Junior Eurovision Song Contest line-up complete with Ireland’s Taylor Hynes

14 year old Taylor Hynes has won the right to represent Ireland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The Irish singer now completes a field of twenty acts taking part in Minsk this month. He will perform his entry “IOU” there. The song has been written by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff and Taylor himself.

“IOU” to undergo revamp

The news that Taylor Hynes would become the Irish entrant for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 broke a few days ago. The show itself only took place last night. Hynes received a wildcard for the final after finishing in second place behind Shaniah Llane Rollo in his semifinal.

In the final, it turned out that the semifinal Shaniah and Taylor came from was the strongest of the four. Both singers made it through to the superfinal. Shaniah’s “Cuimhnigh ar na Réaltaí” may have had the advantage in the semi, in the final, Taylor’s “IOU” took the crown.

One of the songwriters, Jonas Gladnikoff, has already announced that the version Taylor Hynes performed during Junior Eurovision Éire is not the final one. Soon, the team will reveal the official video and version for the Irish Junior Eurovision entry.

Field now complete for Minsk

For the first time in history, twenty acts will be competing at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The amount of participants is a record for the show. Despite Cyprus withdrawing, the debuts of both Kazakhstan and Wales, as well as the returns of Israel, France and Azerbaijan make up the numbers this year.

Ireland are going for their fourth participation at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Contrary to the adult version, it’s not RTÉ, but TG4 who select the Irish entrant for the contest. After three girls, Ireland have now, for the first time ever, selected a male singer to represent them. Their best result to date came in 2016, when Zena Donnelly sang “Brice ar Bhrice”.