Ireland's entry for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest has been announced; a ballad called Together which will be performed by Ryan O'Shaughnessy.
Those who were alive and fully cognisant in the year 2012 - and who haven't in the intervening years developed some selective Reality-TV show based amnesia - may remember Ryan O'Shaugnessy from the 2012 season of Britain's Got Talent and The Voice of Ireland.
The sultry voiced songbird from Skerries in Dublin was born in Skerries in 1992 and presumably has been singing ever since- with liberally interspersed breaks for sleeping, eating, breathing etc.
In August of last year, RTÉ held a Eurovision Song Contest Forum to help gain a deeper insight into the present day contest from international Eurovision experts and key RTÉ decision makers. The forum created debate and fostered new ideas as to the way RTÉ might approach the song contest this year. Over 300 songs were submitted to RTÉ for consideration before the November deadline. The song Together was chosen after being selected by a panel of music industry professionals who listened to and judged the shortlisted final entries.
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Together was penned by Ryan O'Shaughnessy, Mark Caplice and Laura Eliza
Ryan said, “As one of three songwriters on Together, I’m delighted it has been chosen to represent Ireland in Eurovision 2018, and on top of that, to be asked to perform for my country is an absolute honour. I plan on doing Ireland proud by bringing a song and performance to Eurovision that we haven’t seen since the days of ‘Rock and Roll Kids'. Last year’s winning song from Salvador Sobral was a beautiful, melodic piece, and I think it may have carved the way for the Eurovision to revert back to being a song contest where true songs can flourish. I can’t wait to get onto that stage and perform an honest piece for millions of people.”
The Eurovision Song Contest semi finals take place in Lisbon, Portugal this summer on Tuesday May 8 and Thursday May 10 with the grand final taking place on Saturday May 12. Ryan will perform Together in the first semi final on Tuesday in the Altice Arena which has a capacity of 20,000 and is one of the largest indoor arenas in Europe.
