All eyes on the Belgian front as Flemish broadcaster VRT releases the titles of the entries set to compete in their upcoming selection, Eurosong.
Background and context for Eurovision
Belgium as a federalist state where two governments are in charge of the media – the Flemish government and the French-speaking government each have a state broadcaster, which participate in Eurovision alternatively.
The Flemish (Dutch-speaking) broadcaster VRT is in charge of Belgium’s selection procedure for the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Basel. They’ve opted for a national selection over an internal one, which is called Eurosong (not to be confused with Ireland whose national final is also called “Eurosong”).
The Format
Eight acts are set to participate in Eurosong’s final, which airs on the 1st of February. The songs will be released in two batches – one group will be revealed this Saturday (18th of January) in a broadcast programme on VRT1, and the second group will be unveiled Saturday next week (25th of January).
Each of these “reveal shows” will feature four songs each, with no real staging or “fireworks”. They’re meant to showcase the singer’s voice and their song stripped down to the bare minimum.
The final, which as stated above takes place on Saturday 1 February 2025, will feature all eight songs performed to their full potential, with live acts and staging, providing a vision for their Eurovision act as intended by the artist.
The results will be determined by a 50/50 split between jury and televote. The jury consists of 15 professionals, semi-professionals and superfans. Four of them make up the Jury Panel for the Final itself, and will give live feedback to the participating artists after their performance. They are:
- Gustaph (né Stef Caers)- the Belgian participant in the 2023 ESC, and previous winner of Eurosong.
- MEROL (née Merel Baldé) – a Dutch electropop singer who is popular in Flanders and who entered the Dutch selection a few times.
- Bart Cannaerts – The Belgian spokesperson for the 2023 Contest, a Flemish comedian and self-proclaimed “superfan” of the Contest.
- Emmelie de Forest – The Danish winner of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest with “Only Teardrops”.
Song Titles
The eight perfomers and their songs are as follows:
GROUP 1 (18/01/2025)
- Grace – “Pull up”
- LEEZ – “Perfectly Imperfect”
- Le Manou – “Fille à papa” (daddy’s girl)
- LENN – “Air Balloon”
GROUP 2 (25/01/2025)
- Jelle Van Dael – “Monster”
- Mentissa – “Désolée”
- Red Sebastian – “Strobe Lights”
- Stefanie Callebaut – “Gloria”
Each show will also feature one Eurovision cover by each artist, which serves to introduce them and their style before they perform their Eurovision 2025 song.
Snippets for the first show have been released by VRT this morning. If you’re interested, you can check them out HERE.
There is more information out there about the artists themselves, but we’ll save that for a separate article, to be posted on the day of the Song Presentation Shows.
What are #YOUR first impressions of the Belgian songs? We value your opinions and contributions, so let us know your thoughts in the comments, or join the discussion with our other readers on our Forum or in our Discord!
