VRT, the Dutch-language Belgian national broadcaster, has confirmed that they will not open public submissions for Eurosong 2025.
VRT will not use public submissions for Eurosong 2025 and have instead contacted record labels to provide candidates. This was revealed after Joeri Fransen, winner of Idool 2024 and recent participant on Sing again, was rejected by VRT after asking about applying to Eurosong 2025.
Speaking to Het Laatste Nieuws, Gerrit Kerremans, General Music Coordinator at VRT, defended VRT’s vision for Eurosong 2025:
“We have abandoned the old Eurosong format and will no longer be organising preliminary rounds, semi-finals and a final. We noticed that such a format is especially interesting for new artists who could use some exposure, but it deters many established artists because of the possible loss of face. We have also abandoned the format whereby absolutely everyone can submit a song. In the past we received thousands of submissions and that put too many songwriters to work unnecessarily.”
VRT will use a similar format to what they used in 2023 but with some differences, mostly starting their search earlier:
“Because the bar is very high at Eurovision, we looked for artists who can perform strongly live. In addition to singing talent, the artists must also have a lot of stage experience. We opt for a total package and we are looking for an artist who is also well surrounded. Those who receive professional guidance perform better. We did not launch an open call, but contacted professional labels, managers and producers ourselves to ask if they wanted to propose artists. They know where the talent is. We did not keep more than half of their submissions. The rest meet our minimum requirements and we will continue with them.
We are now on to the next step. The remaining artists have been commissioned to compose two new songs by September. We will then listen to them and then we will make the decision and decide which artists will be left with which songs and will go to the live final.”
Kerremans did not state which artists were contacted, how many remain in contention nor how many will participate in the live final:
“Everyone was asked not to make their candidacy or information about the competition public. In September, some artists can still decide to withdraw, for example if they have not found a suitable song. Our A&R team (Artist & Repertoire) will then also make a selection, so that some artists will be eliminated and we will be left with the intended number.”
Belgium was represented by Mustii at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 with “Before the Party’s Over”. He placed 13th in semi-final 2 scoring 18 points, the nation’s worst result since 2019.
Image Source: EBU/Sarah Louise Bennet | Source: Het Laatste Nieuws
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belgium was one of the original seven nations to participate in the first edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. To date, the country has won the contest only once in 1986. Sandra Kim won the contest with the song “J’aime la vie”. Her victory was not without controversy when it emerged that Sandra was just 13 years old, two years younger than the age restriction at the time. In the late 00s, Belgium struggled in the contest failing to reach the final annually from 2005 until 2010, when Tom Dice finished 6th in the final with 143 points. Belgium has finished last at the contest six times, including two sets of nul points.
