with it, want to hear it all the time… then
something else wins and goes to Eurovision in its place. So you then watch the
contest, knowing what could have been and it takes away the magic a bit. There was
a time when I’d only pick a handful of songs to listen to before the contest and leave
the rest as surprises for the big night – but of course, working for Eurovision Ireland,
I can’t do that now and know all the entries backwards by the time rehearsals start! It
was thanks for Eurovision Ireland that I started following national selections more
closely – in fact, my first outing working for Eurovision Ireland was as a camera man
for them at Skopjefest in November 2014! I’ve physically been to national finals in
North Macedonia, Romania, the UK and Moldova as part of my work for Eurovision
Ireland and have watched countless others through the internet to live blog them.
Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix is definitely one of my favourites, I’m just always so
impressed by the standard and quality of the songs, Norway always put on an
exceptional show! I also have a soft spot for Dora, the Croatian national final and of
course, Skopjefest!
Which are your favourite songs from Eurovision and Melodi Grand Prix? You
can name 1 to 5 songs. Can you explain why you chose this song/these songs
as your favourite songs from ESC and MGP?
Oh goodness, what a question! I have SO MANY!! Literally by year, by country, by genre,
by language… I could probably give you a Top 250 all by myself! My choices for any Tops I
give always change within minutes of me giving them as there are so many songs I like, but
at this particular moment I’ll go with: -
Never Forget (Iceland 2012)
This dramatic and mystical sounding ballad captivated me the moment I heard it in the
original Icelandic. I’m still convinced had it not performed in English (and not directly after
Russia in the running order), it would have scored much higher – it really deserved to! I love
the music, the imagery… and who doesn’t love a haunting violin solo?!
Rapsodia (Italy 1992)
I mean, where do I even start with Rapsodia? It’s a masterpiece! Mia sings with such
conviction and emotion, it’s just incredible! Yes, the bittersweet lyrics pull at your
heartstrings, but it’s just so beautiful and heartfelt – I had to listen to it again as I was writing
this, it’s that amazing!
Hajde Da Ludujemo (Yugoslavia 1990)
Earlier I talked about songs that can make you feel better no matter how low you’re feeling
and Hajde Da Ludujemo is definitely that for me! It’s infectiously catchy retro bubble-gum
nonsense, but it’s utterly brilliant! Is it bad I know all the words to this? (And probably most
of the dance routine too?!) It’s one of the few songs guaranteed to get me on a dance floor, as
some of my friends will attest to!
Quédate Conmigo (Spain 2012)
Another exquisite ballad performed with such conviction and emotion, this is not only my
favourite from Spain’s Eurovision back catalogue, but one of my all-time favourite songs
ever. Rarely leaves a dry eye in the house and I still maintain that had this entered a year
earlier or later, it would have given Spain a 3 rd win! Stunning!
Après Toi (Luxembourg 1972)
Easily one of my favourite winners of all time, Après Toi is a highpoint even from the Golden
Age of Eurovision. Classy and beautifully performed, I also (surprise, surprise!) love the fact
that Vicky Leandros recorded versions of this song in French, German, Italian, English,
Spanish, Greek and even Japanese – and while double checking which languages she’d
recorded it in, I just found out that the song inspired covers in Serbian, Slovak, Norwegian,
Turkish, Czech… this just keeps on getting better and better!
I guarantee if you asked me again tomorrow, I’d probably give you a different list! As you
can probably see, I’ve got a thing for music with ethnic flourishes, drama and emotional
ballads!
Do you have any thoughts about Eurovision Song Contest 2022 Season?
Oh yes, several! The last time Italy won the contest was the year I was born, so this will be
the first time I’m old enough to remember an Italian-hosted Eurovision. I’m very happy to
see Montenegro back in the fold, I’ve enjoyed a lot of their entries and feel like they’ve been
so criminally underrated over the years – we always see something different from them,
which is something to be applauded!
I’d like to see more countries opting to sing in their national languages this year. When we
consider that out of the past 5 winners, 4 of them contained at least some non-English lyrics,
this strange idea that a Eurovision song needs to be in English for universality is shown to be
wrong – music is a universal language itself. You don’t necessarily need to understand the
lyrics, you feel emotion in the music, in the voice, in the performance… Barbara Pravi noted
during the 2021 final that the Top 3 songs were all in languages other than English, which
proves there is a thirst for such things across Europe!
Also, even at this early stage I strongly suspect Switzerland and Malta will be ones to watch
for the trophy... just a feeling I have! Switzerland seem to have fallen in love with the contest
again and after two Top 5 finishes in a row, so I feel like they’re fine-tuning for a 3 rd win. As
for Malta, I think they’ve been hungry for it for so long that after all the hype this year around
Destiny, they’ll be doing whatever they can to win!
If you have any more Eurovision or music related things to tell me, feel free to
tell as much as you want.
I’ll just end by saying I know a lot of people around the world snort at Eurovision for
being some crass TV show that they see as being bitterly unfair because their
country didn’t win. But I still think it’s incredible that this idea of using music as a way
to build bridges and connect us all still thrives over half a century after it was
conceived. I’ve made so many friends all over the world through Eurovision and one
thing that connects us all wherever we come from, whatever language we speak,
whatever we believe… it’s our love for music. All these pleas for love, peace,
understanding and acceptance that make us feel and touch our souls with sound…
like I said before, music is magical!
' xlink:href='%23b'/%3e%3cuse fill='black' filter='url(%23c)' xlink:href='%23b'/%3e%3cpath fill='white' d='M12.162 7.338c.176.123.338.245.338.674 0 .43-.229.604-.474.725a.73.73 0 01.089.546c-.077.344-.392.611-.672.69.121.194.159.385.015.62-.185.295-.346.407-1.058.407H7.5c-.988 0-1.5-.546-1.5-1V7.665c0-1.23 1.467-2.275 1.467-3.13L7.361 3.47c-.005-.065.008-.224.058-.27.08-.079.301-.2.635-.2.218 0 .363.041.534.123.581.277.732.978.732 1.542 0 .271-.414 1.083-.47 1.364 0 0 .867-.192 1.879-.199 1.061-.006 1.749.19 1.749.842 0 .261-.219.523-.316.666zM3.6 7h.8a.6.6 0 01.6.6v3.8a.6.6 0 01-.6.6h-.8a.6.6 0 01-.6-.6V7.6a.6.6 0 01.6-.6z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e){kind=small}
