singer has to wait a long time but is through to Eurovision final

It was a squeeze for S10, whose entry is the first Dutch-language festival number since 2010. The three presenters – musicians Mika and Laura Pausini and TV presenter Alessandro Cattelan – named the ten countries that are in the final on Saturday in random order. the Netherlands sounded last.

During a not too strong first semi-final, seventeen countries performed. In addition to the Netherlands, Switzerland, Armenia, Iceland, Lithuania, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Moldova, and Ukraine are also in Saturday’s final.

Ukraine is the big favorite, mainly because of its support for the war with Russia – which was excluded from participation. According to the bookmakers Ukraine has a 49 percent chance of winning. Besides Ukraine, host country Italy (15 percent) and the United Kingdom (8 percent) are also in good shape. The Netherlands is ninth (out of 33) on the list of contenders, with 1 percent.

Robert van Gijssel, music critic of de Volkskrant, says he held his breath during S10’s performance. ‘In The depth there are so many quiet moments, in which you as an artist are really stark naked on stage. No dance group or nose whistlers to hide behind.’

Halfway through, Van Gijssel thought she wouldn’t make it through. ‘And in the end it seemed like she was really stifling vocally. But she did recover and in the end I thought it worked well, also fitting with the content of that song of course, which is a kind of goodbye to the misery she experienced.’

In an earlier interview with de Volkskrant S10 said she was saying goodbye to ‘little Stien, the frightened Stien from the past’. As a girl growing up in the North Holland village of Abbekerk, she was plagued by fears and developed a psychosis. She was admitted and ended up in solitary confinement.

It seemed as if she was experiencing that farewell on the spot, says Van Gijssel. “It made her voice grow a little thick, a lump in her throat, it seemed. But it seemed very sincere to me.’

The subject matter of some of the other entries was noticeably lighter. †Instead of meat I eat veggies and pussy. I like them both fresh, I like them both juicy‘ the Latvians wanted to sing. That text was cleaned after intervention by the organisation. Who the Norwegian entry consists of is a mystery. The performers from that country wear yellow wolf masks throughout their participation. The Norwegians are through, the Latvians are not. Albania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark and Austria have also been eliminated.

For the first time since 2019 it was allowed to be full again at the Eurovision Song Contest – although visitors had to wear a mouth cap. In 2020, the party in Rotterdam was canceled due to corona. It went ahead in 2021, although Ahoy had to remain partially empty.

Due to the victory of the glam rockers of Maneskin in Rotterdam, the event is now in Turin, Italy, in Pala Alpitour. Ice hockey games were played there during the 2006 Winter Games.

The presenters are Laura Pausini, Mika and Alessandro Cattelan. Laura Pausini became popular in the Netherlands in the early nineties with her power ballad La Solitudinelater adapted by Paul de Leeuw to I don’t want you to lie† Mika (real name: Michael Holbrook Penniman), not an Italian but a Lebanese Briton, scored hit after hit about fifteen years ago, such as Relax (Take It Easy)† big girl (you are beautiful) and Grace Kelly† Cattelan presented the Italian The X Factor†

Thursday is the second semifinal. Then too, seventeen countries will perform, ten of which will continue. England, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, because their public broadcasters contribute significantly, belong to the big five and are already assured of a place in the final next Saturday.