Eurovision 2023 Ireland profile: ‘We Are One’ by Wild Youth

Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest

Ireland first competed at Eurovision in 1965 and are the most successful country in the competition's history, having won Eurovision seven times.

This includes a hat-trick of three consecutive wins from 1992-1994, and Johnny Logan’s victories in 1980 and 1987. He is the only artist to have won Eurovision twice in the competition’s 67 year history. Ireland's other triumphs have been with Dana in 1970 and Eimear Quinn in 1996.

Ireland’s form in Eurovision hasn’t been that great over the past decade: they last qualified for the Grand Final in 2018. Their best showing in the last 15 years has been with well-known big-haired duo Jedward, who finished eighth in 2011 with ‘Lipstick’.

2023 Entry: Wild Youth - ‘We Are One’

• Wild Youth will perform 6th out of 15 acts in semi final 1 of Eurovision 2023 on May 9

• My Eurovision Scoreboard ranking: 33rd

• Odds to win ranking: 25th

(as of April 16, 2023)

About the artist

Wild Youth are a four-piece from the country’s capital Dublin - Conor O’Donohoe, Callum McAdam, Ed Porter and David Whelan. They formed in 2016 and released their debut single ‘All Or Nothing’ a year later.

They worked with members of The Script to release their first EP ‘The Last Goodbye’ in 2019, which made it into the top five of the Irish charts. On the live circuit, they’ve opened for Niall Horan and Kodaline, and they’ve previously been on co-headlining tours with the likes of Lewis Capaldi and veteran Irish boy band Westlife.

About the song

‘We Are One’ was written by Wild Youth’s Conor O’Donohoe and Ed Porter, along with esteemed Swedish songwriter Jörgen Elofsson, who co-wrote Grammy-nominated tracks for Kelly Clarkson and has also written songs for Brittney Spears, Westlife and Boyzone. It’s an upbeat, light pop-rock track centred around a piano riff.

In their preview package before Ireland’s national selection competition ‘Eurosong’, lead singer O’Donohoe said the song came from a conversation the band had about Eurovision, and how they felt “everyone should feel free to be themselves”.

In a recent interview with Eurovisionworld.com, O’Donohoe said he wanted to write an anthemic song and the track “felt right for Eurovision”.

“If we were to do such a big stage, I wanted quite an anthemic song and I felt like opening with that kind of piano riff and that vocal melody on the chorus felt just like that”, he said.

The band released a revamped version of the song along with the official video on March 8, which featured their faces covered with glittery disco ball masks.

How Wild Youth was selected for Eurovision

Wild Youth won Ireland’s Eurovision selection contest, Eurosong, which was held as part of a special episode of ‘The Late Late Show’ by local broadcaster RTE on February 4,

They competed against five other acts, who were all ranked by an international jury, a local jury, and in a public televote. Each act was then awarded 2 to 12 points based on their placings in each section.

Wild Youth won both the local jury vote and the public vote, and were ranked second by the international jury. They scored 34 points overall and triumphed by two points over runner-up Connolly with ‘Midnight Summer Night’ (32 points), and third-placed K Muni & ND with ‘Down in the Rain’ (20 points).

Ireland will compete in semi-final 1 on May 9 (European time) in Liverpool.

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