26/02/12 NETHERLANDS

The Dutch Final was held on February 26th at Studio 24 in Hilversum, hosted by Jan Smit. For the first half of the competition, the 6 songs were paired into duels. The 3 winners of each duel then went into the second round where the overall winner was chosen. Voting in both rounds was a mixture of televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%).

The eventual winner was the song “You and me” sung by 21 year old Joan Franka. Joan  wears a white native American Indian headdress (just like the bloke from the Village People) Her four backing singers/dancers are dressed in various Pocahontas inspired beige outfits with fringing and tassels. Joan also plays the acoustic guitar while she is singing. The look fits the song but is a little it dated (if not a bit on the jokey side) . That said it is a very noticeable look and Joan will be visually remembered however a bit of modernisation would not go amiss.

The song is a mid-tempo country song. Jans voice is quite strange and has a touch of the Lena Mayer-Landrut ‘mockney’ accent especially at the end of her words. The song is ok – however the chorus does save it slightly. The chorus is very simple and the main parts are repeated enough times to make in impact. The bridge part where she goes quite high is a little bit painful as she can get a bit too squeaky.

This is nowhere near a winner but could just about squeeze into the final.

SONG  -  You and me

ARTIST – Joan Franka

COMPOSERS – Joan Franka, Jessica Hogeboom

LANGUAGE – English