Earlier this week, the Dutch broadcaster (AVROTROS) could relieve to the public, that a record number of submissions had been received by the end of the deadline, and now the Dutch broadcaster will have the difficult task to pick the one song, that will make the country proud in Malmö next year.
600+ submission
In the end, the broadcaster revealed that it had received more than 600 songs for contention. Among them, it was even announced that most of the songs sent in were written in English and of course a good handful as well in Dutch. Other languages that could be included in the pot includes French, Spanish, Italian, Turkish and even Arabic.
It is easier said than done, that the Dutch broadcaster is indeed looking for redemption in Malmö when the time comes, after the Dutch had to see themselves missing their first final since 2015 earlier this year. Malmö might also be seen as the symbolic turning point for The Netherlands in the competition, as this was where Anouk managed to change the Dutch view completely, when she in 2013 managed to qualify The Netherlands back into the final after the country had failed to do so between 2005 and until 2012.
We hebben een recordaantal aanmeldingen voor het Eurovisie #Songfestival ontvangen! Meer dan 600 nummers! 🔥https://t.co/GSGsj4nSap
— Songfestival (@songfestival) October 2, 2023
Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen, who is the chairman of the selection committee, had the following to say: (Translated)
- The interest in participating is enormous and diverse. It is nice to see that the Eurovision Song Contest is alive and well in the Netherlands: both young talent and well-known artists have registered. From pop to dance, rock, hip-hop, soul, opera, R&B and reggae; all genres are represented. Because of all these entries and also because of the enthusiastic conversations that have been had with artists, record labels, composers, lyricists and producers in recent months, I have a lot of confidence in finding the right song and artist this year.
Local Dutch news media have even confirmed, that among the submitted bids, we even find a song composed by Douwe Bob, who had the honor of representing The Netherlands back in 2016, where is was also hosted in Sweden, however in the capital Stockholm.
Other than Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen, we do also find Carolien Borgers, Cornald Maas, Hila Noorzai, and Sander Lantinga in the selection committee, they will also be joined by Jaap Reesema and Jacqueline Govaert, who joined the committee earlier this year, ahead of the selection for next year’s selection.
A final decision of the Dutch representative is expected to be taken before the end of the year, with the release of the song as well as music video in early 2024.
In 2023, The Netherlands were represented by Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper, together they performed the duet song “Burning Daylight“. A song that was even co-penned by the most recent Dutch winner, Duncan Laurence. However, as mentioned before, they were unsuccessful at keeping the Dutch streak going, as they became the first Dutch act to not quality to the final since 2015. They scored a total of 7 points in their semi-final, receiving 2 points from Moldova & Sweden, and 1 point from Azerbaijan, Norway & Portugal.
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Source(s): AVROTROS.nl (In Dutch)
