Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Lights and Shadows" written by Rory de Kievit and Rick Vol. The song is performed by the Dutch three-piece girl group O'G3NE, who were internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS to represent the Netherlands at the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine. O'G3NE's appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 29 October 2016, while the song, "Lights and Shadows", was presented to the public on 3 March 2017.

Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country	Netherlands
National selection
Selection process	Internal Selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: 29 October 2016 Song: 3 March 2017
Selected entrant	O'G3NE
Selected song	"Lights and Shadows"
Selected songwriter(s)	Rory de Kievit Rick Vol
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (4th, 200 points)
Final result	11th, 150 points
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

Background

Main article: Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2017 contest, the Netherlands had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-seven times since their début as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest in 1956.[1] Since then, the country has won the contest four times: in 1957 with the song "Net als toen" performed by Corry Brokken;[2] in 1959 with the song "'n Beetje" performed by Teddy Scholten;[3] in 1969 as one of four countries to tie for first place with "De troubadour" performed by Lenny Kuhr;[4] and finally in 1975 with "Ding-a-Dong" performed by the group Teach-In.[5] Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, the Netherlands had featured in four finals. The Dutch least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on five occasions, most recently in the second semi-final of the 2011 contest.[6] The Netherlands has also received nul points on two occasions; in 1962 and 1963.[7]

The Dutch national broadcaster, AVROTROS, broadcasts the event within the Netherlands and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Netherlands has used various methods to select the Dutch entry in the past, such as the Nationaal Songfestival, a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. However, internal selections have also been held on occasion. Since 2013, the broadcaster has internally selected the Dutch entry for the contest. In 2013, the internal selection of Anouk performing "Birds" managed to take the country to the final for the first time in eight years and placed ninth overall. In 2014, the internal selection of The Common Linnets performing the song "Calm After the Storm" qualified the nation to the final once again and placed second, making it the most successful Dutch result in the contest since their victory in 1975. For 2017, the broadcaster opted to continue selecting the Dutch entry through an internal selection.[8]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

After months of rumours, AVROTROS announced that girl group O'G3NE would represent the Netherlands at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 29 October 2016. They previously represented the country on home soil at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007, finishing 11th out of 17 entries.[9] In January, it was confirmed that there were three songs in the running to represent the Netherlands, and that one of them was written by Rick Vol, the father of the three members of O'G3NE.[10] It was confirmed that Vol's song had been selected on 2 February.[11] The song title was revealed to be "Lights and Shadows" on 2 March, while the song was released the following day.[12][13]

Promotion

In the lead up to the Eurovision Song Contest, O'G3NE's promotional activities occurred entirely within the Netherlands where they performed at live events, radio shows and talk shows. On 8 April, O'G3NE performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[14]

At Eurovision

O'G3NE

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[15] On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. The Netherlands was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 11 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[16]

Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Originally, the Netherlands was set to perform in position 7, following the entry from Romania and before the entry from Hungary.[17] However, following Russia's withdrawal from the contest on 13 April and subsequent removal from the running order of the second semi-final, the performing position for the Netherlands shifted to 6.[18]

Semi-final

O'G3NE took part in technical rehearsals on 2 April and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 10 and 11 May.[19] This included the jury show on 10 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[20]

At the end of the show, the Netherlands was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.[21] It was later revealed that Netherlands placed fourth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 200 points: 51 points from the televoting and 149 points from the juries.

Points awarded to the Netherlands

Points awarded to the Netherlands (Semi-final 2)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
			Denmark	Hungary
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Germany  Ireland	Austria  Israel   Switzerland	Malta  Norway  San Marino	Estonia  Croatia  Macedonia	Bulgaria
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Croatia  Romania  San Marino	Denmark  Hungary	Austria  Belarus  Bulgaria  Germany  Norway  Serbia   Switzerland		Estonia  Macedonia  Malta  Ukraine
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
France  Lithuania		Ireland

Final

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the reverse order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. The Netherlands were drawn to compete in the first half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. The Netherlands was subsequently placed to perform in position 6, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from Moldova.[22]

Points awarded to the Netherlands (final)
Televote
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
	Belgium
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
			Spain	Croatia  Denmark  Germany
Jury
12 points	10 points	8 points	7 points	6 points
Austria  Romania	Bulgaria	Croatia  Czech Republic  Hungary  Poland	Germany  San Marino   Switzerland
5 points	4 points	3 points	2 points	1 point
Belarus  Denmark	Australia  Estonia  France  Ireland  Norway  United Kingdom	Portugal  Sweden  Ukraine	Lithuania	Georgia  Slovenia  Spain

Points awarded by Netherlands

Semi-final 2 Score Televote Jury 12 points  Bulgaria  Bulgaria 10 points  Hungary  Denmark 8 points  Romania  Austria 7 points  Israel  Norway 6 points  Austria  Serbia 5 points  Norway  Israel 4 points  Croatia   Switzerland 3 points  Belarus  Malta 2 points  Ireland  Croatia 1 point  Denmark  Romania

Final Score Televote Jury 12 points  Portugal  Portugal 10 points  Belgium  Bulgaria 8 points  Bulgaria  Denmark 7 points  Romania  Norway 6 points  Hungary  Sweden 5 points  Moldova  United Kingdom 4 points  Sweden  Australia 3 points  Croatia  Austria 2 points  Italy  Belgium 1 point  Poland  Romania

Jury members

The following five members comprised the Dutch jury:[23]

• Marjolein Dekkers – Chairperson – Editor in Chief MAX Broadcasting, radio host
• John Ewbank – songwriter, producer
• Gordon Groothedde – producer, composer
• Erica Groeneveld – singer, songwriter
• Matthijs van Duijvenbode – singer, producer, songwriter, musician

Split voting results from the Netherlands (Semi-final 2)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		J. Ewbank	G. Groothedde	M. Dekkers	E. Groeneveld	M. van Duijvenbode	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Serbia	5	3	5	4	5	5	6	14
02	Austria	4	4	7	3	2	3	8	5	6
03	Macedonia	9	15	9	17	6	11		11
04	Malta	8	5	14	10	12	8	3	16
05	Romania	10	13	11	12	9	10	1	3	8
06	Netherlands
07	Hungary	12	14	17	13	14	16		2	10
08	Denmark	2	2	3	1	4	2	10	10	1
09	Ireland	15	16	12	11	13	15		9	2
10	San Marino	17	17	13	15	17	17		17
11	Croatia	14	8	16	7	10	9	2	7	4
12	Norway	3	7	2	6	3	4	7	6	5
13	Switzerland	7	9	8	9	7	7	4	13
14	Belarus	13	12	15	8	11	12		8	3
15	Bulgaria	1	1	1	2	1	1	12	1	12
16	Lithuania	16	10	10	14	16	14		15
17	Estonia	11	11	6	16	15	13		12
18	Israel	6	6	4	5	8	6	5	4	7

Split voting results from the Netherlands (final)
Draw	Country	Jury							Televote
		J. Ewbank	G. Groothedde	M. Dekkers	E. Groeneveld	M. van Duijvenbode	Average Rank	Points	Rank	Points
01	Israel	21	14	13	12	21	18		16
02	Poland	25	24	23	24	24	25		10	1
03	Belarus	16	17	17	14	16	17		19
04	Austria	15	13	8	6	6	8	3	14
05	Armenia	23	20	24	22	20	23		11
06	Netherlands
07	Moldova	14	11	10	9	22	14		6	5
08	Hungary	10	16	16	20	13	15		5	6
09	Italy	9	9	19	10	12	11		9	2
10	Denmark	3	7	4	2	3	3	8	23
11	Portugal	1	2	3	1	1	1	12	1	12
12	Azerbaijan	18	22	18	23	19	20		22
13	Croatia	20	21	25	18	18	21		8	3
14	Australia	8	6	6	7	11	7	4	18
15	Greece	22	18	11	15	17	19		21
16	Spain	24	25	22	25	23	24		25
17	Norway	6	4	2	8	4	4	7	15
18	United Kingdom	7	8	7	5	7	6	5	13
19	Cyprus	13	10	20	13	8	13		17
20	Romania	5	12	14	19	9	10	1	4	7
21	Germany	17	19	15	16	10	16		20
22	Ukraine	19	23	21	17	25	22		24
23	Belgium	11	5	5	21	15	9	2	2	10
24	Sweden	4	3	9	4	5	5	6	7	4
25	Bulgaria	2	1	1	3	2	2	10	3	8
26	France	12	15	12	11	14	12		12

References

1. "Eurovision Song Contest 1956". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
2. "Eurovision Song Contest 1957". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
3. "Eurovision Song Contest 1959". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
4. "Eurovision Song Contest 1969". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
5. "Eurovision Song Contest 1975". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
6. "Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Semi-Final (2)". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
7. "History by Country - The Netherlands". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
8. Granger, Anthony (19 September 2016). "The Netherlands: 2017 Entrant Decision in October". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
9. "Girl group O'G3NE to represent the Netherlands in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 29 October 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
10. Davies, Megan (2 January 2017). "The Netherlands: Three Songs in the Race for Kyiv". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
11. Herbert, Emily (2 February 2017). "The Netherlands: O'G3NE'S Father Behind Eurovision Entry". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
12. Granger, Anthony (2 March 2017). "The Netherlands: O'G3NE to Sing "Lights and Shadows"". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
13. The NPBC (3 March 2017). "Netherlands: O'G3NE Released Eurovision Entry, "Lights and Sounds"". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
14. Jordan, Paul (29 March 2017). "Eurovision in Concert sets a new record with 33 acts". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
15. Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
16. Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
17. Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
18. "EBU: "Russia no longer able to take part in Eurovision 2017"". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 22 April 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
19. "Press". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
20. Weaver, Jessica (10 May 2017). "Eurovision 2017: Live updates from semi-final 2 jury show". esctoday.com. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
21. Kryvinchuk, Yullia (12 May 2017). "Semi-Final Thriller: 10 more qualified — Grand Final complete!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
22. Jordan, Paul; Nilsson, Helena (12 May 2017). "Exclusive: Running order for the 2017 Grand Final released!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
23. Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2017.

External links

• Official AVROTROS Eurovision site