With the Eurovision Song Contest just weeks away, my latest blog is of the Benelux nations. All three have quite the history at Eurovision and all three have at least one legendary Eurovision winner. Do they have what it takes to place high this year, if not win? Let’s see:
BELGIUM
SONG: “Strobe Lights”
PERFORMER: Red Sebastian
Usually Belgium has a habit of handpicking their entries for Eurovision. This year, VRT decided to hold a national final for its entry: Eurosong 2025. The show consisted of two Showcase shows where the eight finalists would do a cover of a past Eurovision song and a Final on February 1 where they sing their Eurovision entry song and the winner would be decided by a fifteen-member jury and televote. At the end, the winner was decided on Red Sebastian with his song “Strobe Lights” after it got the most jury points and almost half the televoting points! A decisive winner there! Red Sebastian hails from Oostende and his real name is Seppe Guido Yvonne Herreman. He adopted his name from Sebastian The Crab from Disney’s animated The Little Mermaid. He participated on Belgium’s Got Talent at the age of 14 and he recorded his first album in 2021.
Sebastian co-wrote the song with three other Belgian songwriters. The song starts out slow, but you can tell by the dance pulse that it will pick up the dance vibe soon, It does kick in soon and gets in full force at the end of the first chorus. Once the song gets its technodance vibe, its energy is relentless and continues its relentless energy until the end. I’m sensing this year there are a lot of songs that will remind one of 90’s Eurodance. This song definitely has that feel. Sebastian’s vocals are something else as he is a counter-tenor capable of doing soprano. He knows how to deliver as he was dead on in the national final.
ESC Chances: This decade, Belgium has had mixed success. The first three Contests of the 2020’s Belgium qualified for every Grand Final and even achieved one Top 10 finish. Last Eurovision, Belgium had a song that was highly touted for a Top 10 finish, but bad staging and off vocals in the semifinal cost the song qualification. Already the song is Top 10 in the betting odds. It has what it takes for a Top 10 finish. What it will need is improvements in its staging. The crane was a good idea. It’s the dancing in the last minute that I felt was off. If they improve the dancing and dancers for staging, it can guarantee a Top 10 finish. Let’s hope it does because Sebastian’s semifinal performance will be on his 26th birthday!
LUXEMBOURG
SONG: “La poupée monte le son”
PERFORMER: Laura Thorn
For the second straight year in its long-awaited comeback, Luxembourg’s RTL held the Luxembourg Song Contest to decide their entry for this year’s Eurovision. Auditions were held in early-November with an international jury of former Eurovision contestants deciding the seven qualifiers. Songs for the contestants were revealed in December and the Contest was held January 25. The song’s results were decided by a 50/50 mix of an international jury and televoting. Five of the eight members of the international jury were past Eurovision entries. In the end, the winner was the song that almost dominated the jury points and came second in televoting. The winning song decided is “La poupee monte le son” by Laura Thorn. Thorn is not only a singer and music teacher, but is also skilled in piano, cello, chamber music and dance.
The song first appears to be a homage to Luxembourg’s 1965 winner “Poupee de cire, poupee de son” by the late France Gall, but it’s actually a sequel song. The 1965 song’s lyrics are about a singer manipulated to win a man’s warmth, but hopes in the end she won’t fear a man’s warmth. This song’s lyrics are about the singer being her own doll who will control her own movements and doesn’t need male approval.
The song has some of the vibe of the 1965 song but it has its own vibe. The song has a mix of modern dance mixed with a sound common in a lot of French pop. Laura’s vocals may sound cutesy during most of the song but she really shows how good she can sing in the final chorus. The choreography in the national final is meant to fit the theme of the song as Laura goes from a controlled and manipulated doll to a woman who controls herself from the last verse onward. I find it to be an impressive song.
ESC Chances: Last year, Luxembourg was given a good “Welcome Back” with a thirteenth-place finish. It showed they know how to work Eurovision even after a 31 year absence. I can see this song having a lot of appeal, but I can also see a lot of people dismissing this song as ‘cutesy.’ I can see the song appealing to Eurofans who like classic Eurovision, but I think more modern-day Eurofans may not get it or turn up their nose to it. Qualifying for the Grand Final also depends on the performances of Laura’s rivals in the semifinal. By the looks of things, I see this having a 50/50 chance of qualifying. The choreography may need a bit of fixing, but it still has decent chances.
NETHERLANDS
SONG: “C’est la vie”
PERFORMER: Claude
The participation of the Netherlands in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest was a big ‘if.’ Especially with what happened last year. Many people are still divided whether Joost Klein deserved to be disqualified or not from the Grand Final. Especially since after the 2024 Grand Final, it was revealed how members of the Israeli media harassed performers who supported the Palestinian side of the Israel-Gaza conflict. Since the incident, Joost returned to performing and recording music and openly expressed an interest of returning to Eurovision in 2025. He even wrote a song in hopes of returning. In the fall, AVROTROS announced Joost was welcome to return to represent the Netherlands for 2025, but Joost declined in the end for the sake of his mental stability. I was hoping Joost would be back as I feel the EBU owes him.
With Joost declining, AVROTROS opened the door for submissions for their internal selection of the representative and song. 331 artists submitted their entries including past Netherlands entries like Gerald Joling, Anouk and Douwe Bob. In December, the representative was decided to be the 21 year-old Claude Kiambe who’s known professionally as Claude. In February 2025, his song was revealed to be “C’est La Vie.” Claude was born in the DR of the Congo and came to the Netherlands at the age of nine. As a singer, he has been active since 2017 and first came to light in 2019 when he participated in The Voice Kids Netherlands. He has recorded music since 2021 that have mostly been French-language songs and in the Netherlands, he has already amassed a #1 hit and two more Top 10 hits.
The song is a mix of French and English lyrics and also a mesh of genres going often going from a ballad format to a dance vibe. The song, which Claude co-wrote with three other writers, is a song of the advice his mother gave that life will always have its ups and downs and he takes it to heart. He lets us know no matter what hardships, he will keep his song alive as long as he’s alive. While most songs in dance music genres seem to aiming for a style of a relentless dance vibe, this song keeps the dance vibe light and smooth. Instead of the light and smooth dance vibe being boring, the vibe is appealing and fits the song well. Claude’s vocals are also great as he delivers a soulful sound without having to be too showy in his abilities. In fact he does a great job of singing the low notes at the beginning of the song and alternating to the higher notes. He lets his singing speak for himself.
ESC Chances: In the 2020’s, the Netherlands has had some mixed results. It’s not as bad as the record eight straight years of failing to qualify for the Grand Final but its best finish this decade has been eleventh in 2022. Many are saying Joost would have given them their first Top 10 finish of the 2020’s. We’ll never know, will we? Already this song shows Top 10 potential as it now sits Top 5 in the betting odds. I can see many people liking a song like this because of the song’s message, Claude’s singing and the less-is-more approach. One thing is staging has not been decided and I have seen a Dutch entry or two fall apart in the past because of bad staging decisions. Also Claude’s vocals are one of the strongest qualities of the song. He will need to be dead on in the semifinal and the final not only to qualify but get an excellent result.
And there you have it. Those are my reviews of this year’s Eurovision entries of the Benelux nations. All three songs give a lot to like and all three have the potential for good finishes. Everything will be decided in Basel.
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