The Netherlands at Instaglobal Song Contest 15

The Netherlands participated in the 15th Instaglobal Song Contest, also the 15th time for the country to do so. The entry was chosen by a national final called *Nederlands Songfestival*, a name that was used for the fifth time. Rondé won the selection with the song 'Naturally'. The band eventually qualified for the final in Instaglobal, where it received 70 points, enough for a 24th place out of 28 finalists.

After Chinooks comeback to the final and the selection of Nightwish for SCC last edition, the Dutch Instaglobal Delegation saw that the people no longer wanted more used artists on stage. Therefore, the delegation asked for a new format to be made by broadcaster AVROTROS. '*Nederlands Songfestival V* should be different again, but shall return to its roots' was the statement made by the Dutch Head of Delegation.

## Nederlands Songfestival V

### Format

For this edition, AVROTROS was looking for five artists. These artists should all submit two songs. Artists with only one song could not enter. The five selected artists all got their own battle before the final in the Song Selection Round. The most voted song would qualify for the final, where the winner would be selected out of the five winners.

### Participants

After an open call, the selected artists were:

1. **Boris**: Boris Titulaer was the winner of the second edition of *Idols*. He also already participated in *Nederlands Songfestival IV* under the name Bo Saris with 'She's On Fire', coming completely last. The two selected songs for this edition were more modern than 'She's On Fire'.
2. **Kensington**: the famous band Kensington also already participated before at *Nederlands Songfestival,* coming fourth in the second edition. The band only grew in popularity, making the boys eager to take another shot for Instaglobal.
3. **Rondé**: the only newcomer Rondé were invited by AVROTROS to send in songs for the open call. They would eventually become the only artist/band out of the five finalists that has a female singer.
4. **Thomas Azier**: Thomas Azier, wasn't invited but reacted by himself. Thomas already participated in the fourth heat of *Nederlands Songfestival III*, but couldn't qualify for the final then.
5. **Waylon**: once part of the Common Linnets, now making his own music again. Waylon already participated at *Nederlands Songfestival* before, in the same edition as Kensington but only coming 8th. This edition should improve that.

### Voting

During the Song Selection Round, Instaglobal delegations could easily just vote for their favourite song out of the two songs from each artist. After the voting period was over, only the winning songs were announced.

At the final, Instaglobal delegations could vote again by dividing 100 points among the five songs. The voting delegations were all split into voting groups of four countries at the presentation of the votes, meaning each group divided 400 points. There were eventually seven groups, meaning a total of 2800 points should decide who's going to represent the Netherlands in Santorini, Greece.

### Results:

#### Song Selection Round:

Song titles in bold were the selected songs for the final.

#### Final

In gold: the winner of *Nederlands Songfestival V*

#### Results by voting groups:

Voting groups were categorised as followed:

1. **Northern Europe**: Denmark, Iceland, Latvia and Norway.
2. **Balkans**: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary and Kosovo.
3. **Americas**: Canada, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States.
4. **South-Eastern Europe**: Bulgaria, Greece, Lebanon and Turkey.
5. **Asia, Africa and Oceania**: Australia, Kazakhstan, Morocco and South Africa.
6. **Central- and Eastern Europe**: Germany, Poland, Switzerland and Ukraine.
7. **Western Europe**: Belgium, France, Ireland and United Kingdom.

## At Instaglobal

In Santorini, Rondé had to perform in the second semi-final, third in the evening (after Serbia and before Japan). Rondé just qualified automatically by becoming 7th with 66 points. In the final, the band performed fourth, after United Kingdom and before Kosovo. With 70 points (including two 12's from Turkey and Taiwan), Rondé ended up at the 24th place out of the 28 participants.

### Points rewarded to the Netherlands

Semi-final
 5 points
 * Belgium
* Brazil
* France
* Norway

Final
* Turkey
* Estonia
 5 points
 * Norway
* Ukraine
* Switzerland

### At Second Chance

The Netherlands didn't participate at the fifth Second Chance Contest due to the bad results in the previous editions (both not qualifying for the final).