After last year’s edition, the Emerald Isle is gearing up for another Late Late Show Eurosong special. Over the course of several days, radio crazy Irish broadcaster RTÉ will release the six competing entries.The second has found its way out: Ailsha with “Go Tobann” — which means “suddenly”.
Ireland is releasing this year’s Eurosong entries one by one on the popular radio programme The Ray D’Arcy Show. Ailsha’s entry is the second of six to be played on RTÉ’s Radio 1. Between Wednesday and Friday, we will hear the remaining four songs, with two entries released on Wednesday.
Eurosong 2024: Ailsha
With two musicians as parents, music is in Ailsha’s DNA. Despite that the Wicklow singer whose name is pronounced “El-sha” started out her career as a make-up artist and cruelty-free beauty blogger as a way to have a steady income.
She then graduated from a course in video games music composition at Griffith College in Dublin. Among her video game music credits is the soundtrack to the Big Brother video game.
But most of all, Ailsha is now active as a solo singer, performing a mix between rock, metal and classic Celtic elements. Keeping her career going for several years already, she has recently been able to make her music heard on BBC Radio 1 and on stage during one of Ireland’s biggest festivals— Electric Picnic.
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Ailsha – Go Tobann (Audio)
Co-written by Peadar Connolly Davey and herself, and produced and co-written by Beardfire Studios and herself, Ailsha has described “Go Tobann” as follows to RTÉ:
“I wanted to create a banger of a track that incorporated my own alternative sound with a twist by using some recognisable Irish phrases scattered throughout the song.”
“As a child my family did some occasional work in Dingle, where I learned conversational Irish by visiting a neighbour for tea every day after school while we were there. I learned to love the language and was awarded a Fáinne in secondary school.”
“However, as I grew older I gradually felt my Irish fade away only to remember a few phrases. In Ireland I feel we don’t use our native language enough and it’s a shame because it’s awesome.”
Do you think that Ailsha’s “Go Tobann” will go all the way during Eurosong 2024? Do you think the song will reach Malmö? Let us know in the comments down below!
The full version is out and SLAPS
Interesting and not a safe choice unlike the bland entries Ireland has been sending over the years. BUT it needs a big staging..
This is on Spotify now and it sounds much better than what we had heard.
Sounds great!
Agreed. The first radio play was loud and incoherent. The Spotify release is better. You can hear the lyrics clearer and therefore the message of the song is more satisfying. I just heard basic Irish phrases being thrown about in the first play and it seemed a gimmick but being able to hear the English lyrics alongside the Irish makes it work.
Wtf?! This is unlistenable.
I’ve just been listening to the Luxembourgish selection and people were dismissing that as “generic”, but I’ll take that any day if this is what RTÉ comes up with!
Where did RTÉ dredge this rubbish from??, as an Irish speaker it’s an insult to the language. It’s nothing but chaotic noise, it make Hatari for Iceland in 2018 sound positively melodic.
Sounds like “Touch my fire” played backwards ?
Somewhat so, indeed
2 more songs out today and 2 more disappointment. Isabella Kearney’s is ok but I get bored after a minute and JYelowL is a bad rap song.
When I saw Gavin James’ involvement in Judas I had high hopes but they quickly evaporated.
I am sorry but I don ‘t like this horrible song. I hope for something better !!
A Grimes song (which I love!) but with the quality of a 2003’s .mp3 downloaded illegally from a very VERY obscure website. It’s crazy, it’s (probably) party.
They took four songs and put them in blender…and that’s the result.
It’s super chaotic, and not the good kind. Completely the opposite
Wow, what an awful production. It’s really difficult to comment on the actual song as it’s such a mess. Come on Ireland, you can do so much better.
Omg this is so crazy I love it. Sure, the production sounds awful but there are many interesting elements, from the crazy K-pop like beats to the Celtic elements and the use of Irish language. I hope they polish it enough in time for their national final. In the meantime can we call this G Pop, for Gaelic? :p
You just invented a new trendy music style and i’m here for it!
Loving the chaos
You stage this with no obvious “Celtic” (flags and Dancers and harps), tell the story and interweave Irish, if needed at all, make it work in a very subtle way. Could be magic!
Why would they not use Celtic elements onstage? People love the Celtic culture!
It would be predictable given the sound and that is not what Ireland needs anymore.
I think the point that celtic influence is in there as well.
Needs to be polished, but OMG this one’s a banger! Way better than yesterday’s radio-friendly, safe and unremarkable entry
It is a bit of a mess and hopefully, more coherent and well thought-out songs are still to come but, at least this has some sort of identity. Much more competitive than yesterday’s non-effort.
Ireland better stick to boyband songs if this is what they can offer and what advanced to the national final.
No. The boybands have had their time.
Who says noise ??? Ireland ??
Devastated by the comments because I absolutely love this! It’s giving “Grimes goes to Ireland and has a mental breakdown” vibes- so fresh and exciting from Ireland! I love it!
Remember father ted and my lovely horse ? This song sounds like a different entry in father teds Eurosong in 1990
thFs how absolutely awful it is
Well the rock song is diabolical and song no 1 totally forgettable
I fear Ireland still haven’t a clue lol
Is this the audible manifestation of Ireland’s Eurovision mental breakdown?
I do actually prefer it slightly to yesterday’s offering.
LOL totally sounds like it. Sadly, this really is the better one of the 2 so far.
HaHaHa! Oh dear. Yeah
Mental breakdowns are surely depressing and not much fun? This is not that, it seems more light hearted and joyous.
You can have a manic breakdown. Which is very much OTT joyous.
OMG, what happened to the recording? Surely it wasn’t supposed to sound like that. Perhaps there has been a mistake, and it needs reuploading? What a bizarre moment in this national final season! Thanks Ailsha and RTÉ. At least you grabbed my attention with that track. 🙂
It might still be at advanced demo stage, like Connolly last year. These acts are expected to turn in a finished product without any support from the broadcaster.
The song isn’t out yet. That’s a recording of a radio play.
Even for a radio playback, compared with the others it’s like: Whaaat?
At least it stands out though. It’ll probably win Eurosong now. 😛
So, where do I begin with this one? It’s chaotic. It’s crazy. Musically, it’s a hot mess in it’s current state, but there are a lot of positives. It’s unlike anything Ireland has ever dared to propose before. It also serves as a social commentary on how badly the Irish language is taught to schoolkids. We learn it for fourteen years in primary and secondary school, only to forget most of what we learn when school ends, beyond just “go tobann” and “an bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas?” (because what kid actually wants to study “An Triail”… Read more »
I’ll wait for the live version with this one. The sound mixing is done so poorly, that I can’t have a fair opinion on the song.
Noooo :/
Why is she asking to go to the toilet?
Its one of the few phrases any irish person remembers
Thanks. Is this supposed to be a fun song, or a lamenting of how colonial Brits wiped out her native language? Or both?
A fun song taking the Mickey out of how we Irish go through 14 years of learning the Irish language in primary and secondary school, only to forget most of it when school is over. ?
Bit of both, certainly a bit of a joke that only a few phrases are retained due to the pretty awful way Irish is taught in school too
Maybe she should have asked the Junior Eurovision team to help her with the song.
Even though the production sounds messy, it is still a more interesting song than the previous one… hope this song have a revamp
Not a great production mix, must do better!
There’s elements I like, some I don’t – sounds like a number of songs just meshed together. Kudos for thinking outside the box rather than the generic safe entries we get, but this might be too outside the box
Different and not generic like the other song. However really hard to follow and not an instant ear worm it needs to be . Should be aiming for GO A standards, instead it’s more Triana park , stretching at that . Expected more from her considering what better content she has on Spotify
Can’t wait to hear the studio version which is released this Friday! This genre is something we have never sent before and added bonus of Irish lyrics! The potential for the staging is soo exciting, it just needs to get through the dreaded late late show ?
It sounds like 2 songs playing at same time, vocals are a bit quiet next to the music, but i am excited to see how it sounds live.
Like a car crash.
A video game composer? How interesting! And she grew up in Dingle? I’ve been there MULTIPLE times! The song seems to use quite a bit of Irish and so has a lot of potential! Sounds very pixelated! It’s got a lot of potential on a Eurovision stage so watch this space. She needs DANCERS.
Terribly noisy but I’m kinda curious to see how this will be performed live in the glamorous Late Late Show Studio.
It is too messy! Irish speakers are not going to be fans of the Irish language in this track. It does not make sense and it is full of childish phrases such as ‘can I go to the toilet?’
I appreciate the change in direction of the usual Irish entrants but if is not a qualifier.
I LOVE it, needs a polish for sure but this is the kind of song we need to send. The boring ballads and tired pop doesnt work for us, I’ve been screaming for some As Gaeilge, some alt music like metal or rap, some folk elements. Something inherently Irish, if it works for Moldova, Ukraine etc to lean into their nations culture and make it sound modern then why can’t we do similar?
Because simply you can’t, Ireland. It’s crazy how the queen of the past Eurovisions became a bottom ESC country. Sending a messy electro song doesn’t make you avant-garde, neither progressive, it just makes you desperate. Stuck to your usual style, 90’s pop and dull ballads.
Both this song and the one from Bambie Thug (that it seems it will be part of the selection as well, if leaks are real) are so alternative and out of the box if we talk about Ireland, probably the most conservative country of the whole Eurovision… That “musical conservadurism” is what, in my opinion, is stopping them from a second golden era. Ireland HAS the talent to create beautiful music; they just need to wake up. I believe these alternative sounds help in order to achieve that. About Ailsha’s song, it sounds messy, but a revamp could help, so… Read more »
If Crash Bandicoot was set in Ireland, this would be the soundtrack and I’m here for it ?
I’m very excited about this song. I’d like to see Ireland take a risk this year, fingers crossed for a great live performance. The production may need a bit of a clean up, but the single is out Friday, so time will tell. This is an ear worm, love it.
Bualadh bos! Maith an cailín!
Such a chaotic mess. I stopped listening at 2.00min in the track.
And I used to listen to punk, industrial, teckno and hardcore which I liked.
And why the producer or directors choose this tittle for the track? It could be turned on the socials like Tik Tok easily in a huge meme. “Go Tallibann……………………) not very well thought about imo.Just saying.
I wish Ailsha all the best for Eurosong 24.
What’s that Lady Gaga song again… oh yeaaaa… Noise, Noise, Noise
Are you sure it’s the final product? I find the production messy, the beat is interesting, the mix of genres too, but the overall result of all that feels weird to me. Never heard a song like this from Ireland so it would be original though, good luck to her!
Grimes vibe big time, I kinda love it
This track is insane
Very Grimes
I wish the mix was a bit less chaotic so that mainstream people can appreciate her vocals / the traditional musical elements. Right now it’s a bit TOO chaotic.
But it’s very promising… if they revamp it and the live version is good, this could stand out
Well its different!