Tonight the Netherlands kicks off its search for Junior Eurovision 2017 as the first semi-final of Junior Songfestival 2017 takes place.
The first three of six acts who are competing to represent the Netherlands at Junior Eurovision 2017 will take to the stage tonight. Junior Songfestival is returning to television screens this year after being axed last year in favor of an internal selection. This years contest has seen changes to the format, with the introduction of 100% jury voting and all of the acts now covering well known hits, instead of performing their own songs.
The three acts competing tonight for a place in the final are:
- Montana – Hold My Hand (Jess Glyne)
- Dreamz – Chained to the Rhythm (Katy Perry)
- Sezina – Symphony (Clean Bandit & Zara Larsson)
The jury will select one artist from each of the two semi finals to go through to the final of Junior Songfestival 2017. Once the jury has selected their two finalists, a second jury will select the wildcard act to go through to the final. The second jury is formed of past Junior Eurovision participants from the Netherlands, they are; Ralf Mackenbach (2009 Winner), Mylène & Rosanne (2013) and Kisses (2016).
In the final the jury will select the act who will represent the Netherlands at the 15th Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Tbilisi, Georgia. The song that they will perform at the contest will be selected after Junior Songfestival has been held.
Last year, the group Kisses represented the Netherlands and came eighth with “Kisses and Dancin”. They received 12 points from the kids juries in Israel and Georgia. The members of the group were chosen via auditions and their song internally, marking the first time ever that the public had no say in either the song or the act chosen for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
You can watch the competition live on NPO Zapp from 19:25 CET.
[tw-accordion class=””] [tw-accordion-section title=”The Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest”] The Netherlands debuted at the first edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2003. To date the country has only won the competition once. Their only victory came in 2009 when Ralf Mackenbach performed “Click Clack” scoring a total of 121 points, this was just 5 points more than runners-up Armenia and Russia. The Netherlands narrowly lost the contest in 2011 when Rachel performed “Teenager”, she lost by 5 points. The Netherlands worst result came in 2015 when Shalisa finished in 15th place out of 17 competing countries.[/tw-accordion-section] [/tw-accordion]
I can’t watch it on the official website! 🙁