Ever since his first Eurovision participation, Waylon has been a frequent guest on Dutch talk show RTL Late Night. He regularly performs his music there, as the host Humberto Tan is a big fan of his.
Humberto — the show’s principle host — is leaving the show. And the last five episodes under his watch were surprise shows in which Humberto had no idea who would join him at his desk. Surprise! Waylon was one of his first guests.
Waylon told the audience that on the day he learned Humberto would stop hosting the show he dedicated his song “Thanks But No Thanks” to him. He performed the very intimate version live. It went down a storm — and left Humberto with tears in his eyes.
You’ll remember that “Thanks But No Thanks” was one of the songs Waylon presented back in March. It was part of the five-track release of songs from his album The World Can Wait. It was in this series of performances that he sang “Outlaw in ‘Em” — which he chose as his Eurovision 2018 entry.
“Thanks But No Thanks” would have had a great shot at being his Eurovision song if the Dutchies had staged an actual national final with public input. Many people seemed to want to “Thanks But No Thanks” sent to Lisbon. Half an hour before the official reveal, a poll by De Telegraaf revealed that 41% of voters wanted that number at Eurovision.
Our very own Deban Aderemi also expressed his love for that song back in March in our review video of “Outlaw in ‘Em”. He said: “That song is just brilliant”.
Now that Waylon has been to Eurovision and placed 18th, an obvious question arises: Should he have gone with “Thanks But No Thanks” instead? Waylon himself thought “Outlaw In ‘Em” was the best of the bunch, as he said during DWDD.
“When I had written [the eventual Eurovision entry], I came home and then I sat together with my manager in the car and then we listened to it… and we said: this is the standard and this is the level that it has to meet. And that is how we worked.”
What do you think? Do you love “Thanks But No Thanks” too? And do you think that could have done well at Eurovision 2018? Let us know in the comments below!
I guess Waylon is Alex Florea of 2018. Peple need somebody to hate. I like Waylon’s honesty, instead of some fake politeness.
That song would have shot the Netherlands up the board. The jury would have creamed themselves over that in the way they did for Austria. The juries love that sort of thing and it would have done better in the televote as it is more emotional sounding so would have resonated with the viewers more than ‘Outlaw In Em’. Ultimately, the ‘people’ want something safe like Ed Sheeran and this would have delivered it.
To add to the above – I think that Waylon would have delivered it. His voice is wonderful to listen to in this sort of tone, like when he sang as part of The Common Linnets. The Netherlands and Waylon just misjudged it this year when they had another potential top 4 song on their hands. Maybe even a winner with the right staging if they did this song instead. Even though he has turned out to be a proper twat!
Ooh such hate, you all just don’t know.. Great performer and song.. Nothing but love
I just see waylon as a hypocrite calling nettas song a circus when one of the only performances that looked like a circus was his…..