The Netherlands at Instaglobal Song Contest 16

The Netherlands participated in the Instaglobal Song Contest 16, making it the sixteenth time the country appeared on the event. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS was responsible for the Dutch entry. The entry was chosen by a national selection called *Nederlands Songfestival.* It's the sixth time in a row that the Netherlands chose this name for its national selection. The selection was convincingly won by Krystl with "Losing My Head", meaning she represented the Netherlands in the contest. There, she qualified for the final and reached an 18th place out of 28 finalists.

After a not so great, but expected by the audiences, result of Rondé the previous edition, the Dutch broadcaster was looking again for new talent for the next year. The delegation was glad to see the country qualifying twice after two non-qualifications and hoped that this would ultimately lead again to even better results in the future.

## Nederlands Songfestival VI

### Format

AVROTROS chose again for a different format. This time it went back to the format of *Nederlands Songfestival IV*, but with a different voting system and no superfinal. Out of an open call for songs, eight acts were selected. They would all sing their song in the televised final, and after that a province jury and an Instaglobal jury (consisting of delegations from other Instaglobal countries) would decide who's the winner of *Nederlands Songfestival VI* and the Dutch entry for IGC 16 in Poznań.

### Participants

The eight participants were all new to the Instaglobal scene. There were two songs in Dutch again, after having only songs in English the previous editon: Pieter van der Zweep with "Dansen" and Eefje de Visser with "Scheef". However, the bookmakers didn't see a chance of winning for these entries. There eyes were mostly focussed on the duo Shermanology, who already gained victories with their song in other contests, and Krystl, who made a big impression by adding modern dancing to her performance.

Dangerous outsiders would be the dj-duo Yellow Claw (in co-operation with Yade Lauren) and Alban Ramosaj, who brought the first non-Dutch or non-English song to *Nederlands Songfestival* (singing in Albanian). The last two artists that competed were Caro Emerald and Di-Rect: both had already big successes in the Netherlands and abroad.

### Voting

AVROTROS chose to go back to the voting system of the IGC itself (like it used to have in *Nederlands Songfestival II*), but adapted it to the format of eight contestants. Instead of 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points people could vote with 1-2-4-6-8-10-12, giving points to seven artists and leaving one artist pointless.

Also new was the introduction of the province jury: 12 jury panels from the twelve Dutch provinces gave all their own set of points like described above. Next with the province jury panels there were also 28 jury panels from participating Instaglobal countries, all giving their own set of points as well. In this way, there were 40 jury panels in total giving their set of points, split up in two separate groups (the 'province jury' and the 'Instaglobal jury').

### Results

After all the juries set their votes, the juries from the province jury were called up individually. Every province had their own spokesperson that showed the points of their province. The spokespersons were all famous Dutch people that were born in the province they gave the points for.

After the province jury, it was the Instaglobal jury's turn to show their points. The Instaglobal jury panels weren't called up individually, but their points were already added up together by AVROTROS. The results of the Instaglobal jury were given as one, starting with the artists that got the least amount of points. At the end, the entry with the most points was awarded the winner.

Krystl was on first place after the province jury voted, but with only a margin of 1 point with Yellow Claw and Yade Lauren. Shermanology stood third with only 8 points behind Krystl. However, Krystl was also first with the Instaglobal jury votes, even with a way bigger margin. The Instaglobal jury also gave only a fourth place to Shermanology: something that created a big shock moment in the audience. Alban Ramosaj came third, Yellow Claw and Yade Lauren second. In the end this didn't have had any effect on the final result: the top three of the province jury stayed unharmed in their position.

#### Results table

In gold: the winner of *Nederlands Songfestival VI*

In silver: the runner-up (going to Instaglobal Second Chance)

#### Spokespersons

**Drenthe**: Don Diablo (musician, participated in *Nederlands Songfestival II*)

**Flevoland**: Edsilia Rombley (singer)

**Friesland**: Doutzen Kroes (model)

**Gelderland**: Sieneke (singer)

**Groningen**: Arjen Lubach (comedian, tv-host and producer)

**Limburg**: Chantal Janzen (musical actress, singer and tv-host)

**North** **Brabant**: Lenny Kuhr (singer)

**North** **Holland**: Douwe Bob (singer, participated in *Nederlands Songfestival I*)

**Overijssel**: Ilse DeLange (singer, Dutch representative at Instaglobal 2 as part of The Common Linnets)

**South** **Holland**: Anouk (singer, Dutch representative at Instaglobal Second Chance 1 and participated in *Nederlands Songfestival II*)

**Utrecht**: Tineke Schouten (comedian)

**Zeeland**: Patrick Lodiers (tv- and radio-host)

## At Instaglobal

Krystl had to perform at Instaglobal 16 in the second semi-final. She performed 7th, after Jamaica and before Morocco. She qualified automatically for the final with 75 points and a 6th place. In the final, Krystl had to perform 12th, after Mexico and before Belgium. Even though she received the maximum twelve points four times (from Norway, Italy, Taiwan and Cuba: this made her in the top 6 of countries that received most 12 points), she only gained 97 points in total. This left her on an 18th place. It was the first time since the eleventh edition that the Dutch entry came into the top 20.

### Points rewarded to the Netherlands

Semi-final
* Italy
* Norway
 5 points
 * Russia
* Poland
* Spain
* Romania
* Sweden

Final
* Italy
* Norway
* Taiwan
* Ukraine
 * Azerbaijan
* Iceland
* Portugal
* Czech Republic
* Switzerland
* Greece
* Lebanon
* Spain

### At Second Chance

The Netherlands came back at Instaglobal Second Chance 6 after being absent for one edition. Yellow Claw and Yade Lauren were representing the country with "Invitation", the song that came second after Krystl in *Nederlands Songfestival VI*. The formation qualified succesfully for the final, coming third with 117 points. In the final, they repeated their result by coming third again, this time gaining 131 points. It was the first time since Instaglobal 11 the country got in the top 5 of an Instaglobal event, and the best result in an Instaglobal event ever.