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Ireland IRELAND 2017 - Brendan Murray - Dying To Try

How do you rate the entry?

  • 12

    20 13.4%
  • 10

    9 6.0%
  • 8

    14 9.4%
  • 7

    14 9.4%
  • 6

    14 9.4%
  • 5

    16 10.7%
  • 4

    13 8.7%
  • 3

    10 6.7%
  • 2

    11 7.4%
  • 1

    6 4.0%
  • 0

    22 14.8%

  • Total voters
    149

Welli

Member
Joined
February 20, 2011
Posts
35
*sigh* :(

One more of my favorites did not make it to the final! Big hugs to you! xrose
 

toinou03

Well-known member
Joined
October 26, 2011
Posts
5,805
The staging was really bad... I really wonder what they thought with thiw mini balloon... That was too awkward to qualify though I like the song
 

realist

Member
Joined
February 1, 2015
Posts
457
Location
UK
I liked it a lot. :ie: should be in the final. They did not had good songs in last years, but this year they deserved to be in GF... :(
 

Sammy

Veteran
Joined
February 1, 2014
Posts
14,231
This is a disappointment for me. I think, he would have deserved a spot in the final. But his looks were quite weird at times tonight. I had the feeling that he stared too statically into the camera instead of getting a connection to the viewer.
 

Chorizo

Well-known member
Joined
May 9, 2014
Posts
4,251
I didn't like this at all.
 

PeterLPZ

Well-known member
Joined
April 5, 2010
Posts
12,807
Location
Leipzig (Germany)
The performance was bad, the song is boring and all looked childish. This man is 20 and it seemed he is 12. Sorry, for me a deserved non-qualifier.
 

GWTW1939

Active member
Joined
March 10, 2013
Posts
4,952
Location
United States
The staging was really bad... I really wonder what they thought with thiw mini balloon... That was too awkward to qualify though I like the song

I want to know what they were thinking too because it made no sense. It just made poor Brendan look silly.

It made me think of that joke video some fan made called "Trying to Die." That's how crazy the whole thing was
 

genreJake09

Member
Joined
May 15, 2016
Posts
102
I liked the melody and I got the balloon, I don't think Ireland should Have to go with gimics like they did with the drummers but I'm not sure it would have done well in the final because it lacks spark. It's a shame as voice is sincere and it was original
 

Milos-BC

Well-known member
Joined
September 28, 2009
Posts
12,447
Location
Serbia
This was just painful. He sounded like he swallowed some helium and got impotence along the way. A deserved elimination. It is sad how deep the most successful ESC country (once) has fallen :(
 

Fluke

Well-known member
Joined
February 5, 2011
Posts
2,454
Location
Sweden
I think this is the best Irish entry in years and wanted it to qualify, but looking back now i can see why it didn't. He really looked and sounded unsure on stage, plus the song didn't immediately grab people, so they didn't vote. I seriously think they're not trying hard enough though....
 

midnightsun

Veteran
Joined
February 26, 2016
Posts
3,927
Location
Germany
I have to admit, this was much better in the semi final than I thought it was before. I just had watched the music vid before. Anyway, this wasn't strong enough to be a real "threat" for other songs, the song is just too mediocre. I liked the staging a lot, though!
 

tuorem

Well-known member
Joined
January 17, 2012
Posts
9,592
Location
GN-z11
My review of "Dying To Try":

-It's been a few years that - unfortunately - Ireland doesn't appear on my radar anymore, their last effort I enjoyed 100% was Heartbeat in 2014 (even though the live performance was a hot mess), and since then it ranged from ok-ish to meh, so no need to say I didn't have any kind of expections this year, even though I still hope one day they'll come up with a song that will blow me away; I am fond of Irish people for some reason (my last trip there might have influenced me) and would love them to do well with a deserving act. So, they decided to send a ballad in Kyiv, which is supposedly what they do best, and... I've mixed feelings about that one. "Dying To Try" is a slow and quiet composition which relies a lot on its atmospheric mood: honestly the beginning does it for me to some extent, with Brendan's soothing voice and this almost secondary piano accompaniment, a hint of originality arrangement-wise comes from the sparse strings notes here and there, I think that was quite unexpected. Drums start appearing later on, which emphasize the low pace while giving a structure to the melodic lines. The chorus is quite lovely to me, it melodically reminds me of some good old 90's ballad somehow, so far the build up is mastered as the arrangements expand. However, when the choir and the main high note come, this is where I get lost: while I do agree the song needed a climax, I think that part is really not subtle and too abrupt to sound natural. Maybe it would have made sense in a four minute-long version, but here, it comes across as noisy and cliché while the beginning - although very quiet - was nicely building up. Past that part, I like Brendan's vocal variations and the strength and power brought by the choir. Finally, getting back to the quiet mood of the beginning is a good way of ending the song. My main complain is this part in the middle which - in my opinion - does ruin the song. I have no idea how they could have improved it or made it differently, all I know is that it comes out of nowhere and breaks with the beginning not in a good way imo. The flaws are the same as with the Czech entry: overall, it's a decent song, lovely to listen to, still it remains quite formulaic and too dull to go anywhere in Eurovision, despite Brendan's vocal signature. I'd put it way above boring ballads like "It's For You" (2010) and embarrasing songs like "Waterline" (2012) - it's nothing Irish people should be ashamed of - yet it doesn't equal the classiness of "Playing With Numbers" for instance. I believe they can do much better than that honestly. Pros: atmospheric ballad, cute melody, the unexpected string notes. Cons: relatively anonymous and impactless composition overall, the climax is too abrupt for such a quiet beginning.

I have no particular personal highlight in this song, I'd say the first chorus by default.

-Vocally, Brendan's voice is an acquired taste. Personally, I have no issue with singers whose voices don't fit the "x-factor dull and flat perfect voice" mould - rather the contrary, I prefer when voices have character - yet I admit I didn't get it when I first discovered it during the semi. I guess the influence of the staging made it sound creepy, because he looked like a child in a young man's body. Now, I got used to it. I wouldn't say that it charmed me particularly, but I guess change is nice and it fit the song. For sure, Ireland stood out this year thanks to him. His semi live performance was good, as expected (Nicky Byrne would better watch and learn). Actually, I think this high-register-only voice is something Brendan should market - it's quite unique in pop music - but he should showcase it through less dull songs.

-Visually, it was both one of the most interesting and "out there" Irish stagings ever imo. Interesting because it was kind of classy with a black and white background representing a landscape on a starry night, and then mountains (props for that, it looked beautiful and expensive). But it was also out there since Brendan was standing under what looked like a hot-air balloon: the concept itself - with the smoke on the floor forming clouds - was unique, but combined with the singer's looks and voice, it looked more creepy than anything else imo. They wanted to play on an innocent look, but I guess the balloon was distracting and made Brendan look more childish than he is. Honestly, by simply removing the balloon (but keeping the pedestal), I guess it would have looked better. After the climax, the stage turned to red and black. I didn't mind, even though I'm not sure that colour was the best pick (it looked slightly too ominous for that song). Outfit-wise, Brendan merely wore black pants along with a white shirt and jacket: nothing special to say about that. Overall, I think they messed up with this balloon idea, I totally got the symbolism behind it (love can take you anywhere), nonetheless it looked creepy to me and ruined an otherwise expensive background. Shame.

-Results-wise, I didn't expect Ireland to qualify, and a 13th place in the semi was roughly what I believed they were worth and would get this year. Again, "Dying To Try" was a decent effort, but a few things - both musically and visually - needed to be tweaked imo. Still I think Ireland can do much better than that, going the ballad route wasn't a bad idea given what their past uptempo efforts sounded like, but the composition was not arresting enough to get significant support. Better luck next time guys! :) Stay away from your boy bands cravings and all should go well. I'd also suggest Louis Walsh should open his ears and eyes more to improve, Ireland has to get back on the Eurovision map asap!
 

Mainshow

Veteran
Joined
December 23, 2018
Posts
13,900
7 points, a warm and lovely ballad which feels very "Irish" to me. What a unique voice! It's mesmerising and off-putting at the same time :D - The song's a massive grower!

It was one of my mom's favourites.
 

ESC94

Well-known member
Joined
September 7, 2019
Posts
4,769
Location
Bavaria, Germany
Well, Ireland is a country I´m not really interested about in Eurovision. Most of their seven victories weren´t my cup of tea and in the last fifteen years the only entry I kinda liked was "Lipstick" in 2011, everything else was either very underwhelming or just ok. Their entry from 2017 belongs to the second category.

That year :ie: was represented by the very young Brendan Murray and the song "Dying to Try". The song had a very quiet start where you could listen to his pretty high voice, which was interesting, but for a long time a bit exhausting to listen to. My problem with this song was mostly that the climax was much too early for me and when the gospel choir started singing the whole song started to get very cheesy and off putting to me.

During his live performance in the semi I had to laugh really loudly, it just looked weird. He was standing on the stage, looking completely lost and then you could see that he was standing under a balloon with red and white stripes. Who was responsible for this?? It looked completely random to me and for some reason his voice sounded very childlike, for me too much like a child. In the end he failed to qualify for the final, which wasn´t surprising to me since :bg: was in this semi as well and had a much more modern and dynamic song,
so most of the "young guy votes" went to Kristian instead of Brendan.

All in all I liked this more than their entry in 2016, but it was still kinda mediocre to me. I gave this :4:, it was ok on CD but didn´t work on stage for me. :confused:
 
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