Lesley Roy Ireland Eurovision 2020 Story Of My Life

It’s a country that’s best known for belting ballads and acoustic-guitars. However, for Eurovision 2020, Ireland is shaking things up and delivering a much-needed injection of pop with Lesley Roy and “Story Of My Life”.

Continue reading to learn the meaning behind the song’s lyrics, as told to us by Lesley herself.

Scroll down for “Story Of My Life” lyrics

Ireland at Eurovision 2020: Lesley Roy “Story Of My Life”

Ireland — in case you didn’t already know — is the all-time record holder when it comes to Eurovision victories. Nestled away deep in the vaults of its national broadcaster, there’s a metaphorical mantle upon which seven winners’ trophies sit.

Alas, the country has not been so successful in recent years. Its last win was 24 years ago, with Eimear Quinn’s “The Voice” in 1996. Since the turn of the millennium, the Emerald Isle has only placed inside the top ten twice. And it enters 2020 on the back of its worst-ever finish in Tel Aviv — “22” placed last in its semi-final and came last overall when the scores from both semis were combined.

However, this appears to have lit a spark underneath the delegation. Together with the pop-music radio station RTÉ 2FM, Lesley Roy’s “Story Of My Life” was internally selected. She’s an accomplished singer-songwriter who’s worked with names like Max Martin, Adam Lambert and Medina.

“Story Of My Life” was released in early March to much acclaim from the media and topped the YouTube trending list in Ireland.

Is it the song to take Ireland back to the final after one year’s absence? And could it bring Ireland back to the top ten for the first time in almost a decade?

What do the “Story Of My Life” lyrics mean?

Speaking exclusively to wiwibloggs, Lesley tells us about the meaning behind the song.

“As a songwriter you always strive to write something that is true to yourself but can also speak to a large scale audience. Story Of My Life is not just my story, it’s everyone’s. I had struggled with a lot of anxiety after my music career took some different turns and it took me a long time to be able to write something honest for myself but also something that I wanted to perform again. This song is about overcoming your difficulties, standing up,e speaking truth and owning your story.

We all get put in boxes every day no matter age, race or gender. This is about seeing outside those confines and living in the story that’s right for you!!

“ everybody said that I was always breaking rules why would I ever wanna put myself inside a box”

I didn’t want to write a song that sounded sad or in any way complaining about life’s difficulties. I wanted the track and melody to feel triumphant, positive and overall fun. I want people to feel that once we speak our truth we can have an epic dance party to celebrate! So this positivity really depicted the tone, tempo and general color of the track.

This is one of my favorite songs that I have ever worked on. I spent months in the studio going back and forth adding and editing each hook until I felt it had all the ear candy it needed especially for a platform as large as the Eurovision.

There’s is an element of nostalgia musically and lyrically on the track and that was specifically chosen. Whilst I didn’t want it to sound sad I did, however, want it to sound like someone telling a story and the only way to reflect on your story is through nostalgia. That is why there is an air of days gone by musically on the track. Nothing in this song, lyrically or musically, is created by chance. There is even a wink to a winning Eurovision song in the first verse!

“I’m not a puppet on a string no, no I’m not! “

SOML is a very finely tuned electro-pop song that is crafted to inspire and uplift the audience”.

“Story Of My Life” lyrics — Lesley Roy (Ireland ESC 2020)

Written and Composed by: Lesley Roy, Robert Marvin, Catt Gravitt and Tom Shapiro.

Everybody told me that I’d never be someone
I’m not a puppet on a string, no, no I’m not
And everybody said that I was always breaking rules
Why would I ever wanna put myself inside a box?

I don’t care what they say
And who are they any-y-way?

The story of my life it’s mine
I made it on my own that’s right
And now I’ll sing, na-na-na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey
My life, it’s mine, my, my life, it’s mine

They said if I was blonde that I could make it, so I did it
Then they said, “You’re almost perfect, but you talk too much”, ha
Try and dumb it down a little, make sure that you’re in the middle
Rock it all you want, but make it pop enough

I don’t care what they say
And who are they any-y-way?

The story of my life it’s mine
I made it on my own that’s right
And now I’ll sing, na-na-na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey
My life, it’s mine, my, my life
It’s the story of my life, that’s right
There’s more to me than meets the eye
And I’ll sing, na-na-na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey
My life, it’s mine, my, my life, it’s mine

My life, yeah, I’m gonna be me, yeah
I’m gonna believe it’s right
My life, yeah, I gotta be me
Yeah, I gotta believe it’s right

The story of my life it’s mine
I made it on my own that’s right
And now I’ll sing, na-na-na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey
My life, it’s mine, my, my life
It’s the story of my life, that’s right
There’s more to me than meets the eye
And now I’ll sing, na-na-na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey
My life, it’s mine, my, my life, it’s mine

My life, yeah, I’m gonna be me, yeah
I’m gonna believe it’s right
My life, yeah, I gotta be me
Yeah, I gotta believe it’s right

I don’t care what you say

Read more Eurovision 2020 song lyrics

43 Comments
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Leo
Leo
4 years ago

Of course it wasn’t created by chance: “na-na-na-na-na-na!”

EuroSluuuuuutty
EuroSluuuuuutty
4 years ago

Move on Ireland, it’s dated

Orla Dubois
Orla Dubois
4 years ago

All the negative hype don’t explain why this song is trending on Spotify top 10 eurovision songs right now so you guys have your opinions but the grown ups think differently

Jamie
Jamie
4 years ago

Nothing in your comment to be hyped about Troll

Ben
Ben
4 years ago

Average song. NQ

Joe
Joe
4 years ago

At the moment, this is how I’d like the qualifiers to look for SF1: Azerbaijan, Belgium, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Romania, Sweden, and Ukraine. I know Russia is going to take one of their places (worried it’ll be Ireland or Belgium, possibly both but let’s work with the power of optimism and say one of the two might make it), and I’m really sad that I can’t find room for Australia. I’m worried they and Ukraine are in danger of their first NQ’s, and I like both of their songs. I personally can’t see Belarus, Croatia, Cyprus, North Macedonia,… Read more »

Kosey
Kosey
4 years ago
Reply to  Joe

SF1 is a bit of a bloodbath. Speaking personal favorites, I would swap out Belgium and Sweden from your list and put in Russia and Australia instead. In terms of what I think will happen, I fear for Ireland (I just think a lot of people won’t get it sadly) and Sweden will probably get through. One of the Balkan ballads might knock Belgium out. I quite like both of them so it wouldn’t be a major issue for me if that happened. Sufficed to say, I have some songs very high up my list in this semi, so I’ll… Read more »

Joe
Joe
4 years ago
Reply to  Kosey

Ireland might get by if the staging is good. They are working with a prominent group. Belgium is such an intimate song that the staging needs to be incredible for them to make it.

Joe Lestingi
Joe Lestingi
4 years ago

Not having Ireland in the final will be a huge crime. I like the song. Something that hasn’t been done before in the contest. I wish them great luck.

Robert
Robert
4 years ago

I really really like this song and the singer.. Sorry to see there’s so much dislike for it, I don’t agree with most of it.. Really wanna see Ireland make the final, because it isn’t that bad.. It’s poppy, catchy, colorful.. They tried something different.. Maybe we shouldn’t take the ‘it’s on par with Euphoria’ remark too literal.. This is a banger in its own right..

Jose
Jose
4 years ago

I like the energy that this song is able to transmit. A song that makes you feel good. Apart from that, I think I don’t have anything positive to say. For me, this song is too formulatic and unoriginal.
I think the last Irish song that I really liked was the one in 2014, but the stage was terrible. 2015 and 2018 were nice, but I’m not really the biggest fan of Ireland at Eurovision.

Jamie
Jamie
4 years ago
Reply to  Jose

Nobody cares to be honest…

Bart
Bart
4 years ago

Well it seems that this song did not charmed the Eurovision fandom… But I actually like it ?

Tom
Tom
4 years ago

Last place in the Semi
Mark my words

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Tom

Marked and agreed.

Jamie
Jamie
4 years ago

Sad

LinusESCfan
LinusESCfan
4 years ago
Reply to  Tom

actually i agree. Love ireland but not this song so sad to see that they are failing. More etnic songs Ireland like in 1996. This sound its not the way to go

UmBv
UmBv
4 years ago
Reply to  Tom

lmao Croatia exists

Jamie
Jamie
4 years ago
Reply to  Tom

Get a life..people are dying

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago

Not buying any of it. Zero originality. She couldn’t even find a half interesting song title. Even last year’s Irish entry had more charm. A similar result is to be expected. In the semi final, that is.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

What would you recommend Ireland send to ESC for the future then?

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

Something good.

Erasmus
Erasmus
4 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

Lyra please!

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

Ooo that’s interesting. I asked Mr. Vanilla Bean a question here, and it was filtered. Well I’m not asking it again. Stuff it. 😀

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

I sincerely hope Eurovision will happen, if only to be proven right about this. I have no clue who wins or even cracks the top 10, but I’m very certain of a couple of semi final bottom feeders. Why? The high number of decent entries make the sub-par ones even more obvious.

Jamie
Jamie
4 years ago

You’re just racist. If Sweden sent this you would be kissing their ass saying “ooh it’s so good oh my God” so just don’t ok.

Erasmus
Erasmus
4 years ago

I prefer this to last year (though I like 22 as well), problem with Ireland isn’t exactly the quality since they sent pleasant entries, but that’s the problem – they are just pleasant, nothing daring (though I’d take pleasant over joke or dated entries)… But let’s see if this partnership with FM2 will take them anywhere in the future. Maybe they should collab with big record labels like Romania (successfully) and UK (less successfully) did.

Jamie
Jamie
4 years ago

Zero originality? Unless someone copies a song word for word.. it’s original

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago

I really like this song and I wish her and Ireland all the best.
Besides, the best way to prevent Sweden from holding the titles record is to get Ireland to win again! – Haha.

gilpgilp
gilpgilp
4 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

The way to get Ireland to win is for Ireland to finally put some effort into a good song

Jamie
Jamie
4 years ago
Reply to  gilpgilp

And also haters *cough* need to stop hating too. The song is brilliant this year

P!nk Forever
P!nk Forever
4 years ago

A Kelly Clarkson song with Avril Lavigne vocals.

Mr Vanilla Bean
Mr Vanilla Bean
4 years ago
Reply to  P!nk Forever

An ancient Kelly Clarkson. Kelly has evolved greatly.

Amadeus
Amadeus
4 years ago

The next Euphoria lol

Click20
Click20
4 years ago
Reply to  Amadeus

Boring response. The irony of some people saying the song is not original and then people repeat the same boring reference to ‘one person’ making a comment about the staging being like Euphoria.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
4 years ago
Reply to  Click20

Surely their opinion doesn’t need to be judged so personally or so harshly, though?

Click20
Click20
4 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

The same could be said about the response to the song- not to be judged harshly. However, everyone is obviously entitled to an opinion. Personally I would prefer if people evaluated a song on its merits as a song in its own.

Azaad
Azaad
4 years ago

It’s not high art by any means but I applaud Ireland taking a chance and sending a fairly well known artist with an interesting entry. They clearly want to do well and not just participate for the sake of it.

BANSHEE4THEWIN
BANSHEE4THEWIN
4 years ago
Reply to  Azaad

The artist is not known at all in Ireland?

Kosey
Kosey
4 years ago

I love the defiance and confidence in this entry.

Dawid
Dawid
4 years ago

Like with Proud. Like song, like lyrics, hate music video. Just look how gay men are portrayed there .-. Sorry, just my pet peeve.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Fionn
Fionn
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

I’m having a pretty depressing one, stuck in my house with my family lol