A Ballina man who was on the Irish jury at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest has said Ireland needs to "play it less safe" if we are to add to our seven wins in the competition. Liam Geddes from Ballina, a songwriter and producer, was invited to be a member of Ireland’s jury for the final of this year’s Eurovision in Basel, Switzerland, having last year written the entry for Latvia which finished in 16th place in the final. This year, Ireland was represented by Emmy, a Norwegian singer, with the song ‘Laika Party’, but it failed to get beyond the semi-final.
Liam felt Emmy performed well but the song was too “safe” by the standards of modern Eurovision. “Emmy did an amazing job and I really liked the song but I think it would be good to see an Irish artist representing the country and not just some of the songwriters,” he said. “Laika Party was a really strong entry but it was probably just a little bit safe.
The ones that tend to do well are a little bit riskier or have a point of difference. “Bambi Thug did so well last year and it was very polarising here, some people loved it but a lot of people hated it and that’s the one that did so strongly. I guess we would need to take a few more chances.” It will be 30 years next year since Ireland last won in 1996 with The Voice, performed by Eimear Quinn, but Liam feels the competition has changed a lot in the intervening decades.
“Ireland was successful in a certain period where it was very much a song contest whereas I feel now it’s still a song contest but it’s also about the spectacle. “We just need to be a little bit more open-minded. Everything that does well is outside the box.
If you look at Tommy Cash, a rapper from Estonia, who had a song called Espresso Macchiato that probably felt a bit like a joke entry. Then it really resonated and ended up coming third.” The Irish jury attracted some criticism online over its decision to award seven points to Israel’s entry, the fourth highest points allocation. Liam said he is “not qualified” to have any strong comment on the ongoing situation in Gaza but said political or social considerations cannot come into the voting process.
“Before going into the process, we're told you cannot bring any social or political bias into the competition at all and if you do so, you'll be removed from the jury. So you're told specifically to judge on the strength of the songs. I thought Israel's song was really strong, it was really good, performed by a really strong vocalist.” He said the competition has unfortunately become more political over the last number of years and hopes to see the focus return to the music.
“I feel like over the last number of years, Eurovision has gotten a lot of harsh criticism in terms of it’s all political and not about the song anymore, it’s all politics. “Now when Ireland gives seven points to Israel, it’s not political enough. You can’t win.
But I do recognise it’s very complex and people are very emotional and rightly so but I think for the event that it is, it is purely just about the music. “Everyone involved, we’re not politicians, we’re just songwriters voting on the strength of the song so I hope people don’t hold us to a standard of that of politicians, the people who are actually doing work with regards to everything that’s going on.” Liam, an accomplished songwriter in his own right, said he would have a strong interest in writing a song for Ireland if the opportunity presented itself. “I’m exploring that a bit at the moment and we’ll see if I can find something that is strong enough,” he said.
“I’m doing some writing sessions and camps this year that are directed towards Ireland’s Eurovision future so we’ll see what happens.” The next steps in Liam’s career for now will see him travel to South Korea. “I’m going out to Seoul for three weeks to do some sessions and overall just trying to keep busy. “Being a songwriter is an interesting one because you’re always chasing maybes and hoping it turns into something that’s real and not just something that lives on your hard drive,” he said.
