Molly Smitten-Downes tells Jeananne Craig that she’s determined to avoid a Euro-flop

IN 2011, chart-topping boyband Blue slumped to 11th in Germany with I Can. In Azerbaijan 12 months later, Engelbert Humperdinck barely made double figures.

Last year in Sweden, Bonnie Tyler was totally eclipsed by the winning Danish entry.

For today’s 59th contest, BBC bosses have changed tack and enlisted a relatively unknown singer from Leicestershire, Molly Smitten- Downes.

The 27-year-old will be flying the flag for the UK in Copenhagen and performing her self-penned song, Children Of The Universe, in front of an estimated global audience of 180 million viewers.

If she triumphs, she’ll be the first UK winner since Katrina And The Waves with Love Shine A Light in 1997. If she ends up with the dreaded nul points, she joins the dubious honour bestowed on Liverpool duo Jemini in 2003.

“I wouldn’t say I was nervous just yet - mostly excited,” says Smitten-Downes. “There are some really good songs and I think I’ve got some stiff competition. It’s not going to be an easy call.”

The singer has been writing songs for a decade and studied at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford. As part of the dance act Stunt, she achieved top ten chart success, in 2008, with Raindrops, a collaboration with German DJ Sash, and she’s supported Tinie Tempah and Labrinth on tour.

Smitten-Downes has also done the festival circuit, performing to about 25,000 people, but admits it’s “almost impossible to get my head around” the millions of viewers who will be tuning in to watch Eurovision.

“Hands down, it is the biggest audience I’ll ever have performed in front of – I don’t think it really gets much bigger as a platform.”

After submitting her music to the BBC’s Introducing scheme for unsigned and undiscovered talent, she came to the attention of the corporation’s Eurovision producer Guy Freeman, who asked if she would like to submit a track.

Given Eurovision’s reputation for cheesy staging and novelty acts, the singer-songwriter had some doubts.

“When I was little, I used to watch Eurovision, but for the last few years I’ve not really engaged with it much,” she admits. “I wasn’t quite sure at first, when the producers got in touch. It turned out that they didn’t have any preconceived ideas, they just wanted it to be a good song and they were interested in me as a songwriter.”

Children Of The Universe, which Smitten- Downes describes as “quite contemporary, with a bit of a tribal feel”, was inspired by Desiderata, a 1927 poem by US writer Max Ehrmann.

“I’ve always found it really inspiring and comforting,”

the singer explains, after reciting some of her favourite verses.

It’s unlikely that many Eurovision entrants take their cue from 1920s prose poetry, but Smitten- Downes knows there will still be detractors who turn their noses up at her involvement.

“People can judge what they want and they will, but I’m pleased with this song and I’m confident in it,” she says. “I’m not compromising my artistic integrity at all, which is really important, especially with all the negative Eurovision stigma that can come with it.”

The contest offers a great platform for Smitten- Downes, who is in even higher spirits having just signed a record deal.

“Dance music was great, but it wasn’t really the music that I felt represented me. Now I’ve worked really hard to get to a point where I know the kind of music I want to be putting out. I know how far I’m prepared to go.”

She insists she isn’t worried about the accusations of block voting that are levelled at the contest every year.

“I think that previous winners have been great songs, so I don’t know if the winner is chosen politically.

“The winner is a great song, and I hope that will be the case this year as well.”

Smitten-Downes will have a few friends and family in the venue on the night, and “about 20 outside in a bar somewhere”. Her local pub, The Woodies in Rothley, Leicestershire, will also be full of supporters.

In fact, the biggest challenge for the singer was keeping the news that she’d been chosen a secret.

“I couldn’t tell anyone, which was so hard, can you imagine?” she says with a smile. “Once I’d got it, I couldn’t tell them for about two or three weeks until it came out. It was so worth it though.

“Their faces were just priceless, they were so pleased,” she adds. “I’ll take that memory with me to the grave.”