Backlash in Ireland against Swedish-written song for Brendan Murray

This morning, Irish tabloid newspapers have published reactions to Ireland’s entry. A Swedish writing team, including Jörgen Elofsson, wrote “Dying to Try”, but the Irish songwriting association can not comprehend why a foreign team wrote Brendan Murray’s entry for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Elofsson has had 10 number ones in the UK and USA, including the songs If I Let You Go and Unbreakable, both by Westlife. However, the Irish Association of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (or IASCA, for short) seem to think that this is irrelevant. About Dying To Try, the boss of IASCA, Sinead Troy, said:

It’s disappointing to hear that RTE chose a Swedish songwriter over Irish songwriters to write the Eurovision Song entry, since I wasn’t aware of the callout to songwriters, so couldn’t inform our members. We would like to work with RTE in the future to increase the amount of Irish entries they do receive, so that we can continue to have Irish writers representing Ireland.

In response, a spokesperson from RTE stated:

The entries included songs from all over the world, and this includes many from Irish songwriters.

The song was selected as Ireland’s entry after Louis Walsh asked songwriters to submit songs for Brendan Murray to sing in Kyiv. RTE revealed that Brendan was the Irish representative on the 16th December 2016.

Reactions of the Irish Public

Irish expectations for the ballad to do well are already mixed. Some people describe the ballad as “merely ok”, as well as expressing worries about the live performance in May. These people say that Eurovision “is about a huge presentation”, so  one man and a guitar is not enough! Furthermore, critical comments have been made about the key chance in the song, calling it “cheesy”. However, others describe the song as a “massive improvement” on Nicky Byrne’s Sunlight, in addition to claiming that the song has good chances to do well in Kyiv. You can listen to the song for yourself below and make your own judgement:

Ireland will perform in the first half of the second semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Kyiv.
What do you think of Ireland’s chances in this year’s contest? Is the song good enough to qualify for the final? Leave a comment below and let us know!