Jonathan Currinn
On the 18 March 2020, it was officially announced that the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 had been cancelled, which means all these amazing songs won’t get their chance to shine on the Eurovision stage and some acts may not even get the chance to represent their country. The Netherlands had chosen Jeangu Macrooy through internal selection on 10 January 2020 and later, they revealed his song “Grow” on 4 March 2020. The Netherlands have confirmed that Jeangu Macrooy will represent them at the next Eurovision Song Contest. As we await the 2021 contest, we will make sure that every song in the cancelled contest gets its time to shine, here on CelebMix.
This song has been written by Jeangu Macrooy, himself, and has been produced Perquisite. It’s a grower of a song – pun intended – and really has this historical soul mixed with a bit of indie and R&B. The lyrics are powerful, making a statement that he’s afraid of the world and he’s not where he hoped to be, but that’s okay and he will be okay – just like we all will be with this COVID-19 pandemic, we’ll all make it through. The music video adds to the song’s meaning, giving a brilliant and intriguing narrative that certainly draws the audience in. We’re not so sure how it would’ve done at Eurovision, but we truly believe that it would’ve been all down to the stage concept.
Watch Jeangu Macrooy’s Music Video To What Would’ve Been His Eurovision 2020 Song “Grow” Here:
The Netherlands were set to host this year’s contest after finally winning last year with Duncan Laurence singing “Arcade”. They hadn’t won in over 40 years so they clearly proved that you can go on to win even if you haven’t done so for many years. They’ve done moderately well in recent years, thanks to Anouk with “Birds” that broke their non-qualification to the Grand Final streak of eight consecutive years, with the closest to winning being in 2014 when The Common Linnets represented the country with the unstoppable song “Calm Before The Storm”. It is unknown whether The Netherlands will host in 2021, but we presume they will do so, but maybe the real question is whether Jeangu Macrooy can follow in Duncan Laurence’s success and bag a back-to-back win?
Eurovision 2020 may be cancelled but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate it this year, it doesn’t mean we can’t listen to the songs, and it doesn’t mean we forget about the artists either. Join us here on CelebMix this year as we continue the Eurovision party in the coming months whilst we’re all staying at home, looking after ourselves, and doing our best to stop the coronavirus. So why not check out the other acts from this year who would’ve been on the Eurovision 2020 stage, such as Blas Cantó for Spain, Hooverphonic for Belgium, VICTORIA for Bulgaria, Sandro for Cyprus, Vincent Bueno for Austria, Arilena Ara for Albania, Tornike Kipiani for Georgia, Jeangu Macrooy for the Netherlands, Vasil for North Macedonia, Tom Leeb for France, Benny Cristo for the Czech Republic, Eden Alene for Israel, Stefania for Greece, Montaigne for Australia, Samanta Tina for Latvia, Diodato for Italy, Destiny Chukunyere for Malta, Roxen for Romania, THE ROOP for Lithuania, Ulrikke Brandstorp for Norway, Athena Manoukian for Armenia, Alicja Szemplinska for Poland, James Newman for the UK, Samira Efendi for Azerbaijan, Ana Soklic for Slovenia, Ben Dolic for Germany, Uku Suviste for Estonia, Daði og Gagnamagnið for Iceland, Natalie Gordienko for Moldova, Ben & Tan for Denmark, Roxen for Romania, Gjon’s Tears for Switzerland, Go_A for Ukraine, The Mamas for Sweden, VAL for Belarus, Senhit for San Marino, Damir Kedzo for Croatia, Lesley Roy for Ireland, Aksel for Finland, Elisa for Portugal, and Little Big for Russia.
The 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest would have been hosted at the Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam, The Netherlands after Duncan Laurence won the 2019 contest with the song “Arcade”. The two Semi-Finals would have taken place on 12 May 2020 and 14 May 2020, with the Grand Final on 16 May 2020. A total of 41 countries would’ve competed in the contest.
