Eurovision 2025 Ireland profile: Laika Party by Emmy

We profile the 2025 entry from the Ireland including details on the artist, song, how it was chosen, odds, fan reaction, and how the nation has fared at Eurovision.

Ireland is arguably one of the most successful countries at Eurovision with seven victories, a record they share with Sweden.

The Emerald Isle made its debut at Eurovision in 1965 with Butch Moore performing I'm Walking the Streets in the Rain in Naples, Italy, finishing a respectable sixth place.

Ireland's first victory came courtesy of Dana in 1970 with All Kinds of Everything.

Australian-born Johnny Logan won the 1980 and 1987 contests as a singer with What's Another Year? and Hold Me Now. Johnny was the first artist to win Eurovision twice.

From 1992 to 1994 Ireland won Eurovision an unprecedented three times in a row courtesy of Linda Martin, Niamh Kavanagh and the duo of Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Johnny Logan wrote Linda Martin's winning entry Why Me?

Ireland's last victory came in 1996 when Eimear Quinn triumphed with the Celtic-influenced The Voice, which happens to be one of King Charles' favourite songs.

The Emerald Isle has been less successful at Eurovision in the 21st century. In particular, between 2014 and 2023, the country only managed to qualify once for the Eurovision Grand Final.

Last year Bambie Thug revived Ireland's fortunes in the contest, finishing in sixth place with Doomsday Blue.

It will be interesting to see whether Ireland's representative this year Emmy can keep up this successful trend.

2025 entry: EMMY - Laika Party

• Emmy will perform 3rd in semi-final 2

• My Eurovision Scoreboard ranking: 28th

• Odds to win ranking: 20th

• Aussievision team ranking: 20th

(Rankings as of 30 March 2025)

About the artist

Emmy Kristine Guttulsrud Kristiansen, known professionally as Emmy, is a 24-year-old Norwegian singer-songwriter and freelance graphic designer. She hails from Sande, which is a village 60 kilometres south of Oslo.

Ireland's Eurovision representative is a veteran of singing competitions having participated in Melodi Grand Prix Junior in 2015 at the age of 14 with the song Aiaiaiai. The entry reached the Super Final. Her brother Erlend competed in the same competition in 2011.

In 2021 Emmy competed in the adult version of Melodi Grand Prix, which served as the Norwegian national selection for Eurovision. Her song Witch Woods reached the final.

2023 saw Emmy serve as a member of the Norwegian jury for Eurovision.

Emmy has a large following on TikTok with over 1.2 million followers and 20.4 million likes.

She was also a songwriter for Citi Zēni's entry in the Latvian Eurovision selection this year. The song Ramtai finished third. Citi Zēni previously competed at Eurovision in 2022 with Eat Your Salad.

About the song

Emmy's Eurovision song is about Laika, a Soviet space dog who in November 1957 became one of the first animals in space and to orbit earth. You can read more about the story of Laika in this Aussievision article.

In an interview with Aussievision Emmy describes why she wrote Laika Party:

"I've always been ... an animal lover ... I think it is very sad [that Laika died]. When I get sad I really like to write songs about it, to get those emotions out ... learning about [Laika's] story throughout the years, I just really wanted to ... write a scenario for her where she doesn't die but where she lives on and is happy instead, and is having her own party."

Laika Party was written by three Norwegians, including Emmy and Erlend, and one Irish songwriter. The song was composed at a Norwegian songwriting camp.

How was Emmy chosen for Eurovision?

Laika Party was initially submitted to this year's Norwegian Eurovision selection Melodi Grand Prix, however it was not selected to be one of the nine finalists.

As the song had an Irish songwriter, it then was submitted to Ireland's Eurovision selection Eurosong, where it was one of the six chosen finalists.

Emmy competed in the Eurosong final on 7 February, which was a special episode of The Late Late Show.

It was the first time Emmy had visited Ireland. The week before the show, she set out on a mission to be "as Irish as possible" and documented her adventures for her TikTok followers. Highlights included Emmy drinking alcohol-free Guinness and experiencing a full Irish breakfast.

Other Eurosong finalists this year included Samantha Mumba who had worldwide chart success with her singles Gotta Tell You in 2000, and Adgy who was a Eurosong finalist in 2023.

The Eurosong final result was decided a third by international jury, a third by an Irish jury and third by an Irish televote.

Emmy finished first in both the Irish televote and jury, and second with the international jury. This was enough to win comfortably over runner-up Samantha Mumba.

Aussievision interview with Emmy

Ireland will perform third in the second semi-final at Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland on Thursday, May 15.

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