We discovered the six finalists in Ireland’s Eurosong 2022 last week. Now it’s time to listen to the songs and choose your favourites. Lesley Roy flew the tricolour in Rotterdam, but who do you want to see succeed her at Eurovision 2022?
You can listen to all six Eurosong 2022 entries below. Then vote in our poll. You can vote for as many contestants as you like, but you can only vote ONE time. Be sure to check the box next to every act you want to support before submitting your votes. Voting ends on Thursday 3 February — just ahead of the final on 4 February’s The Late Late Show.
Ireland’s Eurosong 2022 finalists
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.
“This song is such a bop, total 80s vibes & absolutely screams Eurovision – a totally different genre than my usuals but I love it & hope you’ll get behind me so I can represent ireland in this years Eurovision”, wrote Rachel on Instagram.
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.
Brendan explains the meaning behind “Real Love” as such: “it’s not realising what was right in front of you the whole time. You’ve ignored and put the thought of it to one side but then you come to that realization that you should have said what you felt a long time ago. You’ve convinced and made excuses for yourself when you really should have told that person how you really felt.”
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 Nicky Byrne and Ryan O’Shaughnessy at Eurovision 2016 and 2018 respectively. In 2021, she was a finalist on RTÉ’s new talent show The Last Singer Standing.
On “Ashes of Yesterday”, Janet says it’s “all about rebuilding yourself up after disappointment, to not let self-doubt or others bring you down. The message is so powerful and encouraging, especially after the tough few years everyone has had. I want to uplift people and if I can do it while representing Ireland, that would be a dream come true.”
Brooke Scullion — “That’s Rich”
Written by Brooke Scullion, Izzy Warner and Karl Zine
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. Brooke says that she was inspired by the likes of Blondie and The Gossip when she wrote “That’s Rich”. “I was reading Debbie Harry’s autobiography and wanted to encapsulate the attitude she portrayed in her life,” she says.
Patrick O’Sullivan – “One Night, One Kiss, One Promise”
Written by Nicky Byrne, Danny O’Reilly and Lar Kaye
Patrick won the inaugural season of RTÉ’s new talent show The Last Singer Standing. Originally from Cork, he’s now based in London and was recently cast in The Book Of Mormon on the West End. Eurovision 2016 singer and Westlife star Nicky Byrne is among the song’s writers.
Miles Graham – “Yeah We’re Gonna Get Out Of It”
Music and lyrics by: Miles Graham, Justin Broad and Paul Herman
Graham is a Dublin-born singer-songwriter. His debut EP Air In My Lungs was released in 2015. It caught the attention of the late Terry Wogan and the long-time UK commentator invited Graham to perform on his BBC radio show. He’s since released a second EP and a number of singles.
Who should win Ireland’s Eurosong 2022?
Who did you vote for? Who will win? Who should win? Let us know below.
Most of these songs are incredibly safe and unimaginative. Most of these singers are great, so the songs are really a waste of their talents. I’d choose That’s Rich since that’s the only song (though hardly a masterpiece) that shows some energy and creativity.
currently Living for That’s Rich by Brooke Scullion. It’s been my most replayed song of the NF season so far.
Nothing special.
I only like Miles and a little bitte even Patrick.
The maddest thing reading these comments is the fact that not even a year ago everyone was up in arms at albina not qualifying with her safe pop track. Ireland give an even better safe pop track with that’s rich and its dragged down. Like it or not, the song is most definitely a grower and Brooke has all the charm to elevate the song. I’m confident if she won the NF she’d qualify with ease.
Just because they’re the same genre, it doesn’t mean they should be judged the same. Plus, eurofans wanted Albina to qualify because of her performance so we have to wait and see if Brooke delivers…
Good point. Hopefully Brooke smashes it on Friday.
I think either Miles or Brooke should win,with Miles slightly having the edge. Both are good songs but Miles has that extra something. It would be something new for Ireland.
Brooke is good to with a nice modern pop song that still is safe..
There is some good songs in there that would do well in the charts but eurovison has evolved into something different and a good chart song isn’t good enough anymore. Why not try a different approach and put through Miles Graham? If they got staging and backing performance right and good delivery of the message in the song, you never know ????
I would go for Patrick here. Catchy song, well-produced. If they stage it will it could qualify. That Rich-song is just annoying. Choose wisely, Ireland!
Miles is the best here, but unfortunately he might not win because of what he did recently
What did he do recently?
Context, please
I voted for Ashes of Yesterday and the fan favorite, That’s Rich.
My main complaint with Ireland’s selection is the lack of songs to choose from. They have time for more songs instead of doing review segments of the 1990s glory days and having judges giving feedback. It’s not like this magic number of 6 has worked in recent selections for either them or the UK. With more songs there would at least be some hope of overcoming pre-selection bias.
Hmm…. This is disappointing. I like only two out of this bunch, and I don’t even believe they would qualify in Eurovision. First of all, there’s Brooke – I like it a bit, but it’s not that great or original. I see that the fandom does prefer this to the other five, since That’s Rich is atleast somewhat radio-friendly. This song needs a really good staging for it to win the national final (which is probably not gonna happen, sorry) Next, I like Patrick’s song too, but its not great either. I love its vibe and the instrumentation, but the… Read more »
The main reason why there’s a lukewarm reception is that these songs feel safe and familiar. They aren’t bad. I mean, just compare them to what Moldova has presented us with. Each has a capable vocalist, and a melody that somewhat easily sticks. The issue is the lack of creativity in assembling such a small number of songs. A good ”safe song” can stick when sorrounded by more daring entries, while having them together can make each sound even more safe than they normally would. Nothing stands out, and I’m not even sure most of these would qualify as ”good… Read more »
Well said Colin!
sorry, but this is such a mediocre bunch.
i think brendan could qualify with a MASSIVE jury push, the rest is hopeless
This is a such a uninspiring bunch of songs
That’s rich should represent Ireland. A fun, modern song that will attract younger audience and could go viral. Yes, it’s not a strong song but with the right staging it might qualify.
Well the line up of countries in the second half of the second semi leaves Ireland the clearest shot at making the final in ages—if they can’t then they have no excuse other than their taste in pre-selecting songs
I’d wager the performance on the night will deliver the winner as I don’t think there will be much in terms of staging on the Late Show
Janet Grogan has some pretty strong odds over at the bookmaker covering this selection. She’s at 40% as of speaking so that suggests some level of confidence/knowledge that the rest of us probably don’t have.
As for the question, let’s be honest. No country should be sending any of these songs to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022.
1. That’s rich
2. One night, one kiss, one promise
Either Patrick O’Sullivan or Brooke Scullion. I don’t really think any of them would qualify but they are enjoyable. Personally I prefer Patrick, though tbh Brooke would be a wiser option in term of potential success in a competition.
Putting the obviousness aside, Brooke is my favorite from this selection by a mile! I hope she wins, her song has a great potential and – because of that, it might open the door to better times for Ireland. I’m so thrilled! 😀
g) none of the above
But seriously they could do so much better…
I love Patrick’s voice and I voted for him but the song sounds like a Netflix show soundrtack. Love, Victor and 13 Reasons Why (I know, I know) came to mind. I keep humming the chorus of a song this sounds dangerously similar to but I can’t remember the lyrics. The fact that they contain a lot of ‘oh’s doesn’t help…
Janet
The mention of Debbie Harry convinces me it needs to be Brooke.
brenden because its the only one that will qualify
Nobody is going to qualify lmao
Brooke would easily qualify if she’s chosen.
There’s no way of knowing that.
gurl, it’s not even a question
That’s rich is by far my favorite. Only like 2, but this is much better.
This NF is stronger than previous Irish NFS so that’s a positive and hopefully Ireland will continue with NFS and the quality continues to be present.
I think this will come down to the night and the live performances. There are some good vocalists here who could really bring the studio versions to live on the night.
Brooke is the current favourite as a studio cut but the talent is there in this NF and the vocals of these strong singers may sway juries on the night.
I seem to be the only Eurovision fan in the entire world who isn’t a fan of Brooke’s song. I feel like people are hyping this mainly because the other songs are so bad and because Ireland has had a poor track record at Eurovision in recent years. Also the hype surrounding her song probably won’t mean much because the number of Eurovision fans out there is pretty small in comparison to the general population. In other words, you can’t rely solely on the votes of Eurovision fans to get victory.
You’re not alone!
We’re in this together. 🙂
I actually think that it’s the other way around. Brooke’s song is actually a banger and wouldn’t be turned down by artists like dua lipa or Ann Marie. It’s the fact the song is being analysed amongst the other entries which I admit aren’t great. But if I were to put this song in MGP or MelFest this would be a winner. It won’t win Eurovision but it’ll definitely qualify and maybe get other side of board.
It literally sounds like the sort of song Dua Lipa would record and then not release. It’s really cheap and quite repetitive. Brooke herself is great but she can’t save this flavourless song.
Very much agree with you here. The eurofan bubble and the general public tend to have diffrent tastes a lot of the time. Countries need to pick what’s best for Eurovision as a whole, not what’s gonna please the eurostans all the time.
I don’t agree that That’s Rich is typical “fan” fare – that would be much more applicable to Rachel Goode’s song, very ESC sounding with a key change and everything.
I agree in part with you, but that’s rich is their best option.
Look, I get that it might not be an amazing song in comparison to others that are in national finals or selected but tbh, we don’t as Irish fans have much to cheer about when it comes to our entries. We have had disappointing results after disappointing results for years excluding 2018. Our HoD clearly doesn’t pay much attention to the competition and doesn’t take it seriously and with his team, selected these songs as “the best” of 330 entries or so. Whilst I do not believe for a minute that these were the 6 best songs, I think Brooke’s… Read more »
As you mentioned people liked Maps last year and yet it flopped. Brooke’s song isn’t as good or well-polished as Maps. Also there are several countries in Ireland’s semi this year like Sweden and Australia that I expect to have stronger entries than any of the songs in the Irish NF so Ireland I imagine will really struggle to qualify this year.
I really want to like these songs, but I cant. The songs are terrible. So terrible that I wouldn’t even see Ukraine, Russia, Azerbaijan, Norway, Sweden and Australia qualifying with them.
I dont get the hate Irelands NF is getting, tbh i think there are 2 songs in here that if they were in any Scandinavian NF people would be gushing about.. 1) Vocally Patrick stands out… I love that he maintains his accent when singing. The song itself is reflective of the modern Irish popular music scene. There is no reason this couldn’t make the grand final and finish on the left hand side of the scoreboard, other than it would be representing Ireland and people don’t vote for us. 2) Brooke is bringing something very current and chart friendly… Read more »
From what I’ve heard, the public will make up 1/3rd of the vote while there is a Jury (National and International) that will make up the other 2/3rds however, this is not confirmed. This is just rumors for now
I’m Loving Me
It’s not a competitive NF at all. Even though the songs are trying to be different, there is a certain “sameness” to them all. I will give credit to Brooke though, “That’s Rich” is a bop, and not at all like something we have ever sent. I’d call that the strongest entry in our NF. Not sure how it would sound live and also not sure if the Late Late Show viewer would vote for it. I like Brendan Murray and he has a unique voice, but someone needs to tell the chap that the type of songs he sings… Read more »
Downvoted??? For???
Atleast give your point and disagree with me. Be brave <3
Don’t feel bad. Just typing the name Brendan apparently gets you downvoted 🙂
Brendan
Patrick’s song is my clear frontrunner, I absolutely adore this song and his voice.
brooke. the song is good and not dated, brooke has the looks, and she reminds me of today’s popstars. it’s not a winning entry, but she has quite the package that none of the others remotely comes close to.
have voted for brooke – it seems i am not alone. 🙂
That’s rich is the best option easily! So Ireland will go with something else obviously and the NQ will be deserved.
Patrick is the only one that I’m really connecting with and I absolutely love the song. Will it do well in Eurovision? idk but regardless, he’s a great discovery for me from this natl final
Personally I like “Ashes of Yesterday” the most and think is has the most potential live (with decent staging). I understand tons of people like “That’s Rich” but it just hasn’t grown on me yet. It kinda reminds me of like Top 100 radio pop songs, but I hope to change my mind once I see it live. It could be a good way to get Ireland out of the Semi’s
Who should NOT represent Ireland: Miles.
Brendan 🙂
My personal fave is Patrick O’Sullivan, but “That’s Rich” is absolutely the best option for Ireland, it could honestly even qualify from the second half of their semi. As long as “I’m Loving Me” doesn’t win, I’ll be fine. I cannot stand that song at all.
“I’m Loving Me” is such a guily pleasure but overall, there are no great options here…
try next year Ireland
There is (obviously) only one correct answer here.
I hope this act will push Ireland out of its current mindset when it comes to Eurovision and encourage other young artists to represent Ireland in the future.
I honestly don’t get all the hype for Brooke’s entry. She’s a good performer but the song just comes across as a cheap Dua Lipa B-side track she didn’t want to release. Personally I think Brendan would be the best choice. I think with a ballad like that it could really cut through all the craziness and be a really refreshing and memorable performance on the night if staged correctly, I also think Patrick could be a good choice as he’s got amazing live vocals and I think if it has good staging could do very well with the juries.
I think Brooke’s entry is interesting at first but becomes too repetitive and for me it feels like it lasts like 5 minutes or more. I would be delighted if Patrick wins this, but it is probably not going to happen. :<
I think Patrick has a really good shot actually. He recently won a talent show in Ireland and is the only one with a power note in his song so he could very well be the one selected next week.