Introduction

• Participant(s): Duncan Laurence                          
• Song: "Arcade"
  
• Writer(s): Duncan Laurence, Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy
• Composer(s): Duncan Laurence, Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy
• Broadcaster: AVROTROS
• Social media:        
  
• Team review: 

Since a couple of years, The Netherlands directly nominate a singer for the Eurovision Song Contest, so no national final is needed anymore. It seems that they have a very good hand in choosing an appropriate entrant. The qualification for the Grand Final could be realized quite often compared to previous years.

This year the choice felt to Duncan Laurence, a 19-years-old singer, who is born in Spijkenisse, close to Rotterdam. As he said about himself that he grew up in a place, where music was a stranger and had no place in the regular school system. That’s why he was longing to fulfil his wish to become a singer. To get rid of being bullied by his classmates he fled into his own world of music and sound. He played the piano every day wrote his own songs and lyrics, founded his first band “The Slick and Suited” at an early age. In 2017 he attend the Rock Academy where he could gain valuable experiences in London and Stockholm. Now he teaches singing song writing.

His biggest success was his participation in the 5th edition of “The Voice of Holland”, where he reached the Semi Finals in the team from the former ESC participant Ilse de Lange (The Common Linnets).

Duncan now represents The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. His song “Arcade” is a very emotional piece of artwork, inspired by the story of someone he loved deeply, who died at a young age. In the artistic video clip where Duncan is being shown under water it emphasizes the meaning of the song, longing for love for someone who is out of reach and feeling helpless and surrendered. The song has a beautiful melody and a simplicity – a stroke of genius.

This Dutch entry is already handled as one of the big favourites this year by the bookmakers and will definitely shape up very well. Congratulations!

History

• Debut: 1956
• Participations: 61
• Victories: 4
• Finals: 51
• Top 10: 26
• Chances for Top 10 placing: 43%
• Chances for Final: 38% (since 2004)

The last victory for the Netherlands is more than 40 years ago in 1975 with “Ding-A-Dong” by Teach-In. Nevertheless, the Netherlands do still belong to one of the most successful ESC countries, with four victories mainly in the early decades of the ESC: “Net Als Toen” by Corry Brokken in 1957, “Een Beetje” by Teddy Scholten in 1959, “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr in 1969, “Ding-A-Dong” by Teach-In in 1975. Since the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 the Netherlands participate on a more or less regular basis. Last year The Netherlands celebrated it’s the 60th anniversary, so this year it will the 61st entry! There have been certain years when the Dutch broadcaster NOS decided to withdraw and the private channel AVROTROS took over.

Over the years there were 26 Top10 places for the Netherlands that means that the chances to get a Top10 place in the Grand Final are approximately 43%, which is a relatively good chance compared to other countries. Since the introduction of the Semi Finals, the Netherlands struggled to qualify for the Grand Finals. In the past thirteen years there were only six qualifications. Thanks to Anouk in 2013, the interest in the ESC has increased a lot in the Netherlands. She brought back the enthusiasm for the Eurovision Song Contest and made a respectable 9th place in the Grand Final in Malmö. One year later The Common Linnets were able to top that and reached the phenomenal 2nd place with only 52 points gap behind Conchita Wurst from Austria, the Netherlands were very close to victory. Since then The Common Linnets started an international career and their songs are being played in all radio stations. After that The Netherlands could qualify twice again with O’G3NE and Waylon, who made an 11th and 18th place. Well, done!

Biggest successes

4x 1st place

• Corry Brokken | "Net Als Toen" (1957)
• Teddy Scholten | "Een Beetje" (1959)
• Lenny Kuhr | "De Troubadour" (1969)
• Teach-In | "Ding-A-Dong" (1975)

3x 2nd place

• Jetty Paerl | "De Vogels Van Holland" (1956)
• Corry Brokken | "Voorgoed Voorbij" (1956)
• The Common Linnets | "Calm After The Storm" (2014)

1x 3rd place

• Mouth and MacNeal | "I See A Star" (1974)

Video Nostalgia

• “Blijf Zoals Je Bent” | Justine Pelmelay , Rank 15, 1989, Lausanne
  
• “My Impossible Dream“ | Glennis Grace , Rank 14 (Semi Final), 2005, Kiev
  
• “Birds“ | Anouk , Rank 9, 2013, Malmö