In May Ireland celebrated its return to the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest following a four-year absence.
And today RTÉ made it clear it wants to keep the momentum going by revealing that it’s looking for “accomplished songwriters and performers, with a proven track record of success in the music industry” to submit a song to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv.
Michael Kealy — Ireland’s leading entertainment producer and the Head of Delegation at Eurovision — is not messing about. And he let that be known in a statement sent to wiwibloggs.
“We were really proud of the Irish performance in Lisbon this year. Months of work went into planning our Eurovision act, bringing together the various audio and visual elements, from song arrangement to choreography to lighting design.”
“The performance of ‘Together’ by Ryan O’Shaughnessy and dancers Kevin O’Dywer and Alan McGrath with backing vocals from Janet Grogan, Remy Naidoo and Claire Ann Varley received worldwide acclaim when performed on stage and created headlines around the world. ‘Together’ placed 16th in the final which is the best result since Jedward came in eighth place in Düssledorf with ‘Lipstick’ in 2011.”
“For the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 we want to produce a world-class act that will do Ireland proud on stage in Tel Aviv and in front of a worldwide audience of nearly 200 million people. The Eurovision Song Contest is incredibly competitive so we need a top class song, with instant appeal and a highly experienced act who is used to performing live in front of large audiences.”
Ireland: Eurovision 2019 submission rules
All songs received will be considered by a number of panels, including expert music industry panels, but RTÉ reserves the absolute right to approach established acts and songwriters and to select a song and/or a performer(s) at its sole discretion from outside this process.
Songs submitted must strictly comply with the rules of Eurovision Song Contest and RTÉ reserves the right to arrange, produce or otherwise alter any song selected for entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
Songwriters/composers may only submit one song (including co-writes) for consideration. If more than one song per composer is submitted only the first song received will be considered. Songs must be no longer than 3 minutes in duration.
It is important to note that any entries submitted through this process will be considered alongside other compositions which RTÉ may commission or secure independently of this process. RTÉ will have the final say on which song and artist will be Ireland’s 2019 entry.
If you would like to submit an entry, it must adhere to the EBU 2019 competition rules, a full list of rules is published on the official Eurovision website at: http://www.eurovision.tv
See www.rte.ie/eurovision for full details.
Compositions submitted for consideration (lyrics and music) must not have been commercially released and/or publicly performed including online video platforms or social networks, in full or in part, before the 1st September 2018.
Entries will ONLY be accepted by email as an MP3 (192kbps) file. No entries will be accepted on CD, cassette, DAT, minidisc or any other format.
Email entries to [email protected]
Kodaline 2019
Janet Devlin would be fab!!
omg the sense of superiority coming from the HoD is so exhausting. Together was great, but they need to stop acting like they’re going to get an Adele or something. They should ask Janet Devlin or something.
Dustin the Turkey should make a comeback LEL
If you re-read Kealy’s comments, he didn’t say he was looking for a world class act – just that they wanted established songwriters and performers to enter.
The reference to a world class “act” was referring to the possible stage show for ESC 2019, not the actual singer.
The final decision to be made by RTÉ. I like the HoDs enthusiasm, however we hear that in every country. What do these “panel of experts” consist of? We had a panel of experts too in my country, however they chose Electro Velvet.
Could just be another boring ballad, but the RTÉ delegation needs to be sacked and move it over to people who know what they’re doing. Wasn’t expecting Ireland to qualify this year, and even when it did, it didn’t do very well.
So they’re not relying on queerbaiting this year? Thank God
One can only hope
Westlife, minus Bryan MacFadden, have recently reformed and is going on a worldwide tour. Perhaps RTE could woo them again into taking part, or at least announced Ireland’s points.
A guy can dream.
Since it worked out so well for them in 2016, choosing the dude who sang the worst of the whole bunch. Shoulda stuck to announcing the points.
Mark and Shane, at least for me, are the best vocal assets the group has. The rest are pure pretty face and backing vocals playing acolytes to the big guns. lol
Agreed. For me, first place goes to Mark, he has the most distinctive voice.
I was so happy (and shocked tbh) when we qualified back In May. Fingers crossed RTE can make sure we do well again 🙂
Yes, Ireland qualifying this year must count as a success (I certainly did not expect that), but the way this HoD dude is bragging about it would lead to believe it was another “Euphoria”, which it most certainly wasn’t. Get back back to reality, dude and do not – under no circumstances – include Louis Walsh or Linda Martin in the process, then you might actually accomplish something. You track record is more than poor, so no need to be strutting.
UNA HEALY
192kbps files? seriously? what decade are they living in?…
Considering that their entries always sound like they come from the 90s, there’s your answer.
Now, now, let’s not be so judgmental. They DID reject cassettes, at least. I’m sure by 2050, they’ll adjust to today’s standards.
I must say, you have a point. Perhaps they have not upgraded their hard drives in over a decade…
…And suppose they want to carry the song submissions with them? A 3-mnute song at 320kbps easily amounts to less than 10 megabytes. You can get a 128-gigabyte USB flash drive for less than €20. With that, they can put at least 12,000 songs on that stick, which is obviously way more than they are probably willing to accept.
A light-hearted song AND some theater on stage is quite probably the thing they should stick with for 2019. Nobody saw a qualification coming this past May; but it worked. They need to try it again, with a slightly different approach.
Nadine. Coyle.
It’s good news from Ireland! I hope they will cook something real good from an internal selection as organized-looking as this!
Cooking ain’t something they do well, is this a shady metaphor Loin dici?
Polegend Godgarina.
Your negativity is exhausting. There hasn’t been an announcement of song or artist yet and you are already shooting it down.
The level of hatred that Ireland gets on this site is so ridiculous. Sorry we don’t send Russian grannies baking bread, opera singers with light up dresses that make them look like a lampshade, men in hamster wheels or a complete mutilation of the English language with phrases such as “Luna Moon Me Up” and all that…
No matter what we send, it will be instantly ridiculed on this site by commentators like you.
You did send Jedward. Twice. The Russian grannies would have been a step up. 😛
got Ireland a top 10 position in 2011, hardly a disaster. We received maximum points from United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden. We didn’t do too badly.
So your response is meaningless Vanilla Bean.
I’m so close to the waterline …
Can you even read, Darren? I just said cooking ain’t one of their talents. Jesus some of y’all have a bad persecution complex. For the record all the songs you mentioned are better than any of the Irish entries since 2006.
I’ve read all your comments on this article and many of your other comments made over the past few months. You’re so salty.
Well that’s your opinion on the songs I picked. That’s your choice, but slating the country before they have even selected the entry is just childish, immature and quite frankly very ignorant. We have sent dodgy acts in the past, granted. But we do not know the 2019 act yet so cool the jets with your negativity thanks.
Cooking is also one of our strong suits 😉
Slán anois mo Chara x
Whew the OBSESSION (and no… Ireland was a lovely country but the food wasn’t the tea)
Sta’ sö da dòs x
Depends on you, it’s a metaphor I often use. At least they’re good at cooking (or brewing, if you mind) their famous beers!
Usually I can become sarcastic about my comments, but not for now. I appreciate what the Irish delegation commitee is trying to do now, they’re trying even harder to restore their legacy in the contest. I hope they can select another high-quality song and artist for TLV 19!
Actually, the quality of the food is sensational in Ireland. Their seafood, beef, cheeses etc. are superior to most of Europe. As for cooking, the restaurants are top quality too – I think Polegend might be confusing Ireland with the UK. 🙂