Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Ireland.

Country: Ireland
Singer: Sarah McTernan
Song: 22
Personal Score: 23 out of 41
My Prediction: NQ

This is a cute little diddy out of Ireland but it’s got basically nothing anyone is looking for in a Eurovision song. There’s no stellar vocals, there’s no big dance number, there’s no ear catching hook and it’s horribly out of date. The song is basically a bad match for Sarah McTernan’s voice since she can’t seem to give it enough power to turn the song into something more than just a three minute plod. I think this was written with the Megan Trainor vibe implied but Trainor’s biggest hits are already a half decade behind the times and the retro feeling in the song isn’t matched with style or energy. “22” ends up a kind of standard “I will always love you” song that seems tepid on both the love AND the always parts of that thesis. I think Ireland would have to pull a whirlwind staging again in order to have this get anywhere near the momentum it needs to cross into the final and without the power of gay dancers and vocal prowess they had last year, this is more than likely going to get held back. I will likely not remember this song in a year or two which is somehow much worse.