It’s official: The Netherlands has chosen girl group O’G3NE to sing at Eurovision 2017 in Kyiv.
The news of AVROTROS’ selection won’t come as a shock to the Dutch press, who have speculated about the group for months.
Although O’G3NE repeatedly said that they had not been in talks with AVROTROS about participating in the Eurovision Song Contest, they had also repeatedly expressed their interest, leading much of the country to pray for their participation.
“It is amazing that, ten years after having taken part in the Junior Song Contest, we are going to have the opportunity to represent the Netherlands yet again,” the girls said in a statement sent to wiwibloggs. “We are extremely proud that AVROTROS is putting its faith in us and we are really looking forward to this adventure. After the Junior Song Contest and winning The Voice of Holland, this is another highlight in our career. We are going to give it our all to make the Netherlands proud.”
O’G3NE is a girl group consisting of three sisters — Lisa, Amy and Shelley — who competed at Junior Eurovision in 2007. The O in their name stands for their mother’s blood group, while G3ne represents the genes that bind the the three sisters.
Most recently the girls appeared on The Best Singers of The Netherlands. In the first episode they sang their own version of Emeli Sandé’s ‘Clown’. It immediately went to number one on the iTunes charts. You can buy it here.
AVROTROS have not revealed when the group’s song will be released, but we know the girls are not worried about delivering something big or staying true to themselves.
Eric van Stade, Managing Director of the Dutch broadcaster, said: “In recent years, we have worked with some highly experienced artists, who already had a proven track record. This has made sure we are once again an important player at this contest. We are continuing this trend with O’G3NE. There’s no doubting the fact that the ladies are the clear favourites of fans and viewers to represent our country. Their huge fan base, with almost 100,000 followers on Facebook and Twitter and millions of views on YouTube, shows how much people love the trio. We are convinced that Europe will be bowled over by the beautiful voices of these three sisters.”
In September the three sisters spoke with 100%NL Magazine, revealing that if they did get the chance to compete, they’d do so on their terms and with their own style in mind. They are definitely in it to win it. They added:
“If we go, we go our way. And we certainly have an idea of how we could win….It’s all about the big picture. Everything has to be right. You are not going there to promote an album or get an international career. Only a win would count for us.”
At the time they said they weren’t worried about finding a song. “Our father wrote our hit song ‘Magic’ in one day, so the song will be on time. We aren’t worrying about that.”
Last year, the Netherlands was the first country to reveal their artist, after it was leaked that country singer Douwe Bob would represent the Netherlands in Stockholm. However, we had to wait until March to hear his entry “Slow Down”.
What do you think? Are you excited that O’G3NE have been selected? Can they have the Netherlands a victory? Share your thoughts below!
Well, the song is by far not good enough to qualify for the final on Saturday. 13 in a dozen (Dutch expression). What happened to the policy to only send seasoned artists to the event?
stupid they should make a song with the words oh ukraine 1944 where are the people of mh17
Bad choice this band hasn`t got a charisma. I think The Netherlands will be without final.
It’s still an utterly stupid name for a band.
Ugly girls
It is always hard with groups. The chances of all three having excellent vocal performances are less than with just the one singer. I wish them luck though!
much nicky byrne, it might end in dissapointment.
but i’m going to judge until i hear the song.
@hebbuzz
Being popular, at least in the Netherlands, means that you also get your share of haters… like yourself 😉 Their latest singles weren’t written by their father. As for their movement on stage, they do move quite a bit, but maybe they’re slightly limited as one of them has just one lung, and needs her breath to sing.
As for emotion, during Change Will Come (their tribute to their terminally ill mother) and Clown, they certainly struck a chord with the Dutch audience.
Crap. More grammatical errors. That should have read, “..can they come UP with a song that works magic…”
No surprise here. Jan Smit was clamoring for AVOTROS to pick them. Now, can they come of with a song that works magic, like Urban Symphony’s “Rändajad”?
On the other hand, crap. I was hoping for Kensington to get the call. After hearing their recently-released “Do I Ever?”, and watching the video, I thought they really had a chance this time.
Ok, just ‘OhJean’.
English letter ‘O’ + English word ‘Gene’ =
? j?n.
I still have no idea how to pronounce their name. Ohthreegene? O’Trigonny? Ohjean?
Can somebody please post it phonetically? Sorry if I’ve missed it somewhere. Thanks!
100,000 followers on facebook, on a population of nearly 17 million does not make them popular at all. The girls can sing, no doubt a bout that, but everything else is not really working in their favour…. the dress up horrible, come across like emotionless and hardly move. They have a a dominant father who does interfere too much and writes boring songs. They only did few covers, no really selfmade hit singles….. I’m worried they take Eurovision as if it is just Junior 2.0 but it’s something completely different. The Netherlands might be heading for a Trijntje, 3j’s Toppers… Read more »
Slow down brothers, I think it is way too early to say whether O’G3NE will do well or not. But I think this is one of the few potential artist The Netherlands (my country) has who could do the thing we have thought was impossible for a long time and when everything is perfect can actually win this contest. That said, we are still far away from a song release I think but if the sisters really gonna try and do it on their own way with lots of fun and enthusiasm I think they could make The Netherlands really… Read more »
Girl groups are so underrated at the Eurovision. ENI (Croatia 1997), Times Three (Malta 1999), Feminnem (Bosnia and Herzegovina 2005, Croatia 2010)… I hope these Dutch girls will be done right for once!
AMSTERDAM ( or Rotterdam) 2018 FINALLY!!!
If they wanna impress to a level that can be compared to both 5th Harmony or Little Mix … they better get their act together … a great song and those vocals need to be impeccable … Otherwise … there’s no point!
O’G3NE already tried to enter Eurovision for grown-ups when they were still just Lisa, Amy, and Shelley. They didn’t even make the pre-selection. Funny how times change.
This was the song they entered: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtYj_dpNihM
It’s super-cheesy, but still I think it would have done better than the song which we eventually entered that year, which was Joan Franka (the girl with the Native American headdress).
great choice 🙂
@esc1234
Yet, Russia got a third spot with Serebro in 2007.
So what do I think of O’G3NE (simply pronounced as “Ogene” for those who are wondering)? I think it’s an okay choice. It’s different. I hoped for other news, but it doesn’t necessarily have to turn out bad. Let’s start with the negative points of Ogene, because then we finish this writing with the positive points. xD Okay, so – negative points. Ogene isn’t known for their astonishing song-writing skills. Their songs are usually written by their dad, but being in the charts isn’t something that doesn’t happen often. Their highest-charting song is their song “Magic” (3rd) that was written… Read more »
Well from the small clip they seem to be unique and something special. Good choice! 🙂
@Adam
You are right but fortunately, we are not 4-5 months away. 🙂
Nobody knows how this is going to end up. Rarely girlbands are doing weel in eurovision
Well i know they can sing. The juries will love them I am sure. But now what about the televote? Hmmm.
We are 4-5 months from hearing ANY of the songs, and you all have the ability to magically predict that this group will flop and not qualify based on what? Please, one of you share your future-telling abilities with me, I’d love to have some.
Sounds like the kind of act that could easily be cheesy af. I hope they do this the right way.
@Nick84
Exactly! They are brilliant singers even when singing live! Here’s hoping for a brilliant song by them!
also, their wikipedia image is an image of nicola sturgeon?
don’t have a good feeling, it seems the dutch only does well with country and indie-folk. mainstream pop isn’t their forte.
I am not sure about this choice. I liked Netherlands’ entries in 2013, 2014 and 2016, but I don’t think Og3ne will be that good. I mean they have very nice voices, but I don’t like their songs. They are just meh. But let’s wait for the song – maybe I’d be pleasantly surprised
@DaStar, i agree 🙂 and these 3 sisters cant be compared to previous girlgroups. Saying girlgroups never do well, so this one wont either is just billsh*t. Eurodance and country never did well before untill we had Loreen and The Common Linnets. These 3 girls are way too good to be ignored next year. Mark my words please: the 3 sisters will qualify and will do a top 5 in the final 🙂
Want to know what O’G3NE is capable off? Watch one of their best performances at The Best Singers from this year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flhbl9w_ul0 🙂
YASSS, perfect choice. Their voices are *_* a-mazing….im confident they will come up with a good song. I hope it is a ballad since i’m not a huge fan of their uptempo stuff. They will be one of the favourites in ESC, im pretty sure about that actually 🙂 I even dare saying they are potential winners! NL dont mess it up, give the girls a good song and we’re going to Amsterdam in 2018! Good luck girls, slaaaaaaaaaaay <3
My country. I have to say this was expected, no surprise. Their voices and harmony are perfect. But I’m worried about their song, I feel like their voices will come out amazing in a ballad but I think it will be an up-tempo song. I hope we will do good.
As long as they’re good, it’ ok… just one thing: how is their name pronounced?…
Netherlands seems to be stuck in the country/folk genre as of recently. Interesting!
It’s not easy to judge simply based on a clip above so as usual the song will have to do. But Netherlands has had a “can’t do nothing wrong” momentum recently and this should be no exception. Watch out for them!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them. I hope for a good song, they can score with a good song! I’m Dutch and i think my country is going to send a great performance this year 😀
i am in love of them sure finale and top10, o hope an spectacular dong
Hmmm,not good choice for me
!!!i’m also getting extreme Serbia 2013 vibes!!1
quelle surprise :////
i’m hoping they can pull off a more current song than what they’re used to but those hopes aren’t high
Og3ne is the only good choise to represent my home country for 2017! They have proven to be the best live singers in The Voice and in De beste zangers van NL. They perform like no one else can live with the 3 of them. At this point they are the best act to represent The Netherlands and I am sure that if they pick a catchy song, the ESC will be held in The Netherlands in 2018. Go Og3ne!! 😛
@Crispycookie
Yeah, for some reason girl bands usually don’t do well… Feminnem didn’t do that badly in 2005 though.
Mark my words.. Many of whom now claim they have no chances will be left shocked. Their vocal harmony is so special, just watch how they sang at this years season of the Dutch tv program “Beste zanger van Nederland”. There anyone with musical knowledge could witness a very talented trio of singers who have a load of emotions in their hearts due to the illness of one of their parents. They wíll get not only be the vocal top but also in their performances they shall show real entertainment to Eurovision. I dare to say that with the right… Read more »
One word: YAAAAAAAAAAAS
Oh, here we go again, with the ‘this or that genre never does well in Eurovision’. Country wasn’t supposed to do well either… O’G3NE aren’t cool like The Common Linnets were, or Douwe Bob was, but they’re very good at what they do, which is close harmony. Their songs are a bit hit-or-miss, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised with their album, which is quite good. The only thing I don’t like is the production, which sounds a bit dated… and they flew to London for that, so maybe they can just stay home to record their Eurovision… Read more »
@(J)ESC Fanatic
I know right !
It just proves my point that even if they had a song of the same quality like ‘Lako je sve’ they still would struggle to get to the final.
@Crispycookie
“Lako Je Sve” was amazing! So robbed! 🙁