Again, the Netherlands isn’t wasting any time when it comes to selecting their act for Eurovision 2018. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS has confirmed it will decide their act for Lisbon within the next months. And the rumour mill is already pointing in the direction of The Voice winner Maan.
AVROTROS spokesperson Famke Kroese confirmed the timeline to Metro News. She told the paper, “The decision has not yet been made, but the list of names is getting a bit shorter. Within a month we will confirm the name.”
While the broadcaster isn’t saying who they’re considering, the name that keeps coming up in rumours is Maan, the winner of the 2016 edition of The Voice of Holland.
Is Maan the right woman?
Back in July, we profiled Maan as a potential Eurovision candidate for the Netherlands. Back then, she’d caught the attention of Dutch media who were speculating that AVROTROS were grooming her for Eurovision.
Maan was one of the featured artists in the 2017 celebrity singing series of Beste Zangers, following OG3NE’s turn on the show in 2016.
And later this year, she starred in the celebrity dancing show Dance Dance Dance. It all points to a star making the effort to build her profile and gain valuable performance experience ahead of a potential Eurovision selection.
However, if Maan knows anything, she isn’t saying. When recently asked about Eurovision, Maan said she didn’t know anything yet.
Maan — full name Maan de Steenwinkel — came to fame in the Netherlands on season six of The Voice of Holland. Coached by Marco Borsato, she made it all the way to the grand final, where she took the trophy.
Since then, Maan has leveraged her victory on The Voice rather successfully. Her first single “Perfect World” — a collaboration with the internationally known DJ Hardwell — achieved gold status after just two months. The dance song set her big voice to a heavy EDM beat and captured the playful, youthful side of the singer.
Not a one-hit wonder, she followed that up with “Ride It”, which also went gold, leading to an invitation to sing in The Toppers annual concert — an honour reserved for some of the country’s most commercially successful artists.
What do you think? Should the Netherlands send Maan to Lisbon? Who would you like to see as the Dutch act?
I WILL SIGN A PETITION TO MAKE JENNIE LENA REPRESENT THE NETHERLANDS
I want Shalisa van see Laan to fly the Dutch flag in Lisbon! 😀
I personally would love to see X Factor winner Haris represent The Netherlands. 🙂
Maan is quite a good singer but at Eurovision it’s 90% the song that matters and the two music styles she performs in are dance and ballads. I really can’t imagine a dance song achieving a high place in Eurovision because there’s a lot of instrumentals and way less singing. She could do well with a ballad but it would have to be something extraordinary since Maan wouldn’t really stand out.
oh I don’t feel her songs 🙁
I’d like see Netherlands win in Lisbon 2018.
I really need their country/folk songs!
PLEEEEEZ GIVE US KENSINGTON! 🙂
For anyone who’s wondering: her full name means moon the stoneshop, that could be her artist name if she performs xD
whoa! the hate started earlier this season…
stories of her win in the Voice being partly due to daddy’s influence have not won her any fans. She so far has never managed to score a real hit in the Dutch charts either. Unlike others who have been suggested. Dolan would have been a great pick a few years ago. His new album is out soon, depending on what that sounds like he could be a good choice. I love Kensington myself but i doubt they’d score highly in the contest. I hope they’ll break the international charts without ESC. There is enough talent in The Netherlands to… Read more »
Maan would be extremely dissapointing to me. I simply can’t imagine her singing a good song… Maybe if she’d send something in the style of dua lipa.
Well Dua Lipa is likeable, Maan is not.
And agree, she will never have a great song (like New Rules)
@walter
It’s true that Holland is the no. 1 country when it comes to djs, but most of them don’t score any hits… only Martin Garrix does, and I doubt he’ll touch Eurovision with a ten foot pole.
But the DJ doesn’t have to be on stage, or has to be there, producing the song is most important. Of course he should influence with staging etc, but that is something you do before ESC, so that shouldn’t matter. Best thing you can have as an ESC entry, is having exposure, you will definitely get that with a big name like Garrix, van Buuren or Hardwell als producer =P
Netherlands is stronger with Rap than Djs nowadays. If we talk about Hits I mean. Rap rules Spotify there.
@walter
Off the top of your head, do you know any songs by Hardwell? The Dutch djs can put up a good show, but aren’t the best producers. They’re far from a guarantee for success. That song Hardwell made for Maan, which is probably something like what they would come up with for Eurovision, is also very bland and predictable.
@marc
That’s mostly Dutch language rap though.
Yes I meant Dutch Rap. In Dutch is cooler than English
Well, at least it’s not another folk/country music song from them!
I actually like the choice, if it indeed is her. Nice fresh sound. Could work well!
At least another folk/country song would bring diversity to the contest, and clearly Europe likes the Dutch hipsters. We have 80% Swedish bubble gum, or maybe even more.
Constantly sending country/folk isn’t diversity, it’s just doing the same thing.
If chosen this would be a new direction for Netherlands cause they have never had an entry like this.
What really matters is the annual package. The audience doesn’t care if they’ve been sending something similar every year, but if you manage to have a unique song, a standout, then you will succeed.
Slow Down wasn’t as good as Calm after the Storm, or Birds, but it was good and different enough.
…from the other songs in 2016.
@denis
It just shows that you know f.ckall about the genre of country or folk. The only recent Dutch entries you could classify as country/folk were The Common Linnets and Douwe Bob, and both of them were more pop than country anyway. But hey, there’s a guy with a guitar, so it has to be all the same, right?
Wasnt this year’s entry in that genre too? It was more folk-pop than actual folk but it was folk.
I don’t get all the hate, I think she is an amazing singer and I think her genre is very suitable for Eurovision. I don’t know if people saw the opening of The Voice, that was AMAZING, where you see that the 3 latest winners are great and very talented. I think the broadcaster would have an amazing deal if they can make a deal with The Voice, that the winner goes to Eurovision, but first letting them raise a year. Because if the rumours are true and Maan goes, that is basically already happening… OG3NE: Voice 2015, ESC 2017…… Read more »
Amen
We need Naaz at Eurovision! (But Maan will be great too! xD)
You gotta give it to her, this girl has come quite far with little to no talent. She was far from the best singer on The Voice, but she won. She’s far from the best singer in Holland, yet she gets invited to all these tv shows. And now apparently she’s rumored to go to Eurovision. Being the daughter of a tv producer might help a little.
She has a girl-next-door quality which the Dutch televoting audience always likes, but she’s no star and she has no originality in her voice and repertoire.
Little to no talent lol…., its ok if u dont like her personality or style, but u cant deny that she’s a very talented person who can sing and dance very nicely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nT1ZWpN0vg 1:27!
Say whatever you want about Maan… but if she would do something like that on the eurovision stage, she’ll SLAYY
Please no. A big NO!
Looks boring af. please be more imaginative and don’t just select the winner of the voice
Would be amazing if she would make a song with a Dj 🙂
I don’t like her voice nor her songs.
I’ll evacuate to Belgium if we send her, not kidding.
Please no.
Can you please do an article with a poll on favourite JESC song so far?
Maan = Boring and No Charisma = Flop
I hope Avrotros will be smart this time