Dublin band Wild Youth will represent Ireland at Eurovision 2023 with their song We Are One.
Competing for the chance to represent Ireland at the competition in Liverpool this May, the band saw off rival songs from former sex pistols front man John Lydon with his band Public Image Limited. His entry, 'Hawaii', was dedicated to his wife of nearly five decades, Nora, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. He ended up placing fourth on the night.
Galway girl Jennifer Connolly finished a close second, tied with Wild Youth after votes by both the international and national jury and finishing second overall. Other entrants were Donegal songwriter ADGY, Grafton Street busker Leila Jane and Longford duo Wild and K Muni & ND had also been in the running.
Wild Youth's song 'We are one' was written with Grammy-nominated songwriter Jörgen Elofsson in Stockholm, Sweden.
In recent years they have toured with Westlife, The Script and Lewis Capaldi.
Wild Youth singer Conor O’Donohoe said it was a huge honour to be selected to represent Ireland.
He said: “Thank you to everyone who voted for us, we are overwhelmed, we hope everyone can get behind the song and that we can do everyone in Ireland proud. We want to thank all of our families, they have supported us from day one.”
Lydon, who was born in London to Irish parents, formed PiL following the break-up of the Sex Pistols in 1978, alongside guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble and drummer Jim Walker.
Their debut album, First Issue, was released in December that year and showcased a post-punk sound combining prog rock, dub and dance music.
After a 17-year hiatus, Lydon reformed the group in 2009 with a new line-up, touring worldwide and releasing two albums.
The group currently consists of Lydon plus guitarist Lu Edmonds, drummer Bruce Smith and bassist Scott Firth.
Eurovision will be held in May at the ACC Liverpool after the UK was named runner-up at the 2022 event with Sam Ryder.
The EBU concluded Ukraine could not host the event due to the Russian invasion, despite its entrant, Kalush Orchestra, coming first.
Ireland will perform in the first semi-final on May 9th ahead of the final on May 13th.
