Monday 12 March 2018

IRELAND

The Irish song was unveiled on March 9th via its première radio play on the Ray Darcy show on RTE Radio 1. Back in January the broadcaster announced that they had chosen Ryan O'Shaughnessy as their internally selected artist and that the song would be revealed in March. The song he is singing is “Together”

The video is a one-take shot detailing the journey of 2 men coming out of a place in Temple Bar, Dublin at night. They walk casually for the most part but during the chorus they start to dance using the street furniture and shop architecture to enable them to create different shapes and levels. It is subtly intricate, well produced and well made. It also fits very well with the mood and themes of the song. There is also a culture nod to the referendum in 2015 where the petition for same sex marriage was supported and approved. I could imagine such a dance routine being lifted to the stage but I feel they wIll need almost all of their personnel for the singing.

The song has a definite Ed Sheeran vibe to it but unlike the Englishman, Ryan seems to ride the wave between cheese and sincerity well.  The structure of the song is such that we actually get to hear 4 complete renditions of the chorus which shows some very clever song craft and I applaud the team for that. The song starts off like an acoustic guitar ballad and then there is a noticeable but slow beat that starts during the chorus. This then dies down again for the next verse then beefs up again for the chorus. Just before the 2 minute mark there is a bridge that goes into a gentle version of the chorus before having one final full on version. There is also a noticeable choir of backing singers on the track which gives it a more ensemble or group feel. Because of the repetition you get to know the song very quickly.

This is possibly the best thing they have sent for quite a few years – but this is such a low bar this isn’t really brilliant news. I think this is a decent enough radio friendly song and should get in some points. Although this has be drawn in the second half of semi 1 I feel this is going to struggle to be remembered at the end of the show. With a good stage show and a spot on vocal - anything can happen I guess. If this has been drawn in semi 2 I feel this would have had much more of a chance of getting to the final.


ARTIST –  Ryan O'Shaughnessy
SONG – Together
MUSIC - Laura Elizabeth Hughes, Candice Mark & Ryan O'Shaughnessy
LYRICS - Laura Elizabeth Hughes, Candice Mark & Ryan O'Shaughnessy


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