Dutch pin their Eurovision hopes on gospel ballad ‘Grow’

The Netherlands’ entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Festival is being described variously as ‘not a traditional song contest entry’, ‘a gospel song’ and as having the ‘zap away factor’ since it was accidently leaked on Wednesday morning.

Grow, the song by Jeangu Macrooy was formally presented during the DWDD talk show early on Wednesday evening but was put on Apple’s streaming service by mistake on Wednesday morning for a short while.

‘Emotions, good and bad, are a universal language. I hope this song makes people feel a little less lonely in their search for happiness,’ Jeangu said.

The Netherlands is hosting the festival in May, after Duncan Laurence won last year with Arcade.

‘Normally the host country submits a weaker song so they don’t win two years in a row,’ song festival expert Michiel Sampon told RTL Nieuws. ‘I think that [broadcaster] Avrotros runs a minor risk that this might just happen.’

Nevertheless, one worry is the slow start to the song, Sampon said. ‘It is a difficult sort of music and you have to listen to the end.’