Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS has made a public call for songwriters and artists to submit songs for Eurovision 2022. The deadline is August 31.
Following its trend of recent years, AVROTROS hopes to send compositions that are strong with the storytelling. In a statement on their website, the broadcaster says:
“The selection committee aims for an entry with preferably a contemporary, but in any case authentic sound. A song that is able to survive in a competition. By a Dutch artist who can and wants to present a personal song in a distinctive way, in any genre, and, if possible, a personal story.”
The selection committee consists of the same six music professionals who previously chose Jeangu Macrooy for Eurovision 2020 with the song “Grow”. The committee includes commentators Cornald Maas, Jan Smit and Sander Lantinga, alongside radio DJ Coen Swijnenberg, journalist Joyce Hoedelmans and AVROTROS CEO Eric van Stade.
The “song first” approach
Noteworthy is that the committee writes that it wants a finished product from a Dutch artist. The statement reads:
“AVROTROS or the selection committee will not set up a trajectory with an artist/songwriter to come to a (final) product. It is expected that a (demo) song of artist/songwriter with the above criteria will be brought to the attention of the selection committee at an advanced stage.”
This demonstrates their preference for a song rather than an artist. Between 2013 and 2018, the broadcaster focused on the creative freedom of the internally selected artists. However, in both 2017 and 2018, AVROTROS’ selection committee members felt that they had lost power over the entry they were sending.
In 2019, AVROTROS first opted for a “song first” approach. The approach worked immediately with the country winning the contest for the first time in 44 years with Duncan Laurence and his song “Arcade”.
Jeangu Macrooy’s effort in 2021 was less successful on the scoreboard. However, the song received critical acclaim for its originality and storytelling.
The public call for songs with a deadline is rare step for the broadcaster. Usually the song selection is a more private affair, with selected songwriters being invited to submit.
What do you expect from the Netherlands’ Eurovision 2022 effort? Who do you want to see representing the country in Italy? Let us know in the comments down below!
I’m pretty sure all of you will think I’m crazy or having lack of taste but I really want the Netherlands to take a risky step of sending K-pop and send SOMI for next year.
Yeah, she’s Korean but she’s also half-Dutch Canadian (on her father’s side), so she has a small connection to the country. Plus, she has the vocals and the charisma and the fact that Europe has a huge K-pop fanbase might just help Netherlands get back on track.
https://youtu.be/lBYyAQ99ZFI
‘back on track’ babe they literally won
No, they finished 23rd less than a week ago…
Countries are now overreacting to the ‘bad’ results. Just because they did not win or got into top 10 it does not mean that they did something wrong with their selection process.
There is no perfect way to choose the performer or the song that will guarantee success.
In the case of AVROTROS, I don’t think they are overreacting. They are just acknowledging that this is a contest. It’s not enough to have a song that most people like. Each year, many popular songs fail to generate many points. The key is that you have to have a song that a significant percentage of viewers have as their favorite.
If this were a contest where everyone grades the songs on a scale from 1 to 10, the results would be very different.
It worked so well for Germany this year….. wait!
HAHHAHA
But can we really blame the juries? Sure, he displayed a nearly perfect performance and his song was both unique and something special, as well. Nevertheless it never really connected with me. And it also wasn’t one of those entries that could be considered as ‘jury bait’, was it?
I feel so bad for Jeangu, he brought an awesome song and he didn’t deserve nil points from the public.
Sounds to me like AVOTROS is a bit scared to go mainstream. Despite a lot of pop songs getting subpar results this year, there’s nothing wrong with a solid banger every now and then. I would kinda like to see my country go with a banger instead of sending something slow again.
Storytelling doesn’t mean there is no room for banger songs. Just look at Euphoria, Toy and Heroes.
Ooooh, Netherlands – I echo what Una says below: I hope this is not based on this year’s result. My life would be so much poorer without Jeangu Macrooy and his incredibly moving music. I cannot thank you enough for putting your support in him.
The only problem was that Eurovision 2020 was cancelled. Birth of a New Age wouldn’t have been internally selected.
It apparently took Davina Michelle 2 years to write interval song Sweet Water. If it takes you that long to write such a bad song, you really aren’t a good choice for Eurovision. There are heaps of better Dutch artists that don’t get hyped up nearly as much.
A bad song?! Haha kinda negative way of looking at it isn’t it
It definitely wasn’t a bad song, but I do agree that three months is very little and I’m afraid that this change will make it less probable that bigger artists like Davina Michelle will compete for us.
eva simons 🙂
No, she’s not relevant anymore..
Why not? Relevance doesn’t have to do with talent…
What about Eefje de Visser? Granted, her opening act left me kind of underwhelmed, but it also was somewhat of a departure from her usual style. Yet with one of her typical songs, she definitely could leave a mark.
I’m glad they take the “song first” approach again!
I think Froukje would fit this profile perfectly! Her songs are current and authentic and have beautiful (Dutch!) lyrics.
I also love to see Davina Michelle or Naaz.
Now I love froukje, however, stage presence wise I definitely feel like she needs more time to grow. In a few years though, I think she will make a perfect representative for us.
i came here to say the same thing! She might need a little more time to develop a stage presence, but her music is fantastic, authentic and personal and she really deserves an opportunity to get it out there.
“The committee includes commentators Cornald Maas, Jan Smit and Sander Lantinga, alongside radio DJ Coen Swijnenberg, journalist Joyce Hoedelmans and AVROTROS CEO Eric van Stade.”
There’s your problem right there. The worst of Dutch popular music.
I know Davina wouldn’t try for next year, but I would love to see her represent The Netherlands sometime in the near future. I already knew her even before she released her album “my own world”, which is amazing btw!
She can definetly bring a top 5 or even another win for the dutch.
The Netherlands are full of amazing artists so I think that whoever represents them next year will serve quality!
If Grow had competed this year, they would’ve probably finished very high again.
The requirements sounds funny to me (basically, write us a winning song like the top 5 this year pls!), but it’s good they’ve really got their eyes on producing a good, authentic song.
just saying that davina and eefje had plenty of positive comments in their inteval acts…
Indeed, as a Dutch person, I’m still happy of the entry. We might have done quite bad in terms of ranking, but at least we sent a genuine artist that sung a heartfelt song. It would’ve been nice to do well on home soil,
I do have to say that Dutch people aren’t too upset with the result, most people are focusing on the fact that we producers three amazing shows!
And you still beat three other countries.
Am I the only one who’s hoping the Netherlands will try sending in a song in Dutch? I think the last time was in 2010 with “Ik ben verliefd”
I love the Dutch language!
You would think if there ever was an appetite for a Dutch language song it would have been for when The Netherlands were hosting the contest. I think the high English fluency of Dutch singers (so they can genuinely connect with a song even if it’s written in English) has killed off the prospect of hearing Dutch at ESC.
Agreed! This year was the ultimate song to send a great song in the dutch language
I could be when its alternative like Eefje de Visser or Froukje. But no pop
As a Dutch person, I’d say that Dutch is a beautiful language, but there are rarely any good Dutch language song performers here. English is the way to go for us if we want to get a decent result.
If we even can get Sranan tongo maybe it’s time for the Netherlands to finally send a song in frisian? 😀 or atleast somebody out of the province of Friesland for the first time in 66 years.
Some were better than others (and only “Walk Along” was a mishap), but the Netherlands really upped their game from Anouk on. They’re going for talented people with authentic songs and I’m glad to hear they seem to continue trusting their instincts. I wouldn’t mind if they tried a small national final one of these days, if they feel they have at least 5 or 6 good entries on their hands.
I really wonder , can a person with no professional experience in industry try his/herself in national selection? I mean stories like “she’s a waitress singing in cafe who wrote a song and decided to compete”. Is it real? I mean, theoretically.
well, if their song is good enough amongst the rest, yes. but of course, I still prefer national selection method, so the supposedly unknown artist can also experience live on-stage performance.
Well, we’re talking about the same thing, I guess. I just meant absence of career. In NS we see only artists with career in their country that want to promote themselves on international level. It’s not bad. But I’d really like to see somebody without career in show-business at all who just tries him/herself. On national level.
I think not really because countries mostly look for near finished productions. Good music productions to accomplish the lyrics don’t come easy and cheap in the words of Isaiah and thus where does the waitress even start to get all of that.
the only thing that I don’t like here is that it’s internal again. I prefer that the committee would choose not one, but a few (ten or twelve) songs, and then put them in a proper televised national selection (and that means a revived Nationaal Songfestival) held in a big venue (Ziggo Dome or, again, Rotterdam Ahoy) with slick Eurovision/Melodifestivalen-like production and 50-50 voting. the benefit of national selection that should be taken is that they can also test out the staging.
But the thing is, not every country has the resources to undergo national selections as it costs a fortune from staging, production and etc (especially if you compare to selections of Melfest-like quality). Also countries like Netherlands and Switzerland have turned their fortunes with internal approaches but eh, I guess it all comes down to where you’re from.
PS: From what I saw in Twitter, Bulgaria might be in talks of a possible national selection so that might please you 🙂
of course I don’t expect every single participating Eurovision country to do them. at least big five + their neighbours (Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland) doing them, to join the already existing ones (UMK, Melodifestivalen, MGP). they surely have all the budget, but they do not yet have the desire. and if they finally do, they surely should think long-term (if they decide to do it for 2022, do it again for the following two or three years) because big venues can easily be preserved for events held months later.
I think the Dutch broadcaster made a huge mistake this year by giving the freedom to Jeanguu to record a song of his preference. They should have asked him for a selection of songs and then the committee would have picked one. Grow was selected out of a number of submitted entries and it was much better than this year’s Dutch entry (at least it would have done well with juries). I understand that they wanted to give him a second chance but you have to consider what’s good for your reputation in ESC and this song (albeit very original… Read more »
I think Birth of a New Age was good for the reputation of The Netherlands at ESC, and the consensus around the fandom seems to be that it should’ve done better.
While “grow” would have probably placed in the top10, I think it was important for the Netherlands as a hosting country to have a song like “Birth of a New Age”. Even the NY times were writing about this song and that it showcased a BLM moment. It is not always about winning, especially when you are the hosting nation but more if you can be proud of what you have sent in. Nobody was embarrassed of that song, it was a good song, but we all knew that it won’t have any winning chances.
Just want to note something that I personally find unfair: For those who don’t know, there has been a major scandal with the Maltese representative in 2004 accusing the broadcaster of spending A LOT of money on fake YouTube views and bets for the oddsmakers so that Destiny could raise hype… and there’s still not a single article about it, at least as far as I’m concerned… They covered whatever they could from the Måneskin scandal but now they’re just a BIT of bias I think, sorry if I’m wrong
i wonder if wiwibloggs will ever report that considering they always support Malta…
shall we talk about why they support Destiny….?
Oh, just noticed the typo, I meant to write “there’s” instead of “they’re” in the last part
How is this a scandal? The youtube adds are a common fact known through out the season and the ad tactic has been used by numerous other countries for the past few years.
Edit: oops read too fast. Thought this was only about add buying
I just read it, but there’s one little thing, Lynn was Maltese representative in 2003, the note i read is wrong in this, and btw, she is a politician now in Malta, so maybe there is an intention on what she’s saying. Let’s wait and see if something happens…
Oh, I’m talking about Ludwig with that other girl
Azerbaijan 2012, regardless of songwriters, is still one of if not their best entry to date though
i agree and actually it’s better than the bland winning song from 2011. The Azeri entry in 2012 had some ethnic elements too!
Probably the best host entry of the 2010s tbh, and Sabina was easily their best singer as well.
tough choice between Azerbaijan 2012, Germany 2011, and Portugal 2018
Hope Davina Michelle enters the selection. She proved to be a great songwriter and her performance was really convincing in semi 1. I’m sure we are gonna see more of her in the future.
I think she really enjoyed her experience and will probably enter esc some day, she’s never been completely against it!
Indeed, she should at least give it a try, she was fantastic!
My personal suggestion is the girl from the interval act in Semi Final-1 , Davina Michelle would never fail with a song like that..
Davina wouldn’t consider Eurovision after all the zeros, i think the producer should fix this approach of recording the reaction of participants with zero points…
Host acts tend to fare poorly to begin with, and based off the Netherlands overall recent track record I don’t think she’d be that averse if she had a competitive song.
i don’t need a ‘personal story’, i just need a good song.
Yeah I hate that rule already. Don’t bore us with a ‘got talent’ sob story and don’t make it an essential factor in your song selection process. Måneskin didn’t need all that. Nor did winners like salvador sobral and loreen.
Euphoria and Salvador Sobral also had a so called “got talent sob story”. Maneskin had a statement in their song, which also fits in the “got talent sob story” category. “got talent sob stories” will always continue to return, which I wouldn’t be mad about, because the best songs are usually the “got talent sob stories”.
But you shouldn’t ever make it the center of your attention or else you’ll end up like Blas Canto, Jana Burceska or S!sters. It’s a pretty thin line.
I hope they don’t fall in the trap of the cheap fast food music produced in Swedish camps. Bring something unique to the table
they never buy Swedish songs like small countries.
well france 2020 is an example that comes to my mind….thank god the contest was cancelled
In terms of just ESC (and just ESC obviously, nothing else in the wider world) the pandemic was good to France.
The article specifically says they are looking for a Dutch artist and authenticity (the latter suggests they want someone who wrote their own song or at least affected it to a high degree). I wouldn’t be worried about this.
The Dutch music industry does not need Swedish songwriters.. I’m not trying to be mean but they don’t.. Only Birds was co written by Anouk and a Swede.. But they’re friends..
Sounds like a good plan. I wish everyone had this approach.
something in dutch PLEASE
eefje de visser!
Oh yes, Eefje would be a great choice! The music she makes is very now and doesn’t necessarily rely on one’s ability to understand Dutch but more on the feeling it creates: the atmosphere of the music tells the story.
Oh yes! Eefje has the unique ability to make Dutch sound incredibly smooth and pleasant to foreign ears. However, the public broadcasting organization won’t be too happy ($$$), as the chances she’ll win are immense…
I hope! someone like Maan or Snelle could be great options to represent them in Eurovision
Only current Dutch language artists I could see work on the eurovision stage would be Suzan & Freek. They are very good at conveying emotion with things like intonation, body language + general song mood. Also Tabitha comes to my mind. I think it’s harder to find succes with germanic languages than Romance and slavic languages which lend itself more easily for certain musical genres.
germanic languages are beautiful, and any language can fit any song. it will sound really good either way, as long as the song is good. I would love to see frisian, as you suggested in the comments, on the esc stage as well.