‘Numidia was a long favorite for the Eurovision Song Contest’ | RTL Boulevard

According to Het Parool, the choice for who would definitively go to the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the Netherlands was made on November 28 last year in the Nobel pop hall in Leiden. The five artists who were still in the race at the time performed their song in complete secrecy in front of the selection committee of broadcaster AVROTROS. Among them Numidia, Ilse DeLange and Joost Klein. Karsu and The Voice winner Sophia Kruithof are also said to have performed for the selection committee in Leiden.

The committee would not be entirely enthusiastic about Ilse’s submission. They would find it “too inaccessible” and “too complicated for the festival”. Numidia would provide more enthusiasm with an “English-language song with Berber elements” made with Douwe Bob. There are doubts about Joost Klein’s entry, writes Het Parool. The selection committee is said to have wondered, among other things, whether the ‘fun doll of Europapa’ is what the Netherlands wants to radiate. There are also doubts about the structure of the song, and Joost reportedly made some adjustments to the song upon request.

According to the newspaper, Numidia’s audition, ‘she sings excellently, has charisma and represents the modern Netherlands’, would normally be enough to represent the Netherlands. But Joost Klein would make such an impression with his ‘irresistible earworm’ Europapa and also his “humor, persuasiveness and a well-worded story”, that things will turn out differently. Jaap Reesema, one of the members of the selection committee, would eventually comment that the other members should put their own taste aside and choose ‘the most promising song’. That will be Klein’s Europapa.

Broadcaster AVROTROS and the representatives of Numidia and Ilse DeLange have been approached by the ANP for a response, but could not immediately be reached.