Tag Archive for Netherlands

We said she didn’t but she is now. Anouk to represent Netherlands at Eurovision.

October 17, 2012 Netherlands No comments

Not so long ago we posted an article about Dutch singer Anouk claiming to have the perfect killer song ready for Eurovision. Unfortunately for her at the time the broadcaster, responsible for the Dutch participation denied the singer from appointing her directly. But after a lot of discussions Tros and the popular Benelux singer have announced that she is the Dutch hope for Malmo in 2013. Watch Anouk announce the news herself here

How or when Anouk is going to introduce her song for Eurovision is not yet known. The Netherlands are the first country in this years field to announce their representative for the 58th contest. The 2013 edition will be held in Malmo, Sweden after the country won in Azerbaijan with ‘Euphoria’. The Netherlands are yet to qualify for the final for the first time. The only time the country has managed to get to the final was when they were automatically qualified in 2004.

Watch one of Anouk’s biggest hits, ‘Michel’ below:

Is Anouk the right choice for Eurovision? Let us know your thoughts.

 

 

ESC 2013: Anouk rejected for Melodifestivalen concept by Dutch Broadcaster TROS

July 12, 2012 Eurovision, Netherlands No comments

While their usually not the first to talk about their plans for Eurovision, Dutch broadcaster TROS has been grabbing a few headlines in the local media after it emerged they rejected to select rock singer, Anouk internally as their Dutch representative for 2013.

Anouk Teeuwe rose to fame in Europe in 1997 when she released ‘Nobody’s Wife’ reaching the top ten in France, Germany, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Finland and her native the Netherlands. Although she hasn’t succeeded to match the same success in most of the countries, she remains a high profile artist in the Netherlands and Belgium. In fact the singer released her seventh studio album last year  called ‘To Get Her Together’.

The pop rock singer is rumoured to have a killer song ready for the Eurovision song Contest, yet TROS has its eyes set on a preselection format with 6 heats,  similar to the Swedish selection process ‘Melodifestivalen’. The news has been confirmed by a spokesman of the Dutch broadcaster who also read the following statement: “We are delighted that Anouk thinks about the contest, but (she) must take part in a national final” a ” She is obviously disappointed… but we want the Dutch public and a jury to decide what is the best song for Eurovision.”

The Netherlands have overall opted for a national final to choose their representative. The only exceptions to the rules in the past few years have been Edsilia Rombley (2007) and Hind (2008) who were internally selected including their entries. In 2009 and 2010, the Dutch representatives were internally chosen, but the audience was given the chance to vote for their entry, before the broadcaster went back to a full scale national final in 2011 .

The Netherlands are yet to qualify from the semi finals since the introduction of the current system. The last time the Netherlands were present in the final was in 2004.

Watch the video of Anouk’s debut hit single ‘Nobody’s Wife’ below:

An update in regards to Anouk and the Eurovision Song Contest can be found here

Will.I.AM – This is Love ft Eva Simmons offical video

May 25, 2012 Daily News No comments

Only a few days ago, we posted the audio of The Voice judge’ Will.I.AM’s latest single ‘This Is Love’ which features the vocals of  Eva Simons. Need a refresher of what we thought of the track? Find it here.

The anthemic dance track, which sees its release on June 24th, has now seen the official release for the video which you can see below. Great dance track, which really shows the vocal abilities of singer Eva Simons. Brilliant!

Will.I.Am – This is Love ft Eva Simons

May 19, 2012 Netherlands One comment

It’s been out for a few days, so we hope the voice coach Will.I.AM forgives us for only paying attention to his new song now. ‘This is Love’ is the Black eyed Peas front man new offering, taken from his solo album #WillPower, which is expected to have its global release in August/September. The track is a new collaboration for the master of excessive auto tune and Dutch dance singer Eva Simons, who scored a minor radio hit globally with ‘Silly Boy’ but is yet to crack the music industry.

Yet her big breakthrough could easily be arround the corner with the appearance on ‘This is Love’. In all honesty the new Will.I.AM track sounds less auto tuned from his previous work and is a lot easier in the ear than predecessor ‘The E.N.D’ which featured guest vocals by Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger.

Given, the popularity of Black Eyed Peas creator and current The Voice Coach, it’s a clever thing to do for Eva to jump on the Will.I.AM wagon and enjoy the maximum exposure, and get world recognition in order to proof what a talented, yet underrated singer she is.

June 24th, is the official release date for the new single, which is produced by Swedish House Mafia’s Steve Angello and will be available then via iTunes, Amazon and any other digital music provider.

ESC 2012 Review – Part 9: Netherlands, Malta & Belarus

April 13, 2012 Eurovision No comments

Since 2008 the annual Eurovision Song Contest consists of two semi finalists which are responsible to deliver 10 qualifiers each to take part in the grand final where they join Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the host country, this year Azerbaijan. Over the past few weeks we’ve been going through the semi finalists. Today we have a closer look at the entries from the Netherlands, Malta and Belarus.

Netherlands: Joan Franka – You and Me

the Netherlands have not had the most brilliant years behind them when it comes down to Eurovision results. In fact the country hasn’t made it to the final since 2004. With a slightly more serious approach this year, and the producer of the Voice as the brain for the preselection, things might change. Joan Franka, who won the selection is representing her country with the song ‘You and Me’. And Awww this is a very sweet, country-pop song splendid for a camping trip. Her vocals are unusual but very likeable and her colour of voice is very pleasant to listen to. The video also shows a more stripped down Joan, as the act performed during the final was slightly over the top, with her Indian headgear and outfit.  The natural Joan is so much better. And if a Belgian, Cypriot and Finnish boy can do it just with a guitar, plus a Swiss girl and her two instrument players then so can the Dutch. The Netherlands have won Eurovision on 4 occassions: 1957, 1959, 1969 & 1975.

Malta: Kurt Calleja – This Is The Night

Right behind the Netherlands is another country which has come close to victory several times but never won the contest. Judging on what was in the Maltese preselection this year, the country have definately gone for the best what was on offer. Kurt Calleja really knows how to play the camera, and brings a radiopop friendly number to Baku. In all honesty, we don’t think Kurt’s voice really suits this song, his voice seems to be too on the heavy side for this type of radio song. Having said that there is something instantly likeable about the Maltese entry and the moves in the video are a nice hint to the ‘Every Day I’m Shufflin’ move. In a semi which has got quite a lot of ballads, they might scrape through, and in all honesty we wouldn’t really mind for that to happen.

Belarus: Litesound – We are the Heroes

Time for one of the most entertaining countries in Eurovision. Belarus likes to do what we call ‘A Sugababe’ meaning either changing a song/artist or in most cases both. This year the initial winner of the contest was stripped from her victory after it emerged her boyfriend who was in charge of the televoting had been naughty. So we got Litesound, in Power Rangers costumes for Belarus this year. Their song is very similar to the Maltese entry, so they’re a bit unfortunate in their draw. As with Malta it’s a radiofriendly pop song which doesn’t really bring anything refreshing. The tacky power rangers costumes and a decent act could get them into the final, (remember the butterflies in 2010?). We will have to see what happens.

Our verdict:

1 Netherlands

2 FYR Macedonia

3 Serbia

4 Malta

5 Belarus

Next up are Portugal and Ukraine

 

ESC 2012 – Those Who Didn’t Make it: Raffaëla – Chocolatte

March 3, 2012 Eurovision No comments

It’s been quite a few busy weekends in the Eurovision world with many countries deciding upon their entries. A bit too many to have been able to rewatch all of them (and muting the winners) to give you an overview.

However we did find the time to have a look at what the Netherlands were upto last sunday. John Endemol was appointed very early after the contest of last year to organize ‘Het Nationaal Songfestival’. The man got quite a lot of bad press when he revealed his six finalists and the format, which was very similar to ‘The Voice’ format. Six candidates battles it out in 3 duels. The winners of the duels would then become the three superfinalists with one being the overall winner.

When we watched the non-winning performers back we just had to pick this one. Raffaëla is a former Idols/X Factor winner and has transformed herself into the Dutch Rihanna for the Dutch preselection. In her black skimpy nities, red pantys and flaming red hair, she seducively sings to us about ‘Chocolatte’. Fortunately for Raffaëla, the Dutchies didn’t think her ‘Chocolatte’ was good enough for a place in the top three and she ws knocked out in the first round.

Why do we like it so much? Well let’s be honest, it’s pure entertainment really. We would have loved Raffaëla on the stage in Baku, in her bikini, monokini, whatever… singing about Chocolatte as the charm of the contest is also the whole productions round the songs. Something which we would have thoroughly enjoyed with this lady.

Enjoy the video!

 
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