Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
After a couple of weak years, I’m very excited about Eurovision 2017, which takes place this week. There’s a diverse mix of contemporary pop styles and unusually few boring ballads, and although Italy has been a standout bookies’ fave, the contest still seems very open. I thought it would be tricky to pick a favourite, until I heard the Dutch entry, and my mind was immediately made up. The Netherlands’ best recent performance was with country duo The Common Linnets, and they’ve taken a similar approach with female trio OG3NE, winners of The Voice of Holland. Lights and Shadows starts simply but impressively, with beautiful harmonies and a folky melody – think Bellefire or The Corrs. It would be good enough if that’s all it was, but halfway through there’s a twist – it turns into an uplifting, sing-along pop anthem. It’s the musical equivalent of Bucks Fizz ripping off their skirts. You can see all the music videos and rehearsal clips for this year’s entries here – my other faves include Italy, Romania, Estonia, Sweden, Azerbaijan and F.Y.R. Macedonia.