He’s the Irish singer known for working his angelic falsetto. And on Tuesday afternoon Ireland’s Brendan Murray showed off his higher register yet again — this time while standing beneath a stunning hot air balloon.
It’s not a gimmick, but rather a stunning visual centrepiece that provides the perfect metaphor for Brendan’s song “Dying to Try”. Balloons are fragile and vulnerable, just like a man in love, yet when they take flight it’s truly glorious. The aerial theme continues with stunning LED clouds and fog, which, owing to clever camera tricks, create the illusion that Brendan is actually flying.
The imagery is dazzling, but nothing is over-the-top, and Brendan keeps things grounded with his crisp white shirt and subtle but powerful delivery. It’s measured and well-pitched. Producers are emphasising Brendan’s youth and innocence, which make the sugary sentiments seem all the more real.
Vocally you can’t fault him. Much of this performance relies on his ability to hit that note. Today he reminded us he’s more than capable of delivering under pressure.
Brendan Murray — “Dying to Try”: Reviews and Reactions
Ireland: First rehearsal at Eurovision 2017
Ireland: First press conference 2017
Ireland: Brendan Murray interview
Read all of our Eurovision rehearsal reviews
Read all of our Ireland Eurovision news here
Photo: Eurovision.tv (EBU)
A beautiful song. An amazing voice. Best Irish song since Johnny Logan he can do it live !! No gimmicks. Talent !!!
italy to win
the man who cant sing says it all
lol
I just want him to take shirt off during the final and show those tanned sixpacks
same, he’s delicious lol
Snore Baby Snore
I don’t really like his voice. The staging looks like a lot of effort went into it but Ireland still don’t seem to understand modern Eurovision. I can’t see this qualifying, I’m sorry!
well youre a typical east block voter arent you? watch and see..
Looks like Ireland are gonna try a few things
And keen to win back the crown in the next few years
He’s my unpopular opinion. I love his voice and I like the song well enough. With that staging, he might well be a dark horse this year.
I love Ireland entry this year, staging is very beautiful, good luck Brendan!
he is so hot
Hilarious after 31 second snippet all the anti Ireland ?? haters here are already at it
Don’t like this don’t like that
If Russia had a ballon it would be fantastic oh I forgot Russia have taken the hump?
It looks promising from the snippet I like the backdrop and the lighting but I don’t like the hot air baloon, it doesn’t look like it belongs there. I am still hopeful they can qualify
For me it’s like what Padraig said in the review video of Ireland: It’s like they said “We need a gimmick, it’s eurovision! What can we have? Let’s have a hot air ballon!”
My first reaction is that I don’t really like the hot air balloon! It felt weird!
However, I want to praise Brendan for his vocal performance! He was so good!
Really I think padraig hasn’t much of a clue
And quite a bad attitude to his own country he just wants jedward basically
This is one of the best songs in the competition this year and the jury vote will recognise it and it will probably have a top 8 finish overall
Welcome back Ireland great staging
If people don’t understand the significance of the balloon they are stupid…
Very cute visuals, if only the song they’re going along with was good…
I think he won’t qualify and there will be drama.
No they won’t because the eastern block will as usual be too busy voting for each other’s crap productions but at least in Ireland the people like in every other year laugh at the stupid lyrics in their songs that make no sense
Yuo can not blame the Eastern block. All countries votes for what they like.
Send better songs
Yeah, I agree the voting-mafia is annoying, but it isn’t only in Eastern Europe, the Nordics love voting for each other as well.
But it’s also true that Ireland hasn’t sent very good songs lately. Sunlight was pretty bad.
This song is gorgeous but I’m really not convinced by the staging. To me the hot air balloon looks a bit cheesy. I’m not a huge fan of it but it may look better on camera.
Before the rehearsal today I thought they’d definitely qualify but now I’m really doubtful. I’d love to see them get through because it’s a beautiful song and they deserve to be in the final after so many years of not qualifying. I’ll still vote for it even with the hot air balloon :)! Good luck to Brendan and Ireland 🙂
For me, this was the biggest grower of this semi. I liked it a lot before BUT I wasn’t entirely convinced it’d challenge for a place in the final. Now I’m quite confident it will challenge for a place in the final, and it’d be deserved.
The song is quite average, but visually it’s great, I actually can’t wait now to sit through that song for three minutes.
Go Brendan….and i’m not Irish 😉
Love it