Having wowed audiences on The Late Late Show Eurosong special on Friday, January 26, non-binary singer Bambie Thug has been selected to represent Ireland at the 2024 Eurovision song contest with their genre-defying track ‘Doomsday Blue’.
Bambie out-preformed five acts with their “ouija-pop” music, combining elements of electro-rap, confrontational performance art and late-night goth pop. They secured the top spot by earning the combined public, international jury and national jury votes.
The Cork-born musician described ‘Doomsday Blue’ as something that transports listeners “from alt witchy verses to killer screams, pop choruses, a jazzy middle-eight, before ending in a metallic roar of electro and heavy guitars.”
They said their early musical inspiration included Westlife and, “pop girlies like Britney Spears”. Their creativity comes from, “anything fantastical, animation, movies, even my witchcraft is a big part of it,” and the hashtag #sendthewitch was trending on X after Friday’s performance.
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Bambie’s music ranges from explosive and hard-hitting to sweet and soulful. The artist premiered their debut song ‘Birthday’ in 2021, followed by their first EP Psilocyber. They released their biggest hit ‘Tsunami’ in 2022, which has more than 700,000 streams.
As an LGBTQ+ artist, the Eurovision competitor has already received online hate about their music and non-binary identity. They responded by saying, “I’m not gonna reply to any of the hate directly but I will say; remember I am a human too!”
They added, “I am a hardworking person who has pushed down doors for myself my whole life. I have gone through so much trauma and still show up with love after every obstacle and hard time.
“I have always been a phoenix and your words and warped views cannot hurt me. My pursuit is love and healing!”
Sending love and kindness to all of you who are enraged by my beautiful Art? – remember it’s theatre and chill out x pic.twitter.com/b3ktwcpqvB
— #swedewitch (@Bambiethug) January 28, 2024
While Eurovision has been a dream of Bambie’s, they have joined others in calling on the European Broadcasting Union to expel Israel from this year’s song contest.
As Israel continues its war on Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of over 30,000 people, many Eurovision fans are calling attention to the fact that the song contest took action against Russia and excluded the country in 2022 after it invaded Ukraine.
Bambie joined other competitors in saying they do not think Israel should be allowed to compete, but added, “It’s not down to the contestants though, it’s down to the Eurovision itself.”
With Sweden having equalled Ireland’s tally of most Eurovision victories in history with last year’s winning song ‘Tattoo’ by Loreen, Bambie Thug has the potential to move the Emerald Isle back into the record-breaking spot in 2024. The 68th Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals will begin on Tuesday, May 7, with the grand final on Saturday, May 11, in Malmö, Sweden.
© 2024 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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