Ireland 2018 • Ryan O’Shaughnessy - "Together"

[Deleted]

All discussion regarding Ireland in the 2018 contest should be posted here!

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Ryan O'Shaughnessy - "Together"

[Dylan]

We haven't officially confirmed yet but I guess an official confirmation will come soon as RTÉ is already getting into the planning stage on what to do for ESC 2018

Aaand the news that I was waiting for

eurovoix.com/2017/06/02/ireland-return-national-final-2018/ (It's not official obvs but I really hope we look into a national final again, not like the ones held in previous years but a different one with more songs).

[Ste]

The complete lack of interest in this thread just goes to show the absolute state Ireland's Eurovision participation is in. Dire. Dead. RTÉ's obsession with the past and lack of invention is disappointing beyond belief. What's another year seems to be the motto the broadcaster is going by, where mediocrity has become the norm. This season itself has shown how terrible RTÉ is at participating in the contest. A supposed huge (private) forum taking place to see what we can do to improve our performance, yet we've settled for another ballad (not to say this ballad will be bad, but RTÉ's notion of a ballad certainly doesn't pique any interest). 

I attended the forum held in the Irish university last year, and whilst the talks were interesting from an academic perspective, not much insight was given into how songs are selected. I do recall Linda Martin saying the song quality can be awful, from hymns to lyrics on tissue (I don't really want to go in to her opinions - cuz god they're bad). We get rumours of the Heathers not participating due to not being allowed to sing a self-penned song (although idk if this is to be believed considering Ryan's part in his song). It's obvious RTÉ believes we should be able to waltz into the contest and qualify based on the merit of songs sent over 20 years ago. Even when we do get a half-decent song (2014, 15), the production and staging is abysmal. Today, the latest artist two radio presenters could recall was Jedward, and even then 8th wasn't seen as being a respectful position for an uptempo pop song. You can't shake a culture of music snobbery if all the people you have in charge of choosing our act remain stagnant. We get told we can't afford a national final, not that the ones we hosted were any good. Calling garbage on that one. Our fellow small countries throughout Europe can put together competent selections, and even our Irish channel broadcaster can put together a proper stage for a selection. RTÉ radio played just Irish artists today celebrating the choice awards. Some incredible songs were played, from pop, to rock, to R&B, to Hip-hop. Yet we get more of the same. Do the artists not want to participate? Is RTÉ just not interested in trying hard enough to get an artist to try something new? We're tired of Celtic. We're tired of ballads. We have so many talented singers and song writers. No offence to Brendan, but who on earth thought that song was in anyway interesting or modern? Nicky Byrne was just an RTÉ baby. 

Ireland is currently (I think) on the worst non-qualification streak of all countries. I think Ryan could be a good choice, and of course there is no point in writing it off before the song is heard. But IF the song is another dated and drab ballad, surely after 5 NQs in a row heads should roll in the delegation. Times have moved on, and the Irish music scene has moved with it, a quick glance at a Spotify playlist of fresh Irish artists would tell you that in minutes. It is just RTÉ that is stuck in this pathetic loop of mediocrity and false sense of superiority that we should be rewarded for this mediocrity. Eurovision is a huge platform for these artists, but giving them shit songs isn't going to get them remotely interested. If a song is shit, why isn't there some honesty within the delegation to just say it. They just love to keep everything shrouded in secrecy. I feel sorry for upcoming artists who haven't been properly supported by RTÉ.

Anyway that's an end to my rant. Probably poorly written.

I will hope that Ryan's song will be good, and naively hope that this will be the beginning of a turning point for Ireland. 

[Aless]

[MaRtIn]

Feb 1, 2018 1:03:53 GMT 1 Ste said:

The complete lack of interest in this thread just goes to show the absolute state Ireland's Eurovision participation is in. Dire. Dead. RTÉ's obsession with the past and lack of invention is disappointing beyond belief. What's another year seems to be the motto the broadcaster is going by, where mediocrity has become the norm. This season itself has shown how terrible RTÉ is at participating in the contest. A supposed huge (private) forum taking place to see what we can do to improve our performance, yet we've settled for another ballad (not to say this ballad will be bad, but RTÉ's notion of a ballad certainly doesn't pique any interest). 

I attended the forum held in the Irish university last year, and whilst the talks were interesting from an academic perspective, not much insight was given into how songs are selected. I do recall Linda Martin saying the song quality can be awful, from hymns to lyrics on tissue (I don't really want to go in to her opinions - cuz god they're bad). We get rumours of the Heathers not participating due to not being allowed to sing a self-penned song (although idk if this is to be believed considering Ryan's part in his song). It's obvious RTÉ believes we should be able to waltz into the contest and qualify based on the merit of songs sent over 20 years ago. Even when we do get a half-decent song (2014, 15), the production and staging is abysmal. Today, the latest artist two radio presenters could recall was Jedward, and even then 8th wasn't seen as being a respectful position for an uptempo pop song. You can't shake a culture of music snobbery if all the people you have in charge of choosing our act remain stagnant. We get told we can't afford a national final, not that the ones we hosted were any good. Calling garbage on that one. Our fellow small countries throughout Europe can put together competent selections, and even our Irish channel broadcaster can put together a proper stage for a selection. RTÉ radio played just Irish artists today celebrating the choice awards. Some incredible songs were played, from pop, to rock, to R&B, to Hip-hop. Yet we get more of the same. Do the artists not want to participate? Is RTÉ just not interested in trying hard enough to get an artist to try something new? We're tired of Celtic. We're tired of ballads. We have so many talented singers and song writers. No offence to Brendan, but who on earth thought that song was in anyway interesting or modern? Nicky Byrne was just an RTÉ baby. 

Ireland is currently (I think) on the worst non-qualification streak of all countries. I think Ryan could be a good choice, and of course there is no point in writing it off before the song is heard. But IF the song is another dated and drab ballad, surely after 5 NQs in a row heads should roll in the delegation. Times have moved on, and the Irish music scene has moved with it, a quick glance at a Spotify playlist of fresh Irish artists would tell you that in minutes. It is just RTÉ that is stuck in this pathetic loop of mediocrity and false sense of superiority that we should be rewarded for this mediocrity. Eurovision is a huge platform for these artists, but giving them shit songs isn't going to get them remotely interested. If a song is shit, why isn't there some honesty within the delegation to just say it. They just love to keep everything shrouded in secrecy. I feel sorry for upcoming artists who haven't been properly supported by RTÉ.

Anyway that's an end to my rant. Probably poorly written.

I will hope that Ryan's song will be good, and naively hope that this will be the beginning of a turning point for Ireland. 

[Dylan]

Well said Ste

I am also kinda disappointed with RTÉ this year. I would've hoped that they finally realized that after 4 consecutive failures, they would have tried something different.

It just nags me that RTÉ could make a much better effort at the contest, but that ain't showing right now. We just have to look at TG4 in Junior Eurovision. They have done so much, I was so surprised that they were able to pull it off! Our Irish language broadcaster that doesn't get as much attention as RTÉ is making such an effort to select the best song and while 2017 may have not been the best year results-wise, they were able to get 2 other respectable placings - 12th and 10th. I don't see why RTÉ couldn't try something similar. I'm not looking for a huge NS, and certainly not looking for a return to the Late-Late Show format, but at least making an effort to select their singer and song. We have many talented singers and songwriters like Stekay mentioned, unfortunately RTÉ just isn't trying hard enough. If it so happens that Ireland gets it's 5th NQ, surely that's a wake-up call to the broadcaster that their method isn't working. 5 NQs will turn into 6, and so on if it continues like this..

Of course I can't let this be my final statement, but it has been bugging me for a few days and I felt like I should say something too..
And obviously I will wait for Ryan's song and obviously I wish him the best! There's nothing that says I will dislike it right away - it could be good, or it could be crap. Will I support my country in the semis? Yes, I would obviously hope that we make it to the final. But I really just feel like something else needs to be done.

and you could always let TG4 have a go at ESC

[mimisthesc]

Song has been released!

[Алексито ✪]

Really poor and cheesy. They seem they want to repeat the same from last year...

[ROBERT 💙]

It's not bad but it's not 'jaw-dropping' at the same time.

[Julian]

Ugh this is not bad but it just doesn't go anywhere. The whole song is basically the same from start to end and while I don't hate it, I dislike that Ireland basically gave up because if they think that a repetitive, whiny, cheesy ballad will make them qualify again, they're deluded