The Irish Eurosong final is taking place this Friday, February 28th, and the five acts have been busy working on their performances and vocals for the big night!
Here at escXtra we have gotten the chance to speak with them, and here is the interview with the performer, and songwriter, for song #1 “Don’t Hold On”, Patricia Roe:
escXtra.com: Hi Patricia, thank you so much for taking some to speak to us today! Firstly a big congratulations for being one of the Eurosong 2014 participants!
Patricia: Thank you!
X: How does it feel to be one of the Irish Eurosong finalists?
P: It feels great to be given another opportunity to sing for my country again. 3rd time lucky they say!
X: What have you been doing to prepare for the live show so far?
P: We have rehearsed the vocals a few times – Val – my mentor – is sorting out the staging and lighting etc and I’m currently trying to find something to wear!
X: That’s always important haha, and how did the idea of entering for Eurosong come about?
P: Val – my sister was asked to be a mentor in this years competition and she asked me to sing for her. We couldn’t find a song that we felt would best represent us in Europe so I set about writing one myself.
X: You have had some previous Eurovision experience competing in the Irish national finals, but also on the Eurovision stage for Malta! Can you tell us a bit more about that?
P: I was asked to sing backing vocals on the Maltese entry by RTE. It was lovely to stand on the Eurovision stage and see it from that side of the fence but it was in no way comparable to representing Ireland.
X: That’s understandable, hard to compare to representing your home country. Do you think this previous experience on the ESC stage will help you prepare for competing this year?
P: It won’t really. You have 3 minutes to make your mark, all I can hope to do at this stage is to go out and sing it well. If I do that, I will be happy.
X: You were chosen by mentor Valerie (Roe), who is also your sister, how has that partnership worked so far? I hope she’s not bossing you around too much!
P: She always thinks she is the boss of me! And she is bossing me around all the time but I’m used to that. She is a fantastic woman and she knows exactly what she’s doing. I’m happy to do as I’m told.
X: Can you tell us more about ‘Don’t Hold On’ and the message behind it?
P: It’s about a relationship that doesn’t work on many levels but even though you know that, neither person is letting go. It’s a push – pull type of lyric. I myself have been in that kind of relationship and it’s very painful. You go from feeling strong and over it, to going right back where you started. As the wise saying goes “History repeats itself if we don’t learn from it.”
X: What are your feelings on the fact that if you win you will be representing Ireland at Eurovision in Copenhagen?
P: I want to do that so much – I would be so honoured but I cant get too heady about it as I don’t want to feel crushed if I don’t get there.
X: From participating in Eurovision previously, do you have any stand-out memories from it?P: Not really as I didn’t get to be a part of anything tangible. I was just a hired voice.
X: Lastly do you have any final messages for your fans and our escXtra readers?
P: Vote for song 1 Don’t Hold On.” Enjoy the contest – lets hope we have a good one xxx
X: Patricia thank you so much for the interview, we wish you the best of luck and look forward to your performance in Eurosong on Feb 28th! 🙂
You can find out more about how Patricia is preparing for Eurosong by following her on twitter and also facebook.
To listen to her entry, “Don’t Hold On” here is the official music video: Don’t Hold On
