After six years of internal selection, Ireland is returning to a national final for Eurovision 2022. And on Monday, the first two entries were played during Ryan Tubridy’s RTÉ Radio One show — Rachel Goode’s “I’m Loving Me” and Brendan Murray’s “Real Love”.
There will be six songs in total, with four more more entries premiering on the show throughout the week. Brooke Scullion has confirmed that her new single “That’s Rich” will debut on Wednesday’s edition of Tubridy’s show — indicating that it’s one of the six.
RTÉ has also confirmed that the Eurosong 2022 final will take place on Friday 4 February.
Eurosong 2022 — The first two acts
Rachel Goode — “I’m Loving Me”
Music by Thomas Karlsson / Johan Mauritzson / Joakim Övrenius
Lyrics by Anna Engh
Rachel is a classically trained soprano from Ballinasloe in County Galway. However, for Eurosong she’s crossed over to pop with the Scandi-bop “I’m Loving Me”. Joakim Ovrenius is one of the songwriters. He produced Poland’s “The Ride” in 2021. Karlsson and Mauritzson also wrote on Rafał’s track.
Brendan Murray – “Real Love”
Written and composed by Brendan Murray & Darrell Coyle
Rising to fame with the chart-topping boyband Hometown, Brendan Murray was internally selected to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2017 with “Dying To Try”. Despite investing in a large hot air balloon prop, Ireland stayed in the semi-final. Brendan returned to TV screens a little over a year later when he competed on the final season of the UK X Factor. He made it to the semi-final, placing fifth overall.
Brooke Scullion — “That’s Rich”
Brooke’s song wasn’t played. However she has already revealed her that her new single “That’s Rich” will be debuted by Tubridy on Wednesday — thereby indicating that’s she’s most likely one of the six finalists. She competed on the 2020 season of The Voice UK. She impressed all four judges with her blind audition, as they all turned their chairs. She eventually reached the final and finished joint third.
I'M BACK! My new single That's Rich ? is out this Wednesday!! Tune into the first play from 9am Wednesday on @RyanTubridyShow on @RTERadio1!! ?? Pre-save here to view the artwork!! https://t.co/G4jApcm6uc pic.twitter.com/24u4HfIk2d
— Brooke (@Brooke_Scullion) January 17, 2022
Eurosong 2022: What we know so far
Six songs will compete for the Irish ticket to Turin during a special broadcast of The Late Late Show in February. The remaining four will be released throughout the week, also on Ryan Tubridy’s morning show.
All six songs will then be performed on The Late Late Show on RTÉ One on 4 February. Here, the Irish public will decide its representative for Eurovision 2022 along with input from both a national and international jury.
Ireland’s Head of Delegation Michael Kealy is enthusiastic about the return of a national selection. In September, saying in September that he was “very excited by the return of a Eurovision National Final on The Late Late Show and the prospect of giving the public a greater say in selecting our entry for Italy. Every year the Eurovision gets bigger and more competitive than ever and given the enormous exposure and huge financial rewards for the winner I’m hopeful that we will attract a very high calibre of songwriter and performer.”
The return of Eurosong selection comes on the back of two consecutive semi-final last places at Eurovision. In 2019, Sarah McTernan was bottom of the pack with “22”, while Lesley Roy suffered a similar fate with “Maps” in 2021.
What do you think of the first two songs? Is Ireland onto a winner? Let us know below.
Brendan Murray had his chance in 2017 and failed to get into the final so RTÉ give him the nod again with something equally bland. YAWN!
No way! Did anyone actually think after “The Ride” that it would be a good idea to hire these songwriters? “I’m loving me” is just as terrible, even though she sings better than Rafal. This song is a waste of her voice.
Brendan’s song is pretty boring. Rachel’s song, well the snippet sounds more promising than the other two.
Not my cap of tea. If all the songs are on the same level like these 2, Ireland will have another NQ guaranteed.
I feel the need to add something. Finland uploads their songs with the official videos on their official You Tube channel. Malta did the same with their official lyrics videos today. Even Romania uploaded their songs on their YT channel alongside that photoshopped images of the artists. And Ireland… Two songs are uploaded separately, with one of them still not having the official studio version available. I mean, if RTE wants to be taken seriously, it goes beyond just having good songs. It’s also the way you treat them, and give them exposure.
Brendan’s recording is clearly a rough demo. Why not polish it up before releasing it, I wonder? I love his voice, and I always give credit to someone who writes their own song, but this flat recording doesn’t do him any favors. A warm, emotional performance would make a big difference, though. Good luck, Ireland!
Rachel Goode’s song reminds me of Rafal’s from Poland 2021. That’s not a good thing. Brendan Murray’s was nice but it didn’t do much for me. Not an impressive start Ireland.
It’s allowed if Irish music has not won the contest for more than 25 years, I assume.
I’m happy. There are a couple of “fan moments” for me here. I loved ‘The Ride’ as a “song for driving,” so naturally I really like ‘I’m loving me,’ as it is a natural sequel. Rachel Goode has a great voice and surprisingly suits the song well. I say “surprisingly” because I know what she can do with that soprano range, but credit to her that this track sounds totally awesome. There is one musical clanger in the song – I will leave it to you listeners to find it – but it’s only one awkward moment, so I really… Read more »
Let’s see…Rachel Goode — “I’m Loving Me”. The verses sound good to me actually, but then the chorus comes and yeah… this would have been good in Eurovision 2004 probably. The problem is that, while it tries to be retro, it falls just as dated, key change include. The lyrics are so cheesy too. Brendan Murray – “Real Love”. As a pop ballad is listenable, not too interesting but I’m not bothered while listening to it. As a contestant offers close to nothing at all. I mean, it is nothing I dislike but neither there’s anything I love. Brooke Scullion… Read more »
Totally agree! There are so many up and coming artists who, all things being equal, should be jumping at the opportunity to take part at Eurovision. The pop music industry is growing again in Ireland (after a few years of stagnation), so we aren’t we capitalising on that talent?
So far not very promising but not even half the songs are released yet! There’s still chance for some brilliant songs. Brooke’s sounds amazing can’t wait to hear thay
Rachel Goode’s background sounds very promising, but her song is so bland! You can tell it’s a rehash of ‘The Ride’s, and that was the most monotonous song we’ve had in a very long time. Seems like a waste of her talents! Not listened to the others yet, but it seems to confirm my worst fear- this will be a really dull selection with flat performances just like all the recent Irish finals! I understand that RTE has tight budgets, as I think back to 2008 when they used the Limerick University Hall, a far more suitable venue than the… Read more »
Don’t believe the tight budget cr*p, literally hundreds of millions of euro per year in revenue, and highest paid presenters being paid millions in total.
Sadly Ireland’s outlook on the contest seems to very very similar as the UK’s, too much nostalgia and making little effort as it’s relitivly cheap to do and attracts solid viewing figures, so why bother to win? I know hosting a contest is expensive but surely it’s also very beneficial and profitable?
I have read that RTE is quite a clique-y organization, scarce on talent and originality but rife with nepotism and favortism. Whist their sports coverage is very good, apparently most of their output is bland and crummy, is this true?
Brenday Murray? Oooh boy…. I absolutely hated ‘Dying to try’. Sorry. So, no Brendan Murray again!… Please?
Brendan’s song is quite sweet – though not sure ‘sweet’ gets you out of the SFs. It needs much more of an instrumental swell at the end for impact – it runs out of steam just when it should be going for it.
It seems like they just can’t get many quality Irish songwriters anymore. Which is probably their own fault. They don’t advertise the contest widely enough, it changes from year to year – nobody even knows how to enter, except a small circle of the usual factory people and others who are already actively interested.
“He produced Poland’s “The Ride” in 2021”. Oh, that explains so much…
Sadly, both complete songs managed to sound less interesting than a non-conclusive snippet.
Oh dear. Well, I’m happy, at least.
I can see why you liked Brendan’s song, but I don’t know why you like “The Ride” and its sequel! Any big favorite for Eurovision so far?
So, so far we’ve got one song that’s a substandard derivative of a song that didn’t qualify for last year’s final and another song by an artist who’s voice has already failed to qualify for the final. I’m getting so tired of being disappointed in my country’s performance at Eurovision. RTE really need to scrap their entire delegation and find a better way. Let’s hope that the rest of the songs are better.
Well said…we’re a joke now…and Tubs going on about the Eurovision being in Milan. Spare me,,,where was Marty?
That’s rich sounds promising. Fingers crossed it’s in.
Real Love is definitely better. I stopped listening to I’m Loving Me after one minute.
You’ve lasted a minute? Respect! I was done after 25 seconds.
At this point, the Irish Delegation and the HOD should be taken over by Irish Eurovision Fans because I guarantee you that they’d do a better job of creating a national selection and picking out entries. It is a shame that the country has done so poorly and (as an Irish fan), I really do want them to do well
Letting Eurovision fans take over the selections of the countries would be a disaster from start to finish. All we’d end up with every year are upbeat female-led pop tracks, a few drag queens and not a lot else. Eurovision is so special because it’s about diversity in music and all tracks from all performers should be welcome as long as they don’t break the rules. Eurofan taste is very different to the taste of the general populace and I know quite a few people outside the eurofan bubble would like Brendan’s track.
There are plenty of people here with wider tastes than that.
you should join our insta gc we’re a bunch of irish fans we might try get artists to agree to go next year or something
There’s a simple solution: give the job to TG4. There, you’d get a lovely Irish song, from an IRISH composer (not Swedish) and at least then if we finish low, we are showing off our language. At this stage, RTÉ are competing with all the other countries who are offering English pop, and doing it better. I want us to well again, here’s hoping the next songs they release are a bit more promising!!
Okay so I was one of the few ones that had ireland in my top five before the contest in 2018 and look how well that did. Murray has an absolutely fantastic composition here that I think would at least get ireland back to the final and possibly a top ten depending on the competition.
Gold lightning with moving imagery on the led, murray standing all alone with a microphone stand, snow falling the entire last minute would be stunning.
You’re a dreamer, you dream a lot in your sleep.
Oh honey don’t expect that much, or otherwise you will feel disappointed when that doesn’t happen, which is most likely….
out of those three ‘that’s rich’ is the most appealing to me. but i feel like ireland need to up their game. brendan’s and rachel’s songs give me absolutely nothing. the best i could say about them is, they at least don’t annoy me.
Rachel’s song sounds like its straight from the early 2000’s especially when the chorus kicks in and Brendan’s song, I couldn’t even get to the end. Brooke’s is the only one that sounds promising at the moment.
Brendan’s song is good, at least I stay positive and I’m not constantly negative on the songs offered in each country !
If ‘The Ride’ and ‘I’m Loving Me’ are 2 ugly stepsisters, where is Cinderella?
Saying Hasta la vista to this format. Just don’t call her “señorita”. 😉
Uh nah nah, I won’t. 😛
Haha loved that
I guarantee that out of 320 songs submitted these are NOT among the best. RTE said countless times that being an ”established artist” is a requirement, meaning that the majority of submitted entries were thrown in the trash before even given a chance. Bedroom Pop (meaning music produced by unestablished artists in their bedrooms) is one of the most popular genre’s at the moment. Artists like Clairo, Girl in Red and Gus Dapperton all started out with ZERO experience but became overnight sensations thanks to bedroom pop. RTE needs to widen their perspectives and realise that just because an artist… Read more »
To sum up: RTE needs a drastic change when it comes to ESC. They need to start giving upcoming and unestablished artists a chance instead of relying on bland XFactor rejects with ZERO personality and uniqueness. I think Irish people need to demand an online selection next year, or else they will be disappointed for years to come. Do what the Spanish eurofans did, annoy your broadcaster until they give in and are forced to take a new stance on ESC.
The craziest thing is it’s not as if Ireland are short of some very unique music from some great artists. They even do a artist of the year award on RTE2FM they could even use that as the platform for our entry. Denise Chaila, Dermott Kennedy, Lyra, ruth Allen all came from this AirPlay and recognition. It’s simply insanity to not even offer the position to the winner of that award. Even still associating the Eurovision to that shambles of a show like LLS simply proves that they haven’t thought anything through. He even said on the radio “we’re going… Read more »
Clairo would have been a really good choice for Ireland. And given her still relatively low profile, the contest could have been a great platform for her, too.
Clairo is huge, I doubt she would consider Eurovision given she is constantly touring the world and has over 8M followers online. Irish bedroom-pop artists like Blonde Soda, Aby Coulibaly, Yenkee, Biig Piig, Malaki, LAOISE and Gemma Dunleavy would kill it at Eurovision.
But the artists that RTE selects aren’t that good on stage either. Lesley had poor vocals, Sarah had both poor vocals and no stage presence. Artists from previous years weren’t that great too. So I guess Ireland could give a chance to less experienced artists. They wouldn’t perform worse than “the estabilished artists”
Whilst I agree that many bedroom-pop artists aren’t great at performing live, there’s always plenty of undiscovered stars waiting for an opportunity like Eurovision to shine and establish a career. Ireland could give these artists this platform since the majority of (decent) established Irish artists don’t want to go to Eurovision because of the general public perception of the contest. RTE has surely seen by now that being an established performer means nothing if you don’t have originality, uniqueness and personality. I think the best way to combat both of these issues would be if RTE invited these bedroom/unknown artists… Read more »
You’re seeing it in a quite naive way, I guess. All of bedroom pop artists were having some sort of industry ties, so they’re not really self-made and all exist in the same circles. The problem with Ireland on ESC is that exactly. Their “experienced performers” are just folks who broadcaster knows well. So, essentially, bedroom pop or not doesn’t matter. It changes nothing.
“I’m Loving Me” is literally just “The Ride” 2.0 and I don’t think that is a format you want to copy considering last year’s results (I recognize the songwriter is the same)…. so yeah not a fan.
Not much to say really, both songs would be doomed if they were picked for Turin.
Please don’t judge, but I do like Rachel Goode’s song a lot since it reminds me of something that I’ve heard before! I just can’t figure what song, but yeah not for Eurovision, but it’s nice to listen! Thanks! 😀
It’s hard being an Irish eurofan
In my opinion, Irish eurofans need to do what the Spanish eurofans did. Bombard and spam RTE with countless emails, messages and comments until they take Eurovision seriously. Why would they change their ways if they think that nobody really cares?
we try but they tend to ignore. and on the off chance that they respond, they come out with the usual old shpiel about the budget constraints etc
Then try harder! That’s what Spanish eurofans did, they didn’t give up nor stop until RTVE gave in.
Getting 0 zero points was also a motivator to change things up
If you’re gonna drudge up a song from Sweden, “from the guy that gave us The Ride” was definitely not the way to go…Brendan’s song sounds pleasant and non-competitive but I give him all the credit in the world for writing it himself. He does have a unique voice. Maybe the best is yet to come and Ireland is going in the opposite way of Whatever Finland is doing in releasing tracks
320 songs submitted and this is the best we have? We’re better pulling out altogether.
Brooke Scullion — “That’s Rich” could be their best entry in 2 decades. So it’s probably not gonna happen.
Can’t say I’m surprised by the selection so far. I was quite concerned by our HOD’s lack of knowledge of our selection process, why we’ve not gotten the best results and not knowing Alexander Rybak’s name. He is using the same old excuse of Eurovision has changed so much as an excuse for not doing well and that many countries sing in English so its harder for Ireland to stand out. Like fact of the matter, were not doing well because our entries aren’t good enough. Any Eurovision fan could tell you this but yet its a big mystery to… Read more »
At least your HoD is not as bad as Georgia’s
Oh dear…
Imagine watching Rafal’s performance and saying “Yes, please, I’ll have some of that!”…
I’m slightly concerned that Michael Kealy couldn’t name Alexander Rybak and referred to him as “the Norwegian guy” this morning. Also worried that the reason he gave for introducing international juries was because “other countries are doing it.”
Agreed. I was also very bemused with his response to the traditional music question – has he ever heard of “Nocturne”, for example? He didn’t inspire much confidence from his answers; seems a reactive rather than proactive type.
What makes it even more cringe is they are mentioning acts that won 13 years ago. Fairytale wouldn’t win in todays standard. And they’re speaking about acts like this as if this is what we’re looking for.
Spain firing their entire delegation last year has done them the world of good. This is what we need for Ireland.
Michael Kealy needs to go, period. I know that RTE use Michael as director for other international events like the Olympics, but they can definitely fork out a couple thousand euro to hire a new HoD.
It seems this will be another difficult year for Ireland in Eurovision. A sure non qualifier, based on these 2 songs. Let’s wait for the rest but I am not optimistic, it seems that they have lost their contact with the ESC.
I’ll make that judgment when all six songs are out, but yeah it’s not a great start.
The problem with Rachel’s song is not “the 80’s vibe”, but the generic and soulless that the song sounds. About Brendan, I have to admit that I liked “Dying to try” (or trying to die), but this one, I don’t get it… about the snipet from Brooke, I have to want but I don’t feel anything promissing from it… I really love Ireland as a country, and specially as a eurovision country, but I feel they are not doing any effort, maybe the whole delegation must be replaced. Michael Kealy and his team should be fired
That’s rich sounds like a banger
That first song, “I’m Loving Me”, is terrible. It’s a really awful song. The lyrics are cringe, the guitar solo is cringe and the key change is just horrible. I’m sick to death of acts thinking that they can do the 80s justice. It’s just embarrassing. Also, why another wedding singer? I have nothing against Rachel because I had never heard of her until this morning but we sent a wedding singer three years ago and look at how well that did (last in the entire competition, go figure). That’s because wedding singers, by and large, don’t have any television… Read more »
Well, there are a lot of people working at RTE so naturally there are going to be a lot of weddings every year. They simply found an efficient way of auditioning their reception entertainers.
Best of a bad lot: Rachel
Still, not enthused by either of them. Kudos to Brendan for giving it a try (bet he was dying to try) again. Especially after NQing in Kyiv. But still, don’t think he can with that attempt either.
Not as optimistic as I am any other year, (I do try to be positive about us every year) but I think RTÉ has finally broke me. I think our continued ESC participation is exhausted and quite exhausting too tbh
Swap contests with TG4 – give them the main contest, and let RTÉ have the junior.
Brendan’s song is really nice. But then again, he was in my top 10 in 2017. The upside and downside of returning artists whose previous songs were your personal favorites, are the big expectations. Ignoring the fact that a lot of these songs I now love grew on me with time as well. 😉 I’m also processing before we actually get the official video version without subtle sound issues radio recording has.
Out of the two songs we have now, I think Rachel’s song is far stronger. I dunno why but I really don’t like Brendan’s voice, and his song isn’t doing anything for me either.
brooke’s 14-second snippet is really promising. the song sounds cool and she looks cool too ! brendan’s song is unremarkable and rachel’s isn’t very goode either, the 80s revival trend is on its way out.
Goode either. 😉 I like what you did there.
Brooke’s is the best and it’s not even released lmao
First two songs are not promising.
And I don’t want Brendan to be picked just to lose in the semifinal once again
Brendan murray’s song could qualify in a weak semi final even though it’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s the classic ballad that always has a certain public. A bit like ‘don’t come easy’ Australia 2017.
I like Don’t Come Easy, especially the drum sound in the background. However, Brendan’s song is plain boring. A piano ballad usually relies heavily on its melody and this song is not even memorable.
As a Eurovision fan, the number one ask I’d have of everyone involved with my national selection is to not to contact, return calls or entertain any sort of conversation with somebody who was involved with “The Ride” in any way.
It was funny, though… ha ha ha ha 🙂 In a way, I can see Rachel displaying better vocals and a less goofy tone than Rafal, but also, without any ”guilty pleasure” in it, the song just becomes… there, I guess?
This might be paradoxical, but Rafal’s sub-par vocals, along with his ”wannabe badass” style made this in a guilty pleasure instead of a forgettable song it otherwise likely would’ve been. But sure, objectively, it’s bad. 🙂
Sometimes it’s better to commit to being bad like Serhat, rather than trying and failing to be good.
When some Chinese restaurant decides to make Eurovision-friendly fortune cookies, I want this message in one of them!
This is correct. I don’t want anyone who had anything to do with that song anywhere near our National Selection
Although it’s not even out yet, Brooke’s song sounds like the most promising from this NF.
I hope the best entry wins, because Ireland has been struggling lately and they need to turn things around.
Brook song seem promising, it will be confirmed or not this wednesday. I haven’t still heard the other two first songs but Brook could already be a good option if confirmed with the entire song, I’m hopeful for Ireland
Brooke’s song is definitely a Eurosong entry – she was already heavily rumoured to be one of the six acts.