Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

The Netherlands were present at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, sending their 50th entry. Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS), the Dutch broadcaster, sent De Toppers to Moscow after they were internally selected. The competing song was selected at Nationaal Songfestival contest on 1 February, where "Shine" was announced the winner.[1][2][3]

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country Netherlands
National selection
Selection processArtist: Internal Selection
Song: Nationaal Songfestival 2009
Selection date(s)Artist: 19 September 2008
Song: 1 February 2009
Selected entrantDe Toppers
Selected song"Shine"
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (17th, 11 points)
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Before Eurovision

Rumored artists and artist selection
De Toppers in February 2009

Dutch Eurovision fans set up an Internet poll in July 2008 with the intent of selecting the best artist to send for the Netherlands.[4] Anouk was selected by the poll, and she has also stated that she would represent the Netherlands in 2009, but would prefer not to participate in a national final.[5][6] However, on 19 September 2008, NOS announced De Toppers as the Dutch entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The trio, consisting of René Froger, Gerard Joling and Gordon (Dutch national final contestant in 1990 and 2003), are highly popular in the Netherlands, and NOS hoped that they would boost Eurovision figures in the Netherlands, as well as ratings of the national final.[7]

Possible withdrawal

Since De Toppers were announced as the Dutch representatives for Eurovision 2009, complications within the band and with TROS and NOS have resulted in their entry to Eurovision coming under threat. Disagreements between the band and TROS over the planned docusoap Op weg naar Moskou have become the main reason for the row in the band. The main reason for no agreement between the two bodies is due to the band's manager, Benno de Leeuw, being hospitalised for a week.[8] Since the disagreement started, Gerard Joling has since stated that he has pulled out of the band, and NOS would have to look for a new Dutch representative. NOS has stated that they are trying to patch things up between the band, and if it cannot be solved then NOS will have to look for another entrant: "We made a choice for De Toppers, and that means all three of them or none of them."[9][10]

On 11 November 2008, it was confirmed that Jeroen van der Boom will take Gerard Joling's place in the group, and that De Toppers will still represent the Netherlands in the 2009 contest.[11]

Nationaal Songfestival 2009

The song that De Toppers represented the Netherlands with was selected through a national final titled Nationaal Songfestival 2009. The competition consisted of a final on 1 February 2009 which took place at the Studio 22 in Hilversum, hosted by Jack van Gelder.

Competing entries

Composers were able to submit their entries until 23 November 2008.[12][13] 330 entries were received by the broadcaster, and De Toppers selected six songs for the competition on 5 December 2008 without knowing the composers in order to remove possible bias that may arise.[14][15] The group has said that the selected songs were all "happy and powerful compositions".[16][17] The titles and authors of the six songs were announced on 18 December 2008.[18][19][20]

Final

The final took place on 1 February 2009. The winning song, "Shine", was selected by the votes of a five-member jury (1/3) and public televoting (2/3).[1][2][3] The five-member jury panel consisted of Tony Berk (radio DJ), Tatjana Simić (singer and actress), Daniël Dekker (radio DJ), Getty Kaspers (Dutch representative in 1975 as part of Teach-In) and Emile Hartkamp (writer and producer).[21] The juries had a total of 210 points to award and the viewers had a total of 420 points to award. Each jury member distributed their points as follows: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The viewer vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: telephone and SMS voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 420 points rounded to the nearest integer: 42 points.

During the show, past Dutch Eurovision representatives Saskia & Serge, Ben Cramer, Heddy Lester, Getty Kaspers, Bill van Dijk, Laura Vlasblom from Frizzle Sizzle, Rosina Brochard from Harmony and Marcha were present.[22]

Final – 1 February 2009
Draw Song Songwriter(s) Jury Televote Total Place
1 "Our Night" Rutger Kanis, Robert Dorn 28 13 41 6
2 "Angel of the Night" Edwin de Groot, Edwin van Hoevelaak, Bruce R.F. Smith 60 130 190 2
3 "Everybody Can Be a Star" Ferdi Bolland 22 21 43 5
4 "Three Is the Magic Number" Kees Tel, Christiaan Hulsebos 16 34 50 4
5 "No One Loves Me Like You" Rob le Cardinale 36 21 57 3
6 "Shine" Bas van den Heuvel, Gordon Heuckeroth 48 201 249 1

At Eurovision

Since the Netherlands was not one of the "Big Four" nor the host of the 2009 contest, The Toppers had to compete in one of the two semi-finals. The Netherlands competed in the second semi-final on 14 May, performing 19th and last in the running order, following Estonia. However the group failed to qualify The Netherlands to the final for the fifth successive contest.

Points Awarded by the Netherlands[23]
Split voting results from the Netherlands (final)
Draw Country Jury points Televoting points Scoreboard (Points)
01  Lithuania
02  Israel 2
03  France 10 2 6
04  Sweden
05  Croatia
06  Portugal
07  Iceland 8 4 7
08  Greece 5 1
09  Armenia 10 5
10  Russia
11  Azerbaijan 7 6 10
12  Bosnia and Herzegovina 7 4
13  Moldova
14  Malta 1
15  Estonia 1
16  Denmark 5
17  Germany 6 2
18  Turkey 12 8
19  Albania 3
20  Norway 12 8 12
21  Ukraine
22  Romania
23  United Kingdom 4 3 3
24  Finland
25  Spain
Points Awarded to the Netherlands (Semi-Final 2)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

References
  1. van Tongeren, Mario (1 February 2009). "Netherlands: De Toppers to sing "Shine" in Moscow!". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  2. Klier, Marcus (1 February 2009). "Netherlands: Eurovision entry chosen". ESCToday. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  3. Bakker, Sietse (1 February 2009). "The Netherlands: Toppers bring 'Shine' to Moscow". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  4. Romkes, René (12 July 2008). "Dutch fans start search for 2009 already". ESCToday. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  5. Viniker, Barry (18 August 2008). "Anouk: "I would sing for Netherlands"". ESCToday. Retrieved 19 August 2008.
  6. "Anouk says 'yes' to song contest". Dutch News. 12 July 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  7. Viniker, Barry (19 September 2008). "De Toppers confirmed for Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
  8. Romkes, René (5 November 2009). "The Netherlands: De Toppers to split?". ESCToday. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  9. Romkes, René (9 November 2008). "Netherlands: Joling leaves De Toppers!". ESCToday. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  10. Langeslag, Mark (7 November 2008). "Joling niet naar Songfestival" (in Dutch). AD.nl. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  11. Romkes, Rene (11 November 2008). "Netherlands: Jeroen van der Boom is the new Topper". ESCToday. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  12. Romkes, René (30 September 2008). "Exclusive interview with De Toppers". ESCToday. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
  13. van Tongeren, Mario (23 November 2008). "Netherlands: Submission for 2009 entries closed". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  14. Viniker, Barry (24 November 2008). "330 Eurovision submissions in the Netherlands". ESCToday. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  15. "Netherlands: TROS announce 330 submitted entries". Oikotimes. 24 November 2008. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  16. Konstantopoulos, Fotis (5 December 2008). "Netherlands: De Toppers found their songs for Moscow". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  17. Bakker, Sietse (5 December 2008). "The Netherlands: Toppers picked their six-pack". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  18. Floras, Stella (18 December 2008). "Netherlands: De Toppers songs revealed today". ESCToday. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
  19. Bakker, Sietse (18 December 2008). "Netherlands: The Toppers reveal song titles". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
  20. Murray, Gavin (18 December 2008). "Netherlands: The Toppers reveal song titles". ESCToday. Retrieved 18 December 2008.
  21. Romkes, René (2 February 2009). "The Netherlands: Press Conference". ESCToday. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  22. Romkes, René (28 January 2009). "Netherlands: More details about Dutch final". ESCToday. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  23. Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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