Irish broadcaster RTÉ has revealed that Sarah McTernan will represent Ireland at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv.
She’s a surprise choice for fans who speculated for weeks about the broadcaster picking a more established artist. McTernan came third in ‘The Voice of Ireland’ in 2015.
This year’s song is called ’22’ and was written by Dutch songwriters Janieck, Marcia “Misha” Sondeijker and Roulsen.
The singer says she was impressed by the song’s upbeat tempo, “When I first heard it was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so catchy, a proper ear worm’. I thought it was really poppy and really current, a really good song. It’s a strong song for Eurovision.”
Sarah will debut the song On ‘Dancing with the Stars’, on Sunday night as part of a Eurovision themed programme, which will also feature Johnny Logan.
Irish Head of Delegation Michael Kealy said, “We received a huge amount of entries for this year thanks in part to Ryan O’Shaughnessy’s great performance in Lisbon last year. Sarah has an amazing voice which stood out the minute I heard it and she fits perfectly with our chosen song ’22’. I think the Eurovision audience will love her, now it’s full steam ahead preparing for her performance in Tel Aviv in May.”