Today is Ireland's day
Here's my review of this year's Irish entry:
Nicky Byrne - Sunlight
Status: Mediocre :?
Song: In recent years, Ireland have been sending this, that and the other, and they never went anywhere but in 2011, which is quite sad considering they're still the nation that has the most victories in the contest. Like the UK, they don't seem to have a clue about what to send, which led me not to expect anything from them. The only recent entry I genuinely liked was "Heartbeat" (if we put aside the dress and live vocals), and I objectively found "Lipstick" quite good, even though that wasn't my jam. Apart from those, Irish contributions have been quite non-eventful to me. When I read they selected Nicky, I was already expecting not to like their song this year either. As far as I remember, Westlife never were big in France and I guess I only know one song from them - so I've absolutely no fanboy's feelings or memories about them - but boys bands are generally not known for their vocals, and I feared this would be another "pretty boy+meh vocals+ok song" recipe, which was pretty much the case. "Sunlight" is a pure pop song with boy band flavour about hope, self-esteem and living life in a simple way: I have a hard time dissecting the instrumentation there, it starts with a synthesizer, bell sounds (I guess?) and an acoustic guitar, the verse melody is quite lovely and flows nicely with the slight chord changes. Actually, I happen to like the verses, but the chorus suddenly takes me back to reality: the noticeable drums, guitar riffs and synthesizers give some kind of power to it, but the melody is oh so generic! :? it is serving 90's boys band realness, and that's really not the kind of throwback I find cute, sorry. Besides I don't like the way Nicky sing "Suuunn Liiiiight". That part reminds me of "Waterline", it's pretty much the same cheap theme music for cheesy TV series for teenagers. I like the bridge melody too, so that's very unfortunate to have such an underwhelming chorus, the lyrics are cheesy af but it's rather common in Eurovision, so I won't judge them for that (although I don't dig it). With a less generic chorus melody, stronger arrangements overall and better lyrics, this could have been good actually
As it is, I completely understand the lack of support and hype Ireland experienced this year.
Voice: In studio, Nicky's voice is quite ok, it's not crazy or special by any stretch of the imagination, yet it does the job. Unfortunately, his semi performance was mediocre, to say the least: he was off-tune on several occasions and never succeeded in singing the main hook "ssuuuun liiiiight" properly, it sounded forced and not pitch-perfect. Seriously Ireland, what were you thinking by sending an ex-boy band member? He didn't even have a strong stage presence to make up for his vocal flaws, eventually he failed to have a positive impact on viewers I think. Personally, he didn't make me want to vote for him.
Staging: While some countries went completely crazy with their stagings, Ireland opted for an anonymous one. It starts with laser-like red lines being displayed on the backdrops and white lights being used on both sides of the stage. Small red-ish sparks progressively appear, and an orange sun (I guess?) with several halos can be seen during the chorus (I prefer the stylized sun of the greek staging tbh). As the second verse begins, we get back to the same presentation as at the beginning, but with blue tones this time. During the bridge, numerous red and white moving lines appear on the floor, then the stage becomes a dark blue starry sky, which are basically the last visual "twists" before we get back to the sun. Don't be fooled by my description though, I'm writing it as I watch the performance carefully, because the first time I watched it, I couldn't even remember what it was like (which is quite telling), I feel like it was quite lazy and filled with visual "commonplaces": blue, red, stars... at least there was a sun, but overall, it was as "striking" as the song... it was consistent in this regard. Nicky wore a white shirt, a black/red/orange jacket, black trousers and brown shoes: not bad, but not too fancy either. He was singing behind his microphone stand while three musicians were pretenting to play the guitar, drums and synthesizer. I wasn't charmed by his doe eyes, but I understand they could melt some hearts
He used the b-stage at the end of the song, but the only thing I retain is how static most of the performance was. Some people may think I'm too negative, but I genuinely didn't find anything memorable both musically and visually.
Outcome: Sorry to say that, but Ireland was a no brainer this year, qualification would have surprised me because the performance was lacking in all departments. If we compare Nicky with Justs or Donny, the difference regarding vocal and staging quality is embarrassingly huge. Ireland probably thought they would get through thanks to that "Westlife past" argument, well it takes more than reputation to do well in Eurovision, they should have known better, we've got many examples throughout the years. Personally, "Sunlight" is in 32nd position (out of 42) in my personal ranking, I dislike it less than some other songs, but this is mediocre and bland, I just can't rank it higher. To me, this type of song (like Denmark) should be banned, safe uninventive pop is not the idea I have of a song contest, which is supposed to reward great compositions. I don't see the point of sending unremarkable songs. Anyway, better luck next time Ireland! Actually, it's not about luck, it's about hard work, if you bring something solid, you'll have greater chances of success. Yes, you're not part of the overrated countries, hence why you need to re-think everything: look for someone who can SING LIVE (it's the least you could do), if it's an artist then let him/her have a say in the song selection, if he/she is only a singer, work extra-hard to unearth an original song (and it doesn't have to be written with Eurovision in mind, stay away from formulaic recipes). Then do not neglect staging, no need for fancy holograms and stuff, a beautiful backdrop that catches the eye and suits the song could - with the right camerawork - be sufficient. With that being said, I hope you'll change your approach next year.
