RTÉ have announced that Ireland’s entry for Eurovision 2022 will be selected on 4th February during a special episode of The Late Late Show – Eurosong 2022. The first two songs hoping to represent Ireland at the contest in Turin were revealed this morning on RTÉ Radio 1’s The Ryan Tubridy Show.
Brendan Murray – who represented Ireland at the 2017 contest – will be hoping to make a return to the Eurovision stage with his entry “Real Love”. Rachel Goode has also thrown her name into the mix with a dancefloor-filling pop song “I’m Loving Me”. More artists will be revealed throughout the week on The Ryan Tubridy Show.
A return to the national final selection
For the first time since 2015, Ireland will select their entry for Eurovision via a national final – marking a return of Eurosong, again as part of The Late Late Show. 320 songs were submitted to RTÉ for the selection. Six songs will take part in the show which will be held on Friday 4th February. The winning entry will be selected by a combination of a national jury, international jury and public vote.
The first song to be revealed was “I’m Loving Me”, which will be performed by Rachel Goode. The song was written by Joakim Övrenius, Thomas Karlsson, Johan Mauritzson and Anna Engh. Hailing from Ballinasloe, the classically-trained soprano said that, “when I am singing, I am in my own world, nothing else seems to matter in the moment and it’s the best feeling ever”.
In a double reveal this morning, Brendan Murray – who is no stranger to the contest – was announced to be taking part with “Real Love” which he co-penned alongside Darrell Coyle. After failing to qualify for the Eurovision final in 2017, he took part in the UK’s The X Factor, where he made the semi-final and placed 5th. He says that his Eurosong entry is about “not realising what was right in front of you the whole time”.
Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
After previously being selected to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2020, Lesley Roy returned to represent the seven-time winning country in Rotterdam this year. In 2020, she was due to perform “Story of My Life” in the first semi-final.
A year on, Lesley took to the stage – in slot number 7 in the first semi-final – with “Maps”. She failed to qualify from the semi-final, scoring just 20 points. This marked Ireland’s second consecutive last place finish in its semi-final.
Are you looking forward to the Irish selection? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify and YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 national final season!
