Netherlands: “I still haven’t written my best song yet “- Jeangu Macrooy talks about creating music ahead of Eurovision 2021

The Netherlands’ Eurovision 2021 entrant Jeangu Macrooy guest starred in NPO Radio 1’s Miss Podcast. There, he talked about his career, music and life. Of course, talk of his upcoming Eurovision song was also included.

Back in March, Jeangu had us all warming up to “Grow”, a moody ballad that mixed dark soul and gospel. It was an autobiographical song about Jeangu’s growth as a person.

However, just a few weeks after the release of the song, Eurovision 2020 was cancelled. In the podcast, the Dutch Eurovision entrant revealed that it felt like his Eurovision experience happened much longer ago than it actually did. He said:

“So many things happened since and so quickly as well. The world changed so quickly. From one I still have really nice memories of the start of the year, when everything was still okay, so I can remember that with a smile of some sort.”

“It is really a pity because the preparations were actually going really well. In the team around me, there were no problems. Everybody liked each other, I think. The rehearsals were really pleasant and really productive at the same time. That’s something that you do not always encounter when you are brought together. I was really looking forward to May and what were going to do on stage.”

“I still haven’t written my best song yet”

Since the cancellation of the contest, he has continued to make music. On the question whether he would make an even better song than “Grow”, he told host Mischa Blok:

“I believe I still haven’t written my best song yet. But I am also searching in different corners of my sound to make my next thing. It is sometimes also like comparing apples and oranges.”

With regards to writing his Eurovision 2021 entry, he acknowledges that he is in the midst of the process and has not chosen a song yet. He explained:

“I would like to make as many new things as possible. That is how [producer] Perquisite and I always actually work when we work on a project that we are going to make. (…) I first said: I am not going to write with Eurovision in mind, that’s not how I work when it’s about inspiration. But when I’ve made something, like recently in the studio, we talked about it for a little while. Is this the candidate for Eurovision? I wasn’t completely convinced, so I then know as well, this is not yet it.”

“Sometimes, you feel from everything that this is going to be something more special than other things you wrote in the recent period. It was that way with “Gold”, the same with “High On You”, and that was for sure the case with “Grow”. You cannot force it, it just happens.”

For Jeangu, it’s not important whether a song is easy to sing along with or understandable for people who cannot speak English. He says that doing that is as working from the outside in, while you have work from the inside out. He thinks a Eurovision song should have something universal in it, however:

“It doesn’t matter what, but I think that the people who are watching television that night should be able to see from you that it is a real story. And they should have the feeling that they recognise it. Because in the end, there are universal things that connect us all.”

Although he doesn’t hope it, he expects that there will be songs about the ongoing pandemic at next year’s contest. He noted:

“As a writer, I think about it too. There are many things that are very obvious to write about. I don’t think it is very original to write about how we are all isolated.”

Are you excited to hear Jeangu Macrooy’s Eurovision 2021 entry? What do you expect of the song? Let us know in the comments down below!

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