2020 is the turn of the broadcaster Vlaamse Radio -en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) to select Belgium’s song for Eurovision. VRT represent the Flemish speaking side of all things Belgium and have sent past artists like Tom Dice, Laura Tesoro and Sennek. Some hits, some misses.
VRT were out of the blocks early by announcing in October 2019 that the band Hooverphonic would be artist selected to go to Rotterdam the following year. They are a very well established band with a career spanning some 25 years. The band has had various incarnations during this time but the current line up is Alex Callier (bass guitar, keyboard) , Raymond Geerts (lead guitar) and Luka Cruysberghs (lead vocal).
A band with such a long history is hard to describe as being in any one musical style, though their recent releases lean towards ambient pop and electro pop. Songs of note include Mad About You, 2Wicky and Eden. Fans got particularly excited for Hooverphonic’s prospects at Eurovision when seeing a recent music video for their very radio friendly song called “Looking for Stars” from 2019, check it out here (warning, it's a long one).
So with much expectation, on 17 February came the eventual release of Hooverphonic’s song for Eurovision 2020 called “Release Me” .
Too be honest, it’s a bit disappointing. Was it the high expectations? Although the song is quite obviously true to their style, it is almost so ambient that it could get lost in the context of Eurovision. However, some exceptional staging could create an “atmosphere” that could attract some votes from the public.
A lot of fans have mentioned the “bond theme” aspects and overall “Release Me” feels like a much poorer version of their successful song “Mad About You”.
Belgium have failed to qualify for the Eurovision final for the past two years with 2018 entry Sennek with "A Matter Of Time" and 2019 entry Eliot with his song "Wake Up".
It’s a quality song, very true to Hooverphonic, very true to Belgium’s music scene but, so far, this year’s entry has a Sennek-vibe all over again.