Brooke, who represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, says she’s “hungrier for success” after failing to qualify for the Grand Final. She also revealed her thoughts following Ireland’s third consecutive failure to make it to Saturday night.
Brooke: “I thought I did deserve to go through”
The 23-year old singer from Derry says she was very disappointed following the semifinal in Turin. Thankfully for Brooke, her disappointment didn’t last that long, as she says:
Granted I had a 15-minute breakdown after it, but it was a 15-minute thing and then after that, there were people who didn’t go through, they kept themselves to themselves, they were very disappointed and got really sad about the whole thing. Everyone is beside each other so it is just like a kind of intense and weird experience, no one really knows what to do.
Brooke to the Irish Mirror
A lot of the disappointment came from Brooke’s feeling that she had done enough to make it through to the final. Her song “That’s Rich” gained momentum following some good rehearsals, but in the end just fell short of qualification. Ireland finished in eleventh with televoters and only sixteenth with the juries, the split results revealed. The audience in the PalaOlimpico in Turin also responded well to the Irish performance, as Brooke says:
They recorded the decibels in the room to see who got the loudest reaction and I’m second. I knew that that experience was once in a lifetime, and I had done everything I could, and I thought I did deserve to go through. But I had the best time, and I made all the connections, and it has made an exciting career for me, I think, from here on in.
Brooke about failing to qualify
Where next for Ireland?
Debate in Ireland is arising surrounding their future in the Eurovision Song Contest. 2006 entrant Brian Kennedy touted Eurovision “a waste of time” and has said ballads are the only way forward for the country. Brooke Scullion does not agree that ballads are the only way forward, as a rap song – “Stefania” by Kalush Orchestra – won this year’s contest. She does however admit that she too has no idea what Ireland should try next:
I definitely don’t know what Ireland would have to send now to qualify because we have exhausted everything now. I have a song that I would nearly submit for the artist next year because it’s a good Eurovision song as well but I don’t know what we’re going to do. It is a different competition to when we were winning it with ballads. I definitely think that ballads are amazing and they’re really good, but it is depending on the artists that submits their song like I wouldn’t close the door, I think I’ve opened the door to young, aspiring pop artists that want to do Eurovision. I think it is rather unfair to say we can only win with ballads because has every other country only won with ballads? It just depends on the level of songs and the level of the artist. It’s a worldwide competition now that 200 million watch. Politics does play a part but I don’t know.
One thing Brooke is sure of is the fact that the Irish entry should receive more support from their own country. She says “Space Man” by Sam Ryder was “100 times more” on the radio than her own entry. The familiarity with your own entry is key, she says.
Brooke speaking in “Tongues”
The “That’s Rich” singer has just released a new single, “Tongues”. The song speaks of the moment Brooke reluctantly fell in love. It only took her about twenty minutes to write the song. Part of Brooke thinks it may even have been good not to make it through to Saturday night in Turin. Her failure to qualify for the Grand Final has made her hungrier for success.
I’ve been waiting for this my whole life. I don’t care what it takes or what I need to do, I am just so focused right now. I’ve never been hungrier for it, and I suppose that’s why I’m nearly glad I didn’t get through because the hunger has only increased.
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