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Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018

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Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Country Ireland
National selection
Selection processInternal selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 31 January 2018
Song: 9 March 2018
Selected artist(s)Ryan O'Shaughnessy
Selected song"Together"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Ryan O'Shaughnessy
  • Mark Caplice
  • Laura Elizabeth Hughes
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (6th, 179 points)
Final result16th, 136 points
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2017 • 2018 • 2019►

Ireland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 with the song "Together", performed by Ryan O'Shaughnessy and written by himself, Mark Caplice and Laura Elizabeth Hughes. The song and the singer were internally selected in January 2018 by the Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) to represent the nation at the 2018 contest in Lisbon, Portugal.

Ireland was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 8 May 2018. He sang in 18th position and qualified for the final, marking the country's first qualification since the 2013 Contest.[1]

Background

Main article: Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2018 contest, Ireland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since its first entry in 1965.[2] 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, in 2016 "Sunlight" performed by Nicky Byrne, and in 2017 "Dying to Try" performed by Brendan Murray all failed to qualify to the final.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

RTÉ confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest on 4 August 2017.[3] On 14 September 2017, the broadcaster opened a submission period where artists and composers "with a proven track record of success in the music industry" were able to submit their entries until 6 November 2017. In addition to the public submissions, RTÉ reserved the right to approach established artists and composers to submit entries and to match songs with different artists to the ones who submitted an entry.[4] At the closing of the deadline, over 300 entries were received.

On 31 January 2018, RTÉ announced that they had internally selected Ryan O'Shaughnessy to represent Ireland in Lisbon.[5] The song to be performed by O'Shaughnessy, "Together", shortlisted and selected by a jury panel with members appointed by RTÉ, was released and uploaded on YouTube on 9 March 2018.[6] The song was written by O'Shaughnessy, Mark Caplice and Laura Elizabeth Hughes. O'Shaughnessy's first live performance of the song took place on 9 April, during The Late Late Show.[7]

At Eurovision

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. On 29 January 2018, a special 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 first semi-final, to be held on 8 May 2018, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.[8]

Once all the competing songs for the 2018 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 18, following the entry from Switzerland and preceding the entry from Cyprus.[9]

Semi-final

Ireland performed eighteenth in the first semi-final, following the entry from Switzerland and preceding the entry from Cyprus. At the end of the show, Ireland was announced as one of the ten countries who qualified to the grand final, making it their first qualification since 2013. Following the semi-final, Ryan O'Shaughnessy participated in a press conference with the other winners in which they drew which half of the final they'd perform in. Ireland was drawn to perform in the second half of the grand final. It was later revealed that Ireland placed sixth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 179 points: 108 points from the televoting and 71 points from the juries.[10]

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.

Points awarded to Ireland

Points awarded by Ireland

Detailed voting results

The following five members formed the Irish jury:[13]

Detailed voting results from Ireland (Semi-final 1)[11]
Draw Country Jury Televote
T. Dunne N. Kavanagh Crossy A. Barry K. Giles Rank Points Rank Points
01  Azerbaijan 12 12 12 14 8 14 17
02  Iceland 18 16 17 15 17 17 16
03  Albania 7 11 7 13 16 11 10 1
04  Belgium 4 8 16 7 11 9 2 11
05  Czech Republic 17 10 4 4 7 7 4 7 4
06  Lithuania 15 14 10 9 14 15 1 12
07  Israel 2 4 2 5 3 2 10 6 5
08  Belarus 16 18 18 17 15 18 15
09  Estonia 1 1 14 6 2 3 8 2 10
10  Bulgaria 3 3 8 11 4 5 6 8 3
11  Macedonia 11 17 15 18 18 16 18
12  Croatia 13 13 6 10 13 12 12
13  Austria 9 2 5 2 5 4 7 3 8
14  Greece 5 7 13 16 10 10 1 13
15  Finland 14 9 3 3 6 6 5 5 6
16  Armenia 8 15 11 12 12 13 14
17   Switzerland 6 6 9 8 9 8 3 9 2
18  Ireland
19  Cyprus 10 5 1 1 1 1 12 4 7
Detailed voting results from Ireland (Final)[12]
Draw Country Jury Televote
T. Dunne N. Kavanagh Crossy A. Barry K. Giles Rank Points Rank Points
01  Ukraine 24 17 13 23 20 20 21
02  Spain 5 8 11 9 19 10 1 19
03  Slovenia 23 21 18 22 24 24 24
04  Lithuania 16 23 14 14 8 15 1 12
05  Austria 12 6 4 1 10 6 5 11
06  Estonia 13 9 12 6 5 8 3 7 4
07  Norway 11 13 19 18 17 18 17
08  Portugal 1 4 20 3 21 5 6 22
09  United Kingdom 8 11 7 12 22 13 2 10
10  Serbia 22 20 22 24 23 25 25
11  Germany 2 1 6 5 6 3 8 3 8
12  Albania 7 12 5 7 18 9 2 23
13  France 4 7 15 8 2 7 4 13
14  Czech Republic 25 16 9 19 12 16 4 7
15  Denmark 19 18 21 15 9 17 9 2
16  Australia 18 10 8 11 7 12 12
17  Finland 17 14 3 13 11 11 16
18  Bulgaria 3 2 10 2 3 2 10 20
19  Moldova 21 22 16 25 14 21 10 1
20  Sweden 14 15 17 17 13 19 18
21  Hungary 6 25 24 16 15 14 14
22  Israel 9 5 1 10 4 4 7 5 6
23  Netherlands 20 24 23 21 16 23 8 3
24  Ireland
25  Cyprus 10 3 2 4 1 1 12 6 5
26  Italy 15 19 25 20 25 22 15

Chinese broadcaster censorship

During the Chinese broadcast of the first semi-final on Mango TV, both Albania and Ireland were edited out of the show, along with their snippets in the recap of all 19 entries.[14] Ireland was censored due to its representation of a homosexual couple on-stage.[15] In addition, the LGBT flag was also blurred out from the broadcast.[16] As a result, the EBU terminated its partnership with the Chinese broadcaster, explaining that censorship "is not in line with the EBU's values of universality and inclusivity and its proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music." The termination led to a ban on televising the second semi-final and the grand final in the country.[17][18] A spokesperson for the broadcaster's parent company Hunan TV said they "weren't aware" of the edits made to the programme.[19] Ireland's representative O'Shaughnessy told the BBC in an interview, "they haven't taken this lightly and I think it's a move in the right direction, so I'm happy about it."[16]

References

  1. ^ "Nation shares pride at Eurovision qualification". rte.ie. 9 May 2018. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  2. ^ "Ireland Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (Sergio) (4 August 2017). "Ireland: RTE confirms participation in Eurovision 2018". Esctoday. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Eurovision 2018 - Ryan O'Shaughnessy (Ireland)". ESCKAZ. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Ireland: Ryan O'Shaughnessy To Represent Ireland in Lisbon". Eurovoix.con. 31 January 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  6. ^ Weaver, Jessica (9 March 2018). "Ireland: Listen to Ryan O'Shaughnessy's Eurovision 2018 entry Together". Esctoday. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  7. ^ Agadellis, Stratos (9 April 2018). "Ireland: Ryan O'Shaughnessy performs Together live on The Late Late Show". Esctoday. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  8. ^ Jordan, Paul (29 January 2018). "Which countries will perform in which Semi-Final at Eurovision 2018?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Running order for Eurovision 2018 Semi-Finals revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "First Semi-Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  11. ^ a b c "Results of the First Semi-Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  12. ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Lisbon 2018". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2021.
  13. ^ Groot, Evert (30 April 2018). "Exclusive: They are the expert jurors for Eurovision 2018". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  14. ^ Park, Andrea (10 May 2018). "China censors Ireland's gay-themed Eurovision performance". CBS News. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  15. ^ Avelino, Gerry (9 May 2018). "China: Ireland and Albania removed from semi-final 1 broadcast". Eurovoix. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  16. ^ a b "China channel barred from airing Eurovision". BBC News. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  17. ^ Royston, Benny (10 May 2018). "EBU bans Chinese Broadcaster". Metro. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  18. ^ "Statement 10 May: EBU terminates this year's partnership with Mango TV". eurovision.tv. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  19. ^ Washington, Jessica (11 May 2018). "China banned from broadcasting Eurovision after censoring same-sex dance". SBS News. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
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