The Late Late Show studio is all action for rehearsals. The Eurovision anthem (Charpentier’s Te Deum) booms out. Gone are the rows of seats, replaced by cabaret-style tables. Expanded stage and multicoloured lighting installations proclaim the Late Late Eurosong special, a live broadcast on Friday at 9.35pm, with a three-way vote (international jury, national jury, public vote) selecting the Irish entry to May’s Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden.
The six acts on stage are a riot of contrasting colour, as are their musical styles: pop, ballad, rap, Irish. After years in the doldrums, will we crack it again, or at least reach the final?
Host Patrick Kielty is in great form. Johnny Logan is his Eurovision favourite. “The original, the best.” He sings: “I’ve been waiting, such a long time ... I could be wearing white suit, white socks, white knickers in tribute to Johnny tomorrow,” he jokes. He is, in fact, dashing in a smart suit (no tights, thankfully).
He talks about Israel and Gaza but avoids getting in to the Israel-in-Eurovision debate. “It’s somebody else’s question,” he insists.
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All the contestants decry what’s happening in the Middle East, and mostly sidestep questions about Israel’s inclusion, saying it’s a matter for Eurovision organisers. All the same, both Erica-Cody and Bambie Thug say if Russia is being excluded, so too should Israel. Asked if she would go to Malmö if Israel was competing, Erica Cody is non-committal: “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
Next in Line, Louis Walsh’s latest boy band, believe in their song, Love Like Us, and feel they’ve found their sound. Conor O’Farrell and Harry O’Connell grew up watching Eurovision at family watch parties. They reckon they’ve a chance at reversing Ireland’s bad Eurovision run. “We’re going to the home of boy bands,” and pop in Europe, says O’Connell.
Love Me Like I Do, by Erica-Cody Kennedy Smith (who performs as Erica-Cody), was co-written with friends at an Irish Women in Harmony writing camp. “A self-love anthem. The song fell out of us. It came from a very organic, raw, realistic place.” If she was ever going to try Eurovision, it would have had to be “the right song, the right team, the right vision, and we’d have to stand a chance to take our crown back”.
[ Ireland’s Eurovision entry: The six songs and acts vying to represent IrelandOpens in new window ]
[ The Late Late Show’s Eurosong special: Everything you need to knowOpens in new window ]
“I don’t know if the world’s ready for a rap song in Eurovision, says JyellowL (aka Jean-Luc Uddoh) but I definitely know they’re ready for a song like Judas. It’s not just a rap song. It encapsulates all the elements of a great piece of music. It’s beautifully crafted, it has intentionally placed lyrics, catchy melodies, incredible riffs from [vocalist] Toshín.”
Ailsha wrote her song Go Tobann, described as Celtic-metal, with her brother Peadar. “We’re big Eurovision fans, we know what works. We’re confident it’s resonating, not just in Ireland.” The song is about learning Irish in school, and its “fading presence in everyday modern life. I grew up learning conversational Irish in Dingle, but I have hardly have any now. But it’s just a fun song.” Friday’s performance will feature “some band members, actors, kegs, hurls, exploding toilets. It’s going to be wild, a Leaving Cert fever-dream.”
Isabella Kearney grew up between Ireland and Australia, where Eurovision is “massive”, and now lives in Nashville. She previously wrote two songs for the Australian version of Eurosong. Her accent is Australian but her musical roots are here, she says. “I have felt like the underdog”, she says, which is motivating. “We’re going to wow people.”
Cork-born Bambie Thug aims to awaken pagan roots. The song is Doomsday Blues (“there are many pathways to Doomsday”) and the outfit, black talon nails and head antlers, is striking. Their inspiration is wide, mentioning in the same breath Black Sabbath, Lady Gaga and Dolly Parton.
Kielty promises “a proper Eurovision atmosphere” on Friday. “This is going to be base camp, for maybe a shot at the title. I think we might have a song here that might get to the final,” but he’s not saying which one. “We’re only one good song away from the glory days.”
The Late Late Eurosong Special is on Friday January 26th at 9.35pm on RTÉ One
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