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The Netherlands bookies’ favourite for Eurovision 2019

Now that all songs are finalised, here's how the bookies see things in Tel Aviv.

This week marked the deadline for all songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

There are 41 entrants performing in Tel Aviv this year.

It’s still early days but the bookies are tipping 24-year-old singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence from The Netherlands to take it out with his ballad “Arcade.”

The Netherlands has won the contest four times, but not since 1975.

Russia’s Sergey Lazarev is polling second with “Scream” (yep, another ballad). Lazarev was placed third in 2016 with “You Are The Only One.”

Ever-popular Sweden is currently sitting in third place with the bookies thanks to John Lundvik’s uplifting “Too Late For Love.” He has also co-written the United Kingdom’s entry “Bigger Than Us”, to be performed by Michael Rice.

Next current faves are Switzerland, Cyprus, Italy, Iceland, Greece, Portugal, Norway, Malta and France.

Australia’s Kate Miller-Heidke is a long way back in polling, in 25th position at around 50 / 1. Ouch. Performing in Semi Final 1, it may be a challenge just to qualify this year….

Expect some changes once more performers are heard live in upcoming concerts, and staging is revealed.

Meanwhile rumours continue that Madonna may perform in Tel Aviv.

Canadian-Israeli billionaire has been apparently wooing the singer for months. “We’ve reached out to Madonna to try to add a little bit of glitz to the event. It’s looking very good that she’s going to come here and participate in the Eurovision Song Contest,” he said.

Eurovision takes place May 14 – 18 (finale May 19 in Australia on SBS).

5 Responses

  1. I have a huge question mark on the value of Netherlands as favourite. For everyone person who says they love the song in the fandom, there are 4 others commenting on his bum. The reason being is that he is nude in his filmclip. And a hefty majority of the fandom are gay.
    The song is good, but not great. His live performances show some distinct weakness in both connection/charisma to camera and some wobble on his vocal abilities at the start of the song and falsetto.

    My tip? Iceland. A highly divisive entry from a BDSM techno goth band, sung in Icelandic, about the fear of hate prevailing and the crumbling of society. The vocals are largely growled, it’s dark, but it’s also a genre new to the contest, a song of our terrible times and quite the spectacle behold. The group have been kicking around for a few years winning awards locally. They are also performance art and PR…

  2. I was really pro having Australia decide who we entered, it made more sense. But I have to say, watching the vote, the ones we got to choose from weren’t that great. When they showed us what didn’t make the top 10 I was surprised because there were some really great ones that I was far more interested in than what they presented to the country. I guess there really isn’t a way to include the whole country in the vote if we only get to choose from a very short list that someone else decided we should choose from. While I did love Kate’s performance I certainly don’t think it’s a winner so I understand it’s current low position. Maybe next time we could do a web vote on every song submitted, the top 10 from that get to perform and then we choose in a live vote? Aussie voters who have watched Eurovision for years know what a “Eurovision Win” looks like and sometimes, that’s…

  3. More accurately, it’s favourites of the punters or betting public. Be aware that Russia jumped high among the favourites once Sergey was announced even weeks before his song was released, and Sweden is permanently top 3 even a year out because of their record. Both have consolidated their spot despite enthusiasm not super high for their songs, especially Sergey’s. The Dutch song is easily the most appealing at the moment. The question is whether it can add a bit more on the stage, as typically you need something more than just a really nice song to win Eurovision.

  4. I don’t love it, but Sergey has a big following in eastern Europe and his song this time around is more jury friendly than his 2016 banger. He’s my tip for the win.
    While I appreciate the vocal ability in Kate’s song, I just think there is way to much going on in it for a three minute song and it just comes off feeling kinda messy.

    1. The jury loved Sergey in 2016 during the semi final, then deliberately voted him low in the final. He lost about 20 points despite double the amount of juries voting. Typically the top songs gain at about 100 points in the final. Australia got 132 more, for example, while Ukraine got about 80 more. If Russia got only a +25, they win.

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