Only moments ago, Irish broadcaster RTÉ have announced their 2018 Eurovision act after a long search. Ireland began scouting for their next Eurovision star since last summer, and through the process, Ryan O’Shaughnessy has come out on top, and will perform the song ‘Together’ on the Eurovision stage in Lisbon.
Last year, RTÉ held a forum to discuss Ireland in the present day Eurovision, and invited industry professionals, songwriters and Eurovision experts including fan media, and this helped to bust the myth that Ireland aren’t in it to win it, and helped to push the broadcaster into the internal selection route with a strong focus on the artist and song combination.
Over 300 songs were submitted to the broadcaster for consideration, and the song ‘Together’ was chosen by a panel of industry experts. It was written specifically with Eurovision in mind, by writers working as part of The Nucleus, a new Irish song writing team formed by Hamlet Sweeny.
Ryan has commented on the song, saying ‘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. I can’t wait to get onto that stage and perform an honest piece for millions of people.’
About Ryan:
Ryan was born in 1992, and developed a keen sense of music from an early age. From a musical family, Ryan was a student of Billy Barrie from the age of 4, and at the age of 8, he played the character Mark Halpin in RTÉ’s Fair City, a role he played for nearly a decade. By the age of 17, he made music his priority, and attended BIMM Dublin to study song writing.
He has appeared on The Voice of Ireland and Britain’s Got Talent, the latter where he performed his now well-known track No Name, which you can watch below:
Ryan was signed to Sony UK under Colin Barlow, and during this time he worked on his EP which reached no.1 in Ireland, and no.9 in the UK charts, which led him to tour the regions. Ryan also participated on the Irish Songwriting competition, The Hit, and since then has worked with a range of publishing studios.
More recently, he has toured the US and Canada, and has released his album Back to Square One.
Are you happy with the Irish choice? Stay tuned for the song release in the coming weeks!
