On Friday Duncan Laurence hit the airwaves during a visit with ‘Radio 538‘. Proving that he doesn’t need fancy production to shine, he performed a completely stripped-back version of “Arcade” with only the piano supporting his vocals. One sign that it worked? He brought presenter Henk Blok to tears.
He also talked about the song and described the mayhem and magic of participating in Eurovision. You can watch the full interview here.
It’s not the first time he’s presented an acoustic version of the song. Previously he worked his magic on the Dutch TV Show De Wereld Draait Door. But that time he still had backing vocalists and a band with him. On the radio he was totally solo.
Duncan and his team — including Common Linnet Ilse De Lange — are currently sorting out what they will do with staging. For now he remains number one with the bookmakers and currently tops our “Who Will Win Eurovision 2019 poll”.
Do you like this version with just the piano? Or do you prefer the full version? Let us know in the comments below!
Great great great! This guy can sing! Hope they don’t ruin the staging because it’s such a beautiful song!
Great singer, great song! Success at Eurovision, however, also depends on the staging. Pannecoucke directs the stage, so it doesn’t look good for the Netherlands, considering the mess that man made of previous Dutch entries. I have heard Ilse Delange has joined the Dutch team so hopefully she can save the day. But if they start saying “we are keeping it modest, we let the song speak for itself” then I am afraid Duncan is done for.
A modest performance is the way to go for this song. Besides, Pannecoucke did a great job for NED 16 (okay 10 seconds silence didn’t work, and I am sure had there been the chance to change it, they would, but altering the backing track wasn’t allowed anymore at that point) and Belgium 16 (really made that song shine). NED 15 would have failed no matter the staging. And I am sure it was Waylon himself who wanted something unique and never seen before last year. Pannecoucke doesn’t work in a vacuum. He tries to translate what the artists and… Read more »
Well, Duncan is being mentored by the more successful half of the Common Linnets, and Pannecoucke is also widely credited with taking a very under-loved song and transforming it to the Netherlands’ best result in 40 years.. incidentally also the one performed by said half of the Common Linnets. Having an artist who seems a lot less… ahem… sensitive than Waylon will probably help as well. I’m optimistic.
Wow, his emotions and pressens. Remind me of Loreen and have her voice in my head while he is singing.
Love Loreen’s album HEAL and think this song remind me of some of her songs and way of singing.
Would love to see a duet whith him and Loreen in the future when winners from different countries come togeter. I think he has a really good chance to win.
Love from Sweden
WOW, live it’s just as gorgeous as in the studio.
12 points
Totally overrated. Honestly, i still dont understand why Duncan is favorite….
Nice vidéo but very poor live version. This song is so boring !!!
You aren’t the only one. There are a lot of people who feel the same. Unfortunately, there’s 20-30 people on this website that go crazy and take it personally every time you try to criticize the song. These people do not reflect the general casual watching voting audience who will not watch the original video and be bored by the song when it is performed live. I love the Netherlands and it would be amazing if they won. Calm After the Storm should have won. I just don’t see this song as doing it. But maybe I am wrong.
You all better watch out! Me and my 19-29 fellows use sophisticated mind-control techniques to control the bookies, odds, people watching Youtube, etc… Soon you all will be praising Arcade and we will rule the world!
Ha, ha, ha… Riming. Aha, it was your skills that made me cry first time I heard the song. ; )
It’s difficult to understand for some people, like gilpgilp, how other people can have different taste than you, or how other people can be moved by a song that doesn’t move you.
The same was true for Calm After the Storm, btw. Lots of comments saying ‘boring, predictable, it doesn’t even have a chorus’ once it became a favourite. People get quite frustrated by favourites they don’t like, it would seem.
Calm After the Storm was amazing! I don’t see Arcade doing well with the juries because his voice doesn’t stand out and the song is not as unique. I’m also questioning the staging of it. Last year the bookies were very wrong on most of the top 10 (outside of 1 and 2) because it has a hard time predicting juries. Austria was predicted to do poorly by the bookies!
Gilpgilp. I listened to the live performance first. And I was blown away and didn’t know that the song was a favoririte ar all.
He has the same presens and emotions that Loreen have, and that is the most important although the voice is weak.
When a listed to the video I became disappointed. His was singing the song very good and whith more power. But lost the strong emotions and presence and perfer it live although his voice isn’t perfect and weak. In my opinion a weak voice whith presents is more importent to make an impact on me.
So you already know now that the watching voting audience will be bored by the song when it’s performed Live?
So you can look into the future? I think you don’t know that at all, 95% of the watching audience see and hear it for the first time at may 16. This is a strong contender for the win, so you can say what you want but it won’t help you to let Duncan fail in Tel-Aviv.
I also agree with you that this song is totally overrated. Should be in top 10 but definitely not in top 3.
Another solid proof that Duncan can deliver. I complained about the lower register in a previous post, but this time he projected it very well. Though he can still enunciate a little better the first verses, as Purple Mask pointed. I don’t know if he’ll win or not. I believe it’s very possible. There’s a reason why he became the frontrunner (and yes, frontrunners tend to be overhyped, but it’s not their fault). The Dutch delegation has a huge opportunity here. It’s time to put their inner “Calm after the Storm” ellegance to work.
This is a masterpiece!! Love it! And i love croatia, Russia and Israel
Azerbaijan is my 41 this year, I can’t stand that song for more than two seconds, it’s a song that sounds annoying to me.
… But I know that a lot of people love that song. So, because I respect the artist, the country and the song and their fans, I never open an article about that country this year.
See? Is easy: support your favourites. It’s fun! All this hate is a nonsense.
For me, this song is pure art. And Duncan slays live.
Everybody hated them in 2014 and “staging couldn’t save it” was said. They still came 2nd. And I think that they won’t give their only huge chance of winning away.
Hmmm.. Ok, nice song, cool to listen in some specific occasions.
A little boring and generic though. I never heard it before but when I saw it was the favourite, I came to take a look. I understand why people like it, don’t understand how it’s the favourite..
There’s that generic word again! Is this just what we all say when we don’t like a song but can’t think of a way to justify it?
Totally agree with you.
Let’s be respectful to every artist in the contest :-). Instead of saying “BORINGGG!!” one could say “I think this lacks some impact”. No need to use so many exclamation marks. We can agree to disagree. Let the music speak for itself. Go go Europe. In the end Europe always wins Eurovision hehe.
quite some hating here… i just simply love it
over and over again…..
Amazing ?
@William Lee Adams: the link to the whole interview is not a link to the interview. ? Didn’t find it myself btw.
Oops! You are right! We fixed that now, thanks for flagging this! <3
If you click on ‘here’, it’s the 1st video on that page 🙂
They are just a few here constantly saying this is “boring”, “overrated”, etc. But that is actually a good sign. There are always jealous and unsporty persons who can not stand that their country has not sent in the best song of the year, so they spread their jealousy attacking the better songs. Just let them do and ignore them. Congratulations to the Netherlands for sending such a beautiful and meaningful piece of art. After listening to it like a hundred times it still gives me goosebumps. Congratulations to Iceland, Greece, Azerbaijan and Switzerland too. They are very worthy contenders… Read more »
“they are always jealous and unsporty persons who can not stand that their country has not sent the best song of the year” lol that excuse doesn’t work on me. My country isn’t even in the contest. How can I be jealous when my country does not have a song? If anything, by default I don’t have bias towards any sort of country since I’m on a whole different continent. I just think the song is average and that I’ve heard dozens of songs similar to it on the radio, and that it’s not as special as everyone is saying… Read more »
You don’t need to get into personal insults. It makes you sound insecure.
Yeah all the people who dislike the song are being extremely defensive here. All claiming that people who don’t like it are just “jealous”, as if it can’t be for reasons of personal taste, like we’re not allowed to think the song is anything other than a masterpiece.
The fact that a good number of people spoke up about not getting what’s so great about it have all gotten mobbed by dislikes is very telling.
It’s definitely not the people who don’t care for the song that are the insecure ones.
What is very telling is that you felt attacked by a comment that not mentioned you at all. Still you included yourself within the group of people I was talking about… I respect and won’t downvote respectful and honest opinions of those who do not like the song (Toy was not my personal winner last year but still I understand and respect it won) but, suspiciously, you are putting a little bit too much effort in writing negative comments in this post. However, as I adviced others, from now on I will just let you do and ignore you. Enjoy… Read more »
For someone who doesn’t care about the song you spend an awful lot of time posting about it 🙂
Well, be happy you are not from Sweden. You should know how much energy and time people have used resent years to write negative comments about Swedish songs, the performers, etc. etc. So many esc fans love to hate Sweden and as a swea that makes esc no fun at all. All the joy disappears.
It’s ok to have different opinions if you are respectful. But hate destroys everything.
Yes, just ignore them and don’t attac them back. There’s no point. Trust me, I’m from Sweden. Don’t let them to destroy the fun. It’s ok to have different opinions but be respectful
Love the song, love from Sweden.
Thanks, Malin! Trust me, no one can destroy the fun for me. It has been like this every year with certain songs. And yes, since Sweden usually send quality songs, many people will try to bring it down. However, I am usually not biased towards a particular country. This is actually the first time ever I believe The Netherlands deserves to win. Though I liked Calm after the Storm, it did not convince me 100%. Last year I wanted Austria or Bulgaria to win (but Bulgaria messed up the staging), in 2017 Portugal, Belgium, Finland (no comments on this one)… Read more »
It was bad with music but now… it’s like a lullaby for child, not a song for eurovision.
This kind of sad reactions are made of pure jealousy…
This song is not very good live. The hype is built on the video. I would love Netherlands to win for the first time since 1975 – they deserve it! – but unfortunately, I can’t see this song doing it. I’m guessing the mediocre swiss or russian songs will put on superior staging and beat it.
He has a nice butt, but unfortunately he can’t show it on the stage.
You know who deserves to win? Maybe countries that didn’t win at all yet? Not a country that won so many freaking times in the past!
So what? You vote for a song not a country. Our last win was 44 years ago which means we have been longer without a win than every single country except for Spain. Even longer than your countries “that didn’t win at all yet”
Poland yet never won contest
Yes, but they debuted in 1994 😉
Beautiful Edyta Górniak 🙂
I cant wait for the rehearsals to start, i hope Duncan’ team will do it right, dont f*cked it up please for the guy,
fans on twitter saying Duncan been spotted in Ikea shopping with his boyfriend today … and people around were just staring at them ….lmao
Loic Nottets stripped-back version clip with only piano and dancings was released the same time. Both about 56000 viewers but Loics has 7000 likes more . Just saying :p
So waiting for Sergey’s piano live? Instrumentals are already there.
Its kinda annoying that people keep comparing this to Amat Pelos Dois which is completely different?
Yes because Amar pelos dois is 1000X times better.
Sorry but you can’t compare Arcade to Amer Pelos Dois. I don’t think Salvador’s landslide win and success could be replicated. At least, not in a while.
I still don’t know why Portugal won. I really hate that song. Haha.
Personally, Salvador’s song made me feel more emotion than Duncan’s, or any song I’ve ever seen in Eurovision for that matter.
And English is my native language- and I don’t speak any Portugese!
Salvador had a unique charisma and charm to him on stage that’s difficult to replicate, and THAT is why he won.
Salvador had a charisma of a potato and was very toxic during the whole show including fast food music comments. Bad role model.
Live performance is a real problem for him, so no win. The song is nice though.
i agree. I love this piano version but we won’t hear this in ESC and what will the staging be like? Staging will make of break this entry.
The staging will feel empty, most likely.
People hate me saying that but I am just speaking reality. His music video gives him absolutely nothing to work with staging wise. Unless that camera focuses almost entirely on his face, he might flop.
How do u know that for sure… there has been ZERO anouncements about the staging
Okay, how do YOU think they’re gonna make it work then? How’s he gonna fill that big ol’ stage up? What’s he going to do on it besides sing? Is he gonna be up there alone? What’s gonna be on the LEDs?
If the dutch staging from the last two years is anything to go off of…i’m not expecting much just saying.
Idk how they are gonna do it thats why they are hired to figure it out
Last year they had Waylon who is arrogant af and likes to do weird stuff
And the year before that they had a different stage director
The same dude as in 2014 did it so it could be awesome (and Ilse joined too)
But also 2015 and even tho that song sucked it could indeed also go wrong
Sooo we’ll just see what happens
I just think Duncan picked a hard song to stage.
I feel like whatever he adds to the stage will take away from the song. People other than him on stage may be a distraction, and same goes for anything on the LEDs.
Basically, he needs to to focus all attention on himself in an way outstanding enough that people can get past the fact that he’s the only thing on it.
That’s not an easy thing to do. I’m just being realistic
No. The high notes are quite annoying. Sorry.
Love it
On this performance: Duncan holds back during the first minute, forcing the listener to listen very hard. Then about a minute into this performance he switches to falsetto for the Chorus, and that is surprisingly powerful and impactful. It’s sounds like he knows how to support the tone of his voice when he needs to, and is actually holding back on volume most of the time. The greater the impact, the greater the emotions, of course. My only nitpick is that I would like Duncan to enunciate the words a bit more during the first minute. Because to some of… Read more »
It just gets more and more annoying every time. If it wasn’t for Iceland, Cyprus and Switzerland this year’s ESC would be unwatchable. Everyone would be asleep in front of their TVs.
Jeeeez why so sour?!
Cos my ears are bleeding
Than stop watching!!
Serge your ears are bleeding and it gets more annoying everytime, but why commenting again and again at Netherlands video’s? If you hate it so much why do you give it so much attention? maybe you are a bit jealous aren’t you……?
Eurovision fans who can’t handle slow songs drive me crazy. Sorry that they can’t all be the same banger over and over again.
Anyone else is already sick and tired of all the hype surrounding this song? Did you all forget about Occidentali’s Karma? How everyone was oh so very sure it would win and where is Francesco now? Who remembers him? There was no Roma2018 just as there will not be Amsterdam2020 but there well could be Roma2020!
I am too. But Sergey will reorder things when the rehearsals will start.
And he he not even has 10% of salvador charisma.
That I can believe. Remains to be seen as it’s not my favorite entry at the moment but he’s a really good performer, I’ve seen his show on YouTube from his last tour and that boy can slay. Amazing staging, costumes, energy. If he manages to bring it to Tel Aviv in May he could take the crown, who knows? Besides, he’s out for revenge this year. And that alone is a great driving force.
Being real, I don’t think we’re gonna be in Amsterdam or Rome next year
Winning Eurovision is like 50% about the staging or having some sort of gimmick that makes your song/performance super different…and I doubt either song is gonna stand out when it comes to that
I just laughed real hard at how some Losers downgraded your comment. Truth hurts.
Yep, It’s all about staging or/and charisma. sergey will outperform Netherlands. And if they want to play the Salvador game it’s already game over because he has zero charisma. It’s like he’s bored himself when singing his song.
I do remember Francesco, and I loved his song. Just like I loved Salvador’s. You see, it’s possible to like multiple songs, without spreading hate about others. I think the Swiss and Cypriot songs are very tacky, they’re catchy though and I can perfectly understand why people would like them. See? It’s not that hard.
These ugly hate comments about Duncan are all based on pure envy / Jealousy, they know Netherlands is a real contender for the win but they can’t stand it because their own favourite is not gonna win this year. And everytime referring to Francecso Gabanni is so annoying, Francesco has NOTHING to do with Duncan. And they don’t talk about the other winners who were the Bookies favourite and also won..
owe, dear!! i could not have been saying this about for example former swedish entries!! As they always were doing THE BEST!! Now another country is heading for the price and the nitpicking has been started!!besides who remembers benjamin Ingrosso beside the swedes and some hardcore ESC fans>> Who remembers even Jamala??
Also tired. And of all the commercial it gets.
Hatari – “Hatrið mun sigra”
I don’t know why all the hype about this. If it wins it will be easily forgotten, like Amar Pelos Dois.
And i predict if it wins Duncan and his song will be the most adored winner for 20 last year 😛
Though i think Mahmood ( if he wins) would get the same fate 🙂
Duncan and Mahmood do have some endearing quality about them. That’s nice.
I don’t know if we’re thinking of the same song. People remember and love Amar pelos dois for the most part.
Like Ukraine 2016, Portugal 2017 and Israel last year. The Netherland its gonna win this year
Clearly you didn´t forget about Amar pelos Dois….
I would not mind if this won:) Christer Björkman will help Israel this time because they ASKED him so before you fans get mad. Ask yourself instead: Ukraine,Portugal ,Israel all asked him, They do this for a reason. We swedes have done a lot of big productions in ESC so they ask for help. NOT tor put Sweden last in the running order. So chill out. You can still vote for Sweden if you like the song. We are not Jesus Christ in ESC. Vote for songs, not countries
Production. So you cant spread hate when 3 years in a row they asked. good:)
This song would pass totally unnoticed if it wasn’t for the faboulous video….anyway, I think all selected songs should be presented on the same day, after a national selection with a live performance and not a video. Some countries go trough semi finals and final and others skip all that and choose one performer and have time and money to concentrate their effort in marketing one video. Everyone should start from 0 at the same time and with same opportunities.
What do you mean, same opportunities? If it’s really all about the video, as you say, the problem will sort itself out in May, because nobody will vote for it. Everyone starts from scratch.
Agree take North Macedonia with Jana. Super great video but live it fell like a stone. Take Albania in 2004. Horrible video but great live so it came 7th 🙂
First impressions count.
If it was Croatia it would be around #35 on the odds
As Croatia hardly sends good songs!! Thats why!! enjoy the bottom place this year!! It didnt get any better even after the change of costume and the revamp!!!
maybe ur right with this? So than at least Cyprus, Greece, Russia. Malta, Armenia, Azerbijan, Switserland or also Italy, wont have that much support as they are currently given!!
I totally agree that all selected songs should be presented on the same day but I don’t see how that would be practical. Then, the rules allow for national selection and internal selection. National selections involve a lot of costs too but are more open/transparent.
I also enjoy watching national selections and get to know artists I wouldn’t know otherwise.
I dont agree. The song is strong. Even with a Anouk-kind-of-video, this would slay. Just accept that most people love this.
lol I remember when arcade leaked. A lot of people complaining that it’s another boring ballad, saying that it sounded too sleepy for them.
But then it got officially released with the video and suddenly everyone’s in love with the guy.
I don’t think the song is horrible or a bad entry. I just think it’s completely average and don’t see any particular winning quality to it. It’s ranked as my 16th at the moment.
That´s exactly my point.
I have just booked Hotel in Amsterdam 2020 ?
Goosebumps all the time I listen to this masterpiece, and I listen to this ten times a day. Thank you Duncan!!!
If most polls are to believed it’s between Italy, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. Not exactly three Eurovision strongholds… makes for an interesting race.
Don’t forget russia
Maybe if they pull out all the tricks on stage… Scream is a really poor song.
Yes, but sergey has got a big fandom xD. And he said his staging will be ‘phenomenal’
Maybe, but i don’t think even a live dragon on the stage can brings victory for Russia this year, for me Sergey’ song not even top 5 material…
Who knows? Nobody gave Cyprus a chance last year before rehearsals. Anything can happen in Eurovision.
In the end the winner always is the one who blends the best mix of song, performance, staging and chemistry with the audience both at home and in the hall on the night.
Sometimes entries fall flat on the night other songs just shine. We’ve seen bookies favourites loose and dark horses win, but we also have plenty of bookies favourites who did end up winning. The Dutch entry has a good chance of being up on the leader board and might even end up winning this year but nothing is certain until we have the final results.
Sergey is a gifted performer and i hope they don’t overstage his song this year. The last time it was more about the staging than the song or his performance and that lost him votes. He can convey all the drama of the song in his voice and it doesn’t need too much on stage. It might be sweet and endearing if the boy and girl from his clip were involved somehow.
I hope the juries won’t downvote them in favour of Sweden, although they probably will
I finally started liking this song. They should go minimalist on stage. The visuals in the video were too distracting.
okay but…think about all the other countries who will probably also go minimalist because their songs are also slow
i don’t think anything that doesn’t have a lot going on on stage is gonna win this year. There’s too many that are probably gonna go simple
Overrated.
You mean you don’t like it and others do and that feels bad for you? That seems the actual meaning of overrated among fanboys
That’s what it sounds like tbh. And it’s not a phenomen which is only this year, but it happens every year, specifically to the #1 in the odds. You always habe people who don’t like the type of music genre, so for them it is always overrated. People come always with “Undeserved!!1 the number 2 of this year deserved it more!!” but dont realise that apparently so many people like it/voted for it that it won, for a reason. Feels more like envy or something because their favourite apparently didnt get as many votes as they hoped :/ Even for… Read more »
Boooooring! Thank you, next!
YOU ARE BORING!! Dont watch it if you dont like
These type of “boring” comments always make me chuckle. It reminds me of news/documentaries/television shows in the US, compared to Europe. There they put dramatic music everywhere and everything needs to look and sound like a Hollywood action movie. The reason? Because their audience has such a short attention span that it is laughable, otherwise it would be “boring”. Quite sad. Luckily a lot of people can actually enjoy slower pace more meaningful music. Not everything needs to be as if you’re in a rush. I like bops too, but I’ve seen some people creating their ideal Eurovision. It consisted… Read more »
These type of “boring” comments always make me chuckle. Luckily a lot of people can actually enjoy slower pace more meaningful music. Not everything needs to be as if you’re in a rush. I like bops too, but I’ve seen some people creating their ideal Eurovision. It consisted literally 40+ generic electronic bops which were not distinguishable because they all sounded the same and had no depth or meaning at all. If the only thing you listen to are these fast and club type of songs, and you dont want to open yourself to other types of music, I can… Read more »
Breathtaking
Pure and beautiful voice Goose bumps!
Really lovely – well done The Netherlands
OMG! Goose bumps!
What a lovely song …
i love this one a lot for Duncan’ emotions, he looks so fragile and vulnerable… i just want to hug him
…and feed him, too!
Lol yeah he looks very delicate and thin, but hey look at his body in the clip, the guy has ling and nice muscles 😉
Duncan is such georgeous young man , inside and out…
Beautiful!
Looks like Amsterdam 2020 at the Ziggo Dome! The Netherlands have waited long enough and they’ve finally got a win in the bags (hopefully).
The ziggo dome would be absolutely amazing! It will be a challenge for avrotros to arrange it though, since the ziggo dome is the 5th most busiest concert venue in the world. It’s the same problem that Stockholm had with the tele2 arena in 2016. I have no idea where else we would host it though…
In the Ahoy
Seems possible, I couldn’t think of any other place they could host it except for the gelre dome and i don’t think they want to hold the contest in Arnhem.
I think Amsterdam can host the best all international delegations and fans in the hotels etc. Arnhem could be too smaal for it!! Ahoy maybe? We will see
The only thing im really sad about that i cant vote for this gem from Ukraine, Duncan you’re my winner !
MARUV was my winner this year!
I feel you. Makes me happy I won’t be home in May and will be able to vote for the Netherlands. Voting on your behalf )