Eurovision 2023; will Wild Youth be Ireland’s next big hope after years of Eurovision near misses?

Can Irish entry Wild Youth break a duck of Eurovision Song Contest misses and make it through this evening’s semi-finals?

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There was a joke in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, based around the fact Father Ted and Father Dougal were Ireland’s next Eurovision entry, where the Ireland organisers nervously laughed when the topic of purposefully sinking their entry was brought up in conversation. Such has been Ireland’s history at the Eurovision Song Contest that for a while many associated the country with multiple Eurovision successes as much as a wave of Scandinavian acts (ABBA, Lord et. al).

During the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, you couldn’t help but appreciate the joke; Ireland have won the Eurovision Song Contest on seven different occasions (1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994) with their last win coming in 1996 with “The Voice" performed by Eimear Quinn. But since then, Ireland’s success in the competition has not managed to repeat the feats of yesteryear - with and their best result in recent years was in 2018, when Ryan O'Shaughnessy finished in 16th place with the song "Together.”

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But could all that change after this evening’s semifinal in Liverpool? Ireland’s big Eurovision 2023 hope rests on the shoulders of Wild Youth, an Irish indie rock band formed in Dublin in 2016, consisting of members David Whelan, Conor O'Donohoe, Ed Porter and Callum McAdam. They take to the stage this evening with their track, “We Are One,” penned by the band and Jörgen Elofsson, the songwriter behind Kelly Clarkson’s "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)", which was nominated for Song the Year and Record of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, as well as Westlife's "Fool Again", "Unbreakable", and "Evergreen."

Wild Youth haven’t just come together for the occasion like some other groups, and have had their fair share of success in Ireland - their debut single, "All or Nothing", was released in May 2017, and was followed by a music video on 22 June of the same year. The band released several more successful tracks in Ireland after "All or Nothing", and subsequently went on tour with Lewis Capaldi, Westlife, and Niall Horan. They can also attest to the scalp of John Lydon - Public Image Limited were one of the other Ireland entries that Wild Youth beat out to enter their name into the qualifying rounds of Eurovision 2023 (in this case, the semi-final.)

Can Wild Youth recapture Ireland's earlier Eurovision successes akin to Niamh Kavanagh (Left) and Johnny Logan (Right) (Credit: Eurovision/EBU)Can Wild Youth recapture Ireland's earlier Eurovision successes akin to Niamh Kavanagh (Left) and Johnny Logan (Right) (Credit: Eurovision/EBU)
Can Wild Youth recapture Ireland's earlier Eurovision successes akin to Niamh Kavanagh (Left) and Johnny Logan (Right) (Credit: Eurovision/EBU)

"There’s definitely nerves. I think that’s always a good thing. I always say if you have nerves it just means you really care," Conor O’Donohoe, lead singer of the band, told Ireland AM on Monday morning. "I hope we can make everyone proud. I feel we’ve landed in a very good place. We're very happy with how everything looks so it’s down to us now to give the best performance."

Given Ireland’s very poor showing over the last decade of Eurovision Song Contests, even just making it to the final would be a successful campaign for the band - in the last ten competitions, Ireland have failed to qualify seven times, placed 16th in 2018 and the dreaded recipient of numerous “nil points” leading them to place last in the 2013 competition. The contest was cancelled in 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - though they did have an entry in the form of Lesley Roy, who would try once again a year later and fail to qualify.

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Maybe Wild Youth will have the luck of the Irish on their side should they make it past this evening’s semi-finals; Graham Norton has taken on the role of the English speaking face of the Eurovision Song Contest, even talking about it during a raft of late-night talk show appearances over the last week or two. He is also scheduled to be one of the on-stage personalities during this Saturday’s grand final alongside Ted Lasso and West End star Hannah Waddingham, so perhaps having a little piece of the Emerald Isle on stage rather than a voiceover might help…

… or perhaps Father Ted was correct and given the current economy and the history of events held in Ireland, that another Eurovision win after hosting three back to back might bit a bit too much once again in terms of planning and plotting.

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