Earlier this week brand-new Dutch selection commission member, Jacqueline Govaert, had a TV interview in which she stated that she has a good feeling about who is going to be the next Dutch representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö (Sweden).
Last October another Dutch selection committee member, Cornald Maas, stated that the artist and possible announcement about the next Dutch representative can be expected as soon as “in December”. So, the buzz in the Netherlands is huge.
Jacqueline Govaert said…
Jacqueline Govaert, lead singer of popular Dutch band Krezip and new addition to the Eurovision selection committee of the Dutch national broadcaster AVROTROS, has said that she has heard some of the songs that were submitted. These songs sound like a lot of fun, and she has a good feeling about the range of acts that are in the running to become the next Dutch Eurovision representative. Jacqueline is very excited. It is her first time on a selection committee in any type of shape or form, but she feels strongly about the level of professionalism within the selection team.
The Dutch selection process
After last edition’s not so flawless performances of Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper, and their song “Burning Daylight”, a new addition to the selection process is that all internally chosen acts perform live in front of the Dutch selection committee, since a live performance can be very different from a recorded version of a song. AVROTROS wants to avoid the debacle of last year’s Dutch entry, in which former Dutch Eurovision 2019 winner, Duncan Laurence, seemed to have had the upper hand.
Next to this, there seems to be more cohesion and regards to the different professions of the members in the Dutch internal jury, for example Dutch commentator and Eurovision expert, Cornald Maas, knows more about what the Eurovision audience wants to see, whereas singer Jacqueline Govaert knows more about music arrangements and the way to sing them.
Eurovision 2023
In the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 the Netherlands was represented by Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper with the song “Burning Daylight”. Due to lackluster performances during the pre-parties the duo suffered from a backlog when they performed in Semi-final 1, ending in 13th place (of 15), thus not making it into the Grand Final. It was the first time since 2015 that the Netherlands stranded in the Semi-finals of the contest.