The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — continues to rank and review the 43 songs competing in Eurovision 2018. Next we turn to Ireland where we listen to Britain’s Got Talent star Ryan O’Shaughnessy and his song “Together”. Did we feel the togetherness? Read on to find out!
Ryan O’Shaughnessy – “Together”
“Together” reviews
Bernardo: Just like last year, Ireland focuses its efforts in showcasing the lead singer’s vocal abilities. This time around, it works better. “Together” is a delicate ballad that warms your heart at night while you’re watching a movie with your loved one and Ryan’s vocals work better with a mainstream audience and the overall package seems to be better. Will it be enough to stand out? It’s a hard call to make.
Score: 6.5/10
Padraig: “Together” is painfully safe. Safe never wins Eurovision. Safe rarely qualifies. But at least the track is pleasant. No one’s going to rush to skip whenever it pops up on the playlist. Yet it’s telling that all of the hype has centred around the video’s gay love story. And while sweet, it feels like cynical pandering to the contest’s sizeable LGBT fanbase. Supposedly, this will be incorporated into the Lisbon stage show. How a budding man-on-man romance ties in with a boy-girl breakup song beats me.
Score: 5/10
Antranig: It looks like Ireland has learned nothing from last year’s kerfuffle. A good-looking young male performer with a song that sounds like it was written before he was born — that formula didn’t work last year and it won’t work this year. Admittedly, this is a step up from “Dying to Try” and Ryan has beautiful vocals but “Together” is nothing more than mediocre. The repetitive chorus doesn’t do it any favours either. Ireland needs to seriously change things up.
Score: 4.5/10
Deban: “Together” is delicate, yet so beautiful. Ryan O’Shaugnessy’s voice beholds a captivating fragility that cradles your emotions. He tells a familiar story in a new way—simple, relatable and heartwarming. Despite Ireland’s recent failed attempts to advance to the Eurovision grand final, they deserve applause for remaining committed to delivering quality entries.
Score: 8.5/10
Angus: “Together” is dull, overly sentimental and totally uninspired. But we are of course talking about Ireland at Eurovision in the 2010s, so that should come as a surprise to no-one. Ryan can sing and looks the part, he just doesn’t have the right song to sing. In three minutes the song fails to land a single impact and totally blends into the field of competing songs this year. Ireland can find promising artists, but it singularly fails to find promising songs.
Score: 2/10
Sebastian: Putting aside the beautiful video clip, “Together” is not quite all together. The recorded track has an early-demo quality to it, lacking any memorable chorus, beat or lyrics. It’s such a shame that Ryan’s amazing vocals have not been better utilised. The only hope for “Together” is to try and recreate its video clip on stage, somehow. Back to the drawing board, Ireland.
Score: 4/10
In the Wiwi Jury we have 20 jurors but only have room for six reviews. The remaining scores are below:
Anthony: 5.5/10
Bogdan: 4/10
Chris: 5/10
Cinan: 6/10
Jonathan: 5.5/10
Jordi: 7/10
Jovana: 7/10
Kristin: 7.5/10
Luis: 6.5/10
Renske: 7/10
Robyn: 6.5/10
Ron: 6/10
Steinunn: 6/10
William: 2.5/10
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a low of 2 and a high of 8.5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 5.67/10
What do you think of this song? Share your own score and review below!
This will probably fail. Ryan seems nice and a good enough singer (haven’t seem much!). It’spleasant. And it completely passed me by initially and I think it will on the night as well. And I say that despite the fact that after listening to more it grew on me… but it’s still more album track than hit single. Also, I primarily gave it a second chance after seeing the beautiful music video (good job by the way!) but even so it never gets past “nice”. And nice never wins any prizes. So… it will probably end up lower than it… Read more »
So bland. The Toyota Corolla of Eurovision.
It will be unnoticed and will fade away quickly.
Any wiwibloggs jury member here who has the arrogance to score a song of this class 2.5 out of 10
Really are exactly what their score suggests
Arrogant and misguided
Shame on them
Well according to statistics juries usually like traditional ‘safe’ songs so we should get points from the juries then.
Anti Ireland eurovision sentiment on wiwibloggs really needs to stop-
No I’m not insulting my country or anything I’m just stating a fact. Juries usually prefer ‘safe’ ballads over other songs but ay okay whatever you wanna think is fine yaknow…
@Aisling: So did last year’s juries; and where did Ireland end up?
Well am looking forward to Israel and Macedonia fighting it out for no 1 and 2 spots because that’s what one jury member fell in love with on hearing them
Personally I worry about the taste of this is considered to be real music !!
Beautiful voice, nice melody. However, it’s in my least favourites this year. It’s as dull as it gets, monotonous and it hasn’t really any peak.
4.5/10
You guys don’t have to get upset by this nonsense. This bunch of self-proclaimed “experts” gave 6.56/10 to Salvador last year and you know what happened. It’s merely comparable to school girls’ play.
So true
The “experts” here are basically ego centred and self propelled and their opinions are worthless-
But at least they manage a free pass behind the scenes at the competition so they can self inflate their egos even more !!
I don’t really like songs like this but this is soulful and pleasant, not bad by any means. I think some people need to become more open minded about genres, because at the end of the day, generic songs don’t get wins. Whilst I don’t see this qualifying, I still enjoy it and I find it both a happy and sad song to listen to.
How can a song score 2.5?
I guess pure arrogance ?
Sadly unless they are bunny bopping songs that can be enjoyed in the clubs certain members of wiwibloggs give them low scores. They don’t seem to understand there is a world beyond the club scene.
So true
I think the wiwibloggs jury want to hear Waterloo revamped lol
Just heard Ryan sing this live on the late late show – it felt dead and dreary
And I initially liked the song but the nepotism in RTÉ continues – they chose a singer who is one of their own yet again and one wonders about the transparency of the selection process – this song won’t qualify and until RTE learn a lesson no Irish entry should
Well actually this song was meant to be sang by Heathers but they turned down the chance to represent Ireland. Why wouldn’t they turn to Ryan who has had success before??
It’s wonderful reading the reviews here – from total amateurs with no song writing or musical experience whatsoever – However all self labelled experts !!!!!!!! There is no accounting for Taste – I remember growing up and laughing at the absolute rubbish countries like Spain Norway Finland Russia and when eastern block arrived the total disconnection with the west – the lyrics made absolutely no sense yet appealed to some people as great music or a great song / No accounting for taste In defence of the country who won the eurovision more times than anyone else – they won… Read more »
I agree with your view on the ESC juries, and I too disliked the tele-vote only era.
However, the Wiwi Jury are not “self-labelled experts”. Read the description again – they label themselves as “unprofessionals” and are just having fun. Have a good day. 🙂
Hello. Just to say that I have now posted my Ireland song review, but that it is “awaiting moderation”.
Ireland – Ryan O’Shaughnessy: “Together” Keys: F major Time Sigs: 4/4 Song structure: Verse 1 – Pre-Chorus – Chorus – Verse 2 – Pre-Chorus – Chorus – Bridge – Reprise – Coda Harmony: Classical ballad progressions Influences: Pop singer-songwriter, Classical ballads Music comments: This song has beautiful flowing melodies throughout, which are the hallmark of Irish ballads sent to the contest in the past. The “emotion” of the music is understated, and appears in the form of some subtle classical features. For example, the Pre-Chorus has what should be a move to chord six, but instead the melody decides to… Read more »
Excellent review Purple Mask. Thank you.
Ryan was very good live last night. I think this entry will do better than expected.
I’m so glad to hear it went well for him! He is a fantastic vocalist and definitely an act to take serious. I’m hoping he atleast qualifies, even if it is in 10th position.
I mean we managed to finish in borderline position before (12th) with weaker vocalists and performances so here’s hoping
Did he get to perform “No Name” (his breakout song from BGT)?
Not that I remember, no. It was a busy night though. (If I have forgotten then I do apologise.) It lasted nine hours for me. I know there were some people (like Chris Halpin) who were there since the morning, so they must have been there for 15-16 hours! Someone needs to pay these people, seriously.
I’m gonna give my review now because I don’t see what a live performance could uplift this song. But thanks for the catch-up.
Well said Orla!
No Ireland, no… what are you doing?
This is unremarkable, outside of the video. But this just seems a copypaste of Brendan Murray. It’s just so uninspired and bland. The “we did well in the 90s with this” mentality got to stop and try to send something that is really impactful. Talent you got. Material you really need.
2.5/10
Pablo
No castinets perhaps and a few stamping feet to get the rhythm going ?
Ryan co-wrote the song though.
If you slip into this song at random moments, you can make the mistake of thinking it is actually quite good. It has little pockets of loveliness. However, nothing changes in the three minutes. I can’t get through three minutes of this, even during his live performance. Not an example of great songwriting, I’m afraid!
4.0/10
I am a sucker for ballads and I love Ryan’s voice. But these two facts don’t disguise that the song is indeed quite generic, seems to be written millions of times over and over againsince the seventies and especially in the nineties. I am hopeful that Ireland will focus on his voice in Lisbon and maybe bring some extra voices to fill up the song width a good chorus towards the end.
This could do wonders. For me it is pleasant enough to have positive marks. 6,5/10
what exactly does Padraig want?
Bros? boyzone? kylie minogue in drag? hes totally wrong in his views that safe does not win eurovision. in fact everything that this guy says is pure drivel
I think he tries too hard to be impartial when it comes to talking about his own country, but in the end it just comes across as pure hatred and disappointment every single year.
Both of these comments are pure nonsense. For instance, in 2014 I gave Ireland an 8.5. And this year I’ve given loads of songs lower scores. I’m not trying to be impartial, I’m just giving my own opinion – which people seem to forget is subjective. I don’t see why you need to have a whinge if I’m not completely backing the song, at the end of the day it’s not me that’s choosing the winner.
We all have opinions so we are entitled to “whinge” as you are “whinging” about our opinions.
But anyway, this isn’t a reflection on you personally so please don’t feel it is. Just sometimes the score is questionable
I’d say you tend To complain most of the time when a Irish entry is up and your comments last year were harsh to that particular singer /
Please clarify exactly what you want to see from Ireland rather than sitting on the fence about it ?
Well if you gave that song 8.5 and it didn’t make the final
I think you just raise questions about your eurovision. taste !!!!
IRELAND – It’s cute, it’s relaxing, it’s a nice song. I enjoy listening to this and the bittersweet message works really well. That said, this is exactly the kind of song – nice and inoffensive – I am afraid for when sent by countries with less qualification power. As things are – all ballads in SF 1 are in peril, but in a struggle for slow tempo lover’s votes, I believe Lithuania and Armenia have bigger chances. The main reason is that Ireland’s song doesn’t really take off, there is no big climax, no unexpected punchline that will bring another… Read more »
Where exactly is the “Climax” in Lithuania?
While Lithuanian entry is still very slow and tender, it has much more build-up:
1. There is a clear pause between verses and the chorus with a slight change of pace.
2. There are more lyrics in the chorus and doesn’t leave the sense of repetition as much as Ireland does.
3. The hook at the end of the chorus prolongs and makes an impact.
4. At the end of the song, the short reprise/ending makes a punchline after the main chorus is done.
Thank you, Robyn 🙂
Beautiful voice, sweet song and gorgeous video. If a song is only ‘sweet’ is that good enough to qualify? We will see. Imo it has a strong chance to make finals. Jury will like it and performing 18th will help with televote
Likable sweet pleasant song.
And i love the videoclip! <3
7/10
I think it is a good song. If Ryan flops, I can perfectly understand him scratching his head wondering “why?”…it’s far from outstanding, but I think it deserves to qualify.
If it does get a bad result, it’s because it wasn’t right for the contest – this is the part of the puzzle that RTÉ can’t grasp – it’s not enough to have a good song, the contest is not always a meritocracy.
I wouldn’t pin many hopes on the running order, either, it certainly didn’t help their last Ryan in 2013.
I think Ireland could be one of the dark horse of this year. This song is sweet and full of beautiful emotions, people will feel it in the festival. Generic pop songs are overrated by eurofans, but not by the main public who lessons all songs in may, live.
7.5/10 for me.
*listen, sorry XD
Corrector de mierda, dejame hablar en inglés! XD
Don’t forget to vote for it so @HoneyBS.
Spain can vote in Semi 1.
Of course vote fore it based on the performance though haha
Tú Ingles es muy bien jaja
well said-
the public and this website are miles apart
#something wiwibloggs itself has not grasped.
I would love to see how it would look with just Ryan and a piano. He seems to be a pretty good vocalist, I was harsh on the song itself, but I would like to make it clear that Ryan is not the problem here, he can even be the solution.
Hahaha, I totally can get the “camp fire sing along” feeling. I agree that piano works better, especially when you want to showcase your vocals.
Cute, but it feels like it lasts longer than 3min, also it’s nothing special at all. I still think is the best entry Ireland has sent since Molly’s “Playing With Numbers” in 2015. The two guys dancing together on stage will definitely grab some points from the televote and some gay-friendly jurors, but I don’t think it will be enough to qualify or even to place over the 14th position. Ireland is currently on my 24th place: 11. Italy (7) 13. Lithuania (7) 15. Denmark (7) 21. Armenia (7) 23. Slovenia (6.5) 24. IRELAND (6.5) 26. Croatia (6.25) 30. Azerbaijan… Read more »
thats good hector
I am sure ireland can cope with your assessment
having listened to your top ten am now assured you are tuneless
A lot of harsh criticisms here. It seems Ireland cannot send any sort of male ballad without being accused of being dated, formulaic, “stuck in the 90s” etc. They could probably send an Ed Sheeran or Sam Smith composition and the same thing would be said. Are Germany and Spain also “stuck in the 90s” this year?
As for Ryan being supposedly lumbered with a weak song, he did write the thing himself and submit it to RTE.
Agreed! Well said.
Certain aspects of ESC fandom is so sheepish sometimes.
My impressions:
-Nothing remarkable about it.
-He was better in Britain’s Got Talent.
-Basic ballad, a tad too sacchariney for my tastes.
-The video was touching, but there wasn’t much content to be proud of.
Yet another year out of the finals
So, a young white male singing a completely anonymous ballad about love, sound familiar? Oh right, that’s exactly what Ireland sent last year! I would like to know who on earth repeating the formula (in a much stronger semifinal, in a much stronger year) would get them a better result. But here we are, so I might as well review this. So I liked this enough for the first 20 seconds or so. Ryan does have a really dreamy voice and the piano sounded quite sweet. But then the guitar starts strumming and then the drums kick in and it… Read more »
“Oh right, that’s exactly what Ireland sent last year! I would like to know who on earth repeating the formula (in a much stronger semifinal, in a much stronger year) would get them a better result”
Funny how nobody questions Sweden for sending the exact same formula this past 4 years, Azerbaijan for sending stunning brunette women the past 3 years, Netherlands for sending country music this past 4 years or Australia sending basically the same song since 2016 only with a different singer …Hmm interesting..
You’re right about Sweden, Darren (even if I would say Frans was quite different, since he had no great staging as the other 3). But I think the difference here is that they’re getting great results with this formula, while Ireland is failing to impress. At least that was why I complained about this. I can’t speak for the other people here of course. By sending similar entries, Ireland is adding pressure on each performer’s shoulders, since they will obviously be compared with previous acts. I’m sure that Ryan’s song would be less criticized if it wasn’t following a similar… Read more »
Listen to the acoustic version. Just him and his guitar.
I really like it, my 13th overall, it’s not the typical ESC screamy, boring and “dramatic” ballad but a nice warming entry which flows and goes. The lyrics are nice, the tempo is fine and it’s a nice fresh air in the field of traditiknal ESC ballads. 7,5/10
In short: Up to my taste ballad. Doesn’t aim for any epic moment but serves neat sound for time it ‘talks’ about relationship. There can be annoyance towards the end but I still think guitar and overall mello flow leaves enough aftertaste to keep good memo of it.
7.5/10
I won’t be able to give marks regularly because of work, so just wondering if commentators will be included in readers’ calculation like it’s been last year?
I’m a fan of Irish ballads and it doesn’t bother me that they’re dated. This one is also quite nice. But I agree on what Padraig said about “changing” a boy-girl song into a boy-boy song, I also thought it looked like a searching for a new fanbase, so now everyone’s hyping about a videoclip, not a song.
6/10
The song was originally meant for two sisters but they declined the offer to represent Ireland so they asked him instead.
Really hope Heathers go for it next year with something folksy.
Due to the London Eurovision Party happening today, I won’t be able to post my full reviews until Friday afternoon, most likely. But as far as I remember, I found Ireland’s song to be nice and slightly better than I had expected before analysing. I look forward to hearing it sung live tonight.
Happy LEP everyone! 🙂
My review cannot be posted so far, but I will also say that I like it. In short: it’s cute, relaxing, somewhat anti-climactic, though. I like it and the rating is 7/10.
Looking forward to it.
5/10 This is a sweet song; the video gives it a really good narrative. It’s pleasant enough to listen to; but its more background then talking point. This won’t qualify being in Semi One.
Oooh…. It didn’t send my review once again…
It is so sad and pathetic to see how some Eurovision fans, that are suposed to be proud gay men, just trash the video for this song for the inclusion of two men dancing. When Krista decided to kiss a girl on stage, nobody saw it as an attempt to earn votes, when so many Eurovision divas just use their link to the contest to become the voice of us, gay man, it is perfectly ok… But this beautiful video is percived as a fake attempt to earn more points… It is very sad, to be honest, that not even… Read more »
The fact is, Ireland’s video leaves it up to the viewer to decide if the guys are in love. It could be anything…love/friendship/family. Finland and Lithuania where so much more blatant with their pandering, but they were lauded over.
I agree with “and that is all”. I’m once again in strong disagreement with Padraig on this (but he’s used to that, so it’s fine). I really like the video and I find it very touching.
Wiwi Jury accidentally released Poland’s review early on You Tube, so I guess that means we are up for Poland this afternoon. Poland and Ireland – both songs with so much to say about, because I didn’t have a passionate, definitive opinion on them when I first heard them.
The video is nice and all, but the song is just so bland and dull. After last year’s diasaster of a song, this is an improvement for Ireland, but I see no Final. They’ll probably be bottom 5 in Semi. But the thing is, if Ed Sheeran would sing this it would be a huge hit! It’s my 31st place overall.
*I meant to say that a lot of Ed Sheeran songs sound like this. I don’t get why people like this music, though…
What does an Ed Sheeran song sound like in general? Ed Sheeran has done songs that doesn’t stick necessarily to one aspect of pop.
It’s not unlike Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran and yes, if “Together” was one of their songs, it would be huge.
“Together” is quite nice, it’s like something from a rom-com. The video makes it though. If they can manage to recreate the essence of the video in Lisbon it may scrape through. There is far worse than Ireland at esc this year..
This entry is so dull, havent they learned from last year. This isn’t necesseraly bad, but just uninteresting and No Way they Will qualify. Its a shame because I like Ryans voice.
4/10
In offensive and nice, I think it would qualify in any other year, or perhaps if it was in semi 2.
As for Padraig’s comment about Ireland “cynically pandering to the LGBT community”, I don’t think the same was said about Finland 2013 and Lithuania 2015, which was far more blatant “pandering” to Ireland’s two guys simply dancing. 6.5/10
Well, at the same couldn’t be said about either of those at the time because both were only introduced when we reached Eurovision. Also, they weren’t central to the overall performance of the song. I’ll be delighted to be proven wrong, believe me.
It’s cute but that’s it. The voice is too whiny to the point that it becomes annoying at the end.
Saving all your high praise for Estonia, are you? 😉
He might not be the only one… 🙂
Very inoffensive. I doubt it will qualify, but I would not mind if it does. 5.5/10
Only in Ireland would they say they were looking to change the process and after a big meeting (which I am still fully convinced was for show) they then do everything behind closed doors again. The end result is more or less the exact same result as last year with the exception that Ryan has a stronger voice. I swear RTE’s policy of doing just enough to put together an act is laughable :/
For me, this is the biggest grower this year. After a couple of listens, I’ve actually felt in love with the Irish entry. The music and the lyrics are kept simple but have been woked out to the finest. I’m really touched by the song’s “lighthearted bitterness”, as I’d like to describe the emotion behind it. I’d love to see Ireland in the final but sadly, I don’t think that it’s going to happen. My personal ranking: 8.5/10 (10th overall) My prediction: 11-15 in the first semi final ______________ 10th IE (8.5) | 13th HR (8.5) | 16th LT (8.0)… Read more »
If he can make the feeling happen that is in the music video then Ireland could qualify
I love this song – it’s so simple yet powerful and beautiful. But I guess it’s the simplicity that makes people think it’s “boring”. But then again I absolutely loved last years winner and some people hate that song and call it boring as well. Too bad I can’t use it as a proof that I can predict who’ll win, because I can’t – like at all.
Anyway – like I already said many times – I’ll vote for it in the semi-final, and – if it’ll qualify – in the final as well.
8/10
I really like it, my 13th overall, it’s not the typical ESC screamy, boring and “dramatic” ballad but a nice warming entry which flows and goes. The lyrics are nice, the tempo is fine and it’s a nice fresh air in the field of traditiknal ESC ballads. 7,5/10
The problem here is simple. The Irish people have lost their love for Eurovision. An an Irishman this saddens me since there was so much interest and we pretty much owned it for much of the 90s. RTE should be berated for their efforts in recent years, they simply throw any kind of crap at the competition with a “that will do” attitude. The whole thing needs a break and a revamp as we seem to be stuck in a Netherlands 2000s rut. I have no doubt that this will be yet another non qualifier.
I’d love to see TV3 join the EBU and take over Irelands entry. I know they’re a pretty bad channel but I can’t help but think they’d do a better job. We could even get a national final. The production work on Ireland’s Got Talent was so good too it mirrored its British counterpart.
I’ve always thought the exact same!
I hate TV3.
As bad as RTÉ are with their efforts, I would still prefer to see the contest stay with the national broadcaster.
I hate TV3 too it’s car crash tv BUT I was impressed with Ireland’s Got Talent recently so I think they could stage a strong national final
Wiwi jury
1)AZE 7.22 2)ITA 7.17 3)SLO 6.58
4)ARM 6.39 5)BLR 6.36 6)MLT 6.31
7)CRO 6.19 8)DEN 6.17 9)MDA 6.08
10)GBR 5.97 11)LTU 5.83 12)IRE 5.67
Modified Score
1)ITA 8.81 2)AZE 8.19 3)MLT 8.13
4)DEN 8.00 5)SLO 8.00 6)MDA 7.75
7)CRO 7.69 8)BLR 7.50 9)ARM 7.50
10)LTU 7.44 11)IRE 7.06 12)GBR 6.94
Total:
1)ITA 15.98 2)AZE 15.41 3)SLO 14.58
4) MLT 14.44 5)DEN 14.17 6)BLR 13.92
7)ARM 13.89 8)CRO 13.88 9)MDA 13.83 10)LTU 13.27 11)GBR 12.91 12)IRE 12.73
Ireland is clearly stuck in the wrong era. Not a bad song but it’s just marred by such an uneventful chorus. The verses started out well and had my hopes actually go up.
But not to be.
But after two quite decent entries tanking in the form of heartbeat and playing with numbers I think Ireland has just spiralled out of control
A 6/10.