After five years of internal selections (i.e. no voting), and dismal results at Eurovision, the BBC decided to return the choice of contestant back to their viewers. Eurovision: You Decide fielded six contestants, each performing different songs. This is an important distinction since some previous UK contests had participants all singing the same song.

The vote was cast entirely by the viewing public, with no professional jury. Joe & Jake will fly the British flag in Stockholm with their song You’re Not Alone.

I don’t envy them. The UK was once a Eurovision powerhouse, having five wins and many top 10 placements. Those days are long past and their entries mostly languish in the high teens and twenties. Do Joe & Jake have a shot at breaking the top 10 drought? Let’s take a look and listen.

Cute guys. Kind of remind me of the Winchester Brothers. Catchy tune, except for one thing. It doesn’t have a hook. I kept waiting for it to grab me and it didn’t. I don’t feel compelled to listen again. It’s a nice song, and these guys are fresh and appealing, but without a hook, this song is going nowhere. If they can find that hook, though, You’re Not Alone could be a contender.

It’s early in the contest season and Joe & Jake still have to release an official video. I’ll withhold judgment and see what they do. Thing is, the Nordics, Russia and Italy have been consistently producing top 10 material. If they all come out strong this year, a nice song like You’re Not Alone will be blown out of the water and into the nether region of points.

You can read more about Joe & Jake here.

Eurovision 2016 will be held 10, 12 and 14 May in Stockholm, Sweden. You can watch the entire contest live on eurovision.tv.