Ten more countries will qualify for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest tonight. Last Tuesday, fifteen countries competed for a place in the final. Sixteen countries will take part on Thursday evening.
One of the entries that will grab attention will be the song Bridges with which Estonia traveled to Liverpool. The song was co-written by the Dutch Wouter Hardy. Four years ago, Hardy was responsible for the song together with Duncan Laurence Arcade . The Netherlands won with that. Two years ago, Hardy made another attempt for Switzerland and for the Alpine country he took third place. Now he is trying to collect points for Estonia with a cinematic theme. For this he approached 20-year-old Alika Moliva, a singer with a flawless voice. They wrote together Bridges , in Hardy’s studio in Den Bosch. “From the moment I talked to Alika about her wishes and I sat down at the piano, it was done within an hour,” says Hardy. Fingers crossed for Hardy and Moliva that they reach the final with their composition. If we are to believe the bookmakers, it’s all about tension.
Southern neighbors
The bookmakers are more positive about Belgium. Our southern neighbors are currently in eighth place there. The country sends 42-year-old singer Gustaph with a kind of 90s disco song. Twice before he participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. But he was never on stage. “In 2018 I had to stand under the stage during the performance of Belgium.”
Vocal coach
In 2021, Gustaph was allowed to join the biggest music show in the world again. “I was the vocal coach of Geike Arnaert, the singer of the Belgian pop group Hooverphonic, who took office for our country in Rotterdam. The act was already worked out. There was no room for me on stage. In Rotterdam I was put behind ugly black curtains, there was zero atmosphere there, a crazy experience. But even though I was in a corner of shame behind curtains, you still get the atmosphere in the room. At the Eurovision Song Contest, the audience in the hall sings along with all entries word for word. From beginning to end. That is very special.”
Hymn
Because of you was written one late afternoon in his studio in Antwerp. “It had to be a hymn or hymn about self-acceptance. I myself came out of the closet when I was fourteen. In a few hours it was finished. We wrote it almost automatically. It’s about celebrating who you are and should be an instant party of 3 minutes long.”
Much attention will continue to be paid to Poland’s entry on Thursday evening. The national preliminary round was won by a female singer who was not very stable in tone, who attracted attention with a subtropical song, a trifle that no one really seems to like, but that does get stuck in your head. The public in Poland was ashamed of the result of the national final, which they thought was far too much like favoritism, because even the choreographer and an aunt of singer Blanka were on the jury, who suddenly also counted more heavily in the final result . Behind the scenes, it was rumored that Blanka’s immensely wealthy father would have bought the influence from the Polish broadcaster.
Austria seems to be the undisputed winner of this semi-final. The country comes with two singers who are possessed by the spirit of the American author Edgart Allen Poe, who lived 200 years ago. Who the hell is Edgar is an idiosyncratic song that has led to more attention and extra shelf space for the American’s work at bookstores in Liverpool.
NPO 1, 9 p.m