Craziness matters more than credibility at Eurovision. So claimed the Netherlands’ 2015 representative Trijntje Oosterhuis over the weekend. In the days since, our readers have branded her “salty” and “sour”. Now long-time Dutch commentator and Eurovision in Concert host Cornald Maas has politely advised the songstress to walk along.
Taking to Twitter, he began by praising the “amazing singer”, calling her “loyal” and “motivated”. And then came the “but”.
“A beautiful song, or being a credible artist, isn’t really that important anymore. It’s all about the act, the show and the craziness around the act,” those were Trijntje’s words on JINEK. “Claptrap” says Maas. Or “malarkey”, depending on how you wish to translate his comments.
He questions the implication that second place Common Linnets and ninth place Anouk were exceptions. While Maas doesn’t say it himself, it’s worth noting that Trijintje is in fact the exception, being the only Dutch act to miss the final since Joan Franka in 2012.
He concludes by urging everyone to be patient, reassuring his followers that “it will be fine”.
Cornald Maas’ tweet to Trijntje Oosterhuis
“Huh? Our @Trijntje_O, an amazing singer. Loyal and motivated as well. But what is this malarkey about @anouk and @CommonLinnets being the exceptions, and saying that there isn’t space for credible artists? #songfestival #Jinek – everyone please be (cheerfully) patient, it will be fine.”
Hè. Onze @Trijntje_O , geweldige zangeres. Fideel en gemotiveerd ook. Maar wat ‘n kletspraat nou weer over dat @anouk en @CommonLinnets uitzonderingen waren en er geen ruimte zou zijn voor credible artiesten #songfestival #Jinek – wacht allen vrolijk af, ‘t komt goed!
— Cornald Maas (@cornaldm) January 11, 2019
Trijntje Oosterhuis on JINEK
As we previously reported, Trijntje appeared on last Friday’s edition of the evening talkshow JINEK. She was joined by a number of others, including Eurovision 1988 singer Gerard Joling.
Aside from her credibility comments, she also claimed that if she represented the country again she would go for a totally different approach: “I had just found out I was pregnant — my head wasn’t in the game at that time.”
Both artists agreed that the next contestant shouldn’t be a young upstart. It should be someone that hasn’t got anything to lose. He or she, or even them, should know what they’re in for and what they want from it.
And of course, Trijntje’s Ladies Of Soul colleague Glennis Grace is named, even though Glennis already announced that Eurovision was a one-time thing. Joling also revealed that he knows that musical star Romy Monteiro applied more than once!
The Netherlands at Eurovision 2019
Regarding the 2019 contest, Cornald Maas suggested last autumn that the Benelux nation may opt for a “song first, artist second” approach. He said that the song is the most important aspect of the entry and therefore it has to be good. Interestingly, he stated that this year the selection committee is not only looking for artists. They are also looking into the idea of choosing a song first and an artist second.
That would be a revolutionary step for the broadcaster. Since AVROTROS started selecting acts internally with Anouk in 2013, they have given the artists significant artistic freedom to choose whichever song they want.
Maas previously commented that this artistic freedom led to originality and was part of the country’s successes in 2013 and 2014.
The downside of this artistic freedom, however, is that the broadcaster has little control over the entry. An insider commented last year that AVROTROS wanted to regain more control over the entry as OG3NE had reportedly cancelled a session with songwriters from Sweden. Others have whispered to us in the past that Trijntje Oosterhuis refused to take much advice with regards to her stage performance.
Artistic freedom at the 2018 song contest didn’t go down so well for The Netherlands either. Cornald Maas revealed just after the release of Waylon’s song “Outlaw In ‘Em” that it wasn’t his favourite song of those Waylon had proposed to send to Eurovision.
Are you team Trijintje or team Cornald? Let us know in the comments below.
If crazy did matter that much, then Trijntje would’ve easily qualified with her horrendous outfit and staging in 2015. ? Definitely a poor sport about the contest.
Walk Along is my favorite Dutch entry ever. Amazing song. 🙂
Damn, now I feel a bit sad for Trijntje, cause as I said under the previous article, I really like “Walk Along” as a song. Even if she didn’t qualify, the song was not that bad… And to say sth about her “craziness-argument”: tbh Jamala, Salvador and Netta were no “regular pop singers”, if you understand what I mean. I love them all, but indeed there is a difference between the winners of 2010 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018! And I think for the credibility of the contest we need a winner like 2010-2015 again!
Watch this clip from 2015 (with Getty Kaspers) to see just how much Trjntje knows about the Eurovision Song Contest. Spoiler : not much! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebY21_FAOeQ
It is rather spectacular how ignorant she is. But even that wouldn’t be such a problem. Participants are not obligated to know the contest, they can just go there for the performance and focus on their craft. That’s fine. The problem is that she didn’t even do that and now she acts like she knows what the contest is all about and what it takes to succeed when clearly, she has no knowledge on either.
It is kind of sad that the invited Trijntje in the first place. Gerard Joling is a big Eurovision fan and actually did well in the contest, so I am not too bitter about him being invited, but I don’t understand why they invited Trijntje. She didn’t like the contest before or after she went. It’s like inviting an iliterate to talk about books to be frank. There are so many other people who could tell more compelling and heartfelt stories about the contest, for example the organisers of Eurovision in Concert (who work with many participants of the show… Read more »
So, you are trying to say that if a person doesn’t like Eurovision, she doesn’t have the right to express her opinion on Dutch TV ?
Her creepy performance wasn’t necessarily the most traditional thing I’ve ever seen.
They also should give up on country for a while. I really don’t understand their obsession with it. And as they try to catch the lightning in a bottle twice, things get worse. Calm after storm was better than slow down, slow down was better than outlaw in em.
I’m a huge fan of craziness, but in this story nobody is wrong. One day The Netherlands will be crazy too. You need to be wise to do it right, and The Netherlands have huge talent to do any genre. Fire Pancake, and hire Foukas Evangelinos. Top 10 just for staging.
Yeah. Worked great for “X My Heart”.
He did do wonders For Moldova in 2017 and 2018 tho.
Yes, and Greece 2005, and Azerbaijan 2013. He is genius.
Really? 2017? You must be wrong. SunStroke Project are creative, they don’t need his shiny things.
Come on, DoReDoS were superb, and also Azerbaijan 2013. Just give Foukas that, even if you don’t like him.
Mr. Vanilla Bean, come on he is very good at his job. He’s the only good thing about the Dream Team.
Mr. Vanilla Bean is always against everything. Don’t try to reason with him.
First rule of success: Choose an artist, not “just” a singer. Refusing to have appealing visuals or do some actual work on your staging does NOT make you lack credibility. The opposite is true. Second rule of success: Never choose Trijntje again and do not listen to a word she’s saying.
* I obviously meant “Choosing to have appealing…”