Where Are You: Runner-Up to the Revolution

MAY 15 1998 · 12:10

Imaani · "Where Are You" · United Kingdom · 1998 Placement: 2nd · Language: English · Composers: Simon Climie · Venue: National Indoor Arena · Host: Birmingham, United Kingdom · Type: upset · Broadcast: satellite Imaani — born Melanie Crosdale in London, a session and backing vocalist who had worked extensively with the British soul and acid-jazz circuits of the 1990s — was chosen to represent the United Kingdom at Eurovision 1998 through the BBC's 'Great British Song Contest' selection, which paired her with 'Where Are You,' a slow-burning adult-contemporary R&B ballad written by Simon Climie. The staging in Birmingham was stripped back: Imaani in a long gown on a dim stage, two backing vocalists flanking her, her voice held at the upper limit of control for the full three minutes. It was a considered, vocally serious UK entry, closer to the 1990s Whitney Houston-era power ballad tradition than to the broad cabaret pop that had defined earlier British Eurovision campaigns. She scored 166 points. She lost by six to the winner. That winner was Dana International, an Israeli trans woman performing 'Diva,' whose victory on home soil — Eurovision was staged in Birmingham because the 1997 winner, the UK's Katrina and the Waves, had reciprocally taken the Israeli broadcaster's turn — became the most politically significant Eurovision result of the 1990s and possibly of the contest's first half-century. Context Eurovision 1998 was held in Birmingham's NEC Arena because the UK had won in 1997 with 'Love Shine a Light.' Israel's IBA had chosen Dana International through internal selection the previous autumn, generating months of domestic religious-political controversy before she even performed. Simon Climie — co-writer of George Michael's 'I Want Your Sex' and a veteran pop producer — was drafted in to write the entry. Legacy Dana International's win is widely considered one of Eurovision's most culturally consequential results, and the 1998 contest is remembered primarily as her victory. Imaani's performance, strong on its own merits, has accordingly been treated as a footnote in the broader Eurovision narrative. Imaani returned to session work and collaborated extensively with the Incognito collective through the 2000s and 2010s. Mythology Some Eurovision second places are defeats. Others are positions in a photograph. Imaani's finish is the latter.