Ireland continues to choose their national entry in a one night competition between six possible selections. After a streak of disappointing non-qualifying performances and a roundly mocked generic boyband entry last year, Ireland unexpectedly chose “Doomsday Blues” by Bambie Thug. Bambie will be performing their song 4th in the first semifinal.

We are always here for weird entries, and “Doomsday Blue” is definitely weird, from the song to the performance. One of a couple witchy entries this year, Bambie Thug lives up to the “occult-pop” genre they coined themselves. The song switches between screaming discordant sounds and sweet melodic harmonies with lyrics that include “through twisted tongues a hex deployed,” “hoodoo all the things that you do,” and “Avada Kadavra.”

With this entry, we do not know what to expect for the Eurovision stage because every performance so far has brought something different. However, Bambie Thug’s national final performance did give us a taste. Their staging had back up dancers in black morph suits with elongated appendages and whimsical fantasy images on an LED screen. The budget the Ireland delegation often seems to be working with is always a cause for concern, but “Doomsday Blues” seems like it can take a little a long way.

Once a Eurovision powerhouse with 3 consecutive wins in the 90’s and tied with Sweden for the most wins of any country, the past decade has been tough for Ireland in Eurovision with only one act qualifying for the final in that time (although Brooke was ROBBED in 2022). We really hope that this performance has what it takes to bring Ireland back into the final, but regardless we are very excited to see the variety it adds to the Eurovision stage. While not being one of our favorite songs, “Doomsday Blues” may be the entry we are most glad to see and hope it makes it to the final just to keep Ireland from reverting to the bland non-qualifying entries.