Oh Ireland, what happened? Sole top of the Eurovision leaderboard for decades (now joint with Sweden since Loreen’s second victory) to not qualifying since 2018 (editors note: Brooke was robbed).
Now we have the six songs competing in this years Eurosong and hoping to not have the whole country ask “What’s Another Year?” (sorry). So shall we jump in and see what Niall thinks of this years entries? Okay let’s do it, it can’t be as bad as Hawaii, right? Right?!
Erica Cody – Love Me Like I Do
Ireland are off to a flying start here with this track. Instantly I am drawn in by the synthetic beats and then Erica’s vocal kicks in and I am caught hook, line and sinker. There is a soulfulness to her voice that absolutely elevates the pop sound to another level. The bridge absolutely sells me on this song, I’m glad they’ve avoided just adding in a dance break, however I do find the key change in the final chorus to be a little bit over the top and it doesn’t feel completely necessary. Solid effort, are we sure this is part of the Irish National Final?
Alisha – Go Tobann
There’s a lot going here and I’ve got to be honest, I found it very overwhelming. So overwhelming in fact that I don’t think I can review the song as a whole package yet, so I’ll try and take individual elements on their own.
Firstly, I am not a fan of the highly manufactured sounding vocal, I find it difficult to make out the lyrics over the beat. It sounds fun, but it went extremely hard and felt like it was a little bit everywhere. I love the traditional elements, including the majority of lyrics being in Gaeilge, however I don’t think it’s enough to save this song.
I am happy artists feel more confident in sending less mainstream songs after the success of Käärijä, Konstrakta, etc, (not drawing comparisons musically) however I feel like this is not that accessible and could be jarring for a non Eurofan randomly tuning into The Late Late Show.
JyellowL (feat. Toshin) – Judas
Now I’m not going to pretend I know a lot about rap as a genre, but we all know it’s extremely underrepresented in Eurovision. What Judas does well is create an accessible and sincere track that wouldn’t alienate those who have preconceived ideas about what JyellowL could bring to Eurosong.
The addition of vocals from Toshin also allows this to have more of a mainstream feel, however I fear the song doesn’t really go anywhere. A nice addition, but I don’t think it’s a serious contender for the Irish ticket.
Isabella Kearney – Let Me Be the Fire
An extremely promising start to this song, it actually sounds like it could be a Eurovision song. Melodic intro, great vocals and decent lyrics on the verse and then the pre-chorus sounds like it’s building to something absolutely spectacular… but sadly it doesn’t.
I found the chorus to be a let down, it’s not bad but it could certainly feel like a lot more of a moment, instead it just relies on a simple melody and lacks the punch that really would have made this stand out.
Bambie Thug – Doomsday Blue
Yet again something completely different for Ireland, however unlike with Go Tobann, this doesn’t feel so overwhelming.
Weaving its way through eerie electronic (which at one point I thought wouldn’t sound out of place in a Hocus Pocus movie) to pretty melodies with a stunning vocal, I genuinely didn’t know what to expect next.
This feels like a very strong contender, a lot will rely on the live performance. It needs to match the fun of the song, but not take it over the top to a place where it feels like inauthentic. I can see me becoming obsessed with this track if it wins Eurosong.
Next In Line – Love Like Us
Bring back Wild Youth. No, I’m serious, I would genuinely prefer them over this. For me this entire track is far too generic. Yes of course I know it’s a manufactured boyband managed by Louis Walsh, so my expectations were low – but somehow this doesn’t even meet them. It doesn’t even take me back to when One Direction, JLS or even The Wanted were in their prime.
It feels dated and boring – I’m sure it’ll have its fans, but I am not one of them. Many of the other acts I could see having at the very least a slim chance of giving Ireland that long awaited qualification but this would be lucky not to come last in its semi. Sorry boys.
So there we go then, that’s the niallpoints review of this years Eurosong. Do you agree? Do you think Niall should stay away from Ireland for a while for his safety?
As Tomas said we are trying to review as much as we can but if there is anything you are desperate for our opinion – let us know and we’ll try our very best to keep you happy!
