ESCXTRA’s 2018 Hopefuls: Ireland

Welcome to our brand new weekly series, ‘ESCXTRA’s 2018 Hopefuls’, in which we will tell you who we would like to see in Eurovision next year! This series will keep you entertained with new music from across Europe every Monday until the national final season begins next year, and may give you somebody new to root for to represent your country!  Today, we look at who we want to see represent Ireland in Eurovision 2018. Let’s get started!

Janet Devlin

Janet Devlin first appeared on our screens in 2011, when she finished in fifth place in the eighth series of The X Factor UK. Her cutesy style music is influenced by alternative artists including City and Colour, John Frusciante, Nirvana, and Devendra Banhart. She has also had experience with international music competitions before; she was the runner-up in the 2015 Baltic Song Contest!

 
Janet is one of my favourite artists, her music is adorable and her bubbly personality matches! She’s almost reminiscent of Lena in 2010. Of course, Lena did absolutely fantastically with her charisma and simple but charming performance. We feel that Janet could do similarly as well for Ireland in Eurovision, she would be a fantastic choice!

Samantha Mumba

Samantha Mumba shot to fame in 2000 with the release of her début single, Gotta Tell You. The song became a 00’s classic in Ireland, the UK, and the USA! After a relatively short music career, she began a film career. You may recognise her from the 2002 film The Time Machine.

In 2013, Samantha revealed that she was working on new music material, and later released Somebody Like Me. The song did very well in Ireland, reaching number 5 in the Irish charts! Numerous Irish newspapers have reported that Samantha Mumba has expressed interest in representing Ireland in Eurovision next year, so it seems like we really could see her!

Kodaline

Kodaline (previously known as 21 Demands until 2012) first came to attention in 2007, after finishing as the runner-up in the RTÉ talent show You’re A Star. Their song, Give Me A Minute, made chart history after it became the first independently released tack to top the Irish Singles Chart!

Kodaline were mostly successful between 2013 to 2015, with both of their albums reaching number one in the Irish charts, as well as charting in many other countries. Some of their songs can be extremely powerful, despite being much more simple than a lot of Eurovision songs. This could really make them stand out and get them a lot of votes!

Una Healy

Una Healy rose to fame in 2008 as a member of the girl group The Saturdays. It’s likely that you’ve heard of this group, as they have had massive success worldwide! Before this, she had won the Irish Glinsk Song Contest twice, in 2004 and 2006, and was a backing singer for Ireland in Eurovision 2006 (Brian Kennedy’s Every Song Is a Cry for Love, which finished 10th in the final).

This year, Una has launched her solo music career, starting with a song called Stay My Love, and later with Battlelines. Una’s own music has a country feel to it and is really enjoyable to listen to! This could be something a little different for Ireland, and something that could finally give them a good result in Eurovision!

Rea Garvey

Rea Garvey’s music career started as part of the band Reamonn. Over the 11 years that Rea was their frontman, they had chart-topping success, with many gold and platinum selling albums! More recently, Rea started to pursue a solo career, and this saw him transition from anthemic rock to a more alternative electro pop style of music.

Rea Garvey may be relatively unknown to Ireland; he’s mostly famous in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. However, he’s very famous in these countries, especially Germany, despite his last release being in 2015. Perhaps Rea is working on some new music, and perhaps one of his new songs could be perfect for Ireland in Eurovision?

Next week, we will look at who we want to see represent the Czech Republic!
What do you think of our hopefuls? Is there anybody else you’d like to see for Ireland in Eurovision? Do the idea of any of these artists excite you? Tell us in the comments below!