After the early arrival of Brooke’s “That’s Rich” on Tuesday, Ireland’s Eurosong 2022 song reveal was back on schedule on Thursday morning with the announcement of Patrick O’Sullivan with “One Night, One Kiss, One Promise”. As with the first four entries, the track was debuted on Ryan Tubridy’s radio show.Patrick will join Brendan Murray, Rachel Goode, Janet Grogan. Brooke Scullion and one other act in the 4 February national final.
Eurosong 2022 — The Acts So Far
Patrick O’Sullivan – “One Night, One Kiss, One Promise”
Written by Nicky Byrne, Danny O’Reilly and Lar Kaye
Patrick won the inaugural season of RTÉ’s new talent show The Last Singer Standing. Originally from Cork, he’s now based in London and was recently cast in The Book Of Mormon on the West End. Eurovision 2016 singer and Westlife star Nicky Byrne is among the song’s writers.
Previously Announced Acts
Rachel Goode — “I’m Loving Me”
Music by Thomas Karlsson / Johan Mauritzson / Joakim Övrenius
Lyrics by Anna Engh
Rachel is a classically trained soprano from Ballinasloe in County Galway. She’s perhaps best known as a country singer and is due to appear in the new series of TG4’s Glór Tíre — a reality-based talent search for Ireland’s newest country and western music star. However, for Eurosong she’s crossed over to pop with the Scandi-bop “I’m Loving Me”. Joakim Ovrenius is one of the songwriters. He produced Poland’s “The Ride” in 2021. Karlsson and Mauritzson also wrote on Rafał’s track.
“This song is such a bop, total 80s vibes & absolutely screams Eurovision – a totally different genre than my usuals but I love it & hope you’ll get behind me so I can represent ireland in this years Eurovision”, wrote Rachel on Instagram.
Brendan Murray — “Real Love”
Written and composed by Brendan Murray & Darrell Coyle
Rising to fame with the chart-topping boyband Hometown, Brendan Murray was internally selected to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2017 with “Dying To Try”. Despite investing in a large hot air balloon prop, Ireland stayed in the semi-final. Brendan returned to TV screens a little over a year later when he competed on the final season of the UK X Factor. He made it to the semi-final, placing fifth overall.
Brendan explains the meaning behind “Real Love” as such: “it’s not realising what was right in front of you the whole time. You’ve ignored and put the thought of it to one side but then you come to that realization that you should have said what you felt a long time ago. You’ve convinced and made excuses for yourself when you really should have told that person how you really felt.”
Janet Grogan – “Ashes of Yesterday”
Music and lyrics by Aidan O Connor, John Emil and Sandra Wikström
Janet’s first brush with fame came in 2016 when she appeared on the UK X Factor. Despite generating some media buzz at home, she was eliminated in the six chair challenge. She was later a backing singer for Nicky Byrne and Ryan O’Shaughnessy at Eurovision 2016 and 2018 respectively. In 2021, she was a finalist on RTÉ’s new talent show The Last Singer Standing.
On “Ashes of Yesterday”, Janet says it’s “all about rebuilding yourself up after disappointment, to not let self-doubt or others bring you down. The message is so powerful and encouraging, especially after the tough few years everyone has had. I want to uplift people and if I can do it while representing Ireland, that would be a dream come true.”
Brooke Scullion — “That’s Rich”
Written by Brooke Scullion, Izzy Warner and Karl Zine
Brooke competed on the 2020 season of The Voice UK. She impressed all four judges with her blind audition, as they all turned their chairs. She eventually reached the final and finished joint third. Brooke says that she was inspired by the likes of Blondie and The Gossip when she wrote “That’s Rich”. “I was reading Debbie Harry’s autobiography and wanted to encapsulate the attitude she portrayed in her life,” she says.
Ireland’s Eurosong 2022
Six songs will compete for the Irish ticket to Turin during a special broadcast of The Late Late Show on 4 February. Here, the Irish public will decide its representative for Eurovision 2022 along with input from both a national and international jury.
Ireland’s Head of Delegation Michael Kealy is enthusiastic about the return of a national selection. In September, he said he was “very excited by the return of a Eurovision National Final on The Late Late Show and the prospect of giving the public a greater say in selecting our entry for Italy. Every year the Eurovision gets bigger and more competitive than ever and given the enormous exposure and huge financial rewards for the winner I’m hopeful that we will attract a very high calibre of songwriter and performer.”
The return of Eurosong selection comes on the back of two consecutive semi-final last places at Eurovision. In 2019, Sarah McTernan was bottom of the pack with “22”, while Lesley Roy suffered a similar fate with “Maps” in 2021.
What do you think of the songs? Is Ireland onto a winner? Let us know below.
While it’s not a eurovision winner (none of them are) we know that Patrick has the capabilities to perform the song live and to be fair the song reflects popular Irish culture most, this is a song that would get quite alot of radio airplay here in Ireland and it would become a hit.
I could see this qualifying and there is an audience there for it, its just not your regular Eurovision fan who want nothing but female driven club bangers.
Thats Rich is the only chance of final qualification. The rest will all be second in the Semi running order.
I like this a lot. It sounds like the power anthem that should have been in “Dear Evan Hansen.” Patrick is a killer singer, and as fluffy as it is, this song showcases his voice fantastically. Back in the 70s, Paul McCartney sang about how the world can never get enough silly love songs, and to me, this is a top notch silly love song. Good luck, Ireland!
Ireland staring down the barrel of another NQ again I fear. These songs are so formulaic and indistinctive.
Good song from miles a bit repetitive could be in the final shakeup I still think that’s rich is the pick of the bunch
Am I the only one that loves Rachel Goode’s Song?
Nope. 🙂
I really like Patrick’s song. I love the authentic Irish lilt in his pronunciation of words and that last big note – wow! That boy can sing! As always I’ll reserve final judgement until I hear them all live but he can hit that note on the night then it’s game over, right? Right now this is tied for me with Brooke, but as current as Brooke’s song is, she doesn’t have much range at all and I have an awful feeling her performance may come across cringeworthy in The Late Late Show studio. Janet’s has a great chance as… Read more »
Great voice from Patrick, but it sounds like a formula-suffering song. Or is that just the fault of the production? The somewhat syncopated melody could be subtly charming when set to an acoustic guitar, I can imagine, so here is where I’m struggling. Am I the only one who hears a cheapness in this arrangement? I want to like the song, but it’s missing a subtle charm that the “one promise” should give, in my opinion.
I’m a sucker for a musical theatre voice – undoubtedly he can sing. The lyrics are a bit all over the place I’ll admit, but I don’t think it’s deserving of a lot of the criticism that’s been levelled at it.
I think following Leslie’s NQ last year, RTE prioritised getting good vocalists. All the potential entrants for Ireland can definitely sing well.
Brendan for the victory !
This National Final feels soooo Eurovision Season 2002. Cheap beats. Unpolished lyrics. Anonymous voices.
I just cannot stop smiling at these entries.
i can’t stop crying at them lolz
Co-written by Nicky Byrne and it makes the final selection…what a surprise. The whole contest is rigged. I can’t wait to see what a shambles the Late Late Show will be.
Fingers crossed that Brooke gets picked. ‘That’s Rich’ is the only decent entry so far.
It makes no sense that they would rig it, if they wanted Nicky’s song that badly then they would have just done what they did in 2016.
I agree with Emma. Surprise, surprise Nicky Byrne who works for RTE has a song he wrote for someone who won the show he hosted that was commissioned by RTE chosen by RTE over the 300+ entries. If that’s not riggery…
I actually like it – maybe only because I was mentally preparing myself for mediocrity before I hit the play, but this is alright. In a strong nf this would be lower, but compared to other songs in the Irish nf, this is my 2nd place.
After listening to the five available entries I must say that Ireland probably has one of the weakest song selections ever. RTE seams to have chosen MF rejects with 80’s synthpop vibes. Patrick O’Sullivan: I don’t even remember the song and I just listen to it 15 minutes ago. I know it was pleasant, but that’s it. Rachel Goode: this is probably my favorite. Maybe because it reminds me to an entry in any NF back in early 00’s when I started to follow the NF. Brendan Murray: Oh my… this one is a sleeping pill. I think I like… Read more »
I quite like it, to be honest. Nothing groundbreaking, but a relaxed, enjoyable pop song. I especially like the down to earth composition. It doesn’t scream at you, nor beg for your attention, it’s just soothing instead.
If it’s performed with the same understatement that went into the writing process, this would not only be a surprise qualifier, but actually turn a few heads in the grand final.
If the lyrics of a song are just an excuse for the vocalist to have something to sing, it’s not a good idea to release it with a lyric video. Maybe the “I see you struggle as you try to spit out something more sincere” was supposed to be meta? 😉
But musically this would actually be my 2nd pick between the Irish entries. Which say more about the exhausted music taste of who made this selection than about the song itself.
I don’t think Ireland has necessarily to withdraw, but RTÉ needs to press the reset button as soon as possible. One big question that comes to my mind is if all the applications they receive are in that formulaic and uninspired style or if somebody on the inside blocks anything remotely risky, alternative or even contemporary. In other words, to start shaking things up, do they need better scouting, filtering or both? From the outside, it feels like a combination of small budget, lack of effort and people with a dated mindset. The perfect storm for an Eurovision delegation…
That’s interesting actually. I don’t know whether the person responsible goes for similar songs each year and blocks more indie, risky, alternative songs or this is what they have to offer. Because certainly you can tell there’s a pattern in their choices.
And, I mean, some of them sound pleasant but they aren’t competitive. I do think “Maps” deserved better. But those kind of songs tend to get lost in Eurovision. It was rather surprising to see Germany 2018 doing so well. I loved that song.
Both the Irish selection and the Maltese one sound like a playlist made by just one person with a very specific taste. I wouldn’t be surprised if in both cases one person has too much power on the selection process.
Oh, and I really liked “Maps”, it even made to my top 10 pre-contest (in 10th, but still). It could have been a step on the right direction, but it seems something else than Lesley’s breath got lost in that treadmill.
You’re onto something there. It seems RTE and the BBC share the same backwards outlook, viewing the contest as an entertainment show rather that a music competition, and a huge opportunity for new talent to make a mark. Both cling onto nostalgia, and don’t want to end up winning and having to host it “oh no, so expensive!!”. If participating is fairly cheap and attracts decent viewing figures in return, why bother trying too hard? But surely winning and hosting a contest is potentially beneficial and profitable?! Also, being on the Late Late Show, this doesn’t reach out to a… Read more »
The thing is: wouldn’t be also entertaining for the British and Irish audiences to have an actual chance to do well in the contest? I agree that it feels that some sort of nostalgia behind their decisions. There’s a “Eurovision was much better on our time” attitude and they don’t even try to play it as a card, they just send another bland song without any particular connection with past, present or future. In RTÉ’s case, maybe because they are still traumatized with past costs. In BBC’s, maybe they’re too comfortable with the “Europe hates us” narrative. It’s such a… Read more »
I think RTE and the BBC still haven’t grasped that what ended years of making it into the top five/ten each year wasn’t “political voting/Europe hates us” but the end of the language rule. Watching a lot of the Eurovision Agains it’s clear it gave both countries a boost even with some pretty mediocre songs. Once everyone else could sing in English, it exposed the mediocrity and we plummeted down the tables. Both the UK and Ireland are playing by the rules of a game that changed completely 20 years ago. You never know, maybe the BBC has learnt a… Read more »
You summarized perfectly with the “Both the UK and Ireland are playing by the rules of a game that changed completely 20 years ago”. There’s no more advantage on singing in English, there are more countries involved in the competition, staging skills became a big part of the game and the whole competition this day is less innocent. In the past, one or more cute friendly faces singing a sticky chorus from a non-challeging song was probably enough to reach most of the public. And when I say this, I’m not bashing their winning entries (for example, I like almost… Read more »
I’m not sure that Ireland still play like it’s the 1990s, I just think it is the loss of the orchestra and the whole style-change that happened because of that which has pulled the rug from under their feet.
I forgot to mention the loss of the orchestra, but it’s another good point. I guess when Anders said they’re playing with the old rules, it’s less about their entries sounding like in the past and more about they refusing to learn lessons from other countries.
I actually wish they were still playing like the 1990s, I would happily take another The Voice.
Don’t confuse Ireland with the UK. I don’t remember Ireland ever thinking Europe hated them – they are still in the EU, they have the Euro as currency. Ireland are in Europe. There’s no reason for them to think anybody hates them, especially with the EU protecting the peace of the island so strongly during Brexit.
I am British and Irish so I don’t confuse them and that’s why I drew a distinction between the Europe Hates Us narrative and the Political Voting narrative.
Sorry for misunderstanding you.
No problem
Wow I really really really really dig this song. Has something anthemic and something emotional that makes me love it, maybe his voice
Boring, so naturally this will be chosen.
The lyrics are just nonsense for God’s sake…. What is this song even about? Quite messy and stressful production as well, but lovely voice.
I really like this! It is somehow uplifting for me. Sad it’s having so bad reception. :<
Unless the international juries give it to Brooke, I think this will be the winner. The Irish people, I imagine, will be voting for Nicky and Danny – the only ones they will have ever heard of.
Also, I see that the singing show that Patrick won was broadcast only very recently. This means that he already has a television audience wishing him to succeed, ready to vote.
Exactly, which is why I think he will win.
He didn’t win an actual televote though – winner was chosen by the jury and small studio audience.
I don’t buy that this is a shoe in for the win. Nicky Byrne’s entry in 2016 was a complete non event for the Irish public (it didn’t even chart) and Danny O’Reilly would be regarded as a musical has been (Coronas were at their peak about ten years ago).
Not one traditional folk song? This is horrible. I know that Ireland has such beautiful traditional music, since I’m a fan of Celtic Woman. At some point, this just gets stupid. What is wrong with that HoD? I really don’t see any point in even having a national final. I loved Maps, but if even that song could get last in the semifinal, I don’t know how hard Ireland’s gonna flop this year. And this is coming from someone who’s been following Eurovision for just a year.
Celtic Woman is awful, designed for Americans. For the real thing, try the Chieftains – or Altan, or The Gloaming. There’s no way any of these bands would enter the contest, though – there would be no point when live instruments are not allowed.
I think the person with the most Irish name should represent Ireland at ESC.
One Night was ok till the 30 last seconds. That is horrific
On a second listen, actually it’s not bad… Kinda enjoyed it. Might even add to my playlist. But ‘That’s Rich’ is better.
‘That’s Rich’ was really a fluke, huh? If they don’t pick Brooke…
I don’t mind this. There’s something interesting here. I still think this falls in the border-qualifier-at-best camp. It’s a song that probably would sound a lot more current if they tossed it to a Scandi producer. I’m more seriously bothered how all these Irish songs seem to fall in the same genre — and I realize there are ballads and faster songs—but there’s a sameness to them all as if they all would be played in the same radio station. Where’s some classic Irish music? Where’s the Irish punk rock? Where’s the Irish indie rock? Where’s the singer-songwriter guitar song?… Read more »
Reminds me to of the days I used the intern at a radio station that plays songs like this one during the late 2000’s to early 2010’s that are not traditionally Top 40, but was very defining for those who were listening to this kind of music in high school and college.
Closest I could compare this to at the top of my head are Walk the Moon, Muse, and The 1975.
*I used to intern.
Dang autocorrect.
There has been a very trustworthy person from IctimaiTV, who has told details about the selected act Azerbaijan has for 2022!
I’m over excited, one thing to be told is that the rumour has it, that this is the song that will be fighting for victory and therefore IctimaiTv has made a budget meeting about next year a bit earlier, since it’s likely that it’s Azerbaijan’s turn to host again!
The description of the act was so predictable for Azerbaijan, I really don’t think anyone else will be hyped about that rumour. Pretty much what everyone already expected, isn’t it?
Also … ‘likely to win’? Let’s talk again on May 15.
thats why my cat was anxious, she felt that ictimai tv has a bop coming
Not bad and its honestly better than half of MESC’s entries.
Love his voice, but the song is dreadful. The lyrics are terrible. I had high hopes. I really don’t know what the HOD is doing picking these generic pop songs. Fingers crossed for something a bit different, possibly Irish sounding tomorrow…if not I’m behind Brooke all the way.
Ireland might as well have just handpicked That’s Rich at this rate. Not the eighth wonder of the world, but still miles ahead of the other known NF entries.
Oh c’mon Ireland you can do better you MUST do better..
I mostly keep faith in songs I am not a fan of,hoping they will improve with future listens and/or live performance..
But here I can’t even make myself listen to these songs more then once..
I understand Irish HoD doesn’t wanna win but grand final should be a goal…
This doesn’t offend me (Patrick O’Sullivan) – generic perhaps but pleasant on the ear!
If I’m honest i’m not at all surprised at the quality of these songs. Its the reason why I stopped caring about how Ireland do in Eurovision and instead focus on supporting the songs that I actually like. I think this selection of songs doesn’t represent a lot of the music in Ireland, theres quite a wide variety of music here ofc. Its a bit depressing seeing how we fare out every year to no ones fault bar our own. It’s unfortunate because there are many Eurovision fans here and I’m sure in Britain too, who know the quality that… Read more »
I’m from the Netherlands, so I can only say: we’ve been there! Take heart!
I actually felt embarrassed listening to this song: this is one 3 minute long stretch of uninspired, unimaginative, unoriginal, unsurprising, totally standard basic songwriting. And such a waste, because he actually has a good voice.
Did they even watch the final last year? Do they know it’s 2022?
2021 had a lot of 1980’s inspired songs.
But with better quality, in my humble opinion.
Even “The Ride”? Hehe
with impact. Songs you could remember after you heard them. Do you insinuate Ireland’s selection has the same characteristics?
It’s more that we’re only three weeks into 2022 so we don’t have a lot of songs that could define a theme or trend for the year yet.
oh dear
Quite derivitive and not the show-stopper I’m looking for.
Well, I guess there’s no Grand Final for Ireland this year.
Brits and Irish really like generic pop, don’t they?
The Irish HoD, very much so.
RTÉ do! I swear the rest of us do our best to compensate…
I can assure you we don’t like this but our delegation picks it anyway.
I totally understand you.. It’s the same thing with our broadcaster. Polish TVP has simply no taste in music.
Come on Ireland, give us one song with some imagination, some spark, some originality. Something slightly out of the box. Or, if it has to be a generic pop song, make it a good generic pop song.
Wow, the lyrics in One Night sure are words that exist in the English language. I’m not usually a stickler for lyrics, but some coherency would be nice.
I don’t expect Jonie Mitchell or Leonard Cohen in ESC but these lyrics are rubbish, like you said nothing coherent, just a string of unconnected phrases.
Not super excited by this selection, but I reckon some of these (including this) could work if they have a strong an engaging performance. Also, was he Elder Price?
Surprised Nicky Byrne was involved in this. What was the reaction to his song and non-qualification at the time? Sunlight was a very monotonous song despite the pedigree of its writers
I think a lot of people thought it was ok and there wasn’t a whole lot of a reaction to the non qualification other than from those who thought he would qualify because he was in Westlife.
Out of 300+ songs they found 6 dated and generic stuff. Ireland it’s time to rock your system if you want to qualify and make some impact.
Yes I dont understand why they make zo bland songs… come on Ireland have Some original songs!
We have them, they just don’t pick them. Connections and TV Experience are a genuine requirement by our delegation, hence why every single song so far is from X Factor/The Voice or …. written by Nicky Byrne. It’s not about the song to them. It’s about the artist.
At least you can hope:)
Many countries had tough years and somehow they became quite powerhouse.
I don’t think this is a bad song but not very likely to get a good result at Eurovision… At least it seems like the best option so far , i’d like to see this in Torino
I don’t get RTE this year. If your intention was to have another safe entry, why not selecting one of them internally? I see little point in having a selection if you don’t give your entries a proper hype, or even try to make them stand out on their own. In theory, I could see Ireland having a HQ NF, but they they lack a proper bite to get one excited. I can definitely see myself warming-up to a safe entry, but I see no point in picking which one will it be, unless there’s a production spectacle behind it.… Read more »
That is not too bad at all. One of the writers is a guy from a band called All Tvvins its not that far from something they would release. Two decent songs in a national final!!! Makes a change!
Oh and another one of the writers is the lead singer from The Coronas, decent pedigree (bar Nicky Byrne…)
I’d expect a lot better from Danny O’Reilly.
Yeah I agree, not bad at all. With good staging (really struggling to see how it can be unique staging) this will be liked a lot by a lot of people. I would’ve loved to have had a real Enya style Irish track in the mix, something really layered and deep in Gaelic to just have something we would never see on the Eurovision stage.
Thinking about it … if this was sung in Gaelic, it would be a guaranteed qualifier and end up on the left-hand side in the final. They really should consider translating it, especially if everyone on here already criticises its English lyrics.
Let´s hope for a decent sixth entry. If not, just handpick That´s Rich and set up a performance as kitsch and eye-catchy as possible.
This is the best one so far out of this bunch for me. It made me clap and stamp my feet. Unfortunately for Ireland, the songs in the selection are not really good and they will not take their 8th victory. But there will be other 39 countries that will not win this year. So not winning is not a bad thing for Ireland. Is it going to win? No 🙁 Which is a waste of all this talent in the NF with bad songs. Does it stand a chance to qualify for the final? YES IT DOES! And I… Read more »
I agree, its not a bad song, It’s a good pop rock song and wont win but could qualify. ive been tracking other posts on UMK etc with very basic songs and people are really being positive on songs that are worse than this one. hmmm not sure if the people here are all Irish and we criticise our entries something shocking but I’m just seeing a stark contrast of opinion to songs in other NFs that are similar.
This song reminds me a lot of Roberto Bellarosa’s “Love Hurts” Belgium 2013. A cutesy pop-rock song always finds a way to people’s hearts no matter how cheesy people find it. No one expected it to do good but they have! Hope it happens to Ireland again. 🙂