Last month, the Netherlands announced that Jeangu Macrooy will be representing them on home soil at Eurovision 2020! Dutch-Surinamese singer-songwriter Jeangu Macrooy will be performing the Dutch host entry in Rotterdam this May! Today, Jeangu announced that his song will be released on March 4th.
Having kept fairly tight-lipped about the progress of the host entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Jeangu Macrooy has now revealed the release date for his song.
Who is Jeangu Macrooy?
Jeangu was born in 1993 in Paramaribo, Suriname. He comes from a musical family, having formed duo Xillan with his twin brother when he was a child, having been gifted a guitar for his 13th birthday.
He moved to the Netherlands in 2014 in order to pursue a career in music outside of his home country. It was here that he met producer and composer Perquisite and signed to Unexpected Records. Following this, he played several big Dutch festivals, is a recurring guest in TV shows and has been nominated twice for an Edison Award, the Dutch equivalent to the Grammy Awards.
Responding to his selection, he said the following:
I am indescribably honoured! It’s a dream come true and the most beautiful thing that has come my way so far. My team and I are excited to make the Netherlands proud! Let’s go!
Jeangu on his selection
The Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest
The Netherlands won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 1957 and won again in 1959, setting an early record of 2 victories in their first 4 years of participation. After a record-setting 1950s, the next decade didn’t bring much success to the Dutch entries until Lenny Kuhr finished as 1 of the 4 winners of the 1969 contest with “De Troubadour”.
In 1975, after ABBA’s win, Dutch group Teach-In won the contest with Ding-A-Dong. After this, it took 44 years for the Netherlands to reach another victory. The road to this win was filled with non-qualifications, notably eight consecutive NQs between 2005 and 2012.
Last year, Duncan Laurence scored a victory in Tel Aviv, Israel with Arcade. He received 492 points and brought the Netherlands the trophy for the first time in over 4 decades! Can Jeangu keep this momentum up?
Are you excited about Jeangu’s song? Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! Also, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to see our reactions to the news in the run up to Rotterdam!