Eurovision should-bes: The six acts we'd love to see take to the stage in Turin
Who would you like to see represent Ireland in Eurovision 2022?
It's that time of year again - the Eurosong selection process.
This year, six artists are in the running to represent Ireland in the 2022 Eurovision song contest. Patrick O'Sullivan, Brooke Scullion, Rachel Goode, Brendan Murray, Janet Grogan and Miles Graham will battle it out on a special Late Late Show on February 4 for the coveted gig, with the winner chosen by a combination of national jury, international jury and public vote.
While we will proudly cheer on any Irish person who steps on the Eurovision stage this May, we reckon the national broadcaster has missed a trick in not sending the below artists off to Turin.
No stranger to representing Ireland on the European stage, including standout performances at the EBU's Eurosonic festival, no more confident or articulate a representative of a bold, changing and modern Ireland exists than rapper and poet Denise Chaila.
Part of Limerick's Narolane collective, alongside fellow wordsmiths GodKnows and MurLi, Chaila taps into a frame of reference that spans cultural identities, generational pains and artistic genres. Eurovision simply would not be ready.
We know the Irish are up for a laugh after sending Dustin the Turkey to Serbia in 2008, but Michael Fry's brand of humour would be a definite improvement on that fiasco.
A sketch comedian and entire Indie band, Fry's musical observations are not only on the button, they're as catchy as any of the winning entries from the last decade. His musical takes on classic Irish videos like and probably wouldn't have the same impact with Eurovision's wider viewership, but we reckon he could definitely pull something out of his sleeve that would connect with the masses.
Can you imagine a better-suited candidate for the Eurovision stage than the new queen of Irish country?
Taking equal cues from Dolly Parton and modern-day indie, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson has the pop songwriting chops, the sense of humour, the experience in choreography, and the distinctly Irish sensibility to deliver both spectacle and authentic pop-cultural representation on the big stage - primarily for the girls and the gays, of course.
As soon as we heard Daniel's back in October, we could see it on that Eurovision stage. You can just imagine the Irish flags a-waving as the masses sing La la la la la la la la, la la la la la la la la...
The Donegal crooner's latest album sees him take on classic Eurovision hits like and , so we reckon he'd be up for it too.
If we're to talk about blending tradition and modernity, we can't go much further than Dundalk's sheep-stealing, bomb-making, landlord-threatening balladeers, The Mary Wallopers.
Revisiting classic Irish and English ballads by way of an anarchic, anti-establishment sense of humour, the Mary Wallopers have kept hundreds of thousands of people company all over the world with their live-streaming "pub sessions" on YouTube during the darkest of Covid nights - and their eventual Irish victory lap is going to be a round of gigs for the ages.
Do you remember Crystal Swing? Of course you do. became a viral sensation for the Cork family band back in 2010 with mam Mary and siblings Derek and Dervla even scoring an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.
According to an RTÉ article from 2011, the group were in talks to represent the country at the prestigious song contest, and mother Mary said they would be honoured to do so. We're not sure what happened back in 2011, but we think it might be time to whip out the white suit once more Derek. Even Dwayne Johnson is a fan (seriously).
It's time for Cork to take the Eurovision crown.
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