Ireland’s daily song reveal continues with Janet Grogan by “Ashes of Yesterday”. As with the two previously released Eurosong 2022 entries, the track recieved its world premiere on Ryan Tubridy’s morning radio show.
Janet will join Brendan Murray, Rachel Goode and three other acts in the 4 February national final. We know that Brooke Scullion will be the next act to be revealed, as she already teased her entry “That’s Rich” on social media, with Tubridy later confirming her participation himself.
Eurosong 2022 — The First Three Acts
Janet Grogan – “Ashes of Yesterday”
Music and lyrics by Aidan O Connor, John Emil and Sandra Wikström
Janet’s first brush with fame came in 2016 when she appeared on the UK X Factor. Despite generating some media buzz at home, she was eliminated in the six chair challenge. She was later a backing singer for Ryan O’Shaughnessy at Eurovision 2018 and in 2021 she was a finalist on RTÉ’s new talent show The Last Singer Standing.
Previously Announced 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. She’s perhaps best known as a country singer and is due to appear in the new series of TG4’s Glór Tíre — a reality-based talent search for Ireland’s newest country and western music star. 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 has yet to be played by Tubridy. However she has already revealed her that her new single “That’s Rich” will be debuted on his Wednesday show. Brooke 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 three 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, he said 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.
I wasn’t much of a fan of this song when The Mamas sang it in 2020 and stripping it off its gospel elements hasn’t helped it either.
It’s arguably the best of the 3 and it’s still just OK.
Can we please have just one non generic song?
Pop music is generic.
Speak for yourself please! Other people may like the song so please respect the opinion of others.
Rachel Goode’s song sounds far too much like Can Linn & Kasey Smyth from 2014 and we all know how that ended. Typical for many lyricists writing in a foreign language it’s just a string of cliches strung together with little real meaning, personally I’d like to see a stop to these teams of mainly Scandinavian (I’ve nothing against you guys personally) writers whoring around Europe flogging their songs to anyone, it’s leading to an awful blandness in the songs who’s main effort is to appeal to as many potential voters as possible by reducing songs down to a “scientific”… Read more »
It does sound like a John Lundvik/Mamas song, and if it was the Swedish entry it would surely be up there in the jury vote… but it’s not, and it’s actually just a very bland effort. Ireland and the UK seem to have lost their ability to judge what a good song is when it comes to Eurovision. Strange, because otherwise they seem to be pretty good at it.
I honestly really like this song. Granted I have a soft spot for Ireland and I liked “Maps” too, but I really don’t think this song is as bad as everyone else is making it. With a slight revamp in the pre/chorus and some decent staging, it could make it to the finals. I mean yes, it isn’t exactly anything revolutionary but I think this is something that would have wider appeal (and it does have a hint of Move by The Mamas which I love)
All these Irish entries are just fine. But fine keeps you in the semis. I agree that it does sound like a Mamas track, but without that wall of voices and harmonies that the Mamas deliver and can take a passable track into a contender. The magic of Eurovision is finding the right song for the right times delivered by the right artist who stands out on the night. So far none of these tracks feel like standouts. It’s unfortunate because the music scene in Ireland is so fantastic and varied. There’s still 3 to go—they only need 1 stellar… Read more »
This song is okay, but not great. Maybe a slick and engaging performance, with strong vocals, could elevate it, but that remains to be seen. Not wowed so far.
Whew lord, i really hope there’s something better coming, because… 3 out of 6 are duds.
Another example of how being an experience vocalist/performer means nothing without personality and uniqueness. Ireland has thousands of young indie/alternative artists waiting for an opportunity like Eurovision, but RTE’s ever-ageing panel denies anyone who hasn’t been on the X-Factor. Time for RTE to start reaching out to artists directly instead of waiting for the same reality show rejects and backing vocalists to apply.
I hope Ireland withdraws soon, I’m so fed up and tired. What a wasted opportunity to boost so many young Irish artists into international stardom.
i wouldn’t go as far as to say ‘i hope ireland withdraws’ but with the rest i completely agree. the entire way we go about eurovision needs a massive revamp. we need a new attitude and approach which would give the irish public a reason to watch eurovision and get behind our act. we need an online selection like escz or a scaled down nf like umk OR to approach specific artists with a convincing reason why they should represent us. i could give a list of 30+ artists suitable for that but i won’t bore anyone with that lol
I’d put money on this having been written with the intention for The Mammas to record it. I don’t dislike it – just feels like it was probably submitted to Melfest before it went to RTE.
I like her voice but that’s about it. Another bland song I’d struggle to listen to fully again.
This one is very much like Move by the Mama’s. In fact, I bet you’d all love it if was by them or Sweden.
This song is actually alright. Competant vocal, decent song but it is quite generic and not the most exciting. I still think it’d stay in the semi though.
Why is the sound quality of the last 2 Irish songs so bad? Are these being taken from the radio broadcast or not?
Yes, they were put up on SoundCloud taken from the radio.
There bullets fired.. Three blanks. Ireland…you’re running out of options.
Ok, this is actually not a bad song. It is generic for sure, but her voice is beautiful. I will say this, if this was the mamas this would be a favourite to win.
Apart from this 2022 selection , i don’t think that the songs that Ireland has sent were bad songs in past years , even if they got bad results. I think 2015,2018 and 2019 entries were special and naive. 2015 and 2019 unfortunately didn’t succeed because their rivals were too strong and thoose rivals had more attractive genres.Irish songs just dissapeared among those fancy-fan favourite songs. 2018 actually managed to get some attention , the staging was brilliant and it was a big success to reach the finals. But unfortunately ended up with a bad result which i will never… Read more »
This is the issue with a requirement of our selection process being ‘is an established artist.’ You get a former X Factor singer & Eurovision backing singer with a mediocre song. It’s funny, nobody in this country has ever heard of these acts and are still total unknowns, but apparently a little TV experience means that we have to be subject to mediocrity. I can GUARANTEE that total unknowns had better songs in our application process than this. And I can guarantee they won’t be back applying in their numbers next year. Thanks RTE.
They’re all such average and generic songs. Brooke’s song judging by the snippet sounds pretty generic and inoffensive tbh.
Anyone watching Eurovision recently wouldn’t believe Ireland hold the most wins out of any country
The Eurovision is seen as a joke in Ireland nowadays so I think this puts off some artists who maybe don’t want to be associated with it. Plus the whole selection process isn’t very transparent. We might be better off taking a break from it for a few years which may lead to better entries in the future.
Not bad, the best one so far. Perhaps they all do sound a bit same but it is a pretty decent song.
“I’m loving me” is the only one who doesn’t sound like any other song. Real Love beautiful voice but I swear I’ve heard this melody before
Seriously? “Im loving me” is the exact same song as Poland’s “The Ride” from last year. LOL!
Ireland is the same the uk, they keep thinking safe generic pop is the way to go. These songs are so painfully generic, how can they not see that.
Our Head of Delegation keeps calling it a “pop song contest” whenever he’s interviewed.
ESC is, in fact, pop song contest. Even the genres that you don’t label pop here are really pop.
tell me how shum is pop
Anything that’s popular is pop.
also tell me how telemoveis is pop
also tell me how Zitti E Buoni is pop?
also tell me how ‘Nocturne’ is pop
Probably the best out of the 3 we already know but Ireland keep trying with average songs. They sound nice but are not competitive. Again, I don’t dislike anything in this song but neither I find something that catches me. As I said yesterday, RTE should try in the independent and indie circuit. There are so many interesting artists and bands with tons of potential. I’d go for Inhaler (the band from the son of Bono -U2-) or Dermot Kennedy. None of them are independent anymore but would be massive! Anyway, judging by the way the RTE is treating the… Read more »
Is it better than the first two? Probably.
Will it make any impact at the contest? Probably not.
Am I the only one who thinks that this song sounds a little bit like “move” 2020?
It doesn’t sound bad, I guess (even if quite nondescript), but the issue of broadcasting them on the radio, and not uploading the official studio versions afterwards, still remains. Even regardless of the song quality, RTE isn’t doing much to show they want to qualify.
there’s so many fresh, future-looking, unique, avant-garde and modern Irish artists around. Ireland has the talent to add another 7 wins to their roster. and yet we get these
I hardly can tell different entries from each other.
What can I say about this song. Is it awful? No. Is it good? Kinda. But it’s sooo generic and unremarkable as well.
Just cancel the national final and send Brooke Scullion
Even her song sounds generic af
sure, but at least brooke’s song is trendy (unlike this 2016’d scandipop attempt) and she looks like a convincing popstar. the others don’t really tick any boxes on the other hand.
Apparently, there were about 344 songs worse than these.
Hard to believe.
Agreed, that seems statistically unlikely. well atleast the teaser for Brooke’s song sounds a bit fresh
Likely there were 344 good tracks but rejected because they only want generic safe stuff
Best one so far, but there’s not much competition. Still too much on the generic Scandipop side for me