GLASGOW’S ILI WRITES FOR EUROVISION

Beverley Lyons 

Scots singer Ili is heading to Basel for the Eurovision Song Contest after co-writing the entry song for Switzerland. 

Glasgow born Ili, 26, whose real name is Emily Middlemas has been performing since the tender age of nine and admitted it was a dream come true as she revealed she is behind the Swiss entry Voyage, sung by Zoë Me. 

And she admitted she also sings backing vocals on the catchy anthem which was co-written while vocalist Zoe was on a trip to Scotland.

Emily who was on the 11th and 13th series of X Factor in 2014 and 2016 and has written platinum selling songs for other artists since, was recently a finalist for BBC Introducing Scottish Act of the Year. 

She exclusively told the Scottish Sun: “I co-wrote the Eurovision song for Switzerland and it’s a real pinch me moment. It has been one of my biggest dreams for years. Imagine it in an arena.”

 Emily also revealed the irony that she and fellow writer Tom Oehler were in Switzerland at the SUISA Songwriting Camp while they made video calls to Zoe who was visiting Scotland on a similar writing trip.

She laughed: “It was July 2022. It was the best time ever, and everyone there was so lovely. Zoe who was in Scotland while we were in Switzerland brought in a gorgeous, gorgeous kind of piano instrumental with a couple of ideas. We had a long chat about the song and what it meant, and she made sure that she translated every line in English for me so that I could kind of check over and make sure that it was okay and of course it was perfect, every single time. She blows my mind.

She is an amazing artist, an amazing singer, an amazing songwriter, just overall an amazing person, and I am so excited to watch her conquer that stage and live her dreams.

In a video online, Emily was also filmed as she was told by Zoe and Tom that her song had been chosen to represent Switzerland. 

Visibly shocked, she told her cowriters: “ Oh my god, no, stop! I'm gonna cry. Are you serious?”

Switzerland’s representative, Zoë Më, also said of her time with Emily: “I am Swiss and I was in Scotland. I started to write the song in Scotland. I created a first verse, a pre-chorus and a refrain and then I sent all my ideas to Tom, the producer. He said: ‘I love it, Zoë! That is exactly what we should do.’ And the other co-composer Ili, who is Scottish, was in Switzerland. So, its a rather witty story.”

GLASGOW ODDS ON FAVOURITE FOR EUROVISION

Glasgow is the odds-on favourite to stage the Eurovision Song Contest next year after the final shortlist of potential host cities was whittled down to two this week.

The 67^th edition will be held in the United Kingdom after the European Broadcasting Union confirmed 2022 winners Ukraine would not be able to host the event on safety grounds.

The search for a host city had already been trimmed to seven after this year’s runners-up were given the nod to step in and Glasgow has now been backed down to 4/9 from 2/1 with BoyleSports to stage the event, with Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Sheffield all out of contention.

Liverpool was a 10/1 shot when betting opened and remains the underdog despite shortening into 13/8 and receiving the backing of Labour leader Keir Starmer when he hosted the party’s conference in the city this week.

Lawrence Lyons, spokesperson for BoyleSports said: “Glasgow has been the favourite to host Eurovision from the minute we knew it was heading to the UK, so it’s no surprise to see it backed into odds-on now it’s in the final two. Liverpool has been gambled at prices as big as 10/1, so we’re hoping the betting is on the money because that would be a bad result for us now.”

WILL FERRELL SAYS HE DOESNT LIKE SCOTLAND

WILL Ferrell says he loves Scotland and is planning to return after a successful shoot in Glasgow and Edinburgh. 

The Anchorman star who has been in Scotland to shoot the Eurovision Netflix movie with Pierce Brosnan, Demi Lovato and Rachel McAdams was in fun loving form when theshowbizlion.com met him. 

Will has just visited Glasgow’s The Spanish Butcher for a spot of dinner with his brother where they enjoyed a mammoth 35-day dry-aged 1.1kg porterhouse steak, alongside a 900g chateaubriand from Galician blond cattle in Northen Spain. 

They also ordered double helpings of their addictive manchego mac and cheese topped with puffed paprika pork skin, after devouring their first portion. 

Asked if he liked Scotland he told us:”No. I don’t like Scotland” before adding: “I love Scotland.”Will told us he’d been here recently to visit play golf and he’d enjoyed the game and the food. 

He added: “I’ll come back soon.”

He also teased our chief lioness Bev about being a journalist in true Anchorman style. 

We can’t wait to see him again.