Nicki French's Post-Total-Eclipse Flop

MAY 15 2000 · 12:00

Nicki French · "Don't Play That Song Again" · United Kingdom · 2000 Placement: 16 · Score: 28 · Language: English · Composers: Gerry O'Connor, Simon Gordon · Venue: Globen · Host: Stockholm, Sweden · Type: deep cut · Broadcast: digital hd French — best known for the 1994 dance-remake hit 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' — takes the Globen stage in a red body-con dress and delivers an up-tempo dance-pop track intended as a sly one-night-stand narrative. The performance is sincere; Globen is not impressed. 16th place with 28 points. Olsen Brothers win for Denmark. Context French had been a dance-pop journeywoman with one viral cover hit. The BBC 'A Song for Europe' field that year was notably weak — French was chosen as the professional option. Stockholm's Globen was cavernous, Eurovision's most acoustically challenging venue of that era. Legacy French returned to the UK dance circuit. 'Don't Play That Song Again' charted briefly in the UK at #34. Her 2000 Eurovision appearance is now cited as the start of the UK's 2000-2003 free-fall that culminated in Jemini's zero points. French hosts nostalgic 90s-dance tours through the 2020s.