John Lydon (a.ok.a Johnny Rotten) and his longstanding post-punk outfit Public Picture Ltd. are eying up an sudden achievement: Representing Eire at this 12 months’s Eurovision Tune Contest with a brand new track, “Hawaii.”
“Hawaii” — which additionally marks Public Picture Ltd.’s first new track in about eight years — is much from the type of maximalist pop Eurovision tends to provide. As an alternative, it’s an understated and emotional ballad Lydon wrote for his spouse, Nora, who’s been dwelling with Alzheimer’s for a number of years.
“It’s devoted to everybody going by robust occasions on the journey of life, with the individual they take care of essentially the most,” Lydon stated in a press release. “It’s additionally a message of hope that finally love conquers all.”
Public Picture Ltd. will carry out “Hawaii” once they compete to characterize Eire at Eurovision 2023 subsequent month. The group is considered one of six acts vying for the gig, together with Adgy, Connolly, Wild Youth, Leila Jane, and Okay Muni & ND. The televised contest will happen on Feb. 3, and the winner will probably be chosen by the general public, with enter from nationwide and worldwide juries as properly. (Eurovision 2023 itself will happen this Could in Liverpool, England; the town is internet hosting on behalf of Ukraine, which gained Eurovision final 12 months however remains to be unable to host because of the ongoing Russian conflict.)
Public Picture Ltd.’s effort to safe a spot at Eurovision 2023 come a couple of years after Lydon popped up in one other televised singing competitors. Again in 2021, he appeared on The Masked Singer, dressed up because the Jester. And, as he famous in an interview after he was unmasked, he took the sudden gig additionally as a strategy to carry some pleasure to his spouse, Nora.
“I believed it might be actually good as a result of it meant my pretty spouse, who’s affected by Alzheimer’s, would possibly get an awesome sense of enjoyable out of it if she managed to guess who it was,” Lydon stated on the time. “We’ve lived collectively for 47 years, Nora and I, so she will need to have some clues as to who I’m and what I can rise up to.”
Together with attempting to actualize their Eurovision goals, Public Picture Ltd. plan to launch a brand new album later this 12 months, with particulars to be introduced quickly. Their final LP, What the World Wants Now…, arrived in 2015.