Update: In response to a now-deleted tweet, Jeangu Macrooy has confirmed that “Freedom Sound” is not his song for Eurovision 2020. This tweet predates Hannelore Zwitserlood’s on-air claims by two days.
Thanks ??? (maar dit is niet het nummer ?)
— Jeangu Macrooy (@JeanguMacrooy) January 19, 2020
Original story
It seems that no one likes to speculate about Eurovision quite as much as the Dutch. But ever since Jeangu Macrooy was unveiled as the Netherlands’ 2020 representative, the rumour mongers have had little to get their teeth into… until now!
That’s because a popular radio DJ claims to have gotten her hands on the demo for Jeangu’s entry for Eurovision 2020. Allegedly, it will be called “Freedom Sound”.
Radio DJ claims Jeangu Macrooy will sing “Freedom Sound” at Eurovision
The bold claims were made during the Tuesday 21 January edition of Radio 538’s Morning Show with Frank Dane. His sidekick Hannelore Zwitserlood announced that she had received the demo of the Dutch entry from “a contact”.
She says the song is called ”Freedom Sound”.
The Dutch website LINDA.nl quizzed Hannelore about her claims.
“I can’t say much else about it,” she says. “Of course I don’t know for sure, but the contact I’m referring to is very close to someone from Jeangu’s team.”
Hannelore elaborates, “He said that Jeangu wrote this song “Freedom Sound” years ago. It’s one of his favourite songs and Jeangu really wants to use it for Eurovision. They are going to pimp “Freedom Sound” with extra beautiful music elements”.
”Personally, I would really like it. I think it’s a beautiful song. It fits perfectly with the theme of the Eurovision Song Contest”.
Jeangu Macrooy’s “Freedom Sound” on YouTube
So far, it is not-yet-certain if “Freedom Sound” will be Jeangu’s Eurovision song.
Apparently, Hannelore received some comments saying that she is incorrect.
The Dutch Broadcaster AVROTROS has not yet responded to the speculation.
However, even the most amateur of sleuths can find Jeangu performing a song called “Freedom Sound” on YouTube. It was first uploaded almost four and a half years ago, in September 2015.
Eurovision entries are not supposed to be released before 1 September of the year preceding the contest. So any 2020 entry must be commercially released after 1 September 2019.
The footage was recorded during a gig at the Paco Plumtrek. As of 23 January, it had just over 2,600 views. However, one suspects that most of these may have come after the radio show. All of the comments have been left within the past five days.
Of course, there are numerous possibilities.
Firstly, Hannelore may be misinformed. Jeangu might be singing something completely different.
Alternatively, there may be a second “Freedom Sound”. Such a scenario is not unheard of.
In 2018, just hours after Surie’s participation was confirmed for the UK national final, fans unearthed one of her recordings from July 2017 — “Storm”. However, this turned out to be a completely different song from the actual “Storm” she competed with.
And there’s even a chance that Hannelore is right and it’s the same “Freedom Sound” as on YouTube. A similar incident happened to the Dutch in 2019, when two-year-old footage of Duncan Laurence’s “Arcade” emerged online. However, it was held not to break the rules. Ultimately, the question comes down to whether there was a commercial advantage or not.
What do you think? Do you trust the radio DJ? Would “Freedom Sound” be a good entry? Let us know in the comment section.
What’s a sidekick? Examples:
– Robin is Batman’s sidekick
– Donkey is Shrek’s sidekick
– Mans Zelmerlow was Petra Mede’s sidekick at Eurovision 2016
Geddit?
The timing to post this article is just a little odd.
I mean the rumor was not from today, but a couple of days ago. And Jeangu even responded that it’s not the song he will perform;
But even weirder is that the tweet is brought in a way as if it is breaking news… just found out an hour ago
https://twitter.com/wiwibloggs/status/1220425544837275650
“Freedom Sound”… I really hope it’s not another perfect material for Love Love Peace Peace 2.0. Take some risk. You can’t win by trying hard to please everyone.
All these fake statements, rumors and million speculations aren’t helping The Netherlands in my opinion. In fact, a lot of people are getting tired of hearing false information about the Dutch entry and frankly, I’m losing my interest. I would love to see Jeangu do well in his own country, but it’s come so far that I’ll skip over most of the articles that involve the Netherlands just because it’s never a whole truth or mere rumors. Please oh please just wait for the song, it will be good and just let him and the broadcaster do their thing on… Read more »
I’m so sad ? That Melodifestivalen won’t make any new stage design for the coming 2 years… They will use the stage of last year but use other themes to make it look a bit different.
Melodifestivalen always came up with grand stages but not anymore…
Jeangu has already tweeted a week ago that this isn’t the song. This ‘rumor’ was created by the same guy on Youtube who posted I Miss You by Duncan last year, and claimed it was the entry. The account is called Songland, and he’s just looking for some attention… apparently it’s working. He even removed his own tweet, so you can’t see Jeangu’s reply anymore. Anything for the Youtube views!
I’m already slightly disappointed that it’s not called Vrijheid Geluid.
As Jesper already explained below; those are just rumours, probably made up by some troll who seeks attention. Last year someone also tried to misguide people to believe that he owned the demo of Duncan’s song. You remember “I miss you”? The Youtuber changed the title and people believed that it was the actual entry. Now I know it all looks harmless and a fan site as Wiwibloggs is free to report it. But we should be careful here. It sounds harmless, but I already saw some people commenting nasty things, people who believed that these rumours were true. (happened… Read more »
Just not true like. I don’t think it was released after September
It literally says in the headline that it was released in 2015! Did you even read?
I heard that song like a week ago and its amazing . Has kind of avicii vibes to it and is quite refreshing . But dont whether they will allow it or not . Still if they do, it has great potencial 🙂
The song is great but if it really is the entry then it should be ineligible. Rules are rules and should apply to EVERYONE, especially considering the song was released 5 YEARS AGO
Even if it was their entry, it shouldn’t be deemed inelegible. He performed it live, so what? That does not constitute a release. Like with Duncan, the fact that some random guy in the audience recorded it on his phone and posted it on YouTube counts for very little. I do prefer new songs, though, not ones that have been lying around for years.
What do u mean “so what”?? we’re talking about the contest rules here. Why doesn’t Germany send a 14 year old singer because so what?? Why doesn’t Portugal send a 4 minute song because so what?? Why doesn’t Finland bring a live aligator on stage because so what?? RULES ARE RULES NO MATTER WHAT THE SITUATION IS THEY SHOULD BE FOLLOWED.
Does it say in the rules that songs must not be performed live before 1st September 2019? Also, dial down the capital letters, you’re getting excited.
Stop believing all the nonsense that this YouTube user called Songworld puts up on his channel. He takes old live performances that have been up on YouTube for ages and calls them demos, and gets people like you to talk about them. Jeangu already replied days earlier that this is an old song and not the Eurovision song.
Then my comment is moot!
But the video is on the Jozef Scuric youtube channel?
You could say it isn’t the breaking the rules in the same way Duncan wasn’t technically breaking the rules. If that was the only time he performed it and he never put it out as a single, it’s probably still kosher. (Plus, it’s 2:59 – one second under standard Eurovision runtime standards).
If it is, in fact, their entry: it’s pretty tight! Big production as opposed to just him on a guitar and they could have something. Take us to church, Jeangu!