2015 JESC Reviews – Ireland – Aimee Banks – Realta na Mara
Lucky last in our reviews is our second debut nation for 2015, Ireland. The nation went all out with a national final, hoping to repeat Italy’s success on debut last year, and score a win of their own. They chose Aimee Banks as their first representative, and she will be singing Realta na Mara.
The song is reminiscent of the songs Ireland were sending during their long run of wins in regular Eurovision, back in the 90’s. Except, I find that this unmistakably Irish ballad has had a makeover, making it a modern, or timeless, but still beautiful song. Her voice is absolutely flawless, no one can argue against that, however the song may not be in the taste of the younger audiences. If anything, this will be a bigger hit with the jury than the televoters, but it’s also quite difficult to say where this will end up, as the only recent example of anything similar was Federica Falzon for Malta last year, who ended up 4th with a home crowd backing her. I also feel as if her slot in the running order also isn’t doing much help – but you never know in Junior Eurovision!
I think this is a classy song which will be backed with a classy performance, and Ireland definitely deserve to at least be in the top 10, if not higher. Although it’s not a song you would want to listen to on repeat (some people may, who knows), it’s a song that you can appreciate the performance of, and you can definitely appreciate the fact that it’s not in English! Yay Ireland!
Overall, I really enjoy the class of this song, and although out of a Junior Eurovision context I probably wouldn’t listen to it, I like it for what it is, so I will give it a 7/10, which is not bad on debut! Good luck Ireland!
