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Why we think Joost Klein will finish in the top 3 at the Eurovision Song Contest

By Tessa Heinhuis | #!31Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +0100+01:003631#31Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +0100+01:00-11Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam202431 04am31am-31Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +0100+01:0011Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam2024312024Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +01002311233amMonday=9#!31Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +0100+01:00Europe/Amsterdam3#03-04-2024#!31Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +0100+01:003631#/31Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +0100+01:00-11Europe/Amsterdam3131Europe/Amsterdam202431#!31Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:23:36 +0100+01:00Europe/Amsterdam3#

Joost Klein is in the top 10 of bookmakers for the Eurovision Song Contest with his hysterical song Europapa. I thought: you know what? I'm going to listen.

What did I think of it? Happy hardcore. Not my music genre. Did I think it was a nice song? No. Do I want to hear it again? Absolutely.

The song has now been viewed almost 5.3 million times on YouTube. And that's the thing: we're talking about it. Not just us in the Netherlands, but all over Europe(pa). According to the bookmakers, he could end up quite high. Will he win as an outsider against the biggest contender Croatia? You never know. He has something going for him. If you read the lyrics calmly, it seems like a cute Sinterklaas poem from a teenager.

Europe let’s come together!
(Euro-pa-pa, Euro-pa-pa)
It’s now or never!
I love you all!
(Euro-pa-pa, Euro-pa-pa)

Welcome to Europe
Stay here until I die
Euro-pa-pa, Euro-pa-pa

I looked and listened and thought only: what am I looking and listening to? What is this? What does this mean? Okay, it is something that can score at the biggest music event. That melody, that pressure, that vibe. It sticks with you. And it is a beautiful tribute to Dutch heritage, happy hardcore, then. Musically perhaps not the strongest song ever.

And just when I thought it was mostly happy hysteria, this ending came:

At the end of the day
We are all human
My father once told me
It’s a world without borders

I miss you every day
Is what I secretly whisper
See, I told you dad
I listened to you

Maybe it's because I'm a mother myself, and moreover very fond of my dear father, but I suddenly felt like crying. I looked it up: Joost's brother and sister are about fifteen years older. When Joost was in the first year of high school, he lost his father to cancer. Less than a year later, he suddenly lost his mother to a heart attack. As a teenager, he became an orphan. And now he stands on such a big stage. In his own way. And I think that's beautiful.

I wish him douze points.

Image: Avrotros