Eurovision news coming out of Ireland has been fairly thin on the ground of late. In fact it’s been non-existent. But in the last 24 hours, there’s been a flurry of rumours, all pointing to former Westlife singer Nicky Byrne being internally selected by RTÉ as Ireland’s man in Stockholm.
Nicky Byrne at Eurovision 2016
The speculation began late on Wednesday when the Irish Independent published and quickly deleted an article suggesting that Byrne was heading to Eurovision. However, it remained online long enough for the internet to catch wind. We published the news and by this morning several Irish media outlets were also reporting on the rumours. The Independent also re-published their story.
Since leaving Westlife, Nicky Byrne has become a radio DJ on RTÉ 2fm. Should we expect him to make a big announcement on an upcoming show? You can listen to The Nicky Byrne Show with Jenny Greene every weekday from 11.00 to 14.00 CET. It might be worth tuning in to today’s programme. (Update 11:10 CET: Nicky did not deny the rumours, but did say that they were unconfirmed)
Nicky Byrne is the only Westlife member not to release solo material. If you want to judge his voice you’ll need to listen to his various solos on tracks recorded by the band.
Ireland’s 2008 representative Dustin the Turkey had a message for Nicky.
@NickyByrne what time do you want to pick up the shopping trolley? #Eurovision
— Dustin The Turkey (@DustinOfficial) January 7, 2016
RTÉ Eurovision 2016 Statement
We contacted RTÉ on Wednesday afternoon, just before the Nicky Byrne rumours broke. They simply told us that “RTÉ will be making an announcement regarding our selection process later this month”. The statement is open to interpretation. “Later this month” could be today or it could be 31 January. “Our selection process” could mean anything.
If Byrne does turn out to be RTÉ’s pick, this will be the second time an internally selected artist for Stockholm has been leaked to the media before the official announcement, following Douwe Bob’s early announcement in the Netherlands.
Things are certainly heating up in Ireland. Are Nicky and Petra Mede finally set to meet in person (they spoke in 2013 when he delivered Ireland’s points)? And more importantly, would he be a good choice for Ireland? Let us know in the comments below.
*Note: This story was first published on wiwibloggs at 2:00 CET on Thursday morning. Subsequent updates were made at 9.22 CET and 11:10 CET.
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Photo: RTÉ
Indeed Jonas and I think he may simply have been winding us up with his “I couldn’t possibly comment” yesterday. Somebody probably heard something about him being involved in Irish Eurosong and got their facts all jumbled up.
He’s probably just appearing as a panelist on the ususal Late Late Show selection. He’s regarded as an “expert”, having given the votes for the last few years.
This is a video of some of Nicky’s solo on tour. After watching this I don’t think he is good enough live to represent Ireland. http://youtu.be/msHUbWGSA7M
I have to say I would love if Melanie McCabe to represent Ireland.
He may be great in announcing the votes or even hosting the national finals/eurovision contest itself, but I am not confident that he will do great in the live contest per se. If Nicky is sure to represent Ireland, he better start practicing and promoting immediately.
I still think that RTE would be well aware of the accusation of nepotism, Padraig which makes me somewhat sceptical that Byrne might be the entrant. The reason the Eurosong rules concerning RTE employees were changed was over the Dustin the Turkey fiasco.
Guys, you do realise that RTE don’t employ most of their top stars.The majority of them are engaged as contractors and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case with Nicky. Therefore I wouldn’t rule him out using the “employee” card.
I am most likely wrong but my view on all of this is a former member a west life is being selected and one by one are begin rumoured, it can’t be much of a coincidence that the members with the most Eurovision involvement (Shane Filan numerous times being put forward as a candidate, and now Nicky Byrne who gave the votes for the past 3 years) He put a picture up to fuel the speculation but my view on this is he is trying to lay a trial for us to follow when the real singer selected remains a… Read more »
I believe you on this one, Ciaran. As rumours go, it’s a rather strange one and you would have thought Nicky would be the least likely of the five former Westlifers to be given an internal selection invite.
I can tell you 100% that Nicky Byrne is NOT representing Ireland at Eurovision. However he will be involved in the “selection process”.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EBoKHLzjPgY
Here’s a snippet of Nicky singing “Angels” by Robbie Williams
Under the rules of the last few Eurosongs, he would have been barred from entering as the Contest was not open to RTE employees.
Without sounding smart I had a feeling that Nicky would represent them, as he was doing the votes and he is employed by them 🙂 why so negative
I can’t take the Irish serious any more , after them sending those two massive idiot
JEDWARD , Ireland need to take this a little more in depth, forgot about 2008 DUSTIN THE TURKEY , come on Ireland , How can you expect the general public to be happy when you send rubbish like them , thought Ireland had money problems ,
Markus Feehily would probably be better.
Everything is better then their national selection in this Talkshow…would be great to see Ireland taking the internal selection 🙂 Maybe they can surprise us with a very good song 😀 They must be in trouble because their winning record could be broken by Sweden so Ireland needs to send something very good after all the fails (The songs) in the last years 😀
Tom
I’m expecting we’ll get a rush of girls at the end so i wouldn’t worry about that too much.
Really bizarre choice for me if true. Byrne has been a full time RTE employee for years and has never released anything as a soloist. I don’t know how Michael Kealy can stand over internally selecting a singer who doesn’t actually have a music career.
Hm, I don’t know how Byrne will help Ireland, but hey… this is a huge step forward comparing to LLS!
My only bet is the only reason Nicky’s name is mentioned because maybe one of his former bandmates is representing Ireland. My bet is Brian or Markus (my favorite WL member). But please, no Shane and NO WL-style ballads!
Hey anything is better than the LLS.
The representatives so far.
Albania: Endea Tarifa
Armenia: Iveta Mukucyan
Cyprus: Minus One Male
Russia: Sergey Lazarev
Georgia: the Young Lolitas
Netherlands: Douwe Bob
Out of all the confirmed performers, most are men. I certainly hope that we wil get more girls
According to representatives of NB RTE are expected to make there announcment later today so Ireland’s faith for 2016 should be known by the end of the day. If Nicky Byrne is to represent Ireland I hope they take there time in picking the song as there is a lot of potential in the act.
Have mercy … does he even know what the hell means “to sing”? He was always the one eager to taker over every single Westlife interview to put himself in the centre of everything as if he was the leader of the band to compensate the lack of true honest vocal abilities … Jesus lord … God forbid such mistake!
Is he still a singer? What genre of songs? Any releases? I’m thinking there is a reason he turned to radio after Westife, maybe he released he wasn’t good enough on his own.
Looks like the Måns effect is strong this year, though he isn’t exactly like Måns in style. But could be interesting to watch, providing they move away from the boy band ballad sound.
@robyn gallagher
I doubt the Netherlands selected Douwe Bob as another Måns, there would have been more obvious choices if that was their aim. Sergey Lazarev is indeed sort of a Russian Måns, that’s it for the male solo singers so far AFAIK?
Doubt it. Nicky was the best Westlife member but he wasn’t the best singer.
Em…. Uk 2011-13 they chose old famous stars and all flopped except maybe 2011…. So maybe don’t pick Nicky bryne… We’ll see.
Putting it in perspective, other members of westlife- Brian McFadden, would easily get points from Australia as he was quite popular here a few years ago and Markus Feehily won the wiwivision so he’s bound to be a popular choice
Its all about the song! Anyway, i think that if it is true, then it is gold news. But he needs a great song to make an impact in Stockholm. The Late Late show song selection has proven to be a sure thing for old fashioned song as of late so an internal selection could be good.
I’m not sure tbh but it definitely has got to be an internal selection at this stage!
Has to be false.
Nicky wasn’t known as the singing one in Westlife.