‘Criticism of Eurovision duo justified, but faith is not gone’

ANP

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 21:42

The criticism of the recent performances of the Dutch Eurovision Song Contest duo Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper is justified, but the confidence in a good outcome has not disappeared. Broadcaster AVROTROS said this in a response to NOS. AVROTROS organizes the Eurovision Song Contest in the Netherlands.

“There is a lot of justified criticism. But we know what they can do. And we are guiding them intensively and we have faith in them. And together we are on the road to Liverpool,” it sounds. In a short time, the duo performed live twice. The last time was during “Eurovision in Concert” in AFAS Live last Saturday. Just like after the first performance, the singing qualities of the two were criticized. For example, it was said that they sang out of tune.

The performance in AFAS Live:

AVROTROS director Eric van Stade also agrees with the criticism, he says in a response that was broadcast by RTL Boulevard, among others. “Mia and Dion have now performed twice. We have let them practice on purpose and we have seen that things are not going well yet,” says Van Stade.

“We now know what is wrong, the whole of the Netherlands has seen that. The creative team that has been working for a long time now continues, precisely on those points to get the vocals right. And with only one goal: to give a good performance in Liverpool to put down.”

Van Stade continues: “We always choose the song, it is not the Eurovision Song Contest for nothing,” says the broadcasting director. “We also chose the best song this year and there were two young artists, two young talents. Only this year we see that the step to the big stage is much bigger than previous years in which we worked with young talent.”

Return of the National Song Contest?

Cornald Maas, who is on the selection committee for the Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, has also responded to the fuss surrounding the duo. On Twitter he says that the selection committee chose “the best song in our opinion”. Maas says it’s up to the delegation and the creative team to come up with the best performance. “That’s a hefty job, for established names and especially for young talents. Let’s support them.”

Because of the ‘unsteady’ performances, critics propose to revive the National Song Contest. At the National Song Contest, a jury and the public chose the Dutch representation.

Over the past ten years, the Dutch participants have been designated internally. Nicolai and Cooper were brought together by former Eurovision winner (2019) Duncan Laurence and songwriter Jordan Garfield. AVROTROS boss Van Stade does not rule out a return of the National Song Festival, he told ANP news agency earlier today.

Douwe Bob

The Eurovision Song Contest is in Liverpool from 9 to 13 May. Nicolai and Cooper are in the first semi-final. They are then next to last.

The NOS spoke to a performance psychologist about what all criticism can do. As an expert by experience, singer Douwe Bob also knows how to deal with the pressure. Watch it in the video below:

Strong criticism of Eurovision performances, “but you can deal with it”

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