Potential Artist Profile: Stromae for Belgium at Eurovision 2014?

It feels like a lifetime since we published a “Potential Artist Profile”. But as the national finals season is hotting up and we’re being introduced to more and more of the artists we’ll see in Copenhagen, a new profile seems very appropriate. Today we shine the spotlight on la belle Belgique, or de prachtige België if you live in Flemish part. Apparently. According to Google translate.

Country: Belgium
Belgium was a founding father of Eurovision and has participated in the Contest a total of 55 times. They only missed the contest in 1994, 1997 and 2001 when low scores from previous years relegated them from the competition. They’ve won Eurovison once, in 1986, but have finished last a painful eight times, in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1973, 1979, 1985, 1993 and 2000. Ouch. Belgium is certainly one of the most under rated countries at Eurovision!

Selection Process
Belgium has two national broadcasters, “Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française” (RTBF) for the French speaking community and “Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep” (VRT) for the Flemish folk. The two broadcasters rotate in selecting for the concert each year. VRT tends to hold a National Final, except for 2010, when they chose internally, and 2012 and 2013, when they selected the artist internally, but allowed the public to choose the song they sang. RTBF usually selects internally, although in 1998, 2005 and 2011 they did hold a national final.

Possible 2014 Entrant
The most recent success story to emerge from the Belgian music scene is singer-songwriter Paul Van Haver, or as he’s better known, Stromae. The 28-year-old first achieved European success with his 2010 hit “Alors on Danse” and trust me, it’s a good one. He’s collaborated with the likes of The Black Eyed Peas and Kanye West after being nominated for “Best Dutch and Belgian Act” at the MTV EMAs.

After a few quiet years, Stromae came back with a bang in summer 2013 with his new single “Papaoutai”. The dance anthem and the unique music video became one of Europe’s biggest summer tracks with the video getting over 75,000,000 views on Youtube. Wouldn’t he be perfect for Eurovision? He’s unique, he’s successful and he knows how to make a bloody good tune! If any of the Belgian broadcasters are reading… Please make this happen!

Honorable Mentions
Technotronic – This Belgian eurodance crew achieved worldwide success with the 90s track we all know and love “Pump Up The Jam”. We’re still raving away on “Just Dance”, so who’s to say we can’t turn Eurovision 2014 into one fluorescent europarty? There is the small issue of them splitting up in 2005, but a reunion for Eurovision would be a dream come true for many Eurovision fans!

Gotye – The man responsible for the brilliant one hit wonder “Somebody that I used to Know” that dominated European charts for several months. Maybe his next hit could be a song for Eurovision? He can clearly write a good song, he’s just not very consistent. We’re all hoping that he’s spend the last few years slaving away to write the 2014 winning Eurovision song, but we doubt it.

What do you think? Who could bring glory to Belgium at Eurovision? Let us know with a comment below! And to read more of our Potential Artist Profiles click here.

Katie Wilson contributed this story from the U.K. Follow her on Twitter at @katiewillfly and like our Facebook page to keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip.