Netherlands: Duncan Laurence to Eurovision 2019 with "Arcade"
Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence released his song for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019: "Arcade" - a song about a lost love.
Duncan Laurence was revealed back in January as the Dutch entry at Eurovision Song Contest 2019
In the talkshow De Wereld Draait Door, Duncan Laurence presented his song Arcade for the first time for the Dutch audience, and shortly after the official music video of Arcade was released:
Duncan wrote the song while he was studying at rock academy in the Dutch city Tilburg. He wrote the song inspired by the story a loved one who died at a young age. She kept hoping for the love of her life to come back to her.
Laurence: "I decided to call the song 'Arcade' - the words and chords came by themselves, which is why, despite the alternations in the song, it still sounds so organic."
Laurence was bullied a lot at school. For him, music was his remedy. He wrote his first song at the age of twelve. In 2014, he participated in the Voice Of Holland, where he was in the team of former Eurovision contestant Ilse DeLange. She is the one who recommended Laurence to the 2019 selection committee. As Laurence told at De Wereld Draait Door, he was called by DeLange on a sunday morning when he was eating breakfast, if he wanted to go to Eurovision. After that, the selection committee was "blown away" by the song.
The song, written by Laurence, was produced by Joel Sjöö and Wouter Hardy. At Eurovision, Hans Pannecoucke will be the stage director. He did this for the Netherlands in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018.
The Netherlands in Eurovision Song Contest
The Netherlands is historically one of the 10 most successful Eurovision countries. They have participated in Eurovision Song Contest 59 times since their debut in 1956, with four victories:
- 1957: Corry Brokken - "Net Als Toen"
- 1959: Teddy Scholten - "Een Beetje"
- 1969: Lenny Kuhr - "De Troubadour"
- 1975: Teach-In - "Ding-A-Dong"
Since 1975 the best result for Netherlands was in 2014, when The Common Linnets ended second with the song " Calm After The Storm". They ended last in the contest 5 times: 1958, 1962, 1963, 1968 and 2011. Since the introductions of Semi-finals in 2004, they only qualified for the Grand Final 6 out of 15 times.
