For the past eight weeks, fans have been convinced that Eurovision royalty was beneath one of the costumes on The Masked Singer Belgium. And tonight this was confirmed. Eurovision 1986 winner Sandra Kim was unmasked as the Queen on the popular celebrity singing contest — and she was voted the series winner.
Ever since the first episode of the Belgian series, Koningin (Queen) has grabbed the attention of viewers. She asserted herself from the get-go when she tackled Sia’s “Unstoppable”. Sandra Kim reprised that song in tonight’s grand final, proving that she really was an unstoppable contestant.
While Sandra Kim made a name for herself at Eurovision in the mid-1980s, her Masked Singer repertoire was mostly contemporary pop tracks, showing her versatility as a singer.
Over the weeks the Queen performed Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now”, Sam Smith’s Bond theme “Writing’s on the Wall”, The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights”, Lady Gaga’s “Always Remember Us This Way”, Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire”, Sia’s interpretation of “California Dreamin”, and Tina Turner’s classic “River Deep, Mountain High”.
The Queen also paid tribute to another Eurovision winner with a performance of Loreen’s “Euphoria”.
The Queen won all of the contest’s weekly duels and made it to Friday night’s grand final. There she faced off against the Diver — revealed to be the Dutch performer Giovanni Kemper who also has a Eurovision connection. He had competed in the Dutch national final for Junior Eurovision 2005 and was the Dutch points spokesperson later that year.
But in the end, it was the Queen who won the contest. Her Royal Highness was declared the victor and finally revealed just who was underneath that regal mask.
Sandra Kim isn’t the first Eurovision act to bring some royal elegance to The Masked Singer. Earlier this year Kate Miller-Heidke was revealed to be the Queen on the Australian edition of the popular singing contest. She placed second on the series.
Sandra Kim holds the record as the youngest ever winner of the Eurovision Song Contest. She won in 1986 at the age of 13 with the song “J’aime la vie”. As Eurovision now has a minimum age of 16, Sandra’s record as the youngest ever winner will remain unbroken.
What do you think? Were you impressed by the Queen’s performances? Should Sandra Kim return to Eurovision in the future? Tell us your thoughts below!
Everything was single live in the belgian version.
Wow, she looks younger than she is
Un comentario genial! Douze points!
OMG she looks exactly the same as she did in 1986. I can see the 13 year old still in her face.
I sincerely hope her career gets relaunched, I loved every second of her.
Also, Giovanni Kemper, aka Diver, is the ex of Belgium 2016 artist Laura Tesoro. It’s all connected!
Sandra Kim for Belgium in 2022!
Everyone was sure it was her pretty early on.
Both Australia’s and Belgium’s queen did Blinding Lights. Both sounded really different but pretty cool nonetheless.
Is there no pandemic in belgium or why is there so much audience in the studio?
Same as ESC 1988 first clever combination of camera angles and lighting for small hall
It was recorded a few months ago when it was going better. Wouldn’t be possible today being top of the class.
She was, is and always will be absolutely spectacular! I’m from Belgium and I’ve seen her live at Eurovision in Concert, so from the moment she sang the first note, I immediately knew it was her! She never got a great career here but literally everybody knows J’aime la vie! I genuinely hope with all my heart this can be an epic comeback in her career! <3
An excellent “Euphoria” cover and a well-deserved winner! Out of sheer curiosity, how many former Eurovision winners have covered that one? Gotta be more than just her at this point.
EDIT: Huh. Apparently not! Plenty of Eurovision vets have covered it in the past (Lucie Jones, Uku Suviste, Maja Keuc, and Amir, among others), but this appears to be the first winner!
In terms of winners covering other winners, off the top of my head there’s:
Alexander Rybak also once did that big medley in the Belgian selection a few years back. Also, the Olsen Brothers did an entire album of covers of winning entries.
Linda Martin…
Nicole also recorded a German-language version of Euphoria on her 2017 album 12 Punkte.