Eurovision Fan of the Week - Christiaan from The Netherlands

For today's Aussievision Fan of the Week we have Christiaan from The Netherlands! No stranger to the contest having followed it for many years - we chat to him about his history with the contest and some of his favourite entries.

Thank you for being our Aussievision fan of the week! Tell us a little about yourself – name, hometown/current location and any interesting information about yourself: Hii There! My Name is Christiaan, 21 years old and I'm from the beautiful city of Den Helder in The Netherlands! I love photography, travelling and making people smile.

~ Welcome!! I and many of the Aussievision team I know are excited to visit The Netherlands in the future (Liv)

How did you get into Eurovision? What was the first year you watched?

After watching my first edition in 2009 with my parents, I continued watching the shows every year. Seeing Alexander Rybak perform and win was the moment of WOW for me! Just that song made it all seem so special and he was my absolute favourite for 2009. Since 2016 I started following pre-selections and because I've been active in the Twitter fandom since 2018 I follow every single thing there is haha.

Whom is your favourite Eurovision performance and why? MaNga – 'We Could Be The Same' (Turkey 2010)! I love Rock music and this was the song that forever sucked me into the Eurovision world! This was such an amazing song with a great stage act and even though it didn’t win in 2010 it has been my number 1 songs ever since.

Which Dutch artist/s would you love to see on the Eurovision stage? I would absolutely love to see Within Temptation on the Eurovision stage! It is one of my favourite bands ever and they would slay it if they went!

Also 3 honourable mentions are: Kensington, Nick Klyne or Gerard Joling (Netherlands 1988)

~ Within Temptation look really great 😍 Loving 'The Purge', 'Faster' and 'Whole World is Watching'! I could definitely stan that if they every came to Eurovision (Liv)

Which entries do you think best showcased that artist at Eurovision? Duncan Laurence – 'Arcade' (The Netherlands 2019), it's a masterpiece and he continued to bring amazing songs every time. Alma – 'Requiem' (France 2017), I really discovered Alma through Eurovision and I loved her voice! Now I’m addicted to her songs :D

Which national final do you look forward to the most? What makes it special? There are so many hahahaha! I can’t wait for Albania (Festivali i Këngës), Italy (Sanremo) and Sweden (Melodifestivalen) but also France, Norway, Estonia, Portugal etc. etc. To be honest….. all of them! I love all the different types of songs, getting to hear new artists and just the whole atmosphere every national final brings!

~ Haha I can certainly relate! To be fair some nation finals that aren't on your radar prior to the season end up being your favourites with wonderful surprises. Gotta just watch them all eh! (Liv)

Currently, The Netherlands utilise internal selection for the majority of their entries - would you prefer a National Final or are you content with internal selection? Why? If they keep finding the gems themselves I am absolutely for internal selection! Previously, we've had of course some bad experiences with National Finals. But I would like it to return so we can showcase our amazing artist to the world. What is your opinion on returning artists? Is there one you would like to see again? I like it when artists return because you know them very well already! But I don't really like it when artists get a head start with the fans even if the song isn’t that amazing. I would love to see MaNga return and also Harel Skaat (Israel 2010). If you could pick only three performances to encourage new people to watch Eurovision what would they be: MaNga – 'We Could be the same' (Running trend? Maybe ) Rasmussen – 'Higher Ground' (Denmark 2018) Carl Espen – 'Silent Storm' (Norway 2014) Just masterpieces we had!

~ If I had a dollar for every time MaNga were mentioned in this article I could buy myself a nice large cappuccino courtesy of yourself Christiaan! (Liv)

Which Eurovision song:

Is the best winner?

Duncan - 'Arcade' (The Netherlands 2019), but a close second Marija Šerifović - 'Molitva' (Serbia 2007)

Has the best live vocal?

So many, but I love Sergey Lazarev (Russia 2016 & 2019)

Was the best Dutch entry?

Duncan (haha) but I also love Michelle – 'Out On My Own' (2001)

Was robbed?

'O Jardim' (Portugal 2018)

Is your guilty pleasure?

'Alcohol is Free' (Greece 2013) and 'Lautar' (Moldova 2012)

Is your favourite National Final song (that didn't make it to Eurovision)? Tamás Horváth - 'Meggyfa' (Hungary 2018)

~ BIG YES - I adore 'Meggyfa' too! (Liv)

And finally which Australian entry is your favourite… Guy Sebastian – 'Tonight Again'! Love Guy Sebastian and I’m still so grateful to have seen him live in Amsterdam in December 2019. All the love to every Eurofan, the amazing and lovely Twitter people, thank you Aussievision for this opportunity and have a wonderful day!

No, thank YOU Chirstiaan for your time and sharing some of your favourites! Enjoy the 2021 contest and being part of the host nation.