Cornald Maas says that the controversy surrounding the Netherlands’ Eurovision 2023 entry almost led him to resign from the selection committee.
Speaking on the NPO radio program ‘Mischa!’ this morning, Maas said that the criticism by the Dutch media of Mia & Dion “lasted too long” and took a toll on him and those around him.
But while Maas seriously considered quitting the committee, he felt that being involved in Eurovision was “too close to his heart” to resign.
Maas was responding to the media storm which engulfed the Netherlands’ selection of Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper for Eurovision 2023. Their live performances of their song “Burning Daylight” at pre-parties in the lead up to the contest were intensely criticised, and often ridiculed, in the Dutch media.
Responding to the criticism, the song was reworked ahead of Eurovision itself to try and help the artists with their performance. Eventually, though, “Burning Daylight” failed to qualify from the Eurovision 2023 semi-finals in Liverpool, United Kingdom, becoming the first Dutch entry not to reach the Grand Final since 2015.
Maas said the controversy grew and grew, becoming a situation that even affected his relationships with his family:
[I noticed my] own friend or mother or sister, who are very close to me, also constantly bring it up and are also bothered by it.
He also said that there were several untruths that emerged during the controversy, creating what the television presenter described as an “oil slick” for the country’s Eurovision delegation:
It was not over in a day or a week. There were so many untruths that were debated. In consultation with AVROTROS, I did not respond to this so that the oil slick would not get bigger. That went against my character and my nature.
Maas is not the first person involved with Mia & Dion’s entry to be vocal about the situation. In the lead-up to the contest, broadcaster AVROTROS responded to the media storm surrounding their act by saying that “there is a lot of justified criticism”.
The drama also affected Duncan Laurence, the Eurovision 2019 winner who co-wrote “Burning Daylight”. He said in an interview on Dutch talk show “Beste Zangers” that he had a ‘very hard time’ dealing with criticism that he had not trained Mia and Dion well enough for the Eurovision stage.
Since the contest in May, AVROTROS has acknowledged that mistakes had been made in selecting “Burning Daylight” for Eurovision 2023. As a result, there have been changes to the Dutch Eurovision team, with Twan van de Nieuwenhuijze was appointed as Head of Delegation for the Netherlands and as the new chairman of the selection committee.
AVROTROS has announced it will continue with internal selection for Eurovision 2024, with Cornald Maas remaining on the selection committee to pick the Dutch act to perform in Malmö, Sweden next year.
Image Source: Talent Talks | Source: RTL Boulevard
The Netherlands debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 and has gone on to compete in all bar four contests. To date the Netherlands has won the contest on five occasions; 1957, 1959, 1969, 1975 and most recently 2019. Prior to Duncan Laurence’s victory in Tel Aviv, the Netherlands had been waiting 44 years for their next victory. Duncan Laurence won the contest in Israel with the song “Arcade”.
