The Irish final "The Late Late Show Eurosong Special" was held on February 3rd at the RTE TV Studios in Dublin, hosted by Ryan Tubridy. The scoring was made up by a mix of an international, national and public televoting all with a 1/3 weighting. The winning act was the band Wild Youth with "We Are One"
The four-piece band are Callum McAdam, Conor O'Donohoe, Ed Porter and David Whelan. They were formed in 2016 and come from Dublin. Their debut hit came out in 2017 and this led to slots supporting Zara Larsson, Lewis Capaldi and Niall Horan on the Irish legs of their tours. Members of the band have also written and recorded songs for The Script and Moncrief. Their break out song "Can't move on" which was released in 2018 and got to number 56 in the Irish charts and their following releases - and EP called "Last Goodbyes" was a top 5 hit.
The band is dotted around the small stage, the a member each on keyboards, drums, guitar and vocalist David, front and centre. Although most of the band is dressed casually, David is dressed in a rather spangly black jumpsuit. Blurred animated figures can be seen on the backdrop as well as strobing yellow patters with lyrics from the song. Words from the lyrics are interspersed on the backdrop with shots of dancers in shadow and close ups of the artists. The song has a very simple verse-pre chorus-chorus structure which is repeated twice with the song ending with a slightly modified extra chorus. Although they were accompanied by two live female backing singers, there was A LOT a backing vocals on the track.
Overall, this song is an anthemic radio friendly song with nods to U2 or Coldplay with a modern stadium pop/rock feel.Unfortunately this performance fell slightly flat because there were not in that setting plus the studio did not lend itself to such interactions. It felt like they were giving a lot but not really getting much reaction back from the audience during the track. At least at Eurovision there will be that opportunity to showcase this song in a place more fitting and with a crowd that may well appreciate them better. I can imagine the lights strobing and the flags wafting in time to the song. It's very memorable and does feel like a song fitting of Eurovision-the occasion, Eurovision-the contest and Eurovision-the community.
However, we are at a time in the contest where we no longer want to see the 'normal' kind of act or song we at sour local hall or hear on the radio. People are now looking for something more local, more cultural, more unusual. This said, the song has appeal and a really positive message. The sounds is very familiar and it's nice to see Ireland trying something a little bit more contemporary for a change. You never know, in a sea of odd-ness and niche genres this song may stand out. Although the song won the Irish jury and televote portions of the vote, the international jury preferred Connolly's song - a fact that might not bode well in a 100% European televote to get into the final. Wild Youth have been mooted as the next big Irish group for a few years and this could be the break they've been after. If they want to qualify they are going to need to work on stage presence,their appeal down the camera and to absolutely nail every single note.
ARTIST - Wild Youth
SONG - We Are One
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Jacob Bitove, Jörgen Elofsson, Conor O’Donohoe, Edward Porter
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