They’re the Irish pop rock band from County Kildare who have had two #1 albums since 2017. And now — following Ireland’s last-place finish in Semi-Final 1 of Eurovision 2021 — Picture This have signalled that they’re keen to get involved with Eurovision by writing a song.
As the Irish Mirror reports, drummer Jimmy Rainsford and vocalist Ryan Hennessy are self-professed Eurovision fans and Jimmy previously served on Ireland’s jury.
Jimmy made it clear that he has a deep respect for the competition, saying that Lesley Roy was up against an “elite level of songs” and adding that Eurovision “is becoming cool again” owing to some very contemporary songs.
“People took the piss out of Eurovision, even the people who were entering the Eurovision took the piss out of it for a long time.”
“It just got ridiculous but now I feel like the songs are coming back and it’s getting a lot better credits.”
“I think next year it will be huge but definitely something we would consider because it’s Eurovision.”
So would they write a Eurovision song for Ireland?
“Yes, absolutely,” Ryan said. “We actually love Eurovision.”
The cynics among us might point out that the band is currently promoting their third album. Life in Colour dropped on June25 and currently sits at #2 on the Irish charts. The band have made no secret of wanting to push it to the top.
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But when you hear the guys talk about Eurovision, it seems like much more than a run at publicity. They seem to have given it a lot of thought — even debating whether they’d want to sing in their native language.
“I love the Irish language in general,” Ryan said. “I also understand that like… Maneskin, there’s a lot of people that speak Italian… there’s not a lot of people around the world that speak Irish.”
“So I don’t know if it would translate as well as other languages would but I think it would be amazing just because it would be different.”
“I think if you got a great pop song but they’re singing it in Irish, it would be interesting. Why not try something like rather than doing the same thing over again. I think it would be interesting.”
Are you into the idea of Picture This writing a song for Eurovision? Would you want them to sing it, or do you think they should give it to an up-and-comer? Let us know in the comments box below!
A lot of Europeans would have studied french viola viola or Italian and would have some idea about what the song is about not sure if they would as gailge but I hope picture this write a really good song and return us to Eurovision respectability
NO WAY PICTURE THIS ARE WILLING TO REPRESENT IRELAND..!
Dublin 2023 I guess
It could be a great choice and the guys will bríng back Ireland as a powerhouse at ESC ! They sound a little bit just like U 2…
I hope this is not a rumour and not for filling the emptiness during the summer months.
I think many people did not get that with many Italian entries, language barrier is not a problem, but rather an advantage. I’m talking about Il Volo, Mahmood and Måneskin, who all had terribile to cheesy and bad-constructed lyrics. I think people understanding lyrics could have really harmed them, especially Il Volo and Måneskin, but maybe Mahmood could have been forgiven for the “emotional factor”. On the opposite side, Francesco Gabbani had very Clever and symbolic lyrics, he was really the one who lost not being able to be understood by the wide audience who preferred to go with something… Read more »
Sorry, but I like the lyrics of Soldi (and everything else of course)
Are you Italian?
No, but I´m very interested in languages.
That´s the spirit of Eurovision for me.
I grant you that Il Volo’s lyrics were probably cheesy, and Maneskin’s seems to have been intentionally simple, but Soldi was really deep, and frankly rhyming Champagne with Ramadan was genius in so many ways.
Also, while I think French is more widely understood than Italian, I think a lot of Voila’s appeal was down to its lyrics.
I don’t know if you are Italian, but Måneskin’s lyrics are probably the worst among these three. All my friends agreed with me during Sanremo week, especially one of them who would have not accepted anybody else as a winner. They were not just simple, there was 0 commitment and did not tell anything, they tried to give the “accept-differences” message but in a very cheap and unoriginal way, lyrics are definitely the weakest point in Zitti e Buoni, they are all over the place. Regarding Il Volo, yes they were incredibly cheesy and I still think they deserved their… Read more »
okay now THIS is something ireland’s broadcaster needs to jump on. they’re an act irish people know and would get behind, and they have enough experience themselves to know how to come up with a good song and show
Might not be irrelevant. The Irish public are desperately looking for a change of approach to our ESC entry. Something has to change at some point.
Wouldn’t say no to this.
But one of our problems isn’t JUST the song. Maps is a great song, playing with numbers is a great song.
But we need a good singer and seasoned performer to give it any oomph.
If Picture This want to write a song, great. But I don’t think the actual song has been the problem for us per say. We have sent some really well written songs to ESC, just not a strong performer to pull them off.
But yes, hopeful piece of info there.
I would say with Playing with Numbers the problem was not the singer, she was amazing. Not that I disliked the song, it’s actually my second favorite Irish song behind Together, but I think Ireland was unlucky to not get the public behind like it did in 2018. I don’t think another performer would have made the difference.
With Maps, you’re absolutely right of course.
Molly was close to qualifying in 2015, and would’ve done so if the juries had their way. The stage was just too cluttered for what was ultimately a low key emotional ballad.
Any rock band is likely to represent Ireland next year because Ireland is crazy for their alternative rock scene. Picture This is no exception.
I would like to see it. never heard a single song of theirs but the fact that they are willing to take the contest seriously makes them top-tier in my eyes
also, possibly in Irish? RTÉ please pick them
They never said they wanted to represent Ireland – they just said they’d write a song. So don’t get your hopes up.
They would *write* a song for Eurovision – but they wouldn’t perform that song at Eurovision.
Every successful Irish artist/band has said this before… it’s nothing new.
I don’t know them but if they are good and enjoy chart success, it would be ideal for Ireland to send someone who is already successful.
Singing in Irish would be fantastic, i mean they got nothing to lose.
They’re well liked in Ireland, not our most famous band, but I really like them. Chances of them writing in Irish are slim though, Irish songs aren’t really something they’re known for.
Nah they translated their song ‘take my hand’ into Irish and sang it. But I get you, most of their songs are english.
Absolutely !
i don’t want to get too hopeful but this is exciting. Their songs are great and the prospect of ireland sending a song as gaeilge is very exciting but i’m not sure how well it would work. if it was something kinda celtic it could work. but if picture this are writing the song i think they should stick to english