The Netherlands’ entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Festival in Malmo is a mainly-Dutch language song with a hardcore beat, which singer Joost Klein says is an ode to his father.

Klein was selected from more than 600 entries to represent the Netherlands and the number was described by the selection committee as “a hit that can take over Europe”. Hardcore DJ Paul Elstak was also involved in the composition, Stein said.

“It’s a kind of letter to my father,” Klein told tv presenter Arjan Lubach during an afternoon edition of his popular evening show. “He taught me that the world has no borders.” Klein lost both his parents as a teenager and ends the promotional video with a tribute to them.

In January, Klein won the Netherlands’s biggest popular music award, the Pop Prize 2023/ He had a number 1 hit last summer in Germany, Switzerland and Austria with his “happy hardcore” track Friesenjung.

Klein will be on stage in the second half of the second semi-final of Eurovision.