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Pictured (clockwise): Adgy, Samantha Mumba, EMMY, Reylta, Bobbi Arlo and NIYL. RTÉ

Six Eurovision hopefuls announced ahead of Late Late Show special - take a listen here

Reylta and Dublin singer Bobbi Arlo will compete against four other Eurosong finalists on 7 February.

LAST UPDATE | 24 Jan

All six acts bidding to represent Ireland at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest have been named as of today.

The six acts will compete on 7 February on The Late Late Eurosong Special, which will determine who will represent Ireland at the 69th Eurovision Song Contest.

The contest, a staple of the Irish and European music calendar, is set to take place in Basel, Switzerland this May, after last year’s show saw Swiss singer Nemo win the contest.  

Controversy surrounded the involvement of Israel competing in the competition last year, as conflict in Gaza continued. Israel finished fifth overall in the final, narrowly beating Irish entrant Bambie Thug in sixth.

Take a listen here to all the Eurosong contestants here:

NIYL – Growth

The Late Late Show / YouTube

Limerick-born star NIYL was revealed as the sixth and final artist in the running to represent Ireland with his song Growth.

Billed as mixing “a unique blend of emotionally fuelled vocals with an electronic sound to deliver powerful, cinematic, original works”, NIYL has carved out a unique fanbase in the Irish music scene.

As a queer Irish artist, NIYL said wants to “amplify queer culture in the Irish music industry with his music”.

His debut album, Parish Is Burning, is due for release this year.

Samantha Mumba – My Way

The Late Late Show / YouTube

Mumba, who was revealed as the fifth artist in the running to represent Ireland, will be hoping to fly the flag in Switzerland with her song My Way.

Speaking on RTÉ One’s Ray D’Arcy Show today, Mumba said she was “excited and nauseous” and that she felt “too old to be putting herself through this stress”.

The singer said she had been “asked about it (Eurovision) for years” and that “she really wanted to do it” but she didn’t know the “powers that be”.

“This year though, is a very personal year for me and I really want to challenge myself and push myself out of my comfort zone.”

She shot to fame at the age of 17 with her debut single Gotta Tell You, which achieved top five positions in the charts in Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Her eponymous debut album also sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

Mumba has also earned accolades for her role in a number of films, while she’s currently appearing in the BBC series Harry Wild alongside Jane Seymour.

EMMY – Laika Party

The Late Late Show / YouTube

Norwegian singer EMMY was announced as the fifth act hoping to represent Ireland at this year’s song contest.

The 24-year-old singer-songwriter has been performing since she was a child. Today, she is best known for singing on TikTok, with a profile of 1.2 million followers.

In 2021, she participated in Melodi Grand Prix, Norway’s national selection of a song for Eurovision Song Contest, performing the song Witch Woods.

She is hoping to represent Ireland at the contest this year with her song, Laika Party.

Speaking from her home in Norway, Emmy told D’Arcy that she met a songwriter from Ireland at a songwriting camp so “it felt natural to submit the song for Ireland”.

EMMY explained that she comes from a musical family and that her brother is also a writer on her track, Laika Party. She has never been to Ireland but is “very excited” to spend a couple of days here ahead of her Eurosong performance on The Late Late Show on 7 February.

Adgy – Run Into the Night

The Late Late Show / YouTube

Donegal-born Adgy is as the latest act to be announced this week hoping to impress at Eurosong 2025 and represent Ireland at the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest.

Speaking on The Ray D’Arcy Show yesterday, Adgy revealed that the track, Run Into The Night, was co-written with his sister”.

“We had a jam session, we sat and organically wrote the song. She’s going to join me on the Eurosong stage,” Adgy said.

“This song is really unique. My kind of music is pop, it’s EDM, it’s very contemporary, but there’s a very strong Celtic influence in this track”.

His new single, Run into the Night, is a Celtic pop anthem written by Adgy and produced by Eurovision legend Ivan Klymenko (Klymenkoy produced the song Kalush for Ukrainian Eurovision winner Stefania).

Adgy previously performed on Eurosong 2023 with his track “Too Good For Your Love”, and since then has taken some time to develop his music and grow as an artist.

A prolific songwriter with over 12 million streams, a deal with Universal Music Group, and a publishing deal with Spirit BMG under his belt, Adgy draws inspiration from his roots in the Donegal Gaeltacht.

Reylta – Fire

The Late Late Show / YouTube

Reylta, who was revealed as the second artist in the running to represent Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest on Tuesday, said that she believes her track “is a magic song”.

The singer-songwriter entered the running to represent Ireland with her new song Fire, which premiered on RTÉ Radio’s Ray D’Arcy Show this week.

Reylta has already carved out a niche for herself as an alt-folk artist, with her new song described as being “rooted deeply in Irish tradition and heritage”.

The singer, whose real name is Caoimhe Glynn, told Ray D’Arcy that she has been “singing since I’ve been six months old”.

“I started writing at eleven because I was doing competitions. I saw that people who weren’t very great singers were getting into the next round by writing their own songs. I’m very fueled by spite and knew I could do it,” she joked.

She has been performing with her band since 2017, and released her debut single, Fools Games, in 2019. In October, she released her debut album Everything Unsaved Will Be Lost.

Previously named as Radio Nova’s A New Local Hero finalist in 2023, Reylta has previously been hailed by critics as ‘Galway’s Alt Folk Queen’.

Bobbi Arlo – Powerplay

The Late Late Show / YouTube

Arlo, a popular live act who was named Gay Times Artist of the Year in 2024, was the first to enter the Eurosong race on Monday with her new song Powerplay.

Speaking on Monday on the Ray D’Arcy Show, Arlo revealed that she had always been a “huge Eurovision fan”, adding that she was also a fan of Bambie Thug.

“There’s been such a Bambie effect where other countries are sending acts similar to them. It’s really inspiring,” Arlo said. “It was so insane for an act like Bambie to be sent in the first place because it was so different to what Ireland normally sent,” she added.

Arlo said that the music industry in Ireland is “so vast and so diverse”, explaining that she was “excited to be the next step in that”.

Arlo’s new song Powerplay has already been described by fans as an “edgy, well-produced pop song”, as has been compared to other successful dance/electronic pop hits such as Charli XCX’s latest album BRAT.

Bobbi Arlo, born and raised in Dublin, began performing in her teens. In 2018 she unveiled her first track ‘People’ on SoundCloud, closely followed by ‘Bye’, which gained her a very small dedicated fan group.

Arlo’s status as a rising star in Irish music circles has gathered pace, and the singer has since played several sold out shows in Dublin, and performed at several high profile festivals including Primavera.

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