Belgium’s Mustii is ready to bring the party to Eurovision 2024. And TV and music bigwigs in Belgium certainly believe he can do that: He was internally selected to represent Belgium in this year’s contest.
His song “Before the Party’s Over” blends different genres to create a powerful pop track. Through his deep lyrics, the out-of-the-box singer intends to touch your soul and open your eyes. Renowned for his artistic pop music — and sharp eye as a judge on Drag Race Belgique — Mustii is ready to make his country proud. Shantay, he stays!
Scroll down to read the “Before the Party’s Over” lyrics
Belgium at Eurovision 2024: Mustii with “Before the Party’s Over”
He’s already a famous name in Belgium and his career continues to reach new heights. Both his albums, 21st Century Boy and It’s Happening Now, peaked inside the top ten of the Belgian Albums Charts. His collection of musical awards is extensive, including six nominations at the D6bels Music Awards 2016, where he won the trophy for Revelation of the Year. Besides music, he’s also received the Magritte Award for Most Promising Actor. The man knows performance — which is one reason he’s been invited back to judge another series of Drag Race Belgique.
Shortly after this selection, Mustii revealed to Belgian media that he wouldn’t compromise with his track. “My idea is to go to the Eurovision Song Contest with my own DNA,” he said. “I don’t want to lie, I want to be sincere and authentic. I don’t want to create a fake character.”
To help him keep it real, he co-wrote the song with Benoit Leclercq and Pierre Dumoulin. You’ll know Dumoulin for his compositions for other Belgian Eurovision entries including Eliot’s “Wake Up” in 2019 and Blanche’s “City Lights” in 2017. Nina Sampermans, another lyricist, also has a history in the competition. She was involved in Iris’s song “Would You” in 2012, as well as in Gjon’s Tears’s entry for Switzerland from 2021, “Tout l’univers.” She also worked on last year’s Estonian entry “Bridges,” from Alika.
What do the “Before the Party’s Over” lyrics mean?
“Before the Party’s Over” builds gradually in intensity. Mustii isn’t here to play with words but to ask straightforward questions. The lyrics are intended to reflect on life and the choices we make. The first lines of the song addresses the false impression of “being fine” when we’re really not.
All we chase is shining in the moonlight
Are we sure the kids are alright
Or just playing it cool?
Watch it fade, it’s gonna hurt from time to time
One more drink and I’ll be fine
You’re the living proof
The things that we chase are often closer than we realize, yet they shine somewhere in the dark. Meanwhile, we find ourselves in a world where we fake happiness through various distractions like alcohol — a way to numb the pain and fill the emptiness. Moreover, just as adults do, Mustii implies that the younger generation are pretending just as hard.
Are you still playing the game
Or breaking the rules?
I can see all the pain
In the way that you move
Face-to-face, they told us it was paradise
But I’ll barely make it through the night
Do you think about it too?
Mustii encourages listeners to break the rules and to have the courage to be themselves, as pain can’t be hidden forever. Rather than struggling to conform to everyone else’s game, he advocates for authenticity. The world is not an ideal paradise, and living a life that doesn’t align with your true self just to fit inside the box won’t bring you happiness. Moments like this require a change of scenery.
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna make moves tonight)
The last part of the song is the most powerful, perhaps because it features the chorus of fellow artists (such as Gustaph, who represented Belgium last year) and fans who sent videos of themselves following a public call from Mustii. As he feels his soul on fire, he finally finds the power to make moves through the night and live to the max before this whole party’s over.
“Before the Party’s Over” lyrics — Mustii (Belgium Eurovision 2024)
Songwriter Arianna Damato, Charlotte Clark, Mustii, Nina Sampermans
All we chase is shining in the moonlight
Are we sure the kids are alright
Or just playing it cool?
Watch it fade, it’s gonna hurt from time to time
One more drink and I’ll be fine
You’re the living proof
Are you still playing the game
Or breaking the rules?
I can see all the pain
In the way that you move
Face-to-face, they told us it was paradise
But I’ll barely make it through the night
Do you think about it too?
Are you still playing the game
Or breaking the rules?
I can see all the pain
In the way that you move
In the way that you move
I got a soul on fire
I’m gonna make moves tonight
I got a soul on fire
I’m gonna raise roofs tonight
I got a soul on fire
I’m gonna make moves tonight
I got a soul on fire
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna make moves tonight)
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna raise roofs tonight)
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna make moves tonight)
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna raise roofs tonight)
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna make moves tonight)
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna raise roofs tonight)
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna make moves tonight)
Before the party’s over
(I got a soul on fire, I’m gonna rаise roofѕ tonight)
I don’t know what to say about this. It’s certainly a good song, but it takes lots of time until the peak. They need strong staging to stand out.
I like the lyrics, open to interpretations. Before reading any comments, I got impression that this is about the couple, at the end stage of relationship, playing it cool in front of the others, while the feelings faded.
i always have a weak for Belgium anyway, i personally like Mustii’s song, however i’m not feeling too confident in that superstrong semi, so its gonna be nailbiting exciting if he can make the final
This one’s a vibe, but the lyrics are unclear. They leave you a lot of unanswered questions.
My winner from the very first listen. Love it.
I’ve read the lyrics sheet multiple times, I still don’t know how to interpret it.
I can’t stand pretentious try-hard “artsy” songs like this. It’s also very repetitive and annoying
I always thought he was singing “got an ass hole on fire”
Restaurant review?
Lol! Maybe a mexican one…
Grindr x
My favourite this year. I wish him best of luck. 🙂
shame he is in the same semi as our god Joost with europapa which will totally demolish this one’s chances lol
I don’t think you can compare Mustii with Joost. Europapa is pretty terrible
Haha you really do talk out of your a*** ?
This is a very generic song sold as high art. Juries will obviously fall for it, but televote will give it a very lukewarm reaction.
Cringe lyrics. Nice melody. Nice vocals. Not my cup of tea. 6/10
There seems to be seven songwriters on this. How does that square with Mustii wanting to go to the contest with “his own DNA”? Or “advocating for authenticity”?
Seven?? Sieben??? Wtf, LOL
Because he’s the one singing it
Method acting?
3 mins are not enough. I love it.
These lyrics are about as dark and dramatic as you can get without actually meaning anything specific, and that’s actually quite an achievement, so bravo on that. I would even go so far as to call them “abstract”, because they leave me with a lot of unanswered questions. For instance: What moves are gonna be made tonight? Who is “the living proof”? Why are these people moving in pain? What is it I’m supposed to be thinking about?! The lyrics are the perfect match to Dumoulin & Leclercq’s deliberate and pointed songwriting, since they almost distract from it. I find… Read more »
For tonight, I’ve decided it’s about someone coming to terms with sexuality. Leaving the closet, ditching the “straight jacket” which has been stifling them.
On my next listen, I might choose to project a whole different scenario on it!
This seems to be a recurring theme for me. These issues can linger for a long time it seems! See Marco’s “Due vite” for my similar analysis there.
Thanks, yeah, really any theory of meaning can apply to this song. This article here by Ruxandra suggests that “Mustii isn’t here to play with words but to ask straightforward questions,” but the problem with a song asking questions is that it leaves more unanswered questions in the mind of the listener. As a songwriter, I have always avoided asking questions in song lyrics. Even when someone else wrote them for me, I have called them and asked: “Would it be possible not to write this as a question?” I always saw songwriting as an expression, not an interrogation. It’s… Read more »
Questions in songs, interesting topic. Perhaps Diana Ross asked the same ones in a better way.
“Do you know where you’re going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you?”
Iceland 2009 probably holds the record for most questions in a Eurovision song. Johnny Logan asked a rhetorical one in 1980.
Then again in 1992.
Haha, I’m still waiting for answers to Iceland 2009.
Theory #2
A person with a creative soul, longing to be an artist. Musician. Actor. Painter. Alas, that road is not often profitable and so the protagonist has joined the corporate rat race instead. He works as at an insurance firm, slowly working his way up the ladder. Still, he is not satisfied, he needs more… the disco ball calls him.
Theory #3
The UK Conservative Party is going through an identity crisis at the head of government. Their youth wing is also under threat. They need to make moves tonight, before their party is over. 😛
“Are you still playing the game, or breaking the rules?”
Perhaps one of these songwriter names is a pseudonym of Boris, or Nigel Farage…