The BBC gave singer-songwriter James Newman a second chance to take part in Eurovision 2021 after the event was canceled the previous year due to COVID. Though critics praised his 2020 entry, "My Last Breath," Eurovision rules meant he had to scrap it and write an entirely new song for the 2021 contest. He came up with this upbeat tune.
James Newman wrote the song with Conor Blake, Danny Shah, Tom Hollings and Samuel Brennan. Newman told BBC's Newsbeat they wanted to write something "fun and upbeat" to mark his return to the competition. An ember is a piece of red hot coal or wood that remains after a fire; Newman sings of not burning out to symbolize Eurovision's return from the ashes of the 2020 contest. "'Embers' is about those sparks that don't die out," he explained. "When we were writing this, it felt like I wanted to show everyone that we were coming back together. It's about having that connection and something re-igniting. It's about us emerging from this rubbish time we've been having. It fits with the idea that Eurovision is coming back."
The word "ember" also describes the smoldering remnants of a love or passion. "It's about the spark between people who love each other," said Newman. "Just because you don't see the people you care about all the time, doesn't mean that spark isn't there."
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