Erica Cody named as Ireland’s first Eurovision hopeful

Eurovision time is fast approaching and Erica Cody is feeling hopeful

Speaking on the Ray D’Arcy Show while debuting her new track, Erica said: "It’s all very exciting. It’s been hard to keep this one a secret.

"I’m one of six hopefuls to fly the flag for Ireland. Apparently, the viewership of the Eurovision is bigger than the Super Bowl so it is quite a big deal. I didn’t make this decision lightly to enter.

"I had been approached to do it before to write a song a couple of years back. The timing was never right," she added.

"I had a lot more things to work on to solidify my own career before I even thought of potentially stepping on such a huge stage."

The R&B singer explained that the song is all about "self-love and confidence" something so important to her.

"The song has never meant more to me than it does right now. It really helped me get through one of the most challenging times in my life while navigating a breakup," Erica said.

The song has an impressive list of creatives behind it including, Grammy-nominated RuthAnne, Aimee and produced and co-written by Richey McCourt.

Describing the tune, Erica said: "It's the ultimate feel-good self-love anthem. The meaning is in the song title, 'Love Me Like I Do', you really are your own best friend, the one who has to go to sleep with your decisions and thoughts at night so no one can make decisions and love you more than you can."

She spoke about the prospect of representing Ireland on an international level and said: "I always thought that I’d be representing my country with a basketball jersey on my back, but that was cut short due to injury which was the catalyst for me to really pursue music.

"So, to be able to represent Ireland doing the one thing I love the most (music) and have now made my career not only would be an honour but a huge full circle moment.

"I really think I could do Ireland proud and bring it home."

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