As part of our coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, we (virtually) sit down and have a chat with some of the contestants from this year. Today: Belgium’s Hooverphonic, who are performing “The Wrong Place” in the First Semi-Final on May 18!
The story of Hooverphonic
Hooverphonic have established themselves as a household name in Belgium. With over 25 years of musical experience together, they have created many hit songs and have recently re-released their song from 20 years ago, “Mad About You”. The group currently consists of bass player Alex Callier, guitarist Raymond Geerts, and singer Geike Arneart. According to Alex, they are the oldest participants in Eurovision this year, but they are still young at heart!
Last year, Hooverphonic were joined by singer Luka Cruysberghs, who was set to sing “Release Me” in 2020. However, Geike has now returned to the band as the lead singer after a successful (and still ongoing) solo career. Now with her return, she explained that it did feel like coming home, though she was surprised that after 12 years, they immediately clicked so well again. She feels like it’s a world she belongs in.
“The Wrong Place”
Bass player Alex has co-written and produced the Belgian entry “The Wrong Place”. The process of creating the song was quite interesting, as he spent most of his lockdown trying to create the perfect entry for Belgium for Eurovision 2021. In the beginning of July, when the lockdown ended in Belgium, he teamed up with a young French artist named Charlotte Foret. When they wrote “The Wrong Place”, it was the first time that Alex did not write with Eurovison in mind- yet, this was the song that turned out to be the one!
The music video for “The Wrong Place” is very interesting as well! According to the band, the song can be taken seriously or with a sense of humour. The director of the music video took it with a sense of humour and matched it with the idea of ‘film music’ that the band often produces. When Geike and Raymond heard the song for the first time, they immediately told Alex that they wanted it for the band and potentially for Eurovision, despite the song not having been written for Hooverphonic specifically.
Plans for Rotterdam
When the 2020 competition got cancelled, the band was basically asked to return in 2021 straight away. Furthermore, they did not need to think about it at all and said “yes” immediately! While the band cannot reveal too much about the staging yet, but they assure us that it’s going to be “100% Hooverphonic”. The band does believe that they have a strong competition this year: when asked about their favourites, they all responded with France’s entry “Voilá.” Other favourites include Bulgaria’s “Growing Up Is Getting Old” and Russia’s “Russian Woman.”
If you want to hear even more about all things Hooverphonic and Eurovision, check out the interview below:
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