On the 14th of January, Belgium will select their Eurovision representative through a format that many fans have missed from the country in the last few years: a national final! Now, Flemish broadcaster VRT has revealed the 4 familiar people who will be part of the professional jury during the show.
Familiar faces
VRT shared the announcement of the professional jury through an Instagram post, all of whom will most likely sound familiar to Eurovision fans. Asides from the televote, Eurosong will feature, among others, the following 4 people in the jury:
- Alexander Rybak (Norway 2009 & 2018)
- Laura Tesoro (Belgium 2016)
- Jérémie Makiese (Belgium 2022)
- Nikkie de Jager/NikkieTutorials (one of the hosts of Eurovision 2021)
These 4 members of the jury will not be the only one making the decisions on the entire jury’s behalf: they are joined by 11 more people who work in the music industry and who will be casting their vote behind the screens, making the professional jury consist of 15 people in total. The exact divide in voting power between the juries and televote is not yet known.
Another familiar face that fans will be able to spot is 2019 winner Duncan Laurence, who will be performing during the show.
All about Eurosong 2023
After 7 years, Belgium returns with a national final! The last one was won by now-jury member Laura Tesoro with “What’s The Pressure”, after which the broadcasters VRT (Flanders) and RTBF (Wallonia) opted for an internal selection in the following years. There are 7 candidates who will participate in the national final, although every candidate has submitted 2 songs. According to host Peter van de Veire, the participants will perform their 2 songs for their fellow participants, who can then give them advice on which song they should choose. The final choice is still up to the participant themselves, though. These are the people you will see in Eurosong:
- The Starlings, which consists of the Belgian representative at Eurovision 2010 Tom Dice and his fiancée Kato Callebaut. Kato also rose to fame through the 2011 edition of Idool in Belgium.
- Loredana, who as part of the group 2Fabiola attempted to represent Belgium at Eurovision 2014 via Eurosong but lost out to Axel Hirsoux.
- gala dragot, who won The Voice Kids Belgium and performed at FiK in December as an interval act.
- Ameerah
- Chérine
- Gustaph
- Hunter Falls
In the days leading up to the national final on the 14th, VRT will introduce the candidates to the public on television every day at 19:30. Snippets of the 14 songs have already been revealed, which you can listen to here.
Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022
The Voice Belgique winner Jérémie Makiese was announced as the first act for Eurovision 2022 in September, with his song “Miss You” being released six months later, in March.
Participating in the second semi-final, Belgium qualified for the final in 8th place with 151 points – their second qualification in a row after Hooverphonic also qualified in Rotterdam in 2021. In the final, Belgium finished in 19th place with 64 points – scoring 59 points from the juries and 5 points from the televote.
