NIAMH KAVANAGH carries Ireland’s best hopes for a strong finish in the Eurovision Song Contest in over a decade when she takes the stage at the Telenor Arena tonight.
Bookmakers have Kavanagh tipped to finish sixth overall, in principle making her a dead cert for qualification. But an extremely volatile field – contest insiders agree that any one of at least a dozen countries might go home with top honours after Saturday night’s final – and a very competitive batch in tonight’s qualifier mean Kavanagh still has a job of work cut out for her.
Her song, It's for You, is a classic Irish ballad, written by Mårten Eriksson, Lina Erikkson, Jonas Gladnikoff and Niall Mooney, and is being given a very simple stage presentation. Kavanagh will stand on a small platform, wearing a flowing purple gown adorned with clusters of Swarovski crystals, with her three backing singers and one musician standing behind her.
Among the acts competing tonight seen as possible winners, this pared-back approach has most in common with the act from Israel – handsome balladeer Harel Skaat is singing Milim(Words) on a bare stage accompanied by a grand piano and two backing singers. By contrast, the bookmakers' favourite for an overall win, Drip Drop, sung by Safura from Azerbaijan, has a slick staging featuring choreography by JaQuel Knight, who has worked with Beyoncé and Britney Spears.
Kavanagh is the only former winner competing in this year's contest – she won in 1993 with the song In Your Eyes.
John Kennedy O'Connor, author of The Eurovision Song Contest: the Official Historysaid It's for Youis his personal favourite this year. "She's the class act for me," added O'Connor. "Her experience, warmth, and talent just shine through. The song is a throwback to the great power ballads of the 1970s."
Whether this will translate into overall victory, however, is uncertain, says O’Connor. “This is a different contest from when Niamh first won. Back then, just standing and singing a great song was enough.”
The introduction of televoting in the late 1990s and the influx of many new countries into the competition has seen acts becoming more spectacular and complicated. This year, for the first time, 50 per cent expert jury voting has been reintroduced into the Eurovision semifinals – a factor which will, in O’Connor’s view, work in Kavanagh’s favour.