Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Eurosong 2014 was the national final that selected Belgium's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The competition consisted of two casting shows that took place on 2 and 9 February 2014, a Call Back round on 16 February 2014, three semi-finals on 23 February, 2 March and 9 March 2014 followed by a final on 16 March 2014 where the winning song and artist were selected. All shows were hosted by Eva Daeleman and Peter Van de Veire and broadcast on Eén.[1] This marked a return to a national final selection procedure by VRT, who last organised a televised multi-artist national final in 2008, opting instead for internal selections in the years between.[2]

Two casting shows were aired on 2 and 9 February 2014. Both shows were filmed on 3 December 2013. Thirty artists were given the opportunity to audition in front of a panel of four experts without an audience by performing a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song. Each show introduced fifteen artists and four directly proceeded to the semi-finals, while an additional four artists proceeded to the Call Back round.[3] The Call Back round took place on 16 February 2014, eight of the eliminated artists had another opportunity to advance and four proceeded to the semi-finals by the expert panel and public televoting. The semi-finals took place on 23 February, 3 March and 9 March 2014 where each artist presented their candidate Eurovision song. From each semi-final, four artists competed and two proceeded to the final by the expert panel and public televoting. The final took place on 16 March 2014 where the winner was chosen by seven international jury groups and public televoting.

During each of the seven shows, the expert panel provided commentary and feedback to the artists and selected entries to advance in the competition. These experts were:[4]

• Bart Peeters – singer and television presenter
• Piet Goddaer – musician known by his stage name Ozark Henry
• Jef Martens – musician and DJ known by various aliases such as Basto and Lazy Jay
• Ruslana – Ukrainian singer, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

VRT opened two separate applications forms: one for artists and another for lyricists and composers to submit their songs. Artists were able to apply to participate individually or in a group of up to six people, and were required to submit a video recording of them performing a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song. The submission deadline for artists and songs concluded on 14 October 2013 and 28 October 2013 respectively.[5] Thirty artists were selected and sixteen songs were selected and matched with the sixteen artists that proceeded to the semi-finals and Call Back round. The four contestants that failed to proceed from the Call Back round (White Bird, Jessy, Mr. Jones and Joyce) did not perform their candidate songs.[6]

The first casting show aired on 2 February 2014 at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.[7] Ruslana was unable to attend due to her involvement in the pro-European Union protests in Ukraine. Each artist performed a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song and the expert panel selected four to directly proceed to the semi-finals and four to proceed to the Call Back round.[4]

1.^ Performed as "Sister" by the original artist.

The second casting show aired on 9 February 2014 at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.[8] Ruslana was unable to attend due to her involvement in the pro-European Union protests in Ukraine. Each artist performed a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song and the expert panel selected four to directly proceed to the semi-finals and four to proceed to the Call Back round.[4]

The Call Back round took place on 9 February 2014 at the Videohouse in Vilvoorde. Each artist performed a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song and the expert panel and a public televote determined the top four to proceed to the semi-finals.[5][9]

2.^ Medley of "Anne" originally performed by Clouseau (from the 1989 Belgian national final), "Jennifer Jennings" originally performed by Louis Neefs and "Only Teardrops" originally performed by Emmelie de Forest.

The first semi-final took place on 23 February 2014 at the Videohouse in Vilvoorde. Each artist performed their candidate song for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest and the expert panel and a public televote determined the top four to proceed to the final.

The second semi-final took place on 2 March 2014 at the Videohouse in Vilvoorde. Each artist performed their candidate song for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest and the expert panel and a public televote determined the top four to proceed to the final.

The third semi-final took place on 9 March 2014 at the Videohouse in Vilvoorde. Each artist performed their candidate song for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest and the expert panel and a public televote determined the top four to proceed to the final.

The final took place on 16 March 2014 at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp.[4] The expert panel participated in the final solely in an advisory role. Seven international jury groups consisting of five members each and a public televote determined the winner, "Mother" performed by Axel Hirsoux.[11] The public and the jury each had a total of 280 points to award. Each jury group awarded points as follows: 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points. The public vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through the following voting methods: SMS and online voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the public vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 280 points: 28 points.[12][13]

Detailed International Jury Votes
Draw	Song								Total
1	"Need You Tonight"	12	12	10	8	8	8		58
2	"What's The Time In Tokyo"	4		4	6	6	6	6	32
3	"Hero (In Flanders Fields)"	6	4				4	8	22
4	"One"		6	8	4	10	10	4	42
5	"Nothing Is Impossible"	10	10	6	12	4		10	52
6	"Mother"	8	8	12	10	12	12	12	74

The following five members comprise the Belgian jury:[20]

• Bob Savenberg – Chairperson – musician, singer, producer, artist, manager, represented Belgium in the 1991 Contest as part of Clouseau
• Laura van den Bruel (Iris) – singer, represented Belgium in the 2012 Contest
• Roos van Acker – radio DJ, television host, artist
• Yannic Fonderie – music producer, composer
• Wouter Van der Veken – music producer, composer, label manager

The Belgian votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.[21]

Semi-final 1 – Belgian Results
Draw	Country	B. Savenberg	L. Van den Bruel	R. van Acker	Y. Fonderie	W. Van der Veken	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Armenia	13	15	14	14	15	15	1	8	3
02	Latvia	5	14	11	9	5	9	6	6	5
03	Estonia	6	8	10	13	6	8	13	11
04	Sweden	1	1	9	2	3	2	5	3	8
05	Iceland	15	12	2	3	1	5	10	7	4
06	Albania	4	9	8	5	14	7	9	9	2
07	Russia	8	5	12	4	9	6	12	10	1
08	Azerbaijan	11	6	13	10	8	11	14	14
09	Ukraine	3	4	4	6	7	3	7	4	7
10	Belgium
11	Moldova	14	11	7	7	12	12	15	15
12	San Marino	10	13	6	15	13	14	8	12
13	Portugal	12	7	5	11	10	10	4	5	6
14	Netherlands	9	2	3	8	2	4	2	2	10
15	Montenegro	7	10	15	12	11	13	11	13
16	Hungary	2	3	1	1	4	1	3	1	12

The Belgian votes in the grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.[22]

Final – Belgian Results
Draw	Country	B. Savenberg	L. Van den Bruel	R. van Acker	Y. Fonderie	W. Van der Veken	Average Jury Rank	Televote Rank	Combined Rank	Scoreboard (Points)
01	Ukraine	1	11	7	5	6	5	13	7	4
02	Belarus	19	17	26	9	17	17	23	22
03	Azerbaijan	18	16	22	11	8	16	26	24
04	Iceland	26	12	6	6	5	11	16	13
05	Norway	16	18	20	17	20	18	10	14
06	Romania	8	7	17	18	16	13	5	6	5
07	Armenia	21	26	25	24	19	25	1	11
08	Montenegro	20	19	18	15	22	19	24	25
09	Poland	25	25	24	25	26	26	4	16
10	Greece	24	20	15	22	25	23	7	17
11	Austria	7	6	1	7	1	3	3	1	12
12	Germany	17	15	13	19	10	15	20	19
13	Sweden	3	2	10	2	2	1	6	2	10
14	France	23	24	23	20	9	21	21	23
15	Russia	9	14	14	12	15	12	15	12
16	Italy	22	21	19	21	21	22	18	21
17	Slovenia	14	13	12	10	18	14	25	20
18	Finland	5	8	8	3	3	4	14	8	3
19	Spain	13	3	9	14	12	10	9	9	2
20	Switzerland	11	23	16	23	23	20	12	18
21	Hungary	2	9	3	1	7	2	8	4	7
22	Malta	12	5	2	16	11	9	19	15
23	Denmark	6	10	4	8	4	6	11	5	6
24	Netherlands	10	4	5	13	13	8	2	3	8
25	San Marino	15	22	21	26	24	24	22	26
26	United Kingdom	4	1	11	4	14	7	17	10	1