Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025
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NetherlandsSong: 27 February 2025
| Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2025 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | AVROTROS | |||
| Country | Netherlands | |||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Announcement date | Artist: 19 December 2024 Song: 27 February 2025 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "C'est la vie" | |||
| Artist | Claude | |||
| Songwriters |
| |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Qualified (3rd, 121 points) | |||
| Final result | 12th, 175 points | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Netherlands was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 with the song "C'est la vie", written by Arno Krabman, Claude Kiambe, Joren van der Voort, and Léon Paul Palmen, and performed by Claude himself. The Dutch participating broadcaster, AVROTROS, internally selected its entry for the contest. Claude's appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 19 December 2024, while the song, "C'est la vie", was presented to the public on 27 February 2025.
The Netherlands was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 13 May 2025. Performing during the show in position 13, "C'est la vie" was announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 17 May. It was later revealed that the Netherlands placed third out of the 17 participating countries in the semi-final with 121 points. In the final, the Netherlands performed in position 12 and placed twelfth out of the 26 participating countries, scoring 175 points.
Prior to the 2025 contest, AVROTROS and its predecessor national broadcasters had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing the Netherlands sixty-four times since NTS's debut in the inaugural contest in 1956. Since then, they had won the event five times: in 1957 with the song "Net als toen" performed by Corry Brokken, in 1959 with the song "'n Beetje" by Teddy Scholten, in 1969 as one of four countries to tie for first place with "De troubadour" by Lenny Kuhr, in 1975 with "Ding-a-dong" by the group Teach-In, and in 2019 with "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, they had featured in nine finals. They ended last on five occasions, most recently in the second semi-final of the 2011 contest.[1] In 2024, "Europapa" by Joost Klein placed second in its semi-final and qualified for the final, but was disqualified due to a backstage incident involving Klein and a production staff member.[2] This incident was subsequently investigated by Swedish prosecutors, who later dropped the case after concluding that no criminal conduct could be proven.[3]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, AVROTROS organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster has used various methods to select the Dutch entry in the past, such as the Nationaal Songfestival, a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. Internal selections have also been held on occasion, including every year since 2013.[4] On 23 October 2024, AVROTROS confirmed its participation in the 2025 contest, announcing that it would continue to internally select its entry after Klein declined its offer to represent the Netherlands for a second consecutive time.[5]
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
A submission period was opened by AVROTROS on 23 October 2024 where artists and composers were able to submit their entries until 22 November 2024. Artists had to be affiliated with a record company or label and have recent stage experience, while songwriters were not required to indicate a performer for their song, who would be selected afterwards; however, precedence would be given to complete submissions. Each artist and songwriter was able to submit a maximum of three songs.[6] 331 submissions were received by the broadcaster at the closing of the deadline, and among the artists involved included former Dutch Eurovision entrants Gerard Joling (1988), Anouk (2013) and Douwe Bob (2016).[7][8]
On 19 December 2024, AVROTROS announced that it had selected Claude to represent the Netherlands at the 2025 contest.[9] The selection of Claude as the Dutch representative was carried out by a committee consisting of singers Jacqueline Govaert and Jaap Reesema, radio DJs Carolien Borgers, Hila Noorzai and Sander Lantinga, and television host and author Cornald Maas, following a final audition round featuring a shortlist of six acts, including singers Judith van Hirtum and Paul Morris, that took place on 9 December 2024.[10][11][12] During an interview on the NPO 1 talk show Eva the same day the artist announcement occurred, Claude revealed that his Eurovision song was written by himself together with Arno Krabman, Joren van der Voort and Léon Paul Palmen.[13] The song, titled "C'est la vie", was released on 27 February 2025 but was leaked online in its entirety the day prior to the reveal.[14][15]
