Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country Ireland
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 16 December 2016
Song: 10 March 2017
Selected entrantBrendan Murray
Selected song"Dying to Try"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (13th)
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Dying to Try", sung by Brendan Murray and written by Jörgen Elofsson and James Newman. The song and the singer were internally selected by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to represent the nation at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. Murray's internal selection was announced on 16 December 2016, while "Dying to Try" was presented on 10 March 2017.

Ireland was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 11 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 9, "Dying to Try" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Ireland placed thirteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 86 points.

Background

Prior to the 2017 contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 49 times since its first entry in 1965.[1] Ireland has won the contest a record seven times in total. The country's first win came in 1970, with then-18-year-old Dana winning with "All Kinds of Everything". Ireland holds the record for being the only country to win the contest three times in a row (in 1992, 1993 and 1994), as well as having the only three-time winner (Johnny Logan, who won in 1980 as a singer, 1987 as a singer-songwriter, and again in 1992 as a songwriter). In 2011 and 2012, Jedward represented the nation for two consecutive years, managing to qualify to the final both times and achieve Ireland's highest position in the contest since 2000, placing eighth in 2011 with the song "Lipstick". However, in 2013, despite managing to qualify to the final, Ryan Dolan and his song "Only Love Survives" placed last in the final. The Irish entries in 2014, "Heartbeat" performed by Can-linn featuring Kasey Smith, in 2015, "Playing with Numbers" performed by Molly Sterling, and in 2016, "Sunlight" performed by Nicky Byrne all failed to qualify to the final.

The Irish national broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), broadcasts the event within Ireland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. From 2008 to 2015, RTÉ had set up the national final Eurosong to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ireland, with both the public and regional jury groups involved in the selection, while RTÉ held an internal selection in 2016 to choose the artist and song to represent Ireland at the contest. For the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, RTÉ internally selected both the artist and song.[2][3]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

RTÉ confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 24 May 2016.[4] On 16 December 2016, the broadcaster announced during the RTÉ One Friday night programme The Late Late Show that they had internally selected Brendan Murray to represent Ireland in Kyiv.[2][3] Murray was a former member of the Irish boy band HomeTown. Unconfirmed rumours of Murray's selection as the Irish contestant, proposed by music manager Louis Walsh who was invited by RTÉ to select and mentor an artist for the contest, were published by Irish media the same day the announcement occurred.[5][6]

Along with the announcement that Murray would represent Ireland on 16 December 2016, a song submission period was opened until 16 January 2017. In addition to the public submissions, RTÉ reserved the right to approach established composers to submit songs.[2][3] At the closing of the deadline, 330 songs were received.[7] The song to be performed by Murray was selected through two phases; the first phase involved a six-member jury panel with members appointed by RTÉ reviewing all of the submissions and shortlisting ten songs, while the second phase involved Louis Walsh selecting the song in consultation with the broadcaster. The members of the jury that selected the shortlist of songs consisted of former contest winners Linda Martin and Niamh Kavanagh, Irish Head of Delegation Michael Kealy, Irish Assistant Head of Delegation Dympna Clerkin, musician Jim Sheridan and Sony Music Ireland general manager Patrick Hughes.[8][9] The selected song "Dying to Try", written by Jörgen Elofsson and James Newman, was presented on 10 March 2017 during the RTÉ 2fm programme The Nicky Byrne Show with Jenny Greene.[10] The music video was released the same day on YouTube.[11]

Promotion

Brendan Murray made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Dying to Try" as the Irish Eurovision entry. Between 3 and 6 April, Brendan Murray took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel and performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[12] On 14 April, Murray performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[13] On 15 April, Murray performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[14]

At Eurovision

Brendan Murray during a press meet and greet

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[15] On 31 January 2017, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Ireland was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[16]

Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Ireland was set to perform in position 10, following the entry from Denmark and before the entry from San Marino.[17] However, following Russia's withdrawal from the contest on 13 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final, Ireland's performing position shifted to 9.[18]

In Ireland, the two semi-finals were broadcast on RTÉ2 and the final was broadcast on RTÉ One with all three shows featuring commentary by Marty Whelan. The second semi-final and the final were also broadcast via radio on RTÉ Radio 1 with commentary by Neil Doherty and Zbyszek Zalinski. The Irish spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Irish jury during the final, was former contestant Nicky Byrne.

Semi-final

Brendan Murray during a rehearsal before the second semi-final

Brendan Murray took part in technical rehearsals on 2 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May. This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[19]

The Irish performance featured Brendan Murray performing on a platform with a hot air balloon above. The LED screens displayed a black and white mountainous landscape with red lights appearing from the second verse onwards and the LED floor displayed water graphics.[20][21] The creative director who produced Ireland's performance was Nicoline Refsing. Murray was joined by five off-stage backing vocalists: Alison Vard Miller, Graham Kelly, Jules Edwards, Margot Daly and Shane McDaid.[22]

At the end of the show, Ireland was not announced among the top 10 entries in the second semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Ireland placed thirteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 86 points: 41 points from the televoting and 45 points from the juries.[23]

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Ireland and awarded by Ireland in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[24][25]

Points awarded to Ireland

Points awarded to Ireland (Semi-final 2)[24]
Score Televote Jury
12 points
10 points  Austria
8 points  Lithuania
7 points  Estonia  Estonia
6 points  Romania
5 points  Denmark  Hungary
4 points  Germany
3 points  Romania
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Ireland

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Irish jury:[26]

  • Greg French (jury chairperson) – musical director, producer, composer
  • Suzanne Doyle – music industry consultant
  • Amanda Lane – singer, band manager, musical director
  • Dayl Cronin – singer, musician
  • Louise Macnamara – musician, singer, songwriter
Detailed voting results from Ireland (Semi-final 2)[24]
Draw Country Jury Televote
G. French S. Doyle A. Lane D. Cronin L. Macnamara Rank Points Rank Points
01  Serbia 12 10 11 3 6 9 2 17
02  Austria 6 5 1 4 9 2 10 11
03  Macedonia 11 14 16 5 4 12 15
04  Malta 9 4 3 7 11 6 5 14
05  Romania 5 9 10 6 5 7 4 3 8
06  Netherlands 10 13 9 1 7 8 3 6 5
07  Hungary 14 16 17 13 3 14 5 6
08  Denmark 8 11 5 8 15 10 1 13
09  Ireland
10  San Marino 17 15 15 17 17 17 16
11  Croatia 3 1 14 16 16 11 4 7
12  Norway 1 2 4 15 10 4 7 9 2
13   Switzerland 4 3 6 2 12 3 8 12
14  Belarus 13 17 8 14 13 15 10 1
15  Bulgaria 2 7 2 11 1 1 12 2 10
16  Lithuania 15 12 12 12 14 16 1 12
17  Estonia 16 6 13 10 8 13 8 3
18  Israel 7 8 7 9 2 5 6 7 4
Detailed voting results from Ireland (Final)[25]
Draw Country Jury Televote
G. French S. Doyle A. Lane D. Cronin L. Macnamara Rank Points Rank Points
01  Israel 22 18 13 16 2 15 18
02  Poland 20 23 14 10 26 21 4 7
03  Belarus 21 15 19 20 18 20 17
04  Austria 8 2 4 5 12 4 7 16
05  Armenia 19 11 25 26 17 22 25
06  Netherlands 14 8 9 2 13 7 4 12
07  Moldova 15 20 15 7 5 13 3 8
08  Hungary 16 25 24 25 9 23 9 2
09  Italy 10 24 8 4 11 11 10 1
10  Denmark 11 5 11 9 24 12 21
11  Portugal 1 22 1 11 7 6 5 2 10
12  Azerbaijan 4 10 17 14 10 10 1 23
13  Croatia 7 3 20 24 16 14 8 3
14  Australia 23 21 7 19 6 17 15
15  Greece 24 19 22 18 22 25 24
16  Spain 25 26 26 23 23 26 26
17  Norway 2 4 16 13 19 9 2 13
18  United Kingdom 18 13 12 12 20 16 7 4
19  Cyprus 9 17 23 21 21 19 19
20  Romania 5 9 6 6 3 3 8 1 12
21  Germany 6 6 10 15 15 8 3 22
22  Ukraine 17 16 18 22 14 18 20
23  Belgium 13 1 2 1 4 1 12 6 5
24  Sweden 12 12 5 3 8 5 6 11
25  Bulgaria 3 7 3 8 1 2 10 5 6
26  France 26 14 21 17 25 24 14

References

  1. ↑ "Ireland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Granger, Anthony (16 December 2016). "Ireland: Brendan Murray To Eurovision 2017". Eurovoix. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (16 December 2016). "Ireland: Brendan Murray to Kyiv!". Esctoday. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  4. ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (24 May 2016). "Ireland: RTE confirms participation in Eurovision 2017". Esctoday. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  5. ↑ Moonan, Niall (16 December 2016). "Look who's picking Ireland's 2017 Eurovision entry". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  6. ↑ Adams, William Lee (16 December 2016). "Has Louis Walsh picked Ireland's Eurovision 2017 singer — and is it Brendan Murray?". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  7. ↑ Granger, Anthony (26 January 2017). "Ireland: 330 Songs Submitted For Brendan Murray". Eurovoix. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "ESC 2017 - Brendan Murrey (Ireland)". ESCKAZ. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  9. ↑ "'They sent a boy out to do a man's job' - Eurovision winner Shay Healy on Brendan Murray's fail". extra.ie. 13 May 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  10. ↑ Muldoon, Padraig (10 March 2017). "Ireland: Brendan Murray's Eurovision entry is called "Dying to Try" and it's out now". wiwibloggs. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  11. ↑ "Brendan Murray is 'Dying To Try' for Ireland in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  12. ↑ Jordan, Paul (22 March 2017). "Israel is Calling again in 2017". eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  13. ↑ "Amsterdam prepares for Eurovision in Concert 2017". eurovision.tv. 7 April 2017. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  14. ↑ Fuster, Luis (1 April 2017). "MADRID CALLING! 19 ACTS WILL TAKE PART IN EUROVISION SPAIN PRE-PARTY". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  15. ↑ Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  16. ↑ Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  17. ↑ Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  18. ↑ "EBU: "Russia no longer able to take part in Eurovision 2017"". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
  19. ↑ Weaver, Jessica (10 May 2017). "Eurovision 2017: Live updates from semi-final 2 jury show". esctoday.com. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "Day 3: Brendan Murray completes first rehearsal for Ireland – REVIEW". escXtra. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  21. ↑ "Day 7: Brendan Murray completes second rehearsal for Ireland – PREDICTION & REVIEW". escXtra. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  22. ↑ "Eurovision 2017 Ireland: Brendan Murray - "Dying To Try"". Eurovisionworld. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  23. ↑ "Second Semi-Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  24. 1 2 3 4 "Results of the Second Semi-Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  25. 1 2 3 "Results of the Grand Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 12 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  26. ↑ Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
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