"I Can" is a song released by
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
boy group
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
, taken from their fourth studio album, ''
Roulette''. It was the United Kingdom's entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...
, in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
, Germany. It was written by group members
Duncan James
Duncan James (born Duncan Inglis, 7 April 1978) is an English singer and actor. He became widely known in 2001 as a member of the boy band Blue and later for playing Ryan Knight in the British soap opera ''Hollyoaks''.
Early life
James grew u ...
and
Lee Ryan
Lee Ryan (born 17 June 1983) is an English singer, songwriter and actor, best known as a member of the boy band Blue.
Ryan took part in the BBC series ''Strictly Come Dancing''. He was partnered with professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova and was ...
with Ciaron Bell, Ben Collieer, Ian Hope, Liam Keenan, and NoThwegian production team StarSign.
"I Can" finished in 11th place and scored 100 points. It peaked at number sixteen on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, and reached the top ten in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It also charted in Belgium, Ireland, and Scotland.
Critical reception
Digital Spy gave the song three stars out of five, and wrote: "I've never lost anything quite like this/ No second chances if I don't find it," the band continue over juddering synths that give way to a fist-clenching, Blue for 2011 chorus that sadly just misses the spot - the watered down production suggesting they aren't as cocksure of this plan as they claim.
..Still - call them crazy, but there's enough here to suggest they might just pull the whole thing off."
Promotion
During an appearance on ''
BBC Breakfast'' on 9 February 2011, Blue confirmed that the song was written before they were asked to represent the UK in Düsseldorf, and described it as "a mix of pop, anthem and typically Blue sounding". On 12 February 2011, Blue began their promotional tour with an appearance on ''
Malta Eurosong 2011''. As 'I Can' had not yet finished production, the group sang their previous hit "
If You Come Back
"If You Come Back" is a song by English boy band Blue, released as the third single from their debut studio album, '' All Rise'' (2001). It was written by Ray Ruffin, Nicole Formescu, Ian Hope, and Lee Brennan of boy band 911. The song topped th ...
".
This was followed by another guest appearance, singing "
Breathe Easy
"Breathe Easy" is a song written by Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Michael Larsson and Lee Ryan and released by the British boy band Blue. The song was included on their third studio album, ''Guilty'' (2003). It was released as a single on 22 Marc ...
" on the Spanish national final ''
Destino Eurovisión'' on 18 February.
The band performed the song for the first time on 11 March 2011 on ''
The Graham Norton Show
''The Graham Norton Show'' is a British comedy chat show presented by Graham Norton. It was initially broadcast on BBC Two, from 22 February 2007, before moving to BBC One in October 2009. It currently airs on Friday evenings, with Norton s ...
''.
A promotional video for the song has also been released by BBC One with the blue London skyline in the background. They appeared at various events including at ''
Comic Relief Does Glee Club
''Sport/Comic Relief Does Glee Club'' is a British television programme aired on BBC One and CBBC. Presented by Sam & Mark and Naomi Wilkinson, the first contest aired between 14 and 18 March 2011, and was won by Soulmates. The second series wa ...
'' on 17 March 2011 and on the ''Italian'' version of ''
Top of the Pops
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...
'' on 21 March. The official music video was launched on 14 April 2011. The BBC aired a special one-hour documentary entitled ''
Eurovision: Your Country Needs Blue'' on 16 April 2011, to mark their preparations for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. The single was released on 1 May 2011.
Blue also appeared nude in British gay monthly ''
Attitude'' in the magazine's annual Naked issue. Blue was featured both on the cover and in an inside major article in promotion of the British bid to Eurovision.
Blue performed the song on ''
Paul O'Grady Live
''Paul O'Grady Live'' is a British comedy chat show hosted by Paul O'Grady, that began airing on 10 September 2010 on ITV. The show is a Friday night chat show that features a mixture of celebrity guests, airing at 21:00. The show culminates wi ...
'' on 29 April and on the ''
So You Think You Can Dance UK'' results show.
Eurovision Song Contest
It was the first time in
Eurovision Song Contest history that the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
entry has been decided internally by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. An announcement was made on 29 January 2011 through the
websites. It finished in 11th place in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
Bulgaria gave the song 12 points (the highest possible score), Italy 10 points, Malta 7 and Turkey 6. Overall, if the jury vote had not been counted the song would have finished in 5th place as it did from televotes.