Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Country	Belgium
National selection
Selection process	Internal Selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: 3 November 2014 Song: 10 March 2015
Selected entrant	Loïc Nottet
Selected song	"Rhythm Inside"
Selected songwriter(s)	Loïc Nottet Beverly Jo Scott
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Qualified (2nd, 149 points)
Final result	4th, 217 points
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2014 • 2015 • 2016►

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song "Rhythm Inside", written by Loïc Nottet and Beverly Jo Scott. The song was performed by Loïc Nottet, who was selected by the Belgian broadcaster Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF) in November 2014 to represent the nation at the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. "Rhythm Inside" was internally selected as the song Loïc Nottet would perform at Eurovision and later premiered in March 2015. In the first of the Eurovision semi-finals "Rhythm Inside" placed second out of the 16 participating countries, securing its place among the 27 other songs in the final. In Belgium's fifty-seventh Eurovision appearance on 23 May, "Rhythm Inside" finished in fourth place, receiving 217 points and full marks from three countries.

Background

Prior to the 2015 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-six times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest.^[1] Since then, the country has 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 three finals. In 2014, Axel Hirsoux represented the country with the song "Mother", placing fourteenth in the semi-finals and failing to advance to the final.

The Belgian broadcaster for the 2015 Contest, who broadcast the event in Belgium and organised the selection process for its entry, was Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF).^[2] The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: RTBF and Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT). Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections. In 2013, RTBF internally selected the winner of the most recent series of The Voice Belgique, Roberto Bellarosa to represent the nation, while in 2014, VRT organised the national final Eurosong in order to select the Belgian entry.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

RTBF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 June 2014.^[3] On 3 November 2014, the broadcaster announced that they had internally selected Loïc Nottet to represent Belgium in Vienna.^[4] Loïc Nottet was the runner-up in the third series of The Voice Belgique, which is organised by RTBF.^[4]

On 10 March 2015, RTBF held a press conference at the Maison de Vienne in Brussels, where the song "Rhythm Inside" was announced as the Belgian entry for the contest.^[5][6] The song was written by Loïc Nottet himself along with his The Voice Belgique coach Beverly Jo Scott.^[6] On the same day, "Rhythm Inside" was presented on the radio shows Le 8/9 and Le 5 à 7 on VivaCité and the official music video for the song was broadcast during The Voice Belgique on La Une.^[7] In March 2015, Nottet performed the song live on the radio stations Qmusic and Joe FM.^[8] The song's first live televised performance occurred on 6 May 2015 during The Voice Belgique.^[9]

At Eurovision

Loïc Nottet during a press meet and greet

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation.^[10] The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.^[11] On 26 January 2015, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Belgium was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 19 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.^[12]

Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belgium was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from the Netherlands.^[13]

All three shows were broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. RTBF televised the shows on La Une with commentary in French by Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys.^[14] The final was also broadcast via radio on VivaCité with French commentary by Olivier Gilain.^[15] VRT broadcast the shows on één and Radio 2 with commentary in Dutch by Peter Van de Veire and Eva Daeleman.^[16] The Belgian spokesperson, who announced the Belgian votes during the final, was television presenter Walid.^[17]

Semi-final

Loïc Nottet at a dress rehearsal for the first semi-final

Nottet took part in technical rehearsals on 11 and 15 May,^[18][19] followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.^[20]

The stage show featured Loïc Nottet dressed in a black suit and five backing vocalists dressed in white costumes. The staging concept involved the contrasts of black and white with strobe lighting added and the background LED screens transitioning between full white displays, moving white lines and pulsating 3D boxes. Nottet and the backing vocalists performed a choreographed routine that at one point featured Nottet lying on the stage floor.^[18][19] The five backing vocalists that joined Loïc Nottet on stage were Katie Bernstein, Michael Storrs, Susanna Cork, Sarah Covey and previous Belgian Eurovision contestant Nicolas Dorian, who represented the nation in 2011 as part of Witloof Bay.^[21]

At the end of the show, Belgium was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final.^[22] It was later revealed that Belgium placed second in the semi-final, receiving a total of 149 points.^[2]

Final

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Belgium was drawn to compete in the first half.^[23] Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Belgium was subsequently placed to perform in position 13, following the entry from Australia and before the entry from Austria.^[24]

Loïc Nottet once again took part in dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show.^[25] Nottet performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 23 May. At the conclusion of the voting, Belgium finished in fourth place with 217 points, making it the most successful result for Belgium in the contest since the nation placed second in 2003. Belgium received 12 points, the maximum number of points a country can give to another country, from three countries.^[26][27]

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.^[28]

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belgium had placed fourth with the public televote and fifth with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Belgium scored 195 points, while with the jury vote, Belgium scored 186 points.^[29] In the first semi-final, Belgium placed third with the public televote with 112 points and second with the jury vote, scoring 139 points.^[30]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:^{[2][27][31][32]}

Points awarded to Belgium

Points awarded by Belgium

Semi-final 1 12 points  Armenia 10 points  Albania 8 points  Russia 7 points  Romania 6 points  Netherlands 5 points  Estonia 4 points  Hungary 3 points  Greece 2 points  Georgia 1 point  Denmark

Final 12 points  Sweden 10 points  Russia 8 points  Italy 7 points  Latvia 6 points  Albania 5 points  Romania 4 points  Australia 3 points  Armenia 2 points  Estonia 1 point  Georgia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Belgian jury:^[28]

• Michel Gudanski – Chairperson – producer
• Candice Wachel – manager, producer
• Florence Huby – singer, represented Belgium in the 2011 contest as part of Witloof Bay
• Etienne Debaisieux – singer, represented Belgium in the 2011 contest as part of Witloof Bay (jury member in Semi-final 1)
• Roberto Bellarosa – singer, represented Belgium in the 2013 contest (jury member in the Final)
• Marc Radelet – manager, press agent, coordinator

Split voting results from Belgium (Semi-final 1)
Draw	Country	M. Gudanski	C. Wachel	F. Huby	E. Debaisieux	M. Radelet	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Moldova	12	11	11	15	11	13	13	14
02	Armenia	5	6	4	2	12	4	1	1	12
03	Belgium
04	Netherlands	13	9	6	10	9	10	2	5	6
05	Finland	11	14	13	8	14	12	10	12
06	Greece	10	4	9	4	7	6	9	8	3
07	Estonia	2	7	12	13	4	9	3	6	5
08	Macedonia	14	13	14	12	13	14	15	15
09	Serbia	15	15	15	14	15	15	6	11
10	Hungary	4	1	3	1	1	1	11	7	4
11	Belarus	9	10	8	11	10	11	14	13
12	Russia	3	2	1	3	2	2	7	3	8
13	Denmark	7	8	7	6	6	7	12	10	1
14	Albania	8	3	2	7	3	3	4	2	10
15	Romania	1	12	5	5	8	5	5	4	7
16	Georgia	6	5	10	9	5	8	8	9	2

Split voting results from Belgium (Final)
Draw	Country	M. Gudanski	M. Giart	F. Huby	R. Bellarosa	M. Radelet	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Slovenia	2	17	16	21	14	15	24	23
02	France	24	26	25	24	24	24	15	22
03	Israel	16	14	24	23	21	23	8	15
04	Estonia	4	6	18	16	15	13	9	9	2
05	United Kingdom	19	25	15	20	18	21	23	26
06	Armenia	22	11	9	18	13	16	5	8	3
07	Lithuania	25	24	23	26	25	25	18	24
08	Serbia	26	23	26	25	26	26	13	21
09	Norway	3	7	17	22	17	14	17	16
10	Sweden	10	3	6	6	6	3	2	1	12
11	Cyprus	14	15	5	14	9	12	22	18
12	Australia	15	10	2	3	2	4	12	7	4
13	Belgium
14	Austria	7	13	7	9	5	6	26	17
15	Greece	23	20	20	15	20	22	16	20
16	Montenegro	12	19	22	13	19	18	25	25
17	Germany	11	5	3	10	3	5	19	11
18	Poland	21	22	19	17	16	20	6	12
19	Latvia	1	1	1	2	1	1	11	4	7
20	Romania	5	4	12	8	12	7	7	6	5
21	Spain	20	16	21	7	22	19	10	13
22	Hungary	8	8	10	19	8	9	21	14
23	Georgia	17	9	13	5	7	8	14	10	1
24	Azerbaijan	18	21	8	12	23	17	20	19
25	Russia	9	2	4	1	4	2	4	2	10
26	Albania	6	18	11	11	10	11	3	5	6
27	Italy	13	12	14	4	11	10	1	3	8

References

Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Artists 1950s Fud Leclerc Mony Marc Bobbejaan Schoepen Fud Leclerc Bob Benny 1960s Fud Leclerc Bob Benny Fud Leclerc Jacques Raymond Robert Cogoi Lize Marke Tonia Louis Neefs Claude Lombard Louis Neefs 1970s Jean Vallée Lily Castel & Jacques Raymond Serge & Christine Ghisoland Nicole & Hugo Jacques Hustin Ann Christy Pierre Rapsat Dream Express Jean Vallée Micha Marah 1980s Telex Emly Starr Stella Pas de Deux Jacques Zegers Linda Lepomme Sandra Kim Liliane Saint-Pierre Reynaert Ingeborg 1990s Philippe Lafontaine Clouseau Morgane Barbara Dex 1994 Frédéric Etherlinck Lisa del Bo 1997 Mélanie Cohl Vanessa Chinitor 2000s Nathalie Sorce 2001 Sergio & The Ladies Urban Trad Xandee Nuno Resende Kate Ryan The KMG's Ishtar Patrick Ouchène 2010s Tom Dice Witloof Bay Iris Roberto Bellarosa Axel Hirsoux Loïc Nottet Laura Tesoro Blanche
Songs 1950s "Messieurs les noyés de la Seine" "Le plus beau jour de ma vie" "Straatdeuntje" "Ma petite chatte" "Hou toch van mij" 1960s "Mon amour pour toi" "September, gouden roos" "Ton nom" "Waarom?" "Près de ma rivière" "Als het weer lente is" "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel" "Ik heb zorgen" "Quand tu reviendras" "Jennifer Jennings" 1970s "Viens l'oublier" "Goeiemorgen, morgen" "À la folie ou pas du tout" "Baby, Baby" "Fleur de liberté" "Gelukkig zijn" "Judy et Cie" "A Million in One, Two, Three" "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" "Hey Nana" 1980s "Euro-Vision" "Samson" "Si tu aimes ma musique" "Rendez-vous" "Avanti la vie" "Laat me nu gaan" "J'aime la vie" "Soldiers of Love" "Laissez briller le soleil" "Door de wind" 1990s "Macédomienne" "Geef het op" "Nous, on veut des violons" "Iemand als jij" 1994 "La voix est libre" "Liefde is een kaartspel" 1997 "Dis oui" "Like The Wind" 2000s "Envie de vivre" 2001 "Sister" "Sanomi" "1 Life" "Le grand soir" "Je t'adore" "Love Power" "O Julissi" "Copycat" 2010s "Me and My Guitar" "With Love Baby" "Would You?" "Love Kills" "Mother" "Rhythm Inside" "What's the Pressure"
(Note: Entries scored out are when Belgium did not compete)