Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: The Netherlands.

Country: The Netherlands
Singer: Duncan Laurence
Song: Arcade
Personal Score: 3 out of 41
My Prediction: Q

Gun to my head: This is the Eurovision 2019 winner. I’m sure I’ll eat those words in no time but as of this moment, having heard all the songs and having heard most of them live, this is it.

There are a lot of ways to pick a winner at Eurovision but the pattern has been clear: if a girl wins then a boy wins the next year, if a happy song wins, a sad song wins the next year, absolutely memorable personality on and off stage, and personal connection, personal connection, personal connection!

We’ve had a really strong streak of winners with this criteria and this song and Italy’s song are the only two that really seem to fit the patterns and if I had to bet money: the jury is going to eat this song up with a spoon because Duncan Laurence’s vocals are spot on.

It’s hard to describe how his live performance of this song completely turned me around from “oh this is a song” to “HELL YES GO NETHERLANDS! MAKE THAT SAD BOY CRY!”

There is something powerful and beautiful about how his soft, lilting falsetto transitions into this extremely powerful orchestral moment and it makes me live orchestras at Eurovsion just a little. I think this song has the potential to really worm its way into peoples hearts and so I expect it to easily hit the top 5 at the very worst with a tentative “see you in Amsterdam next year” tacked on for good measure.