Europe! Are you ready??? That question is what Joost Klein will be asking the arena, and the millions of people watching Eurovision in May. The Netherlands have released their entry for the 2024 contest and it’s safe to say “Europapa” has taken the continent (and beyond) by storm. It’s time to talk about The Netherlands and their rich history at Eurovision. And to give you our honest but fair review!
Netherlands in Eurovision
The Netherlands have started participating since the very start of the contest in 1956. Making them one of the 7 founding members. They have appeared in the competition a total of 63 times, having missed out on only 4 occasions. Twice, in 1985 and 1991, when the contest coincided with “Remembrance of the Dead”. And twice when they were relegated, following poor results in 1995 and 2002. They have so far won the competition 5 times. Making them one of the most successful countries.
Apart from 5 victories, the Netherlands have reached the top 10 on another 20 occasions, including 1 second place (2014) and 1 third place (1974). The songs representing them have mostly been sung in Dutch all the way up to 1998. Since then, they have opted for English more often, with the exception of 2010, 2022 and 2024. They once sent a song sung partly in Sranan Tongo. In 2021, when Jeangu Macrooy represented them with his song “Birth Of A New Age”.
Their first victory was already in 1957, when Corry Brokken (who also sung one of their 1956 entries) won with her song “Net Als Toen”. Just 2 years later, they won for the second time with “Een Beetje” by Teddy Scholten. 10 years later they were victorious once more with the song “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr. In 1975 they won for the fourth time, the first time with a song sung in English: “Ding-a-dong” by Teach-In, which became a big hit. After that they would have to wait no less than 44 years before winning again in 2019 with the song “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence. That song went viral on social media and became a world wide hit. It remains to this day the most streamed Eurovision song, with over 1 billion streams! Impressive!
Netherlands 2024
Last year it was announced that Joost Klein, already famous amongst many due to his single “Friesenjung”, would represent the Netherlands at Eurovision this year. He was selected internally by AVOTROS. Joost is a 26 year old musician, rapper, singer and former YouTuber. He is mainly a hiphop artist that mixes his songs with electronic music, drum and bass and hardstyle. Joost has long been a big fan of Eurovision and has said that it was always his dream to represent his country. The song “Europapa” is a hardstyle rave song he wrote himself. Tho very uptempo and over the top, it has an unexpected deeper meaning. Joost stated that it is an ode to Europe, and a letter to his late father, who taught him that the world has no boundaries.
Will Joost win the hearts of Europe and win? It might very well happen! Find out what we think of the song in our review AND full reaction video! As always we have added our totally unbased predictions.
niallpoints Review
Niall
Okay, okay, I admit it took me quite a long time to get there, but at first this song just wasn’t doing anything for, in fact, I’m pretty sure I had this near the bottom of my ranking. Oh how things change.
This is going to be a love or loathe it entry I’m sure, but the drop absolutely steals the show for me and the beat allows me to get through the bits I still don’t completely love. Musically, this is a very exciting and makes you want more. Lyrically, the cheesiness to me is slightly over the top and almost makes if feel like Joost is just joking around with this entry. Thankfully, I know he is not and there is an emotional meaning behind it, I just don’t think that fully translates.
Early prediction: Sneaking into the Top 10, but only just.
Tomas
I’ll be honest. The first time I heard this song I was very skeptical. It seemed a bit too much yet not enough. Not what I had expected from Joost. However, having heard the song a couple more times, it has grown on me a lot. Up to a point where I’m struggling to cram it into my top 10 (impossible).
It does make me wonder however: will it bee too unhinged for the casual viewer? Hard to tell. Somehow though I still have no doubt that there will be enough people voting for this for a high televote score, but it has a lot of direct competition. Then there’s the juries. They have been known to completely tank this kind of song. I guess time will tell. In the meantime, I’ll be having loads of fun dancing to Europapa!
Early prediction: if the juries get it: 1-5, if they don’t: 5-10.
So there you have it! That is what we think about “Europapa”! Do you agree with us? Do you think Joost has what it takes to give the Netherlands their 6th win? Let us know in the comments down below! Before you go, please have a look at our full reaction video to the Dutch entry for Eurovision 2024 right here below! Please like, subscribe and share with your Eurovision friends!
