It’s a full 30 years since Ireland began her incredible run of 1990s fortune that saw 4 wins in 5 years and a seemingly unassailable lead of 7 victories. You could argue that something of an identity crisis has left Ireland unable to move forward with the Contest, illustrated until very recently with each national final harking back to the glory days with no progression plan in sight.
2022 did feel like a step, if not a leap, in the right direction. Six songs offered – mostly – diversity, although the temptation to include a former Eurovision entrant singing exactly the same kind of drear that saw him fail to qualify 5 years ago proved too much. Thankfully the Irish pubic were readier for a change than RTE officials and left poor Brendan languishing in last place.
Brooke Scullion, wisely opting to go mononymic, will be known to viewers of The Voice UK (should you be able to find anyone who actually watched it) having placed third in a considerably advanced season of the flagging talent show. But despite coming from a tired format TV background Brooke represents the freshest breath of Irish air we’ve seen grace Eurovision for many a year.
That’s Rich is a playful piece of pop, some much-needed fun in a year giving little Brendan Murray a run for his dreary money. I like this, however flimsy it really is. But I can’t ignore it’s only just scraping into my second semi final qualifiers when I rank all the songs according to my own personal taste. Unfortunately for Brooke, objectively there are at least 10 better songs she has to beat.
My marks: 7 points