After the cancellation of the contest last year, Irish Broadcaster, RTE, did not immediately commit to sending its 2020 representative, Lesley Roy, to represent Ireland in 2021. Instead, they invited her represent the country in 2021 provided that she had the right song. After thinking about it, Lesley said that it would be “hypocritical” of her not to have another try given the lyrics of her 2020 entry, Story of My Life, were about picking yourself up after difficult experiences.
In the latter half of 2020, Lesley devoted herself to song writing and worked with various other songwriters and music producers across Europe including previous Eurovision alumni such as Jowst (Norway 2017) and Lasse Piirainen from Norma John (Finland 2017). Lesley also attended a song-writing session in Stockholm to work with other producers in songwriters and tweeted that she was “digging down deep to find that song”.
In September, Lesley had the song. She submitted it to RTE who loved it on first listen. Lesley had to sit tight until December before RTE officially confirmed her as Ireland’s 2021 artist. Fast forward to late February 2021 when it was announced that Lesley’s song is called Maps and it premiered on RTE Radio on 25 February. Maps is an uptempo song with an uplifting feel to it. The song was written and produced by Lesley along with Lukas Hallgren, who also produced Switzerland’s 2019 entry, She Got Me.
In the first week of its release, Maps, went straight in at number 3 on the Irish music charts, something unheard of for an Irish Eurovision song. Maps appears to have gone down really well with lots of positive feedback from fans. Hopefully come May, Lesley’s Maps helps her to find a way to the Grand Final in Rotterdam.
Video for Maps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ZUBzqPxds