Let’s make one thing clear – there are good songs and great artists in Ireland. The reason behind the country’s recent abysmal qualification record (one qualification to the final in the last 9 years) lies squarely at the feet of RTÉ – the national broadcaster in change of selecting acts for ESC – who has been putting no effort whatsoever behind this national final and, as per this really thorough and interesting analysis video by ESC Tom, is not in a hurry to make any of the necessary corrections to recapture the glory days of yore (we are still talking about the most successful ESC country of all time – tied with Sweden, that is). The most startling stats to explain such complacency are perhaps the fact that ESC viewing numbers in Ireland have remained constant even when their representative fails to advance – a jarring indicator that this country is in love with the contest and is also resigned to flop every year – and the fact that the songs selected do not even chart nationally. If they don’t even like these tracks at home, how is the rest of Europe supposed to?
Last year’s national final, casually hosted as a special embedded in an episode of The Late Late Show (imagine an incompetent clueless host, a minuscule puny stage, and a peanut butter giveaway contest) featured a lineup of very promising songs, including my second favorite song of the whole ESC season. The staging for all of them was so uniformly atrocious that the whole thing became essentially unwatchable. I don’t expect things to change much this year, BUT…Ireland’s got the track. Somehow. Someway. Now the only challenge is actually selecting it. These are our fave songs from this year’s roster!
How good and weird is this?! Every time I listen to this track, it’s like my inner sommelier jumps out: I detect notes of glitch pop with a dash of metal, Irish flutes, with some dance undertones. It is just so unique, a devastating bop in spite of itself if that even makes sense, that I can’t help but feel some people will pick up the phone to vote for this while others will be busy having their TV exorcised. It would be a great option to send to ESC just because it’s so explosive and bizarre and fun and different, it’s mainly in Irish, and it would do exceedingly well with the televote if staged impactfully. It just so happens to be competing against a potential ESC-winning track, which is…
ESC WINNER ALERT. Bambie Thug calls her genre of music Ouija pop and honestly…that is a perfect way to put it. This track basically sounds like some sort of demonic incantation put to music, except it slaps. What you get here is what we could classify as a fairly traditional ESC melodic structure (including a bridge that slows things down before an explosive climax) only with about 100 layers arranged on top of it – growling, a loopy guitar pop chorus, a jazz-inflected middle-eight, some EDM thrown in for good measure – and it all works. I can’t stop listening to it and every time I find something new or surpriging I hadn’t noticed before. Bambie Thug is also a visual artist with an incredibly striking aesthetic (just check their Instragram profile – some of those looks are high drag) so you know we’d be getting a proper show at ESC. The sky is the limit here. Does Ireland want a shot at winning? This is what you need to send.
Isabella Kearney – Let Me Be the Fire
This is a solid dance pop track that just feels a bit more familiar and might be appealing for those who are looking for a strong hook, great production, a reliable vocal, and might be scared to take the leap with either of the aforementioned acts. It’s a bit of a throwback to the early 2000s – especially the chorus drop – but it feels very polished and self-assured. It’s not a winner, but it sounds like a fairly comfortable qualifier given it gets decent staging, as it slaps in a safer, perhaps less exciting but still competent way. Seeing what got sent last year, this might realistically be what gets to go to Malmö (and let’s be clear – it would be a huge, welcome improvement).
ESC Etc. 
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