Nicki French wants to put “every single detail of [her Eurovision journey] in a treasure chest and keep it forever”.

The Did You Ever Really Love Me? hitmaker represented the United Kingdom at the 2000 contest in Stockholm, Sweden with her classic hit Don’t Play That Song Again.

This year, her iconic performance turns 21 and, despite finishing in 16th place – the UK’s worst Eurovision placement at the time – Nicki tells Retro Pop she has nothing but good memories of her ESC experience.

“Oh, it was amazing,” she beams. “Even though back then it was the worst ever UK result, it doesn’t counteract the fact that we we just loved every second of the journey.

“From the night we won ‘A Song for Europe’ in London, to getting over to Stockholm and people all wanting to interview the UK – they always want to interview the UK – to the party that we had at the Tip-Top club on the Thursday night. That was named party of the week and the UK didn’t always do a party, so we were honoured that they did for us.

“To rehearsals and sound checks, to the press conference where one guy asked me, ‘You’re singing a love song. Do you not think you’re a bit old to be doing that now?’ and got booed by the other press. He then came and apologised a couple of days later at another function and said that wasn’t how he meant it.

“Every single detail of that, I want to just put in a treasure chest and keep it forever. I just loved it. I loved the whole experience so much. And that’s why I’m still connected so much with Eurovision, because I do I love it.

“When I host the London Eurovision party and we see that year’s contestants turning up, they get excited and the adrenaline’s going and they get the reaction from the audience and so on.

“It’s all part of it and I love seeing how excited they are getting, because I remember it myself. It’s It’s lovely.”

Nicki’s new EP ‘Let’s Play That Song Again Vol. 2’ features two new versions of Don’t Play That Song Again – a Candlelight Mix courtesy of Pete Ware, plus a new Special Extended Version.

And she admits the audience reaction when she performs the song live is invaluable, sharing: “It’s wonderful. I love performing it. You know, it’s a lovely song to sing.

“On the CD, there’s a beautifully stripped back version, which Pete Ware has done. He’s a genius. And he actually did it for me for last year, but we couldn’t really do much with it [because of Covid-19]. So it was a foregone conclusion that it would have to be included on this EP because it just works.

“It shows the beauty of the actual song. You know, everybody thinks it’s a fluffy little cheesy pop song from the UK. But when you make it into a ballad, it just changes it so much and it’s beautiful.

“Back in 2011, I had a show at the Actors Church in Covent Garden. It was just me and a friend of mine on a grand piano and we decided to do a stripped-back version. And It got pretty much the biggest reception of the night because people realised that this is a heartbreaking song.

“And you do wonder, ‘Well, if we don’t like that in the first place, would it have done better?'”

‘Let’s Play That Song Again Vol. 2’ also features new recordings of the UK’s 1983 entry I’m Never Giving Up by Sweet Dreams and Shine by Russia’s 2014 entrants, the Tolmachevy Sisters, plus a Eurovision Mini Mix and Eurovision Mega Mix, featuring classics including ABBA’s Waterloo, Bucks Fizz’s Making Your Mind Up and Cliff Richards’ Congratulations.

The EP is available to pre-order/save now.