On September 18 Eurofans were abuzz with the widely reported rumour that 28-year-old singer-songwriter Dotan will sing for the Netherlands at Eurovision 2016. But today Dutch newspaper The Metro claims that AVROTROS will actually send Douwe Bob, a 22-year-old known for his country-folk sound.
Many of you will remember DB for “Hold Me” — his duet with Anouk. (At the very least you should remember the photo Anouk posted of him in the bathtub). Earlier this year he topped the charts with his album “Pass it on”.
The newspaper is relying on an anonymous source for its information and AVROTROS has not confirmed the report.
Interestingly, last year Douwe Bob told RTL Late Night viewers that he has no great love for Eurovision…though he didn’t go so far as to definitively rule out entering.
One thing is for sure: the country/folk stylings could do very well at the contest, just like we saw in 2013 and 2014. Douwe Bob’s sound is comparable to that of the Common Linnets, suggesting AVROTROS loves its banjos and fiddles.
Since the Dutch upped their game in 2013, they’ve sent big stars. Douwe Bob lacks their celebrity wattage, but certainly has a strong voice and distinct sound.
Last year The Metro newspaper quoted sources that said Alain Clark (and then Dotan) would sing for the Netherlands at Eurovision 2015.
@Charles: That duet with Anouk and Douwe Bob could easily have scored as many points, or even more, than Ilse and Waylon, because it’s the kind of duet that really stands out above many. Once more, as a solo artist, if Giannis (John) Karagiannis could get to the final with a ballad like his, so could Douwe Bob…
…And yet still, the band Kensington is my most-anticipated pick for the Dutch, because they too have a sound that also stands out above the typical ESC entry; and they don’t need monster masks to accentuate their stage performance.
@Charles – ” MUSIC is really back at Eurovision and I can’t wait to see fans bored to death”.
Me either. Hahahah
Looking forward to this. He seems promising this time.
He’s way better than Dotan, so would be a good choice if true. The kid sure is talented, absolutely blew me away at 19 years old when he won the Best Singer Songwriter of the Netherlands competition.
He sang this song at the national MH17 memorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGJAMtFAW4Q
It’s both more beautiful and more representative of what he does than the Maywood cover above 😉
AMAZING!!! Music to my ears … country folk is one of my jams and I am glad the genre is finding its way into the competition … and I am overjoyed … well the Russian grannies and Ukranian beyonce-wannabes and Ukrainian-silver dressed drag queens are definitively over … MUSIC is really back at Eurovision and I can’t wait to see fans bored to death … 🙂 🙂
Ughh, hope its just a rumour. first impressionn: #yawnf*ckingboring
I´m Dutch and I think he´s okay and could do top 10 / maybe 5… But I prefer Dotan with miles.