In an exclusive interview with the Irish Mirror, following the release of her brand new single Tongues, Irish representative for 2022 Brooke Scullion broke her silence about her non-qualification in Turin, in a conversation that went into a lot of detail about where Ireland goes next.

Like That’s Rich, Tongues speaks of a deeply personal moment to Brooke’s life, and she confesses to writing the song in 20 minutes during a period of being “reluctantly in love”. “If we can speak in Tongues we can speak in a love language with each other that only the two of us will understand”, she told the Mirror.

The 23-year-old from Derry finished a disappointing 15th in the second semi-final at this year’s Contest, despite the palpable hype in the arena, and in fan circles, for her song (Brooke got the second loudest cheer of any act during the show). After confessing having had a “15-minute breakdown” following her non-qualification, she went on to explain that, while it was an “intense and weird experience”, she had the “best time” and made many connections that will be useful to her career.

Brooke said she believed she deserved a place in the final, an opinion shared by many fans. When asked what Ireland’s next attempt at Eurovision should entail, while she debunked Linda Martin and Brian Kennedy’s idea that a return to ballads is “absolutely necessary”, she still admitted she doesn’t know what it will take for Ireland to ever qualify again because they’ve “exhausted everything”. Since 2004, Ireland’s qualification record has been a dismal 6 out of 16.

“It is a different competition to when we were winning it with ballads. I definitely think that ballads are amazing and they’re really good, but it is dependent on the artists that submits their song […] I think I’ve opened the door to young, aspiring pop artists that want to do Eurovision. I think it is rather unfair to say we can only win with ballads because has every other country only won with ballads? It just depends on the level of songs and the level of the artist. It’s a worldwide competition now that 200 million watch.”

(Brooke Scullion quoted in irishmirror.ie, 27 May 2022)

Brooke did suggest that one of the problems was a lack of hype, particularly when it came to radio airplay. ” I heard the UK entry on radio about 100 times more than I heard my entry on the radio”, she explained, before going on to ask: “Why would you back something you’re not familiar with?” The United Kingdom pulled off second place, its best result since 1998, after Space Man by Sam Ryder became the first UK Eurovision entry on BBC Radio 1’s A playlist since Ooh Aah…Just A Little Bit by Gina G, eventually peaking at No.2 in the Official Charts last week.

Following her non-qualification, Brooke posted an emotional reel on her Instagram, which she said she posted because it was “genuine and raw” and she “wanted people to know that I had done everything I could for them”, before admitting that “I did get over it really fast because I watched the performance back and I was so impressed with myself.”

 

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RTÉ are yet to confirm Ireland’s participation in 2023, but it is fair to say the pressure will be on to salvage something in the very near future as Ireland’s 90s heyday drifts further away and current formats have continuously not been delivering justifiable results.

Do you think Brooke should have made the final? How should Ireland tackle Eurovision next year, and who would you like to see represent the Emerald Isle in the future? Let us know on social media!