Now that we know that the Netherlands will be participating in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Basel (Switzerland) without last season’s representative, Joost Klein, it is now up in the air who will represent this country in 2025.
Big Dutch names
The selection commission of the Dutch public broadcaster, AVROTROS, has mentioned that huge national stars are aiming to represent the Netherlands in the contest of 2025. The selection commission even stated that they are not above actually giving a grand Dutch star a ring for them to participate. Everything goes.
Rumour has it
Some months ago Douwe Bob expressed his interest in representing the Netherlands again, he did it before in 2016 with the song “Slow Down”, ending in 11th place (of 26) in the Grand Final. Also Anouk wants a second aim at the big prize after representing the Dutch in the contest of 2013 with the ballad “Birds”, finishing 9th (of 26) in the Grand Final. Even Ilse Delange is looking to return although she finished 2nd (of 26) in the Grand Final of 2014 as part of the Common Linnets with the song “Calm After the Storm”.
Davina Michelle, a Dutch singer that was part of the interval act in the contest of 2021 in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) might finally represent her country. There are also Dutch party acts that want to be the next representative, like Snollebollekes or Billy Dans. Next to them, Claude, who always sings in both Dutch and French, has expressed his interest in the contest of 2025. So, who knows what the Netherlands comes up with this time around.
Eurovision 2024
Last season’s contest was a rollercoaster for the Netherlands. First, they came up with a happy hardcore music act that was not to the taste of all the Dutch, but it grew on them, and they came to love it. Europe and beyond immediately embraced Joost Klein, his life story, and his song “Europapa”. Then the Netherlands got disqualified to perform during the 2024 Grand Final by claims of assault during the 2024 contest, leading to a disqualification of their representative, although he came in 2nd (of 16) in Semi-Final 2. Eventually these charges were dropped because of lack of evidence, leaving the Netherlands bewildered about how they would continue in the contests to come. They even got permission to think a while longer whether to participate in the contest again, also because they saw the lack of fairness of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). After the Dutch public broadcaster, AVROTROS, heard the plans for a safer environment from the EBU they decided to participate again in 2025, but who will represent them?