Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

Belgium participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, with Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT) having selected the 52nd Belgian entry for Eurovision. Tom Dice was selected by VRT to represent Belgium at the Contest, held in Oslo, Norway in May 2010, performed the song "Me and My Guitar", written by Dice, Jeroen Swinnen and Ashley Hickin.[1] It ended 1st in the Semi-final 1, and brought Belgium's first ever qualification since the introduction of semi-finals. The song placed 6th in the grand final, marking the first top 10 result for Belgium in the 2000s, and also become the most successful entry brought by VRT since the introduction of semi-finals.

Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Country Belgium
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 25 November 2009
Song: 7 March 2010
Selected entrantTom Dice
Selected song"Me and My Guitar"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (1st, 167 points)
Final result6th, 143 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2009 • 2010 • 2011►

Background
Main article: Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest

Belgium debuted at the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 and since has participated a total of fifty-one times. The country was only absent three times in its history: 1994, 1997, and 2001, when low scores in the previous year's contest prevented re-entry. Belgium won the contest once, in 1986 in Bergen, Norway with the song "J'aime la vie" sung by Sandra Kim. The country achieved second place in 1978 and 2003, however has finished in last place a total of eight times. Since 2005 Belgium has failed to appear in any final of the Contest.[2]

Belgium is represented by two broadcasters at the contest (Radio télévision belge de la communauté française (RTBF) and Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT)), each taking turns sending entries to the contest; RTBF is French-speaking, while VRT is Dutch-speaking (Flemish). All entries prior to 1999 except for 1977, where sung in either French or Dutch, but Belgium has never sent a representative singing in German, its third official language. While VRT usually organizes a long-lasting national final, RTBF has a history of internal selections with varying levels of success, from a second place for Urban Trad in 2003 to a bottom 5 place in the semi-final for The KMG's in 2007.

VRT announced immediately after the 2009 Contest that it would be taking part at Eurovision 2010, in Oslo, Norway. The 2010 Belgian entry was organised by the Flemish broadcaster VRT. While in previous years VRT has held a national final to select the Belgian entries – Eurosong – VRT decided to use a new format for the 2010 Contest, despite huge interest in Flanders for Eurosong, after years of bad placings.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

After the 2009 contest, VRT stated that they would consider new possibilities related to an adjustment of the format of Eurosong.[3] In August 2009, with no announcement having been made by VRT concerning Eurosong '10, the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws reported that VRT might choose to hold a partially internal selection for 2010, with two possible options: the broadcaster would either internally select one artist to represent Belgium in Oslo, with a series of televised shows being held to select the song by a public vote; or one song would be chosen by VRT and a number of artists would take part in a televised final, with a public vote selecting the entrant.[4] A number of artists were rumoured to be candidates for Eurosong '10, including Eurosong '04 runner-up Natalia, Milk Inc. and Eurovision 2003 runner-up for Belgium Urban Trad.[5] On 17 September 2009, VRT revealed that Eurosong in its previous format would not be held in 2010. Instead, several representatives in the Flemish music industry were contacted to find new selection formats, with seven criteria being listed by VRT for the Belgian entry at the 2010 contest.[6][7][8]

On 25 November 2009, VRT announced that Tom Dice, runner-up of the Belgian X Factor 2008, would be representing Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.[9][10] It was also announced that Dice would compose a number of candidate songs on his own or in collaboration with other songwriters. On 7 March 2010, his entry "Me and My Guitar" was presented during the hour-long show Eurosong 2010: een song voor Tom Dice!. Dice also performed a number of other songs during the show, including covers of Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love", Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody", and Madonna's "Like a Virgin". A number of guests, including Marcel Vanthilt, Siska Schoeters, André Vermeulen, Peter Van de Veire and Sergio who represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002, gave suggestions and tips to Dice for his performance at the 2010 contest.[11][12][13]

Eurosong 2010: een song voor Tom Dice! received high viewing figures on één, with more than 35% of the market share watching the presentation of "Me and My Guitar", with a drop in viewing figures from previous years due to a change in the format of the show.[14]

Chart performance

The week after the song presentation, "Me and My Guitar" charted in the official Belgian charts in both Flanders and Wallonia, Ultratop. In the Flemish charts, the song entered at number 2, beaten only by Natalia & Gabriel Ríos' cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", in aid for relief after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In the Walloon charts "Me and My Guitar" entered at number 24.[15] "Me and My Guitar" also entered into the Dutch Top 100 at number 85.[16]

The following week, "Me and My Guitar" went to number one in Flanders and number 18 in Wallonia.[17]

Promotion

Tom Dice filmed an official music video for "Me and My Guitar" in the United States, which was released in April 2010.[18][19]

Tom Dice promoted his entry for Eurovision in Europe, attending and performing at the Eurovision in Concert preview event in Zaanstad, the Netherlands on 24 April, alongside acts from 17 other countries in Eurovision.[20]

Belgium was also the host of a Eurovision party, held in Antwerp on 30 April, with entries from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Ireland, Malta and Serbia joining Tom Dice in the line-up. Almost all the participants also appeared on regional TV channel TV Limburg.[21][22]

At Eurovision

Belgium competed in the first semi-final of the contest on 25 May, and performed 10th on stage, after Poland's Marcin Mroziński and before Malta's Thea Garrett. It ended 1st.

Belgium then competed in the final of the contest on 29 May, performing 7th on stage, after Bosnia and Herzegovina and before Serbia. It ended 6th.

Split results
  • In the Semi-final 1 Belgium came 1st with 167 points: the public awarded Belgium 3rd place with 146 points and the jury awarded 1st place with 165 points.
  • In the Final Belgium came 6th with 143 points: the public awarded Belgium 14th place with 76 points and the jury awarded 2nd place with 185 points.

Points awarded by Belgium[23]
Points awarded to Belgium (Semi-final 1)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Points awarded to Belgium (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
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See also

References
  1. Schacht, Andreas (25 November 2009). "Tom Dice for Belgium to Oslo!". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  2. "History by Country: Belgium". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  3. Van Bedts, Raf (13 May 2009). "Eén: 'Eurosong 2010 is momenteel niet onze prioriteit" (in Dutch). Eurosong.be. Archived from the original on 27 May 2009. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
  4. Siim, Jarmo (11 August 2009). "Belgium going for internal selection?". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
  5. Hondal, Victor (11 August 2009). "Belgium: VRT to go for partially internal selection?". ESCToday. Retrieved 11 August 2009.
  6. Viniker, Barry (17 September 2009). "No Eurosong for Belgium". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  7. Siim, Jarmo (17 September 2009). "Changes to be made in Belgian selection". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  8. Klier, Marcus (17 September 2009). "Belgium: Seven criteria for Oslo entry". ESCToday. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
  9. Hondal, Victor (25 November 2009). "Tom Dice to represent Belgium in Oslo". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 28 November 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  10. "Tom Dice gaat naar het Eurovisiesongfestival" (in Dutch). VRT. 25 November 2009. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 25 November 2009.
  11. Dahlander, Gustav (7 March 2010). "Tom Dice will sing Me and My Guitar for Belgium". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  12. Grillhofer, Florian (7 March 2010). "Live: Tom Dice presents his song for the Eurovision Song Contest". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  13. Grillhofer, Florian (7 March 2010). "Tom Dice to sing Me and my guitar at Eurovision". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
  14. "High TV ratings for Tom Dice's song presentation". Oikotimes. 8 March 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
  15. Montebello, Edward (19 March 2010). "Tom Dice number 2 in Flanders". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
  16. dutchcharts.nl – Tom Dice – Me and My Guitar Archived 9 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  17. Dufaut, Dominique (1 April 2010). "Tom Dice charts in Belgium". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  18. Jiandani, Sanjay (20 April 2010). "Belgium: Tom Dice releases official video". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 22 April 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  19. Siim, Jarmo (21 April 2010). "New videos for Belgium and Greece". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 24 April 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  20. Romkes, Rene (28 March 2010). "Netherlands: Eurovision in Concert 2010". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  21. Montebello, Edward (2 May 2010). "Seven countries star in Belgium". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  22. Siim, Jarmo (9 April 2010). "Big Eurovision party organised on 24 April". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  23. Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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