Now, unless you're very stupid you'd know that Ireland and the UK have a bit of history. I consider the real marker of Ireland doing badly in the Eurovision as whether or not Ireland are doing worse than the UK. Oh Dervish!
In 1993, the competition was between Ireland and UK to the last votes. The very last vote! (Thanks, Malta!*)
But what about Sonia? Did she deserve to win?
Er..... maybe? I'm undecided. Sonia's song just has a slightly cheesy vibe about it that I think would never have made it a winner. It also does seem kinda dated for 1993. When you hear that the songwriter was thinking of Wham when he wrote it, a band who'd last been in the charts 7 years earlier, you're not really on the cutting edge. But then, Niamh's entry was not all that innovative either. She was though a better singer. Which is probably what made it so close.
And it was very close. Had it been any country other than the UK it would have been considered a success. That's really the UK's biggest problem in Eurovision. Unless it wins, it's a failure. British entrants never seem, no matter what they say, like they're actually just glad to take part. They're fighting for their careers! (Which is why so many British entries this year are has-beens like Blue, or nobodies who can be forgotten after, Josh Dubovie and Jade Ewen, to a lesser degree. Dincky was an exception in that, as a 76 year old international performer since the 60s, he really didn't have had anything to lose. Would Cheryl Cole risk losing Eurovision?)
*this sort of thing is what they want to happen nowadays with randomly ordering the votes, but the dynamic of the contest has changed to make it unlikely that it would ever be so tense now!
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