Belgium: More light shed on national final format 'Eurosong 2023'

• More details on Belgium's national selection format for Eurovision 2023 are coming to light through the local media reports. 

  The Eurovision 2023 participation lays in the hand of VRT next year, which has opted for a national selection to determine the ESC 2023 representative. Last time VRT opted for a national final was in 2016 when  Laura Tesoro won the 'Eurosong' national final and represented the country in Stockholm.

  Following the announcement of the return of  the 'Eurosong' national final progressively more details on how Belgium's selection will unfold are coming to light. Accroding to media reports a total of seven contestants are expected to compete in ‘Eurosong 2023’ with each act delivering on stage two songs.

  While it remain unknown the format according to which the 14 entries will be presented, the final show will see 7 acts competing with one song each.  The final is expected to be broadcast live from Palais/Paleis 12 in Brussels in February 2023. Peter Van de Veire has been confirmed as the host of the show. 

  VRT has stated that they are working with record labels and acts in order to determine the 'Eurosong 2023' participants and their objective is to find the best act that will offer Belgium a victorious entrant in Liverpool. 

   

  Belgium in Eurovision 

  Belgium is one of the countries to have participated in the Eurovision SOng Contest since its first edition back in 1956. After 30 years the country achieves to win the contest in 1986 with the 13 yo Sandra Kim and her entry “J’aime la vie“.

  The country has finished last in the contest 8 times while in two of these occasions didn’t receive any point at all. In 2003 with the group Urban Trad and their song “Sanomi” it almost reached its second victory finishing in the 2nd place, only two points behind Turkey and Sertab Erener with her entry “Every way that I can“.

  Although the country has managed to qualify to the final 5 times the last decade, with Loïc Nottet in 2015 and Blanche in 2017 achieving the best results coming 4th in the final, the last two years it hasn’t been that story.  In 2018 with  Sennek and “A matter of time” , failed to reach the final although the juries ranked her 9th in her semi final. In 2019 internally selected  Eliot represented the country in Tel Aviv with his song “Wake up” which failed to reach the grand final.

  In 2020 Hooverphonic were internally selected to perform "Release Me" in Rotterdam. Following the cancellation of the contest by EBU due to the coronavirus pandemic, Hooverphonic represented the country in 2021 in Rotterdam with their song 'The Wrong Place" and after qualifying from the 1st semi final show they finished 19th in the final with an overall total of 74 points. 

  This year, The Voice Belgium winner, Jeremie Makiese flew the flag in Turin, Italy singing 'Miss you' which came 19th in the final with a total of 64 points. 

   

  News Source: Eurovoix / Het Laastse Nieuws

  Image: EBU/ Andres Putting

   

   

  Image: EBU/Sarah Loise Bennett

AUTHORS

Angelos D.
Loyal follower of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1987, I've made the competition one of the stories of my life. After attending as accredited press the event for 13 consecutive years along with the 2017-2024 JESC editions, I also enjoy the last three years sharing more Eurovision music through the Eurofans radio's project.

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