He was only officially confirmed as Ireland’s Creative Director for Eurovision 2020 on Thursday. But Philly McMahon is already making big promises about the country’s song for Rotterdam. Speaking in a weekend interview, the ThisIsPopBaby founder described it as “an almighty bop”.
Ireland at Eurovision 2020 — “An almighty bop”
Talking to RTÉ 2FM’s Louise McSharry on Sunday, McMahon turned the hype machine up to 90. Audibly excited about the Emerald Isle’s 2020 effort, he called the chosen song “an almighty bop”.
Careful not to spill all the beans, he continues “it is taking all of me… I can’t even allude to anything else. What I kind of thought when hearing the song is that in 10 years’ time we will still be dancing to this song”.
When pushed by McSharry on whether the song matches up to Loreen’s “Euphoria” — Sweden’s Eurovision 2012 winning entry and a number one hit in Ireland — he answered in the affirmative.
“I think we’re up there! I think this is a new direction for Ireland. We haven’t heard this style of song and the act is just bloody cool”.
Ireland’s Eurovision 2020 act
Speaking of the act, McMahon remains somewhat tight-lipped.
“It all starts with the song. Whatever about a show or production, it has to start with the song. I’ve been chatting with RTÉ for a long time about this. And they came to be and they played this song and I thought ‘actually, yes. I can really, really get on board with this. I can really do something with this’. So, I’m very excited about the artist. No, I wasn’t involved in picking the song”.
McSharry raises his earlier comments that the act will be LGBTQ+. McMahon confirms that is the case but doesn’t elaborate further, save that he came into the process after the act had been selected.
ThisIsPopBaby has made its name working with drag acts such as Panti Bliss and staging circus style variety shows like Riot. What can we expect on stage in May?
“Our job is really to support the song. You can’t dress something up that it’s not. Our job is to make a really brilliant pop moment in three minutes… We’re gonna smash it this year”.
When asked where previous Irish entry had gone wrong, Philly highlighted the small size of Ireland’s pop scene and the country’s struggle to grasp the modern contest.
In the ’90s, we really settled into a groove… we really owned that. And then when the competition went through a massive change, Ireland didn’t really understand what that change was. But here’s my thoughts on the past entries over the past however many years. Nobody goes to Eurovision thinking that they’ve got a bad song.
I think what’s worked against us is that we just don’t have a massive pop industry in the country. And so in terms of talent development… if you look at Swedish or Australian entries, you’re talking about massive record labels behind those, massive development periods, massive songwriting hubs — none of which we have. So, our kind of stock in trade is a ballad. We have succeeded with that in the past and we also haven’t succeeded with that in the past.
You can listen to the full interview here.
What do you think of McMahon’s comments? Do you believe the hype? Let us know in the comments below.
It might also be ELM. Check out there twitter it all adds up really. Heres a link to they’re most recent song and it’s class! Really think it’s them, if they said we’re going for a bop song!
https://twitter.com/thelongestone/status/1225157771265527809?s=20
It’s the rumoured Ireland Eurovision song. It’s called Golden and it’s Ireland’s 50th Golden Anniversary since our first win……..
Very promising all the same!
I really do hope it’s ELM. As great as Lesley Roy would be It just makes more sense for it to be ELM. Fingers crossed !
ELM’s next song is called Golden! This could be the Eurovision song, lets hope it’s a good one
The link to a part of the song is in the above text
I listened to it and it really sounds like a low-key qualifier/winner
Almost 100% sure it’s Lesley Roy. Apparently there was an email by the Irish OGAE club saying it’s her. Seems legit considering she is LGBT and if you check her insta she follows Eurovision, Eurovision un concert, rte2fm, thisispopbaby and philly McMahon. Rumors say her song will be released on Tuesday but we’ll have to wait and see!
I really hope so, I literally can’t wait anymore to hear the song and artist, I really hope it’s her and she crushes it in SF 1 and the Final
Hopefully we will qualify! Yea me too, dying to find out more
Yeah I’m unusually confident about Ireland qualifying this year, I don’t know why, and aswell they wouldn’t lie about the song being great if it wasn’t, a music company wouldn’t do that
Does anyone know when the artist and song are released? I really can’t wait anymore ?
When will the artist be announced?????
If they really have that bop i am here for it and mostly i am here for Bjorkman being furious that Sweden wont beat the record of Ireland. Bring it on RTE
I really want Ireland to win so Sweden will have a hard time braking their record
gay-foe-wee-ah
wea ou boiz wiff emotionz
She said it would be up there, I’m really surprised y’all are acting this dramatically, she was asked if it was up there with Euphoria, was she supposed to say no? I get people are saying it’s dangerous to over-hype an entry, but it’s kind of the delegation’s job to hype it.
He…
It’s gonna be terrible let’s be real here
You’re so pessimistic lmao
He’s being realistic. It could he as good as Philly McMahon is saying but it could equally be terrible.
@Deven
Having the most negative opinion possible for something does not make you realistic, the definition for that is pessimistism.
I’m starting to think Deven is a bot. He says the same thing over and over again as if he hasn’t emphasised it enough already. If you’re gonna be that negative about your own countries entry when you haven’t even heard it yet then why bother lol
I mean don’t get me wrong I hope the song lives up to the hype being thrown around, but I can’t deny a part of me is worried that it won’t amount to anything and that the song won’t live up to the hype being thrown at it. I guess I have been burned by RTE’s blaise efforts in the past and it just leaves me doubtful.
Jeez the amount of Irish xenophobia in the ESC fandom is horrendous. Not even heard the song or performance people already dislike the entry, we would be better off not showing up at this stage.
Overhyping unreleased entries like this is one of the worst mistakes countries can make, because it sets up absurdly high expectations you risk not living up to. And considering Ireland’s recent track record, I realistically can’t bring myself to expect the next Euphoria from them.
Maybe the entry is just as good as he says it is and is just being honest?
To try and compare a 2020 entry to a 2012 winner is worrying… Pure hype is asking for trouble… Will we get a big surprise.. I doubt it!!
List to the interview again as you clearly haven’t based on this comment.
Another generic pop drop song ready for sure.
Can’t wait to see the Irish act! While I have my personal favourite countries, I always open to the possibility of other countries slaying the contest.
I meant I don’t blame them for their response – they’re hardly gonna compare it to Korake ti znam or Falling Stars. However, I’m not convinced. I always worry when countries big themselves up so much…
Sorry but i am not getting my hopes up at this point. Ireland went from winning three times in a row to one of the least succesful countries in eurovison. And euphoria, im afraid, is no longer the way to win. They will Need to be original think of something celtic thrown in with a simple but effective performance. It doesn’t have to be modern, and it also doesnt have to follow any trends. Just do you ireland! You won 7 times for goodness sake!
I have a feeling this will backfire so much.
I’m glad to hear that he’s at least trying to promote the song. They really didn’t try to drum up any support for Sarah McTernan last year. I’d love to see the general public get excited about Ireland in Eurovision again. So many people just sneer and dismiss the competition, but sending a real, quality entry, might change people’s opinions!
I’m guessing the song must be decent. There’s no way all those creative people like McMahon and ThisIsPopBaby would come on board to stage a weak entry.
They give us the best winner in ESC history (“The Voice”, of course). I want to see them shine again. I hope they have a good song this year.
Does anyone have a clue when we’ll be put out of our misery and when the entry will be released?
I’m afraid that it will be just the beginning of the misery.
Elaborate?
I too really want to know when the entry is going to be released. I’m sick of all the teasers and I just want to know who the artist is and what their song is
This strategy only works if the song is crap. If it’s a great song, people will love it when they hear it, so no need to big it up. If it’s crap though, by saying it’s amazing beforehand you’ll at least get a few gullible people to buy it before they realise it’s crap.
Happy to be proved wrong though.
It’s not a strategy, though. Listen to the 8 minute interview, he was on the show to talk about something else entirely, this topic just happened to dominate. He was reacting to the host’s questions, it’s not like they had some PowerPoint presentation on how to take over Europe with hype.
Then he is a very silly boy.
Dublin 2021 sounds great.. Getting really excited about this, I’m Dutch but the Irish have my respect all the way.. Hope it comes true and they do really well
For those who don’t remember or know about Italia ’90….it was when Ireland got to the quarter finals of the world cup….and it’s been the topic of conversation since. …even 30 years on!
I preferred Ireland’s previous attitude of not over-promoting their song before it was released. I hope after all this, they have something.
I see a flop
But you haven’t seen literally anything yet
Building so much hype has never done any favour to any country
In fact, it’s always made songs even flop
Hopefully, I’m wrong and we are going to get an amazing entry this year – and from Ireland!
But come on…
I don’t think he’s building hype. He’s talking to a local audience, trying to get them excited. I don’t think he’s considering how Eurovision fans will take his comments, or is even aware that they will hear them.
There was hype for Duncan Laurence Arcade and look what happened ? He won ?
The hype for Duncan was after hearing Arcade… It’s obvious
But we haven’t heard the song yet and they’re hyping it to a song on a level of Euphoria
So if it’s not that good, people will be underwhelmed and disappointed
There’s a difference between hype before hearing the song and after
I heard the interview and Im positive. At least there is an acceptance that a significant change of approach is needed. It was stated that it is going to be an Italian ’90 moment for the country!
Hope it will have epic ending, I’m still waiting…
To compare an unreleased song to Euphoria would be a bit too far in my opinion
Building a lot of hype. Getting expectations very high and we all know there’s only one way it goes if they don’t live up to what they’ve built up.
*insert sound of plane crashing and burning ?*
God why do they build hype like this? They should keep quiet until the song is released. And yes, I’m irish.
Did that last year remember. That did not go well. Time to change tactics.
You mean like last year when we came last in our semi?
“It all starts with the song” -something that I try to convince people (writing under posts about polish Szansa na sukces formula that is about to choose polish act for ESC2020) from the begining…
and I got lot of dislikes.
I still keep on saying that it is song, presentation, lobbying (RTE wow!) and ability to get votes that makes a winner.
Let’s see what the Irish bubble is all about 😉
(cause I somehow feel it’s only a bubble as it is RTE)
I hope it’s true but I’m not positive. The more you hype the harder it will flop….
I’m shi**ing it. Please Rte don’t embarrass me again Ireland
I know I’m so damn scared, I wish they had kept quiet like they usually do, so if it’s bad it will not be noticed, but instead they’ve done this…
At the end of the day who gives a fuxk? who’s gonna be disappointed? The few eurovision fans on this site that count for like 0.01% of the televote? 99% of people voting most likely haven’t heard the news and rumours beforehand so they won’t be disappointed
Excellent. I think we did tell RTÉ to hype their entry up a bit more. There was that lecture/meeting and everything. Good show so far.
That escalated quickly. Hope that it won’t have Spain’s faith
I have a funny feeling it’s Laoise representing Ireland this year. Fingers crossed. I’m hoping for our eight win, but I’d definitely settle for a place in the final!
Me too she’s a pop singer and her songs are exactly the style that pop baby stage
He didn’t compare it Euphoria as such. The interviewer said Euphoria was her favourite ESC entry and she asked him how it compared to a song like that.
He certainly talked up the song on its own merits though.
anyway imagine comparing your 2020 entry to a 2012 electropop song… no matter how legendary euphoria is, this concept smells like expired milk.
So Euphoria is expired milk?
euphoria is timeless and frozen in time. but tryin to copy it won’t lead you nowhere now.
You obviously didn’t listen to the interview if you claim he said it’s the same as Euphoria. What was actually said in the interview was that the song is an almighty bop and that in 10 years time we will still be dancing to it. The interviewer than said an entry that falls into that category for her is Sweden 2012 and simply asked if this entry is up there with that one and and Phil said “I think we are up there”. That’s what was actually said, but haters are of course going to hate and mix his words… Read more »
He wasn’t comparing it to Euphoria per sé, the interviewer asked if it was up with the quality of euphoria as it was her favourite eurovision song. He believes that it is as high quality as euphoria not that it is the same.
euphoria wasn’t electropop
Euphoria, forever till the end of hype, from then on no more joy or smile, they’re falling do-o-o-o-o-own.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist
Seriously now, hype is never a good idea. Just look at what happened with Spain. Better watch your mouth, Mr McMahon, those words can backfire massively…
Last year Ireland was scolded for having no hype. This year we’re scolded for too much hype. So if both are bad what do we do?
Balance it, of course…
Ok, so it won’t qualify then..
Aye anything is a step up from last year I guess!
Literally nothing left to lose. As long as we come up from bottom we can at least say we did better than the year before.
skksksskjsk they’re setting themselves up for drags
Now i have a feeling its going to be bad 🙁
They’re hyping it up a lot but I am preparing for disappointment.
Oh, Ireland… I want you to succeed, but overhyping your entry is a very dangerous road to take.
this 100% – to claim you have a song on the level of Loreen’s Euphoria is a very dangerous thing to claim, especially if it doesn’t turn out to be the case! Regardless, fingers crossed they have an awesome song!
Okay sure
shoooore
VERY BIG WORDS FROM PHILLY MCMAHON! Either it REALLY IS going to be an “almighty bop” or an almighty catastrophe!
Spain’s ‘Universo’ and Finland’s stuff were announced in a similar big shot wannabe fashion. Just saying.
Eek I’m worried it won’t be as good as a they’re hyping it up to be
It won’t be.
I would like to hear the song first before deciding that.
McMahon’s comments on Australia and Sweden demonstrates some awareness of the contest’s place in modern music, which is reassuring. At the very least, a bop would be different from their recent songs so I’m keeping an open mind.
Ireland have a very mixed track record on bops. It’s unfortunate that the best “bop” they’ve ever sent would probably be…god help us…Jedward’s “Lipstick.” And that’s a song that sounds worse and worse to me by the day.