The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Oslo, Norway. Selecting their song through the national final Nationaal Songfestival 2010, organised by Dutch broadcaster TROS. TROS has announced that the 2010 Eurovision entry will be composed by Pierre Kartner, with the singer selected through the Nationaal Songfestival contest. Kartner, also known as Father Abraham, is known for his song "The Smurf Song", which was a number one single in 16 countries, as well as writing the 1973 Eurovision entry for the Netherlands, "De oude muzikant" performed by Ben Cramer, which achieved 14th place. Kartner was also announced as the greatest Dutch composer by the Dutch Top 40For the first time since 1998 the Dutch song was performed in Dutch. In November a poll conducted by private broadcaster RTL 4 revealed that 86% of those polled would agree to a possible withdraw by the Netherlands due to the poor results received in past contests.
The competition featured five artists performing a candidate song especially written by Pierre Kartner for the 2010 contest. The winning artist was selected by the combination of votes from a four-member jury panel and the audience in the studio. Each jury member had an equal stake in the final result, and the audience vote had a weighting equal to the votes of a single jury member. In the event of a tie for the first place, the winner will be selected by Kartner. The four-member jury panel consisted of:
A demo version of the candidate song, "Ik ben verliefd ", was revealed on 18 December 2009 during radio show Gouden uren, aired on Radio 2. The five competing artists, which included four solo singers and an all-female group, were announced on 22 January 2010. The five artists were scouted and coached by well-known Dutch artists in preparation for the competition. The coaches consisted of Frans Bauer, Marianne Weber, Grad Damen, Corry Konings and Albert West.
Final
The final took place on 7 February 2010. The five competing acts performed the candidate Eurovision song, "Ik ben verliefd ", and the winner was selected by the votes of a four-member jury and the audience vote. As there was a tie for the first place where Sieneke and Loekz both received two votes each, the tie was resolved after Kartner cast one vote for one of the two artists. He first attempted to vote by flipping a coin, but after discovering that it was against the rules, Sieneke was selected as the winner.
Criticism
Criticism was voiced by Kartner's role in the Dutch national selection, amongst them Eric van Tijn, writer of two former Eurovision entries: "Vrede", performed by Ruth Jacott at the 1993 Contest, and "Hemel en aarde", performed by Edsilia Rombley at the 1998 Contest, who voiced his opinion that "Kartner has written some fantastic songs in the past, but that's way too long ago, if you ask me."
Before Eurovision
An enormous majority of Dutch press and fans had no high hopes for "Ik ben verliefd, Shalalie" at Eurovision, claiming it to be "too old-fashioned", blaming TROS for choosing Kartner to compose the Dutch song. However an incentive has been launched amongst regional Dutch radio stations in support for Sieneke and "Ik ben verliefd, Shalalie", with every station playing the song simultaneously on Thursday 18 February at 11:15 CET. The initiative has been supported by for Eurovision entrant for the Netherlands Marga Bult. Despite criticism "Ik ben verliefd " entered into the Dutch Single Top 100 at #13, as well as reaching #1 on the Dutch iTunes download chart. The following week, after the Dutch radio campaign, "Ik ben verliefd " went to #1 on the Single Top 100, becoming the first Dutch Eurovision song ever to reach #1 in the Netherlands.
At Eurovision
The Netherlands competed in the second semi-final of the contest on 27 May, performing in the second half of the draw. The Dutch commentators were Cornald Maas, the Dutch commentator since 2004, and radio DJ Daniel Dekker. The song did not progress to the final, the 29 points it received placed it 14th out of 17 competitors for 10 qualifying places.
Split results
In the Semi-final 2 Netherlands came 14th with 29 points: the public awarded Netherlands 11th place with 49 points and the jury awarded 14th place with 26 points.
