LAST UPDATE | 9 Jan 2023

FORMER SEX PISTOLS frontman John Lydon has entered a song in Ireland’s Eurosong contest, in the hopes of representing the country in the Eurovision in Liverpool in May. 

Lydon – known in his punk days as Johnny Rotten – has entered a song called Hawaii. 

He will perform it as part of his current band, Public Image Limited, when all the contestants take part in a Late Late Show contest special on 3 February. 

Both of Lydon’s parents are from Ireland – his mother hailing from Cork and his father from Galway. 

The band, often shortened to “PiL”, have described Hawaii as a love letter to Lydon’s wife of nearly 5 decades, Nora, who is living with Alzheimer’s.

The song sees Lydon reflecting on one of their happiest moments together in Hawaii, in what PiL have called ”a pensive, personal yet universal love song that will resonate with many.”

1/2 PiL will be competing to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2023 with their new single Hawaii - which is available on all digital platforms from today, Monday, January 9th.
Download or Stream Hawaii now! A PiL song like no other. https://t.co/hSdJYEiaoz pic.twitter.com/6Q8jRGag1g

— John Lydon Official (@lydonofficial) January 9, 2023

Lydon has tried to represent Ireland in the Eurovision before, making it to the final ten Irish contestants in 2018 with the song ‘Pleased to Meet You.’

Irish pop outfit Wild Youth have also been revealed as one of the finalists for the Eurosong this year with their song ‘We’re One.’

The other contestants are pop  singer-songwriter ADGY with ‘Too Good for Your Love’,  alternative artist CONNOLLY performing her song ‘Midnight Summer Night’, rap duo K Muni & ND with ‘Down in the Rain’ and Donegal indie soul singer Leila Jane with ‘Wild’. 

Snippets of the songs that will battle it out to represent Ireland were played on this morning’s Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1. 

This year’s Eurovision final takes place in Liverpool on Saturday 13 May – with two semi-finals taking place the previous Tuesday and Thursday. 

The UK – who came second in last year’s contest – are hosting the 2023 event on behalf of Ukraine.