Picture credit: Thomas Hanses (EBU)

Four years ago, the Netherlands won Eurovision 2019 with “Arcade”, Duncan Laurence‘s later global hit single. Years after the adventure in Tel Aviv, in an unexpected turn, Dutch producer Wouter Hardy has opened up to newspaper AD to discuss his experiences in the lead up to that victory.

This year, Duncan Laurence is the creative director and co-writer of the Dutch entry “Burning Daylight”, whereas Wouter Hardy produced and wrote Estonia’s “Bridges”.

In the interview, which has recently dominated the showbusiness news in the Benelux country, Wouter admits that things did not go so smoothly behind the scenes when he and Duncan were behind the same entry. In fact, he said that he needed trauma therapy to recover from certain events that occurred in those few months in late 2018. He explained:

“The reason why things are not well between Duncan and me have to do with a conflict about the rights of ‘Arcade’. If such a song leaves the studio, agreements have to be made about royalty percentages and that did not happen fairly on the side of Duncan and Ilse DeLange. [Ilse] had meanwhile started her own label to release “Arcade”. Very smart, because that means that she earns the most from it. I had made agreements with Duncan about our percentages, that proposal had gone to Ilse, but it shocked her apparently. She made it clear very strongly.”

“I had sleepless nights and panic attacks. They really threw me out of the team. Duncan listened to Ilse, I was the bogeyman that acted difficultly. While I knew what my rights were. Duncan even took a lawyer and I only thought: why is this necessary?”

“Don’t understand me wrongly, ‘Arcade’ has brought me a lot of things and I can’t ignore that. A small part of something massive can still be a lot: the earnings of ‘Arcade’ give me a basic income which gives me the room for other things. That Ilse gave Duncan a chance brought me far as well. It led to the fact that I can work with people that would have stayed outside of my scope. I’m thankful for that.”

Ilse DeLange on “Arcade” royalties dispute and Wouter Hardy’s comments

Wouter Hardy claimed that Ilse DeLange, at one point, threatened to withdraw “Arcade” from Eurovision. In a statement to AD, Ilse says that it not true. She reacted to Wouter’s statements, saying that some tough discussions were made, but that it never got to the point that she threatened anyone.

“I find it incredibly sad that Wouter has a lot of pain. I never had any idea of that, especially because in the past few years, we had positive and pleasant contact with each other from time to time.”

“I’m not going to discuss all details, but there has never been a case for withdrawing ‘Arcade’ or threatening with that. Wouter was helped by an independent music rights lawyer who’s an authority in the field of music contracts law, just like I was.”

In the statement, Ilse DeLange said that she sent Wouter a message to talk through things.

Duncan Laurence did not react to AD’s request to reply.

Wouter explained that the Eurovision 2019 winner came to his studio after the contest to apologise for the way some things went. They collaborated on his album subsequently, but fell out of contact following “a misunderstanding”.

22 Comments
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Andreas
Andreas
10 months ago

Didn’t Ilse already have strong disagreements with Waylon who duetted with her in Eurovision 2014? Obviously, there’s no way for me to judge who’s at fault, but this is some more evidence that Ilse might be a difficult person.

Jimmy
Jimmy
10 months ago

Poor Dion & Mia, they looked absolutely miserable in the green room, in their silent box.

Jonas
Jonas
10 months ago

I hate it. I really do.

Jonas
Jonas
10 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

Another way to make the songwriters even more invisible.

Jonas
Jonas
10 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

I’ll wait until tomorrow night before I give my final verdict, but right now I am deeply unimpressed.

Marcin
Marcin
10 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

They apparently changed it back to the old system.

Jonas
Jonas
10 months ago
Reply to  Marcin

Good. The right thing to do.

Jonas
Jonas
10 months ago

Sad.

Cyndi Lauper was right, money changes everything.

Dennis
Dennis
10 months ago

Wouter was also not allowed to join the greenroom and had to book his own B&B in Tel Aviv. So ridiculous…

Happy he did have the full experience with Switzerland.

Jonas
Jonas
10 months ago
Reply to  Dennis

I’m just thinking back to the 2021 final. Duncan couldn’t attend because of Covid, and Ilse was complaining about not being asked to perform. Meanwhile, Wouter went on to win the jury vote with “Tout l’universe”.

Oy oy
Oy oy
10 months ago
Reply to  Jonas

Karma

Noam600
Noam600
10 months ago

OFF TOPIC: How can we watch the full rehearsals today?

Azuro
Azuro
10 months ago

Same Duncan Laurence who dumped his long term boyfriend as soon as he got famous…

Fast Food Music Lover
Fast Food Music Lover
10 months ago
Reply to  Azuro

And that’s relevant, how?

sknfaojsn
sknfaojsn
10 months ago

its relevant cause Duncan is a POS

Brötchen
Brötchen
10 months ago
Reply to  Azuro

Lol, why are the people breaking up always painted as villains. If you don’t want to continue a relationship you have every right to end it. You can fall out of love or plans for the future don’t match anymore, that stuff happens, people change. And if my partner realizes that, I would want them to break up with me and not waste my time. Easy as that.

Nikki
Nikki
10 months ago

So much drama for 0.003.

Pat
Pat
10 months ago
Reply to  Nikki

Give them 2 years and their dinner will be free

Zac
Zac
10 months ago
Reply to  Pat

Gas station champagne is on Duncan Laurence.

Craig
Craig
10 months ago

Netherlands has really taken the gold medal for the pre-content #Eurodrama this year!

Dawid
Dawid
10 months ago
Reply to  Craig

There was no drama in Ukraine this year. Netherlands and Poland is all we can get

Benito Camelo
Benito Camelo
10 months ago
Reply to  Dawid

I wasn’t expecting them to be the ones who’d deliver this year’s drama, but they didn’t disappoint. That’s for sure.