Quotes

I see him [Andrew Lloyd Webber] more or less every day and speak to him more or less on a daily basis. We've spoken about the video, the production and performance on the night - even dresses! But he's put on musical theatre and has a vision about the music and whole package. He has always been a mentor to me, giving assistance and vocal advice, telling me what to prepare for on the night, including how best to conquer nerves. I feel like we're really together and that I don't have all this pressure on my own.

You definitely check them [Eurovision rivals] out - I've already seen them on the tour and YouTube. I'm competitive, but I don't let it stress me. Whatever they're doing, I let them get on with it. If I concern myself with what they're doing, it'll just be a distraction for me. I want to win, so I'm going to keep them in my peripheral vision. Chiara [Malta] is very strong and Patricia Kaas [France]. They're singing ballads, but they're very different to my ballad. If we were all singing the same style, it would be much easier to pick out the best one. With other songs that are completely different, there's nothing I can do other than give a great rendition of the song on the night. I'll just make sure that I give it my all.

It [her Eurovision song] lives in my head all the time! But it doesn't get on my nerves and I'm not sick of it. Every time I give a performance I try to do the best that I possibly can. If you set a standard, naturally you think next time you have to do even more. I hope that just continues and I'm at my peak when 16 May comes around. I made a decision to always sing live when I was on the promotional tour. When it comes to Eurovision, you can't mime on the night - there is no point practising miming! But it's the one song that I don't sing in the shower! As for my voice, I don't scream, I don't smoke so I'll be protecting it in Moscow. I'm there to take part in Eurovision. Socialising can take a back seat.

Everyone just expects me to stand there and sing the song [on stage in Moscow], but we don't want to do a boring performance - we know what we're up against. My thoughts and ideas have been put forward. Amanda Wakely has designed the dress and we wanted to keep it British - we had an offer from Jean Paul Gaultier which would have been amazing, but we wanted to keep it British. I'm pretty confident that it's going to be a good frock. It should be a really classy gown and not too mature. I'm 21, but then it can't be a whipping off the skirt moment! Coming on stage in a mini-skirt singing a ballad would just not be right.

I think the new expert [Eurovision] juries are a good thing. As for the voting public, on the tour I was worried about going to places like Bosnia and Ukraine as it's eastern Europe, but they've given me the best response. As long as we show them we're taking it seriously, we've got as good a chance as anyone.

[Eurodisaster?] If you focus too much on the things that could go wrong, more than likely they will. So I'm just trying to stay completely optimistic and positive about it all. To be honest, the expectation is so low [laughs] so in that sense there's not much pressure. But I feel that this year we'll do better than we have done. How many people get to say that Andrew Lloyd Webber has written a song for them and they've got to represent their country? That in itself is a big enough achievement for me. But I want to win, and I know that whatever happens, I'm still going to go on to have a music career. I have an album in the making, and Gary Barlow has contributed some tracks. A lot of interesting people have put forward a lot of good songs. I'm so excited about it.