Eén puts Eurovision selection in the hands of fans
Flemish public TV broadcaster opts for reality talent show format and gives viewers at home final say over who’s going to Eurovision next year
Artists cannot pick or write their own songs
Every year, Flemish public station Eén and the Walloon TV channel RTBF take turns selecting a candidate to represent Belgium at Eurovision. This year, Eén has decided to shake things up.
In February, the channel will premiere the brand-new Eurosong 2014, the Flemish Eurovision preselections show. Over seven Sunday evenings, four experts with solid music biz credentials will look for the best candidates and songs. But much like in reality talent shows like The Voice van Vlaanderen and Belgium’s Got Talent, viewers at home will get the final say.
The identities of three of the four judges have already been revealed. Piet Goddaer – aka Ozark Henry – is probably the best-known Flemish artist on the panel. A composer and musician, his “I’m Your Sacrifice”, which he wrote with Flemish singer-songwriter Amaryllis Uitterlinden, was a huge summer hit this year.
Also known by his stage names Basto and Lazy Jay, Jef Martens, another judge on the panel, scored a global number-one hit with “Scream & Shout”, a track he co-wrote and co-produced for Will.i.am and Britney Spears. Both jury members have been nominated for Best Belgian Act at this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards, set to air just after Flanders Today goes to press.
The third Eurosong 2014 judge is former Eurovision Song winner Ruslana, who represented Ukraine in 2004 with the song “Wild dances”.
More than just talent
Goddaer is looking forward to helping Belgium choose the perfect candidate. “You can interpret a song in many ways, but the magic of a beautiful voice plus a great song doesn’t come along that often,” he says.
People overestimate talent. Work ethic, perseverance and discipline are equally important
Martens, for his part, doesn’t think that just talent will be enough for a ticket to Copenhagen. “I think people overestimate talent,” he says. “Work ethic, perseverance and discipline are equally important.”
2 Fabiola, a Flemish dance band popular in the 1990s, and Flemish boy band and teenage-favourite 3M8S (pronounced “3 mates”), have already announced they’ll participate in the preselections.
In 2010 and 2012, Eén sent singer-songwriter Tom Dice and teenage singer Iris to the Eurovision finals respectively. Dice impressed his fellow Belgians by coming in sixth with his easy-going guitar solo “Me and My Guitar”. In 2011, RTBF judges and viewers selected Witloof Bay as the Belgian entry to Eurovision. This year, RTBF sent Roberto Bellarosa from Liège to the contest finals in Sweden.
Two castings next February will see the artists competing before the jury for one of eight tickets to go on to the semi-finals. During the casting, the candidates will be asked to perform a song of their own choosing performed in the contest’s 58-year history. For the candidates who don’t make it, there will be one last chance to win over judges and viewers in the “The Call Back”. In this third show of the programme, which will be broadcast live, the remaining contestants will compete for the four last tickets to the semi-finals.
Advisory role
In each of the three semi-finals, four artists will present their songs to viewers. In the meantime, the candidates will work to perfect their entries, which Goddaer and the other experts will choose. In the semi-finals, the experts and viewers decide who makes it to the Grand Final on 16 March.
On that day, two acts from each semi-final (six in total) will compete for the chance to represent Belgium in Denmark. The artists will perform their songs with the full works, as they would at the later real Eurovision Song Contest on 10 May. This time, the experts only get an advisory role. Together with a European jury, Eén viewers are the ones who’ll decide which artist goes to Copenhagen.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 marks the 59th edition of the music festival. Two semi-finals will be organised in May. Which of the two semi-finals Belgium will participate in hasn’t yet been announced.
