Belgium in Eurovision
Belgium made its Eurovision Song Contest debut in the competition’s first edition in 1956. They have participated 61 times in total, only being absent for three contests in 1994, 1997, and 2001, due to low scores in previous contests which relegated them out of the competition for those years.
Belgium won Eurovision once in 1986 with the contest’s youngest ever winner Sandra Kim, who at just thirteen years old triumphed with the song ‘J’aime la vie’ (‘I love life’).
In the past 5 years, Belgium has received three top 10 results, but in their last 2 participations, Belgium have failed to qualify to the final.
Hooverphonic - ‘The Wrong Place’
Semi-final: Hooverphonic will compete in semi-final 1 in 11th position in the running order
My Eurovision Scoreboard fan ranking: 18th out of 39 entries
Odds to win ranking: 19th out of 39 entries
Odds to qualify ranking: 12th out of 16 entries
(rankings as of 30th April 2021)
About the artist
Hooverphonic is a Belgian band formed in October 1995. Originally named Hoover, the group changed their name to Hooverphonic after realising that there were other bands with the Hoover name, as well as to avoid any potential legal issues with the Hoover vacuum cleaner company. Hooverphonic describes their music as “ambient pop”, however, over the years, their sound has transformed from “playful hip hop” to music which incorporates psychedelic, pop and orchestral elements.
Hooverphonic first garnered international acclaim when the song ‘2Wicky’ from their debut album ‘A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular’ appeared on the soundtrack to the 1996 film ‘Stealing Beauty’. The band’s music has since featured in a number of movies, commercials, and television shows, including ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, ‘The Interview’, ‘The Umbrella Academy’, ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’, and ‘Cold Case’, to name a few.
The group’s musical career has spanned nearly 25 years, 10 studio albums, and 5 number 1 albums in their native Belgium. The current members of Hooverphonic are bassist Alex Callier, guitarist Raymond Geerts, and vocalist Geike Arnaert, who recently rejoined the band in November 2020 after Luka Cruysberghs announced her departure.
Hooverphonic were internally selected to represent Belgium in the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Release Me’ before the contest was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, in 2021, they were internally selected once more by the Belgian national broadcasters Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) and Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF) to participate in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.
About the song
‘The Wrong Place’ was written and composed by Alex Callier and Charlotte Forêt. The song has peaked at number 7 on the Belgian Ultratop 50 Flanders charts. 'The Wrong Place' is the third song that Alex Callier has co-written for the Eurovision Song Contest. As well as Hooverphonic's two Eurovision entries, Alex Callier also co-wrote ‘A Matter of Time’ by Sennek, which failed to qualify to the final in the 2018 Contest, placing 12th in Semi Final 1 with 91 points.
Aussievision podcast Belgium episode
Check out the Aussievision podcast review and rank episode including comments from the team. Listen via:
Apple:
Spotify:
Podcast addict: https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/1958380