Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Prior to the 2016 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-seven times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956.^[1] Since then, they have won the contest on one occasion in 1986 with the song "J'aime la vie", performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Belgium had been featured in only four finals. In 2015, "Rhythm Inside" by Loïc Nottet qualified to the final and placed fourth—Belgium's best result in the contest since placing second in 2003.

The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: Flemish Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) and Walloon Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF) at the time, with both broadcasters sharing the broadcasting rights. Both broadcasters –and their predecessors– had selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2014, VRT organised the national final Eurosong in order to select its entry, while in 2015, RTBF internally selected a contestant from the reality singing competition The Voice Belgique to represent the nation. On 26 May 2015, VRT confirmed its participation in the 2016 contest and announced that the Eurosong national final would be held to select its entry.^[2]

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Eurosong 2016 was the national final that selected Belgium's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The competition consisted of two live showcase shows that took place on 3 and 10 January 2016 followed by a final on 17 January 2016 where the winning song and artist were selected.^[3] All three shows took place at the AED studios in Lint, hosted by Peter Van de Veire and broadcast on Eén as well as online at the broadcaster's website een.be.^[4] The final was also broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.^[5]

Five young musical talents were being sought to compete in Eurosong. The competition included two non-competitive showcase shows that took place on 3 and 10 January 2016. The 3 January show introduced the five artists and allowed them to showcase their singing skills, stage presence and personality by performing a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song. The programme also showed how each artist progressed through their preparations and coaching. On the 10 January show, each artist presented their candidate Eurovision song. A public televote was also held during both shows to poll the audience's opinion on the artists and songs following their performances. The final took place on 17 January 2016 where the winner was chosen by ten international jury groups of five members each and public televoting.^[6] During each of the three shows, two experts of varying members also provided commentary and feedback to the artists.^[7]

An application period for artists was opened on 26 May 2015, and the names of the five acts selected for the competition were announced on 16 November 2015 during the radio MNM programme De Grote Peter Van de Veire Ochtendshow.^[2][8] The artists were selected by an A&R Team (Arts and Repertoire) consisting of music experts from VRT: Gerrit Kerremans (general music coordinator), Els Germonpré (Eén music manager) and Hans Snijders (radio MNM music manager), which were accompanied by artist manager Christopher Cocquyt.^[9] The five artists were coached and groomed by a team of experts in preparation for the national final. This team consisted of musical guidance from Christopher Cocquyt, vocal coaching from Lady Linn, media training from Geena Lisa and act staging/choreography from Ish Ait Hamou.^[9] Between 16 and 20 November 2015, the five artists were each presented and interviewed on De Grote Peter Van de Veire Ochtendshow and on the Eén television programme Iedereen beroemd.^[9][3] The five candidate Eurovision songs to be performed by the artists were announced on 5 January 2016.^[10]

Artist	Song	Songwriter(s)
Adil Aarab	"In Our Nature"	Adil Aarab, Bas Kennis, Will Knox, Joes Brands
Amaryllis Uitterlinden	"Kick the Habit"	Amaryllis Uitterlinden
Astrid Destuyver	"Everybody Aches"	Niko Westelinck
Laura Tesoro	"What's the Pressure"	Sanne Putseys, Louis Favre, Birsen Uçar, Yannick Werther
Tom Frantzis	"I'm Not Lost"	Tom Frantzis, Yves Gaillard

The two showcase shows took place on 3 and 10 January 2016. The competing artists were introduced during the first show where they each performed a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song, while the competing songs were introduced during the second show where each artist performed their candidate song for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. The two experts that provided feedback to the artists during each of the two shows were Stijn Kolacny (conductor of the women's choir Scala; first show), Alexander Rybak (singer-songwriter, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 for Norway; first show), Tom Helsen (singer-songwriter; second show) and Beverly Jo Scott (singer-songwriter, coach on The Voice Belgique, lyricist of Belgium's 2015 entry "Rhythm Inside"; second show).^[7][11] The televote held during the two shows were won by Amaryllis Uitterlinden and Laura Tesoro, respectively.^[12][13]

Show 1 – 3 January 2016

R/O	Artist	Song (Original artists)
1	Astrid Destuyver	"Everyway That I Can" (Sertab Erener)
2	Laura Tesoro	"Düm Tek Tek" (Hadise)
3	Adil Aarab	"Hold Me Now" (Johnny Logan)
4	Tom Frantzis	"Rhythm Inside" (Loïc Nottet)
5	Amaryllis Uitterlinden	"Euphoria" (Loreen)

Show 2 – 10 January 2016

R/O	Artist	Song
1	Amaryllis Uitterlinden	"Kick the Habit"
2	Adil Aarab	"In Our Nature"
3	Laura Tesoro	"What's the Pressure"
4	Astrid Destuyver	"Everybody Aches"
5	Tom Frantzis	"I'm Not Lost"

The final took place on 17 January 2016. Each artist performed their candidate Eurovision song and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the combination of results from ten international jury groups and a public televote determined the top two that proceeded to the superfinal. Each of the jury groups awarded points in the following manner: 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12, while the televote awarded points in the following manner: 60, 70, 80, 100 and 120. In the superfinal, the winner, "What's the Pressure" performed by Laura Tesoro, was selected solely by public televoting.^[14][15] The two experts that provided feedback to the artists during the final were Hadise (singer, participated in Idool 2003 and represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009) and Christer Björkman (singer, represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, the Swedish Eurovision Head of Delegation).^[11] The final was split into two parts: in the first part, the songs were performed and the televote was opened; after the first part an episode of Den elfde van den elfde was aired while the results were being collected; and in the second part, the results were announced and the superfinal took place.^[16][17]

The following international jury groups were selected for the following reasons to provide their votes:^[14]

• Sweden – Most recent winner and host of the 2016 contest
• Hungary – Best forecaster of the winner, averaging the most points to the eventual winner since 2000
• Ireland – Has the most victories at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Netherlands – Has provided the highest number of points to Belgium in the history of the contest
• Azerbaijan – Has achieved great success in recent years at the contest with five top 5 placings in the last eight years; has never voted for Belgium
• United Kingdom – Has awarded their top score (12 points) to the winner of the contest eight times since 2000
• Latvia – Has awarded their top score (12 points) to the winner of the contest eight times since 2000
• Montenegro – Has never voted for Belgium
• France – Has provided the highest number of top scores (12 points) to Belgium in the history of the contest
• Greece – Has always qualified to the final since the introduction of semi-finals to the contest in 2004

Final – 17 January 2016

R/O	Artist	Song	Jury	Televote	Total	Place
1	Adil Aarab	"In Our Nature"	79	80	159	3
2	Laura Tesoro	"What's the Pressure"	107	120	227	1
3	Tom Frantzis	"I'm Not Lost"	100	100	200	2
4	Astrid Destuyver	"Everybody Aches"	65	60	125	5
5	Amaryllis Uitterlinden	"Kick the Habit"	79	70	149	4

Detailed International Jury Votes

R/O	Song	Sweden	Azerbaijan	Greece	Latvia	France	Netherlands	United Kingdom	Montenegro	Ireland	Hungary	Total
1	"In Our Nature"	8	10	7	8	7	10	8	7	7	7	79
2	"What's the Pressure"	10	8	10	12	12	12	7	12	12	12	107
3	"I'm Not Lost"	12	12	12	10	10	8	12	8	8	8	100
4	"Everybody Aches"	6	6	8	7	8	6	6	6	6	6	65
5	"Kick the Habit"	7	7	6	6	6	7	10	10	10	10	79

Superfinal – 17 January 2016

R/O	Artist	Song	Place
1	Laura Tesoro	"What's the Pressure"	1
2	Tom Frantzis	"I'm Not Lost"	2

Viewing figures by show

Show	Date	Viewing figures		Ref.
		Nominal	Share
Showcase show 1	3 January 2016	984,772	38.1%	[18]
Showcase show 2	10 January 2016	964,112	35.8%
Final	17 January 2016	978,112	36.5%

In late February 2016, Laura Tesoro traveled to London to work with producer Peter Gordeno and make minor adjustments for the final Eurovision version of "What's the Pressure".^[19] In early March, Tesoro filmed the music video for the song at the Studio Manhattan in Leuven.^[20] The video was released to the public on 12 March.^[21]

Laura Tesoro's pre-contest promotion for "What's the Pressure" was focused in Belgium with television, radio and concert appearances. Tesoro announced that she would complete a summer concert tour with over thirty performance dates scheduled throughout Belgium; several concert dates were slated to occur prior to the Eurovision Song Contest.^[22] Tesoro performed at her first concert date on 13 March 2016 in Zottegem and later officially launched her tour on 12 April during a show at Club 27 in Edegem.^[23][24]