BELGIUM 2025

The Belgian act and song was selected on February 1st via the show "Eurosong 2025" with the winner being chosen by an equal televoting and jury mix. Going to Basel is Red Sebastian with the song "Strobe Lights".

Red Sebastian (real name Seppe Herreman) is 25 and was born in Ostend. In 2013 he made it to the final of the 2nd series of Belgium's Got Talent. After high school Herreman studied singing at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Gent, one of his teachers being Gustaph, the 2023 Belgian Eurovision representative. From 2019, the singer assumed the stage name Red Sebastian - inspired by a Little Mermaid character. His first album "You" was released in 2021 from which came his first single release "Embrace Me". In 2024 he participated in Sing Again, a show where singers from past talent shows can try their luck again and reached the final.

Red is stood high up on a platform. As well as his buzz cut red hairdo, he is dressed in a black and red jacket and black trousers. The way the camera angles catch him from the ground utilises the LED screens from above and behind in an interesting way.  The backdrop is very fuzzy and has that analogue crackly video tape feel which also dips between black and red. Around him the lighting is predominantly red and on stage level there are flashes of white light. Red's choreography is minimal but effective; it feels natural but also emphasises the beat of the song. It starts with a short chorus low in Red's register before a verse, pre-chorus and chorus ending at the very top of his range. This repeats again but the verse is only two lines. After this last chorus there is a brief instrumental - before the outro - and four dancers in muted clubbing outfits surround him. Although possibly unusual looking in studio, the 'strobe' effect on camera makes it seem like Red has been transplanted to a busy club.

The song is unashamedly Belgian - a country that has quietly been influencing, producing and creating dance music for decades - and this seems to highlight a relevant part of Flemish culture. The staging stood out a mile during the national final. The angles of Red on the platform accentuated the simple but effective LED screens. My one negative would be that he was singing with his eyes down to the audience below which made it look like he was watching his step or scared of heights. I feel like singing up and out and will make him feel more in command and radiate his confidence. If this staging can be replicated in Basel this point would be even more important - confidence will be transmitted to the televoters and jury members. The song has a good balance between the hard dance bassline, trance-inspired elements, and vocal technique. Red has a strong instrument and I feel that whether you like the song, or Red's vocal, it is very memorable and has a very good shot at doing well in - and out - of the contest.

ARTIST - Red Sebastian

SONG - Strobe Lights

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS -  Billie Bentein, Seppe Herreman, Ameerah A. Roelants, Willem Vanderstichele

BELGIUM 2024

The Belgian song was revealed on February 20th - with the première of the song on the Eurovision Song Contest youtube channel. Way back in August, RTBF revealed that they had internally selected their singer and the chosen song was already in production. The Belgian song for Malmö is "Before the party's over" by Mustii.

Thomas Mustin (aka Mustii) started his acting studies at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Louvain-la-Neuve which led to many roles on French-language television shows as well as performances in French and Belgian theatre and opera. In 2019, he received the Magritte Award for Most Promising Actor for is role in the film "The Royal Exchange". He is almost as well known to many as one of the judges on Drag Race Belgique. In terms of his music career, he signed his first record contract in 2014 and his debut song was called "The golden age". He has plenty of experience performing at concerts and music festivals in francophone countries. Both of Mustii's albums have reached the Belgian top 10. In 2016, he was nominated in 6 categories at the D6bels Music Awards winning Newcomer of the year.

This song in an anthemic pop song with electronic and choral influences. The song starts with a verse and chorus, followed by a slightly shorter verse and full chorus which takes use just before the two minute mark. Here, the song takes a slightly different path and there starts a chant of a line over and over again. Mustii then starts to repeat the name of the song in a different rhythm making the songs into a harmonised call and response. This final part is anthemic but his sense of urgency is anchored by the alternate phrases done by the choir in the background. Mustii's voice shows a lot of texture in the song: at first is it rather delicate but grows into something a lot stronger - almost angry. In addition the background music is rather ambient but the driving drum beat and string section in the final part almost replicates a pulse or a marching beat.

The video has a muted tone, with a sepia quality, as well as smoke and dry ice which harmonises the different staging ideas together. There are a lot of  has many themes and styles of dress; an Elizabethan pearl headdress, partially naked with silver glitter and a stylised press conference. Some of these presentations work better than others and have more impact and clarity. The latter of the list above would be an excellent set up for a staging idea and could be an effective use of the camera angles 'in the round'. Having audience members right around him would also give him licence to work the crowd in a way that is also accessible to the television viewers. It is clear from Mustii's creative background he will have a clear direction and intention about how this is staged and won't be afraid of pushing boundaries. There could be dancers involved or even extra singers so it will be interesting to see how this appears on stage. I guess my initial thought with the song was the fact that it didn't feel terribly memorable at first. However the final minute with the chanting gets under your skin really easily. I hope that the televoters stay with this song because anybody judging this within the first 40 seconds may well be left with the wrong impression and miss the most important message.

ARTIST - Mustii

SONG - Before the party's over

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - C. Clark, A. Damato, P. Dumoulin, B. Leclercq, T. Mustin, N. Sampermans

BELGIUM 2023

The Belgian final "Eurosong 2023" was held on January 14th at Paleis 12 in Brussel and was presented by Peter Van de Veire. In the week leading up to the final, the seven acts performed their 2 potential entries in full then self selected their favourite to perform on the Saturday night final. The winner was chosen by a 50/50 split of televoting and jury ranking. Going to Liverpool is Gustaph singing "Because of You"

Stef Caers - also known under the pseudonyms of Steffen or Gustaph -  is a singer, musician, producer and singing teacher. Back in 2000 he released "Gonna Lose You" which placed number 22 on the Flemish Ultratop chart. He then released a small number of songs - solo and in collaboration-  but with less commercial success. From then on his focus shifted to production and songwriting but also kept up some stage work by playing piano and providing backing vocals for other acts and DJing.  In the mid 2010s he worked with the dance music group Hercules & Love Affair providing some vocals and writing credits on their album "The feast of the broken heart". He also currently teaches pop, rock and jazz courses at schools in his home town of Gent. Gustaph is no stranger to the Eurovision experience. He was a backing singer for both Sennek and Hooverphonic although both times he was off stage.

Gusaph is centre stage dressed in his trademark wide brimmed hat, an extremely frilly pink shirt and a black and pink patterned over jacket. His is backed by 2 singers (who had live mics) dressed in black who weave their way around the stage at different points and add real power to the song. Words from the lyrics are interspersed on the backdrop with shots of dancers in shadow and close ups of the artists. The song begins with a version of the chorus but under a pino backing. but soon this is joined by a '90s club beat and synthesized ear worm. The song follows a verse-pre chorus-chorus formula twice over before a slower bridge and then a final elongated chorus to finish. 

Gustaph's soulful voice suits this retro dance tune very well and performs the whole thing with gusto and confidence. He moves well although I feel his chorography could be a lot more over the top without straying too far away from his gestural moves. His sartorial choices are eye-catching if not a little odd but seemed rather tame compared to some of the other finalists on show. The whole concept could be easily worked on and I think the backdrop in particular is very apt to the sound and feel. The two backing singers add some well needed interaction. I almost feel like they should add more backing singers to the mix to really emphasise that ensemble approach. It also goes against the new notion of backing vocals on tape!

During the final Gustaph scored only 3rd with the juries but clear 2nd with the public vote, However, because of the way the other votes went he ended up winning the final by one point. The pre-final fan faves ended 3rd and 4th. There seemed much consternation at this 'accidental' win but the diversity of the finalist's songs were echoed in the distribution of all the votes. Gustaph had a solid and accessible performance. There is a familiarity to the genre and Gustaph also seems like a very likeable and talented person. One also needs to remember that the juries are now no longer voting in the semifinal. Having a solid audience score will probably be enough to qualify - and I hope it does too.

ARTIST - Gustaph

SONG - Because of you

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Jaouad Alloul, Stef Caers

BELGIUM 2021

The Belgian song was released on March 4th, with its first play on MNM a Belgian radio station, followed by releases on online sites. Hooverphonic, who had been internally selected to represent Belgium last year were confirmed to be the representatives in 2021 just after the cancellation of the 2020 edition. Their new song is called "The Wrong Place"

The video is rather dramatic if not quite scary. We see Geike, the lead singer, out with her lover but then seemingly unhappy and showing contrition for her actions andthe man involved. Suddenly the view of her turns into something like a Miss Havisham character in a rather spooky candlelit house and dressed as a bride. She is later seen waving guns around then next thing his decapitated head is seen singing along with the song.

It starts with a steady beat and doesnt take long for the lyrics to come in. The tune is very repetitive and slightly monotonous which works as a short part of the whole song. Geike's vocals are low, almost spoken, and feels a little bit angry. The bridge leading up to the chorus is much lighter in tone and really helps bring the verses and chorus together. The chorus is also repetitive and monotone but seems a little more upbeat until the last line about the 'Johnny Cash t-shirt'. The title of the song is then repeated a few times before reverting back to the verse. After another slightly different pre-chorus, we end with a final chorus but this time the name of the song is repeated several times before suddenly ending on the Johnny Cash line again.

Hooverphonic have been stalwarts of the Flemish music scene since the mid nineties with songs ranging from trip hop, electronica and indie pop. When they came to Eurovision last year, it was with their new lead singer Luka, however they rubbed a few fans the wrong way when they seemingly refused to take part in any of the "Europe shine a light" programming. Then a few months later, it was revealed that Luka had been re placed as lead singer by previous frontwoman Geike Arnaert which also took many fans by surprise.

Compared with their 2020 song this has a little more character. Although the song has a lot of repetition and maybe lacks the tunefulness of other entries, it is very memorable. The song on paper reminds me of  the mundane lyrics of Brit pop era songs and I also think the tune could easily hark back to that era or even remixed to reflect this. The main sticking point I have with the song is whether it is a song people will actively go and vote for. I don't have that call to arms or sense of  'support me!' that other entries have. Personally I was hoping for something a little bit more individual and upbeat - which they can do. I feel this will be a relatively easy song to perform live and am intrigued to see what ideas they have up their sleeves when it comes to stagecraft.

ARTIST - Hooverphonic
SONG - the Wrong Place
WRITING CREDITS - Alex Callier, Charlotte Foret

17/03/12 BELGIUM

This year is was the Flemish part of Belgium to choose the country's Eurovision entry. The Belgian Final was held on March 17th at Het Omroepcentrum in Brussels, hosted by Peter Van de Veire. Iris sang two songs in a special 5 minute show and the winner was chosen wholly by televoting. The winning song with 53% of the vote was “Would you?”

The song is a contemporary ballad with some interesting chord and flows.  The song fluctuates between being a slow piano based slow ballad or being slightly more bassier and guitar led. She does sometimes emphasis these parts and little bit too much which make the song a little schizophrenic at times. The ending however is quite good and engages the listener and I could imagine this being a good ending visually too. The song has a good story to it, which Iris sells quite well. It does sound a bit like a female “me and my guitar”

Iris has a reasonably good voice and the song does show off the strength of her voice as well as show her squeaky parts of her upper range - some people will like this, others will find it terribly annoying. Her physical performance is a little amateur and it times it feel like she has no awareness of her body. She needs to really choreograph what she is doing down to the tee. I feel she would do well with having some back up around her whether it be extra singers or dancers

I am pleased with this song and with time to perfect those extra performnce skills needed, she could pull this off. Should qualify.

SONG – Would you?

ARTIST – Iris

COMPOSERS - Jean Bosco Safari, Walter Mannaerts, Nina Sampermans

LANGUAGE – English

UPDATE 3

Although most of the songs have been presented, songs are re-written, re-produced and changes made and finalised. Aslo offical video clips are madepublic. Here is around up of some news over the past few days.

HUNGARY – As reported a few days so, the Hungarian song “What about my dreams?” has finally been released with a very professional looking video clip. The song is mostly in English, but the second verse is in the original Hngarian




BELGIUM – Witloof Bay have finally released their video for their entry “With love, baby” The style of the video really suits the song but this type of visual with be almost impossible to recreate on the ESC stage.




SPAIN – Lucia Perez has been very busy over the past 2 weeks making her music video which was filmed during the carnival at Sitges. The song has been slowed very slightly and sounds much more folky than before with more instruments used rather than electronics. I think is needsto be speeded back up again slighty.




IRELAND – the video clip for “Lipstick” has been released. Not sure whether they are at the Eiffel tower or Blackpool tower XD I hope that Jedward are working hard on their choreography for the Semi-final and don’t do their Michael Jackson impressions half way through !




BELARUS – as expected the entry “I am Belarusian” has been replaced due to the fact it had been performed before the EBU opening date. A new song and video imaginatively titled “I love Belarus” has been recorded and filmed over the past few days. The song will be presented on March 14th.

BELGIUM

The Belgian Final was held on February 12th at the Palais des Congrès in Liège. After a very complicated selection process involving money raising, internet voting and a hastily rushed semi final, the winning song was “With Love Baby” sung by the group Witloof Bay.

The performers are actually an acapella vocal group, something only seen once before in Eurovision. You can tell that through groups are obviously very well practised and understand their craft and so in terms of vocal performance it is very good May main criticism I have of their singing ability is that a couple of the singers have quite thick French accents which can feel a little odd. Also at times the singers sing over themselves and it can be hard making out what everybody is saying.

As a positive the band seem to be able to interact with each other, the audience the cameras and be able to walk around the stage with confidence as well as being able to do all of these whilst singing at the same time! The key change is done with style and expertise. What I would suggest is that the band gets a bit of a make over before the contest. I didn’t like the outfits and they certainly didn’t look like a group. Either they need to wear the same thing or they wear very different thing to emphasise the different roles they have in the making of the song.

The main downside is that the song itself is weak whether it is acapella or backing track. More of the beat boxing n the middle would be appreciated. It isn’t singable and there isn’t much of a hook.

Talented? Definitely! Will it get out of the semi? I’m not sure….


SINGER – Witloof Bay
SONG – With Love Baby
MUSIC – RoxorLoops, Benoît Giaux
WORDS - RoxorLoops, Benoît Giaux