We can’t get enough of his life lessons! And after a breathtaking performance at Amsterdam’s Eurovision in Concert, we caught up with the Netherlands’ Duncan Laurence once more at the London Eurovision Party.
Our William asked the bookies’ favourite about his writing trip in Stockholm, his musical styles, the Dutch hosting bids and his childhood experiences.
It’s 44 years since the Netherlands last won the contest. But with Duncan riding high in the odds, the whole country appears to be champing at the bit. As AVROTROS dusts down its hosting plans, the Hague is already drawing up a hosting bid.
When asked what he thinks about the news, Duncan laughs and firmly says: “People! We need to see if I win first!”, and adds: “Keep your head below the clouds!”
Duncan Laurence at London Eurovision Party 2019
The live shows are less than a month away. But in the midst of the madness, Duncan has other things on his mind. In between the Amsterdam and London gigs, he took a plane and travelled to Stockholm for four days to write new music. “I think it’s so important to stay focused on the music while doing this Eurovision trip”. He continues: “Stay connected to what you are all about”. For Duncan, that’s obviously creating music.
For people not familiar with Duncan, is “Arcade” his typical genre? The singer explains that “Arcade” is the core of it all. “The orchestras and cinematic-feel is the starting point, but we’ll see where it goes”. He doesn’t rule anything out.
Despite his favourite status, Duncan is still blown away by the fan reactions, “They are so warm, so accepting”.
That’s something he didn’t feel when he was younger. He opens up about being bullied in the past: “I was fat, had freckles and glasses and I sang”. People started to assume things about the young Duncan. “Not a lot of boys were into music, so that was probably a thing, to think: he might be gay, he might be this, or that”.
However, Duncan rose above it all — “Just let me be me!”. Yes, Duncan! Louder for the people in the back! Don’t change for anyone because we love and accept you for who you are!
Duncan Laurence will perform in the second semi-final on 16 May
Will Duncan Laurence win Eurovision and let The Netherlands be the next host country? Let us know in the comments below.
And finaly, Netherland 12 points !!! 😉 Love Duncan.
That’s some really unnecessary pressure on the artist and the whole team, if the story is true. Just let them do their thing and worry about the outcome later, jeez.
The story is true, but blown way out of proportion by this Dutch Wiwi reporter Renske who wrote 3 articles about it. The Bilbao city council has proposed plans to organise Eurovision in 2020, but I don’t see Wiwi pestering Miki about that 😉
It has consequences, Duncan’s song now gets introduced as ‘that song which the Dutch are already assuming will win’ which is totally not the case, but which makes people hate it before they even hear it. So thanks Renske, I guess…
Plot twist, albania wins, and we go to tirana!!! I would love to see a tirana based eurovision
Forever my love DUNCAN <333
Who is the real Nicky91. The red or the blue ?
But much easier it’s KING Duncan for the real one.
This stupid hosting story has been given a ridiculous amount of attention on Wiwibloggs already! Dutch people tend to be quite negative about their chances, in fact a recent poll suggested the majority think we won’t even make the final. I would suggest such a poll carries more weight than one completely unknown politician in the city council of The Hague, but apparently Wiwi thinks otherwise…
When all the odds and polls say you’re going to win and you still think you won’t even make it past the semi, that’s called fake modesty.
As if the average Telegraaf reader (Dutch Daily Mail) has any clue about eurovision. They still think that only countries from Eastern Europe win and that all the Balkans vote for each other. Same sentiment as in the UK.
I agree with the things you said about eurovision, but in what world are the Dutch not football mad? You can spot Dutch football fans from a huge distance, a sea of orange.
I would say the Dutch tend to be quite fatalistic, “I’m sure we’ll fail again”. Once it’s clear that they really do stand a chance of winning, the mood shifts completely and you’ll see all the orange clogs, windmills and the football chants. There is no middle ground. You see it with Ajax again this year, a few months ago Erik ten Hag was the worst coach ever, now he’s a saint.
@bigger I’m still not fully sure I understand the connection between all those things. I mean, for example, Ferrari is one of the major symbols of Italy and known all over the world and we’re proud of it, but still so many Italians are happy Ferrari fails in F1 every year, so I guess those “contrary at all costs” kinda people that laugh at other people’s unhappiness exist everywhere. But when it comes to Eurovision, and here I speak for this side of Europe such as Italy or maybe Spain as well, we like to have fun and hype our… Read more »
It is very easy to judge things like this when you never ever have to worry if your song will be heard on Saturday. Most Dutch fans remember all too well those 8 years in a row of not qualifying. Semi 2 is still a very hard semi with lots of almost guaranteed qualifiers, meaning countries that rarely fail. So it is not that strange that some people will be very nervous for the semi.
Even when all Europe sees the NL as the number 1 sure qualifier this year? Seriously?
Anyway, I think the big 5 thingy should stop, all countries should pass through the semi round except for the host country. You may think it’s easy for the big 5, but for us it’s like actually “skipping a passage”, people hear our song only once in the final, and like it or not, it’s like penalising those 5 countries. Easy to judge, yeah?
I am pretty sure that even the Swedish and Russian and (when they compete) the Ukrainian fans are biting their nails during the qualifier announcement. It all still needs to be done.
Besides, in recent years we also hear the prequalified countries in the semi and even see them perform on the eurovision stage (recorded rehearsal.)
So we’re basically treated like interval acts, except we don’t even have the incredible privilege of performing live. Wow great consideration, fantastic, very flattering, super advantage for us!
Also, you think if Maruv would be participating this year the Ukrainians would be sitting on the edge of their chairs wondering if they would qualify? Ahahah get down your horse come on
I agree with you that this “big 5 bullsh..” should end. But I guess that if one of these countries told the EBU they wanted to go through a semifinal, they would be allowed… so I guess they are actually fine with it.
@Nvm That’s also because many (not all) Dutch people are selfish and only hear what they want to hear (if they’re in a conversation with somebody who knows nothing about ESC, yet says it sucks, they’ll fully agree with you and you have all their attention, but when you clearly explain that those ESC stereotypes (almost) don’t exist anymore, they’ll pretend they hear you but actually, they won’t take you serious and will ignore you. Also, many Dutch people think they are always right when they criticize something such as the ESC, no matter what they sat. However, most of… Read more »
jeez Wiwi, don’t jinx him !! Good luck to Duncan, he seems such nice guy <3
There hasn’t been a single host bid yet… The mayor of amsterdam only said Amsterdam would definitely like to host it if we managed to win at the opening of eurovision in concert. A pretty bland statement to me, and then there was a politician from a small party in the Hague who just wanted to score easy points with the public I guess.
Exactly, and yet this the third article that wiwi writes about it with a click bait headline. Even though the interview was more about Duncan’t struggles as a young boy and how he dealt with that as a musician.
Oh come on, it’s written already who are you kidding lol
True! And Italy has my vote – I’m afraid I’m over the Dutch entry!
Oh well… about 200 million viewers/people have never heard any of the songs
love him very down to earth I really hope he wins tho
I would love to see the Netherlands win but also Italy,Switzerland,Albania,Sweden,Russia have good songs. We will see who gets the trophy 18th May.