Ireland IRELAND 2023 - Wild Youth - We Are One

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[Chrisiam]

BUT - and this goes for A LOT of countries: why is everyone always so eager to win or do well in the competition? I really would have preferred this, not because I like the music anyway, but because this is something I consider typically Irish. Why don’t countries send something traditionally that is recognizably them? Not everyone has to send a contemporary song to remain in the race. You can’t be all winners - just send something that truly represents your country!

To be honest if feel that for RTE winning wasn't really a priority for them, and hasn't been for a while. Now I'm not saying that they are going out of their way to stop themselves from winning. But I do feel that RTE are more interested in producing a "decent" NF than selecting a winning act.

They are more interested in creating an hour/hour-and-a-half show that is inoffensive, fun enough, and gets decent enough viewing figures for that particular timeslot than making a program that can get them a winning Eurovision act. I had the same feeling from the BBC when they still did selection shows; it felt like an intensely watered-down XFactor/The Voice show with acts that were "Nice" but that is it. And picking anything that is more traditional and reflective of their culture would be too much of a risk. As those kinds of acts don't do well on the kind of XFactor/Voice style shows. And if you are a member of a delegation/head of delegation whose understanding of what is popular and "In" is based on what you hear coming off programs like that you aren't going to risk anything that doesn't "work" in that kind of program even if Eurovision itself isn't that kind of program.

 

[njdevils94]

Assessment ORF.at

Not an evening for golden Elvis

Singer Conor O'Donohoe of the Irish band Wild Youth didn't seem quite comfortable in his golden full-body Elvis onesie, and rightly so. The song "We Are On", intended as a solidarity anthem, stuttered on stage, also because vocally there was a lot missing in many corners.

Did they call it We Are On too?

 

[Lindon]

Did they call it We Are On too?

Yeah. Obviously a typo.

Original text

Kein Abend für goldenen Elvis​

Zu Recht nicht ganz wohl schien sich Sänger Conor O’Donohoe der irischen Band Wild Youth in seinem goldenen Ganzkörper-Elvis-Strampler zu fühlen. Der als Zusammenhaltshymne gedachte Song „We Are On“ kam auf der Bühne recht ins Stottern, auch weil da gesanglich sehr viel an sehr vielen Ecken fehlte.

 

[Rocket man]

Ireland can do so much better, it's so frustrating to watch. But they just don't care, instead they just hope for pity points to get them into the final and that's never going to happen, you can't just wing it into the final anymore.

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

Saw fan mentions on Twitter that Conor had 'stormed out' of the green room when last qualifier announced. Anyone know if that's true? Seen no video evidence.

 

[Leydan]

https://youtu.be/Rd1e117XqS0 Cruachan's rejected Eurosong submission The Blacksmith has dropped. This would have sailed through no doubt. In fact I could have seen this as a contender.

Personally, I loathe this, it's not to my taste at all but christ RTE... Who the hell decided this shouldn't have been in the line up for their NF. It's miles ahead of anything that was in their NF. It makes you wonder what else was submitted (and i thought the same with the BBC in our recent NF stint) I bet decent songs come through but the preconceptions of what a Eurovision song should be means the most banal stuff gets picked. It's like RTE sit with their eyes closed and ears plugged during Eurovision, they're literally there.

 

[Malagant]

To be honest I am baffled by all the negativity surrounding this Irish entry. I watched Semi 1 with a mate and we both had Ireland in our top 10 (8th on my list). We thought it was a catchy entry and liked it. But in this new ESC-age you either need a super-popular singer/band, a superb song or an outrageous stage act to succeed. That something as atrocious as Croatia can qualify rather than this entry is beyond understandable if you ask me but there it is. One song stands out and regardless of quality makes an impression on people, the other while more than decent quality seems perhaps a bit generic and unexciting in comparison. Ireland drew the short straw. Them giving the impression of being sore losers afterwards does not help of course (even if they may well be right), it's the kind of thing people do not like. Better to admit defeat gracefully, knowing in their hearts that they did their best and were unlucky.

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

Personally, I loathe this, it's not to my taste at all but christ RTE... Who the hell decided this shouldn't have been in the line up for their NF. It's miles ahead of anything that was in their NF. It makes you wonder what else was submitted (and i thought the same with the BBC in our recent NF stint) I bet decent songs come through but the preconceptions of what a Eurovision song should be means the most banal stuff gets picked. It's like RTE sit with their eyes closed and ears plugged during Eurovision, they're literally there.

This is what worries me about RTE, I've always suspected that if a creative, innovative entry was submitted, that RTE would discard it in favour of some bland middle of the road shit.

Cruachan's song sounds to me like a qualifier. I admit is possible there's a valid reason RTE decided not to take it further.

 

[MAD20]

I just hope Sweden gets its 7th victory for Ireland to take ESC seriously considering the winning tie. Wild Youth were such a disaster yesterday, was there any live vocal????????? At least I'm glad they were selected, Conolly wouldn't have made it to the final either and that would have hurt way more.

 

[Sabrewulf238]

Personally, I loathe this, it's not to my taste at all but christ RTE... Who the hell decided this shouldn't have been in the line up for their NF. It's miles ahead of anything that was in their NF. It makes you wonder what else was submitted (and i thought the same with the BBC in our recent NF stint) I bet decent songs come through but the preconceptions of what a Eurovision song should be means the most banal stuff gets picked. It's like RTE sit with their eyes closed and ears plugged during Eurovision, they're literally there.

Makes me wonder if a song like Cha Cha Cha or Who The Hell is Edgar was presented to RTE they'd probably turn their nose up at them.

Saying RTE haven't a notion on how to do Eurovision would be an understatement, we're in negative notion here people.

 

[Chrisiam]

Makes me wonder if a song like Cha Cha Cha or Who The Hell is Edgar was presented to RTE they'd probably turn their nose up at them.

Saying RTE haven't a notion on how to do Eurovision would be an understatement, we're in negative notion here people.

It really wouldn't surprise me if they've had songs like that submitted and they turned them down. Okay, maybe not on the same level of quality but it wouldn't surprise me if they had music in that general wheelhouse get turned down for being too weird, too loud, or not fitting with the tone of the broadcaster. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if in the next few years, if things don't change, we might see Irish performers trying to represent other nations due to not getting a look in back home.

I just hope Sweden gets its 7th victory for Ireland to take ESC seriously considering the winning tie. Wild Youth were such a disaster yesterday, was there any live vocal????????? At least I'm glad they were selected, Conolly wouldn't have made it to the final either and that would have hurt way more.

Honestly, I don't think it will. Even if Sweden gets 8th I don't think the delegation/broadcaster really cares enough to do so. Not qualifying for five years should have been a motivator, coming last almost every year not just in their semi but likely overall should have been a motivator, but they weren't. They need new people in charge of the Eurovision stuff for them, hell, see if the people doing the Junor contest can do it, at least there they seem to have some idea what they are doing.

 

[grazy2266]

Lets hope for better things next year, they really need to rethink and focus on the contest, they were the signing light of Eurovision at one point now the entries are simply not up to standard. All the previous semi final results over the last few years show that.

 

[Leydan]

I just hope Sweden gets its 7th victory for Ireland to take ESC seriously considering the winning tie. Wild Youth were such a disaster yesterday, was there any live vocal????????? At least I'm glad they were selected, Conolly wouldn't have made it to the final either and that would have hurt way more.

tbh, i think they have a bit of a superiority complex when it comes to them number of victories. It's like how Brits constantly referenced our era of domination in the 70s & 80s and compare it to modern flops. It's a mindset they really need to get themselves out of. Maybe losing that title will help them get passed it. Tbh I think everyone in the NF would have NQed last night.

Makes me wonder if a song like Cha Cha Cha or Who The Hell is Edgar was presented to RTE they'd probably turn their nose up at them.

Saying RTE haven't a notion on how to do Eurovision would be an understatement, we're in negative notion here people.

I remember Austria 2018s entry was sent to the BBC first and they rejected it. Then there is artists like Hurts etc. More than likely RTE have had songs sent to them and artists approaching them. It seems several entries a year come from these cursed songwriting camps. It seems a choice the bottom of the barrell ends up in your NF.

 

[Mainshow]

Imagine pulling off 0% vocals for a generic song whilst looking absolutely ridiculous in your utterly horrendous outfit and being pissed off that Europe didn´t go crazy for your song when they had Loreen, Noa, Käärijä, Alessandra, Vesna and Co. to choose from.

It´s not all about "politics". and also qualified.

 

[Iker]

I think Ireland was last in the SF. How many points do you think they amassed? I'm thinking less than 10 without the juries.

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

Imagine pulling off 0% vocals for a generic song whilst looking absolutely ridiculous in your utterly horrendous outfit and being pissed off that Europe didn´t go crazy for your song when they had Loreen, Noa, Käärijä, Alessandra, Vesna and Co. to choose from.

It´s not all about "politics". and also qualified.

They've come across as sore losers with those two IG posts last night. In contrast, Netherlands and Azerbaijan's messages on IG today are very gracious.

 

[Grinch]

That something as atrocious as Croatia can qualify rather than this entry is beyond understandable if you ask me but there it is. One song stands out and regardless of quality makes an impression on people, the other while more than decent quality seems perhaps a bit generic and unexciting in comparison.

This is a contest, so you need to stand out from the rest, not be generic. That's why radio friendly songs never do well. I hate so much but and let's face it, their performance was pretty rememberable. With on the other hand, the only thing that stood out was the singer's camel toe.

 

[JenJen94]

Saw fan mentions on Twitter that Conor had 'stormed out' of the green room when last qualifier announced. Anyone know if that's true? Seen no video evidence.

Oh boy, I've not seen any mentions of this but if thats true, then gee.....

Lets hope for better things next year, they really need to rethink and focus on the contest, they were the signing light of Eurovision at one point now the entries are simply not up to standard. All the previous semi final results over the last few years show that.

I hope so too!

 

[Zeus]

I think Ireland was last in the SF. How many points do you think they amassed? I'm thinking less than 10 without the juries.

0.

 

[Iker]

0.

I find it possible too!