Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
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Ireland| Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) | |||
| Country | Ireland | |||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Announcement date | 13 January 2016 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Sunlight" | |||
| Artist | Nicky Byrne | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (15th) | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
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Ireland was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Sunlight", written by Nicky Byrne, Wayne Hector, and Ronan Hardiman, and performed by Byrne himself. The Irish participating broadcaster, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), internally selected its entry for the contest. "Sunlight" was presented as the Irish entry during the announcement of Byrne's internal selection on 13 January 2016.
Ireland was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 7, "Sunlight" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Ireland placed fifteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 46 points.
Prior to the 2016 contest, Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and its predecessor national broadcasters have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Ireland forty-nine times since RÉ's first entry in 1965.[1] They have won the contest a record seven times in total. Their first win came in 1970, with "All Kinds of Everything" performed by Dana. 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). The Irish entries in 2014, "Heartbeat" performed by Can-linn featuring Kasey Smith, and in 2015, "Playing with Numbers" performed by Molly Sterling, both failed to qualify to the final.
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTÉ organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its intentions to participate at the 2016 contest on 27 May 2015.[2] From 2008 to 2015, RTÉ had set up the national final Eurosong to choose both the song and performer to compete at Eurovision for Ireland, with both the public and regional jury groups involved in the selection. For the 2016 contest, RTÉ held an internal selection to choose the artist and song. This marked the first time that RTÉ internally selected both the artist and song for the contest; previously the broadcaster had only internally selected the artist in 1974, 1975, 2006, and 2007, while the song was chosen in a televised competition. In regards to the 2016 internal selection, RTÉ Head of Entertainment John McHugh stated: "We have a long and proud history with Eurovision, but we've had mixed results over the last few years. Myself and Head of Delegation Michael Kealy took a serious look at our approach, reviewing the entire process and the Eurovision Song Contest itself. The competition is constantly evolving and RTÉ has to be flexible in how we approach it in order to put our best foot forward. Direct selection has proven to be a successful method for other countries and we felt that this year it would give us the best chance at success."[3]
Before Eurovision
Selection procedure
On 13 January 2016, RTÉ announced that they had internally selected Nicky Byrne to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.[3][4] Byrne was a former member of the Irish boy band Westlife and had previously been the Irish spokesperson at the Eurovision Song Contest, revealing the results of the Irish vote between 2013 and 2015.[4] Unconfirmed rumours of Byrne's selection as the Irish contestant were published by Irish media earlier on 7 January 2016.[5][6]
Along with the announcement that Byrne would represent Ireland on 13 January 2016, the song to be performed by Byrne, "Sunlight", was also released via a lyric video uploaded on YouTube.[3] The song was written by Byrne himself together with Wayne Hector and Ronan Hardiman. Byrne's first live performance of the song took place on 13 February, during the RTÉ One Saturday night programme The Ray D'Arcy Show.[4]
The song is called Sunlight and I co-wrote it with two of the music industry's legends; producer and writer Ronan Hardiman and songwriter Wayne Hector. I have always felt this song had something different, something special. I also look forward to re-visiting Sweden, a country where we had so much success with Westlife over the years and I can't wait to be a part of what I'm sure will be an amazing show in Stockholm. Ireland, I will give it my best shot. Sweden… here we come!
— Nicky Byrne[3]
Promotion
Nicky Byrne made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Sunlight" as the Irish Eurovision entry. On 21 February 2016, Nicky Byrne performed "Sunlight" during the final of the Ukrainian Eurovision national selection.[7] On 17 April, Byrne performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.[8] In late April, Byrne completed promotional activities in the United Kingdom where he appeared on radio programmes and talk shows to promote both his Eurovision song and the release of his album Sunlight.[9]
In addition to his international appearances, Nicky Byrne also completed promotional appearances on RTÉ One programmes in Ireland. Byrne performed "Sunlight" during the final of The Voice of Ireland on 24 April and he gave an interview about his preparations for the Eurovision Song Contest on The Ray D'Arcy Show on 30 April.[10][11]
