It’s time for our hosts to take the stage! The Netherlands’ Jeangu Macrooy has had his first rehearsal of “Birth of a New Age” ahead of Eurovision 2021. How did the home performer do? Let’s see…
The Netherlands’ Jeangu Macrooy “Birth of a New Age” — Eurovision 2021 first rehearsal
Oliver: Jeangu Macrooy is a brilliant asset to the Netherlands in their hosting year. His performance opens with cracks forming in a grey backdrop, then revealing the Surinamese singer dressed in a cropped blue suit jacket, a black and red body harness and black trousers. He’s joined on stage by two backing vocalists — one of which is his twin brother Xillan — and one other dancer, who delivers a solo interpretive dance. At the chorus, “yu no man broko mi” and “you can’t break me” appear on the LED backdrop, just as they did in the song’s live debut. And for the final chorus, the grey backdrop turns into an explosion of colour, with all four members of the Dutch team finishing their performance on the stage catwalk. The most exciting part of this performance is the styling. It’s all very genderless and queer, but with the Surinamese cultural elements still remaining front and centre. All in all, it’s unapologetically and authentically Jeangu Macrooy.
Padraig: Jeangu has done something very difficult. He’s managed to make “Birth Of A New Age” more accessible for the Eurovision audience without losing the power or authenticity of the number. The opening portion is dominated by an oppressive wall of grey. The Surinamese lyrics and their English translation appear here. Cracks begin to appear, through which we glimpse chinks of light. These multiply and soon the wall is breaking to pieces. By the end, we’re treated to splatters of paint that reflect all the colours of the rainbow. The LED is only part of the magic. Jeangu is captivating on stage, and his backing team are just as engaging. His outfit is eye-catching, his vocals are wonderful and the message is lasting. A very credible entry from the home team.
Reaction to The Netherlands’ first rehearsal at Eurovision 2021
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What do you think? Did Jeangu Macrooy live up to your expectations? Sound off in the comments below.
I was like “why does that guy look so much him??” and then I read the sentence about the twin brother 😀 Best of luck to Jeangu! I love his outfit and the song is unique.
so much like him*
They spat on your crown and poisoned your ground. I never expected some in the fanbase to embrace those lyrics.
Pfff throw your hate.. This was excellent actually.. Something so different and out there is bound to get a reaction.. Hoping for a left hand finish..
What on earth is he wearing? That metal piece looks like he has a metal G-string thong on. The visuals are simply too much, it hurts to look at it. The styling and dancing too… I am disappointed, I expected something more simple, classy, like a gospel or something like Slovenia and Austria. I really like the song, but this will end somewhere 20-25.
Right? I also wrote about the thongs, but my comment is still waiting for approval.
You’d have been shocked if you ever saw Freddie Mercury…
I like this! Very vibrant and good vibes
It looks as vibrant as the message of the song, I’m liking the explosion of colors. I was expecting for the aesthetics from the gorgeous music video, but I think this performance pairs nicely together with it. The video is more about the roots, the live performance will be about the descendants.
I think this will flop so badly like the previous host country´s song….
Not because of him, he did great….But the song and being host country does not help
Exceptions to the rule. Remember Austria 2015? Very good performance/entry coming dead last.
Ukraine flopping the year they were hosting the show (they were almost in Top 10 every other year).
I said previous editions….Portugal 2018 Israel 2019….
“SJWBLM agenda” just say you are homophobic, sexist, and racist, and go
They like to hide.
OH, this is so joyful!!
While I don’t love it and it’s possibly a bit dated, I will say that it does stand out as it sounds completely different to anything else in the contest. After listening to 5 or 6 songs like for example, Cyprus, Israel, Malta………this might come as a refreshing change.
This song screams “last place as a host” but Jeangu is so energetic, I can’t let that happen
I think there are no shortage of contenders for the bottom of the score board this year.
This is the queerest entry this year and people won’t even notice it.
Not a fan of the outfits, i was expecting more tradition.
Excellent vocals. I still can’t see this doing better than bottom 3.
I do love the LEDs but I think this will keep the tradition of no one wanting to vote for the host country the beset Austria, Portugal and Israel.
These visuals are SOMEHTING ELSE wow! I may not like the song but at least he brings something different than all those countries with their pink visuals. He’s so charismatic as well.
You cant polish a turd, this is coming dead last in the final
I can see Germany picking some televote points
Germany will do much better in televoting. People like fun silly songs and the song is standing out. Eurovision voting does not have negative votes so people loving it will definitely vote for it.
Netherlands will do much worse, i can’t think of casual ESC fans voting for it, unless they are from Suriname.
Your taste is just useless, thats why………………………………
We shall see if this is coming dead last…
Do you honestly think televoters will pick up the phones for this?
Will go unnoticed by the juries too. So yeah, we shall see
Spain already booked last plast, LOL I can see Jeangue get 1 or 2 points from Belgium and some other, it will finish 20-25, while Spain will be 0 points
This will do better than everybody thinks right now… stands out, it’s totally different than the rest, Professional staging with a charismatic performer!
He sounds fantastic! I think this is great fun and I hope he can make it to the top 20, but this is a really strong year so I don’t know where he’ll land…