In December, he became one of the first confirmed artists for Eurovision 2017. And today, almost three months later, Brendan Murray has finally released the song he’ll sing for Ireland in Kyiv, “Dying to Try”
Brendan Murray — “Dying to Try” (Official music video)
Brendan had a low-key reveal this morning on Nicky Byrne’s radio show. The song, co-written by Swedish writer Jorgen Elofsson, is along the lines of a traditional mid-tempo ballad — but has some real flairs that make it stand out.
With the introduction of a choir and a key change towards the climax of the song, there’s some great elements here which could pop on stage. Brendan’s vocal has the chance to stun as well if he pulls it off live. This could be Ireland’s best chance to break their bad form in some time!
Who is Brendan Murray?
Brendan Murray is a 20-year-old singer, originally from Galway in Ireland. He came to fame as a member of six-piece Irish boyband HomeTown, which made its debut under Louis Walsh’s guidance in May 2014.
HomeTown had two No.1 singles in Ireland — their debut single “Where I Belong” and follow-up single “Cry for Help”. They toured extensively and had support gigs for artists such as Olly Murs and the Vamps.
Late last year, the group announced that they were going on hiatus in order to take a break from the boy band life and pursue solo projects.
Ireland at Eurovision 2017
While Ireland is well known for its seven Eurovision victories — including a 1990s dream run of four wins in five years — its recent entries haven’t been as successful.
In the past decade, Jedward have given Ireland its best results, placing eighth in 2011 and 19th in 2012. Ireland has otherwise placed last in the grand final twice and failed to qualify for the final five times.
In 2016, broadcaster RTÉ took a break from the usual Eurosong national final and internally selected former Westlife singer Nicky Byrne. His upbeat song “Sunlight” wasn’t a hit with viewers, and only placed 15th in its semi-final.
Undeterred by the Stockholm result, RTÉ opted to take a similar approach for Kyiv. But this time they left everything in the hands of music mogul and X Factor judge Louis Walsh.
He handpicked Brendan Murray and, after an open call for submissions, selected the song with the assistance of an expert panel.
Johnny Logan criticises Ireland’s Eurovision efforts
In February, Johnny Logan — Ireland’s most successful Eurovision star — hit out at the Irish selection process for Kyiv, branding it “cheap and nasty”.
His comments came after Walsh said he’d love for Johnny to write Brendan’s entry.
But the “What’s Another Year” and “Hold Me Now” hitmaker was having none of it.
“I like Louis but he knows I would never have anything to do with our Eurovision entry the way it’s currently being done by RTÉ. Because at the moment, it’s cheap and nasty — that’s how it seems to me.”
What do you think of Brendan Murray’s Eurovision entry? Is it good enough to take Ireland back to the final for the first time since 2013? Let us know below or react using the wiwibloggs app.
@Tommy: Thanks for the “My Way” comparison, that really does put the entry in perspective. It might just be that the emotion of the melody itself requires a more emotive voice? It’s really hard to explain. Hopefully Brendan will be good live.
It’s perfectly fine and lovely. He does sound a bit like one of the chipmunks though lol. If this is good live Ireland should qualify
@Purple Mask
For me it seems right, he’s young, innocent, in love, and has doubts like any teenager should have. If his age were 40, such doubts are boring : come on, decide already, life is short.
A song that is not appropriate for young people, is Frank Sinatra’s My Way, but I notice that in talent shows, parents love to make their 8 yr to sing My Way. You can’t sing My Way unless you have a whole life behind you.
Fotos Song and Voice but to much balads if they put more sounds like YOUR NOT ALONE from ARAM MP3 will be MASTER PIECE
This is one of those entries that gets the word “disconnect” written in the comments section on my pretend jury piece of paper. The song gets a strong content mark for deep emotion and a good structure. The singer gets a good vocal mark on his own. But everything else just isn’t working for me. When I think of this song, I think of a more gravelly-type of voice singing it; perhaps Brendan’s voice is too angellic for this song? He has a unique range, but the emotional core of the song is somehow missing, I feel. I wonder if… Read more »
@Phlextro
That poll was clearly rigged or else all the die hard westlifers were going crazy.
All the comments complaining about it too.
@Darren wat you talking about, last year nicky byrne was top in the polls here for a long time
The Irish song is always slated on wiwibloggs, even though there is similar songs this yeah, like Austria, Australia, but their almost universally loved etc but nope…slate the Irish song.
Maybe after seven wins people expect masterpieces or something I just don’t know.
It’s not a winner, definitely not, hopefully that honour will go to Belgium, Italy or France. But seriously, it’s really not the worst entry this year.
I feel sorry for Ireland because 1, I would love it if that country did well at Eurovision and 2, I think that young Brendan is very talented. But what a cheesy, boring, dated song… 🙁
It just loops…
Not a fan here. It’s pretty flat as someone else has commented
@Justin K – Yeah, especially Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia which HAVEN’T RELEASED THEIR SONGS YET, and can, from our current knowledge, be anywhere from a masterpiece to total turd. Russia will probably qualify anyway, but Serbia isn’t a lock unless the song is good and Bulgaria was actually a country with a weak success until Poli came last year. Shall we hear the songs first and then judge, okay? Anyway, I think Irish song is quite good.
This song is so lovely 🙂 Awesome 🙂 I hope this is Ireland’s ticked back up there.
I guess it goes either way: you either love or hate that it sounds like Westlife. At first, I was afraid I would have to eat my words when I said Louis was out of touch, but then halfway through the song it started to sound like every Westlife song. I thought the first half was promising, but then it ended up becoming much more dated–he honestly should have just brought his old band mates to be his backing, cause that’s exactly what the backing vocals sounds like. The buildup to the end, although good for Eurovision, just sounds too… Read more »
Haha i love it! So Westlife-ish!!! It’s so obvious that this has the signature of Louis Walsh :’D
I really hope for a qualification of this! Though I really believe he should be singing a better song. He deserves more than this, I mean a better song for the contest.
Best of Luck Ireland!!!
Her voice is good but the song itself is lacklustre and pointless. Another non-qualifier for Ireland.
OMG, yet another ballad that sounds like something between Austria and the Czech Republic, and they’re sitting in the lower part of the totem pole. This will be forgotten during voting. Nothing impactful or memorable here. Sorry. Wasted opportunity, Ireland. #youcandobetter
I love the last minute of this song. But, the rest… I’m so sad. Brendan has a lovely & unique voice. He deserved a better song!
Oh God another ballad?? I hope I won’t fall asleep in may.
However the song is completely forgettable, don’t think they will qualified
Better than Australia?? In your dreams maybe. I can hear the songs like Australia on the radio but not with this okay ballad.
Unqualify or borderline.
More of the same average ballads! In the end, none stands out and the standard viewer will fall asleep with the beers this year. Good that at least some songs such as Italy France Spain Cyprus and Latvia will bring some cheerful party vibes.
I’m not really liking this one. The beginning half is the better part for me, the background music is interesting and mysterious. Not crazy about his voice. But it goes downhill with that key change (I hate key changes). Sorry Eire 🙁
One of the best ballads, in my opinion.
Montenegro released their entry. Its video is something.
I really like it! It’s a classic pop ballad that reminds me to boyzone hits. Better than Australia, for sure
@marco
Thanks for your compliment bud. 🙂
Pretty and emotional, with a cool, arresting arrangement. This is my favorite Irish entry since Lipstick.
The double standards in here. The Belgian girl sounds like a man and y’all were praising her left and right, now you’re coming for Brendan because he sounds feminine? I agree that the song is absolutely forgettable, though. The first two minutes are completely boring, and it’s not like the last minute is exciting either.
I might be minority but I really like it. A vast improvement over Kasey Smith and Nicky Byrne. It’s a bit standard ESC ballad but it’s polished, slick and somewhat contemporary. Pleasantly surprised!
Hi voice though not a fan of..
I really don’t know what to think about it. Part of me likes it, part of me doesn’t. I’m not a big fan of his voice, though.
Being Irish, every year I hope we up our game. When I heard Louis Walsh was on board, I knew our current trend of not qualifying was going to continue. Average, forgetful, drowsy, his voice isn’t pleasant, thankfully Blanche from Belgium and Brendan are not singing back to back as it would mess with peoples heads lol 4 years in a row stuck in the semis I’m afraid. And we deserve it with our lacklustre efforts. Netherlands, France, Belgium all having a renaissance. Why can’t Ireland do it? We have some great song writers and we are more than capable… Read more »
Why do I think of Harry Potter/Daniel Radcliffe when I see him? :DD
This song was not that great. I’m not so sure about his voice as well.
RTE have uploaded it to Youtube :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0qTZaBTPRs&t=8s
Much better than I was expecting, it actually sounds contemporary / modern
I’ve got a feeling I’m going to belong to a minority, but seriously, I loved this. My new favourite so far. I really hope Ireland will be in the final again. Good luck from Finland!
It’s a very good song. I don’t care if it’s a ballad or not, if it’s good for the contest or not. I just like this song, it’s one of my favorite now.
Bad on every level.
Ireland do not know what they are doing. Keep Louis Walsh away….please….
I like it very much.. Well done, Ireland!
I don’t like it.
Yeah….this isn’t good.
As for Russia though, yes Darya Antonyuk has announced that on Monday it’ll be decided if Russia will withdraw or if Darya will be representing Russia in Kyiv. However, they have already recorded her song which to me seems like a sign that she’s going to Kyiv as why would they just waste the song if they were gonna withdraw anyways. Seems like just a big marketing ploy to me.
@Paul D
I read that too (Russia not attending the HoD meeting with EBU).
I also read that “the Voice” winner Darya Antonyuk said in a radio station that Russia will decide the very last day (13/3) if they’re going to participate. If so, she will be the artist to represent the country in Eurovision. Otherwise, they will be out of the contest this year.
We’ll see. Monday is near.
As ballads go, it’s not bad, but in a year full of them, this will be hard to stand out. It’s we produced, and hey, we finally got an official video rather than a lyric video or them in a recording studio. That’s god for Ireland. Be nice to see is back in a final go the first time since Malmö 2013, and this is much better than Kasey Smith and Nicky Byrne. But if Molly and Sinead Mulvey couldn’t do it, with better produced songs, then I worry for Brendan. RTE tried to be smart getting Sweden involved for… Read more »
His voice sounds like he’s very young. (I know he’s 20 years old.)
The song is good, the only part I don’t like that much is the music in the chorus. But it’s a decent song. I can imagine this looking really beautiful on stage.
Good luck to Ireland!
Search on YouTube. Video there.
Not a fan..boring song, found myself drifting off
How did you guys listen to the song? The link in the article doesn’t work and can’t find the song on YouTube.
I’m trying to like this but I don’t think I do. I like the choir, but that’s about it. I find his voice weaselly and raspy (not sure if that’s the right word) at times, and when it hits the high notes it does nothing for me. It does remind me of a discounted male version of “I Will Wait”. Sorry Ireland 🙁
Maybe the reason that this entry leaves me so very stone-cold and indifferent is due to having listened to way too many Westlife songs sounding exactly the same. That was years ago. I suppose with Louis Walsh in charge, one is bound to get dragged back to the past. With Belgium’s Blanche stuck in my head at the moment, I might be extra harsh at Ireland’s song right now, but I can’t see myself warming up to this lukewarm ballad. I already regret having downloaded the Australian song because after two listens I can’t stand it anymore. This one was… Read more »
His voice is so annoying. Awful boyband tone to it. Song nothing special either, cringe at the choir and key change. Currently in my bottom 5…
@ninasublatti
why?
i certainly would like to lick his feet