🇮🇪 Maiú Levi Lawlor to represent Ireland at Junior Eurovision 2021

Maiú Levi Lawlor has emerged victorious in the grand final of Junior Eurovision Éire and will represent Ireland at Junior Eurovision 2021!

The 13-year-old from Greystones, County Wicklow, has a history of performing in both theatres and on TV, including on The Late Late Show. At the age of four, he told his parents that he wanted to perform on the West End – and it’s all history from there!

The song that he will perform will be released at a later date.

Junior Eurovision Éire: The Grand Final

The grand final of Junior Eurovision Éire concluded six weeks of competition between 28 performers. The final three performers gave Irish-language renditions of famous songs, followed by their cover of an Irish Eurovision entry.

Sophie Lennon performed Elton John’s Circle of Life, followed by Niamh Kavanagh’s 2010 entry It’s For You. Maiú Levi Lawlor first sang Hold Back The River by James Bay, followed by Only Love Survives from 2013, originally by Ryan Dolan. Finally, Lilyella Buckley performed Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved, and ended the show with 1994 winner Rock ‘n’ Roll Kids, by Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Lilyella also accompanied both of her entries on the piano.

Following this, the judges selected two performers for a final duel – Maiú and Lilyella. Lilyella performed first – her own composition this time called Lost Without You. Secondly, Maiú performed a cover of Grace by Lewis Capaldi, before the final decision was made.

Selecting the entry were regular judges Niamh Ní Chróinín and Fiachna Ó Braonáin, joined by Eurovision 1992 winner Linda Martin as a guest judge for the final.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Junior Eurovision 2021 will take place in Paris, France following Valentina’s victory in JESC 2020 with “J’imagine”. The contest will be held in La Seine Musicale on December 19th. 19 countries will be competing in the 19th edition of the competition:

• Albania – TBC
• Armenia – TBC
• Azerbaijan – Sona Azizova
• Bulgaria – TBC
• France (Host) – TBC
• Georgia – artist to be decided 13th November
• Germany – Pauline with “Imagine”
• Ireland – Maiú Levi Lawlor
• Italy – to be decided during November
• Kazakhstan – to be decided on 6th November
• Malta – Ike and Kaya with “My Home”
• The Netherlands – Ayana with “Mata Sugu Aō Ne”
• North Macedonia – Cast of Dajte Muzika
• Poland – Sara James with “Somebody”
• Portugal – Simão Oliveira
• Russia – to be decided on 30th October
• Serbia – Jovana and Dunja with “Children’s Eyes”
• Spain – Levi Díaz, song to be released on 18th October
• Ukraine – to be decided on 23rd October

You can keep up with our JESC 2021 coverage here.

Ireland’s Junior Eurovision Journey

Ireland first participated in Junior Eurovision in 2015 with Aimee Banks’ “Réalta na Mara”, finishing in 12th place with 36 points. After that, Ireland earned its best JESC result, finishing in 10th place in 2016 with Zena Donnelly’s “Bríce Ar Bhríce”.

Following this, Ireland finished in 15th place in 2017 and 2018. They moved up to 12th place again in 2019 with Anna Kearney’s “Banshee”. However, they decided not to participate in the 2020 contest, along with a handful of other countries, due to concerns about travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

All of Ireland’s past Junior Eurovision entries were written and sung in Irish, as TG4 is an Irish-language broadcaster. As a result, some fans have expressed interest in Ireland sending entries in Irish to Eurovision itself.

Do you think Maiú was the right choice to represent Ireland in this year’s Junior Eurovision? Let us know in the comments below or on social media. Don’t forget to follow ‘THAT Eurovision Site’ over at Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

News Source: TG4

Photo Source: TG4