It could be said that Ireland is one of the most contrasting countries that participates in Eurovision. It holds the record for having the most wins but has also been one of the least successful countries over the past few years with only one qualification to the Grand Final in the last six attempts.
Following another disappointing result in 2019, the Irish broadcaster, RTE, took a slightly different approach with the 2020 selection process. They confirmed that it would still be an internal selection however they would partner with national radio station, 2FM, and put in place a 3-year strategy aimed at encouraging contemporary and emerging Irish artists to participate in the selection process. The aim was for RTE and 2FM to work together to promote the selected entry through its various platforms and develop a promotional schedule for the artist prior to Eurovision 2020.
The submission period to enter songs was opened at the end of September 2019 and ran until 25th October 2019. Following the submission period, the usual rumours started on who could potentially represent Ireland in Rotterdam. The rumours ranged from the winner of Celebrity Big Brother in Italy to Ireland’s first Eurovision winner, Dana, when it was reported that her nephew and nieces’ band, The Rua, had submitted a song.
The first hint of the song and artist was in late January 2020. Paul McMahon from the contemporary production company, ThisIsPopBaby announced that he “had answered the call” and would be the Creative Producer of Ireland’s “kick ass act”. Paul said that when RTE played the song, he said yes on the spot and was very excited about the act.
After a long wait, it was finally revealed on 5th March 2020 that Lesley Roy will represent Ireland with the song Story of My Life. Lesley is a singer/songwriter from Dublin and is currently based in New York. She has had some previous success with her debut album, Unbeautiful, which contained a song co-written with Katy Perry and she also co-wrote a song called Pop That Lock that featured on Adam Lambert’s second studio album.
Story of My Life is a catchy uplifting electro-pop song about owning who you are and not caring about what other people think. There is a clever Eurovision reference in the first verse when Lesley sings that she is “not a puppet on a string”. The song was written in Nashville with Robert Marvin, Catt Gravitt and Tom Shapiro who have written songs for Kelly Clarkson and another Eurovision star, Ilse de Lange from the Common Linnets. Hopefully the collaboration with ThisIsPopBaby will result in a creative staging of the song that will help its chances in the more difficult first semi final in May.
