Netherlands: Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper to Liverpool!

/ Sekhmet Morgan

Netherlands – It was revealed today that AVROTROS has selected internally Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper to represent them in Liverpool!

As expected from the Netherlands, the broadcaster has selected internally their act for the upcoming edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. After having qualified only once since semi-finals were introducted – in 2004, the first edition featuring a semi-final – the Netherlands changed the broadcaster which was in charge of the Dutch entry after the 2012 edition. And in 2013, Anouk qualified the Netherlands to the final and even finished 9th! The following year, the Netherlands got 2nd, their best result since their victory in 1975 and their first ever silver medal! After ups and downs, the Netherlands anchored itself as a new Eurovision power house, even thoughtheir entries were mostly supported by juries (the country also finished no less than three times 11th during that period, in 2016, 2017 and 2022). But most of all, the country ended up winning the 2019 edition thanks to having more support in televote than juries (3rd with juries, 2nd in televote)! The 2020 contest being cancelled, Rotterdam hosted a rather wonderful 2021 contest, even if it was in front of a small audience.

It is the second time since 2014 that the broadcaster pairs two acts together. Mia Nicolai, born in Amsterdam, worked in London and is now settled in LA (as it says in ther facebook page). Her biggest hit is “Mutual Needs”:

Dion Cooper, who is 28, is at first a guitarist inspired by rock legends to which his father introduced him (Jimi Hendrix, Toto…) He likes to blend classic rock with modern pop (on his official site it’s described as “mix Bryan Adams with Harry Styles”). He cowrote his last song “Blue Jeans” with Duncan Laurence, which is probably the connection that was needed for him to get the Eurovision ticket:

Just like this recent single, Dion Cooper cowrote the upcoming Eurovision song with Duncan Laurence. We don’t know yet how or why Mia got involved with them for the entry, of which nothing else was revealed.

What do you think of this choice? What are your expectations for the Netherlands in Liverpool?

851 thoughts on “Netherlands: Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper to Liverpool!”

  5. I heard on the grapevine that the great Philomena Cunk will somehow be involved in Eurovision 2023 (typical British humour), I hope so , her “documentary” on Shakespeare is a classic in the UK ! How to make “experts on history” want to run away in horror/embarassment!

  6. Sorry for going off-topic, but I am really upset, disgusted and saddend by the UK supreme court’s ruling regarding abortion/down syndrome today. This isn’t an issue for politics but a question of morality, equality and human rights imo.

    • well, you know my dear friend, as an Anglophine I think yourself? these days the difference between fantasy and reality is a fine line depending on your political point of view and what is happening in the UK, which is shocking IMHO, on the particular issue you mentioned would need to check furher details, our so called UK “supreme court” is fairly recent I guess, compared to US one, at least UK still kept abortion laws,,

    • If it is about human rights then the woman who is pregnant should be given the right to chose. If we apply the same logic then abortions shouldn’t be allowed at any point.

      • Nope. I am all pro-abortion, but the same rules should apply to all would-be-human-beings, especially in the case of down syndrome, where most people can lead a happy and (at least partly) independent life. Make it either 24 weeks with or without down or any other rule for everyone.

        • It is not a straightforward issue. In a developed country and depending how severe is the condition there are means to support such people live a normal as best as possible. However, the mental capacity of the parents should be taken into account too.

          • All sorts of issues can happen to children after their birth: they can develop terminal illnesses, have terrible accidents, become drug addicts etc. Those things affetc parents’ mental capacities too. My argument is a very simple one: Same rule for everyone. And after the defined date, exceptions if the mother’s health is in danger.
            We will probably have to agree to disagree on this topic.

            • But then we could easily extend this argument for all pregnancies apart from rape. It isn’t a white or gray matter.

            • Besides, I wouldn’t say I have strong views about what shouldn’t be done in cases like this. I merely leave this down to the particular case than making it universal. So, I wouldn’t say I disagree with you in principle.

            • I do agree that in an ideal world, there would be the same rule for everyone, and I’ve been called a radical when it comes to abortion because, to be honest, I don’t think there should be any restrictions on it whatsoever; but if there is a pregnant woman in a late-stage of her pregnancy who finds out that her child is going to have a disability like down syndrome, and she immediately wants to abort after having found that out, do we really want to force a baby with down syndrome to then be born into a life where its mother did not want it to be born? I honestly think it is for the betterment of the child for abortion to be available on request at any point, because being raised by a parent who wanted to have you aborted does not sound like a good situation for anybody involved. Whether we want to admit it or not, extra work goes into raising children with disabilities like this, and we’re better off allowing parents to opt out of that than forcing them to go forward with births that they don’t want to have which could have lasting implications on the child’s life. At least that’s how I see it.

            • I think that you slightly misinterpreted my point. I only argued for the same legislation for all unborn life. This means that I would support no abortion legislation at all. Defining a difference between lives worth living and lives less worth living leads us onto a very dangerous path Germany was on 1933 to 1945. What could come next? Sterilizing people with certain genetic health conditions?
              And who am I to tell whether people in all different conditions are happy and enjoy life? I did my 20 months of compulsory community service in a terminal cancer hospital. We had a 24 year old paraplegic lady (breast cancer), who did not want to go because she said that only seeing the sun come up in the morning and seeing her two small children every day made her happy. These are very tricky issues in which the legislators shouldn’t get involved at all: abortion and assisted suicide. And that was what upset me so much about the UK supreme court’s ruling: They said that abortion was a POLITICAL issue. It is not imo. Abortion is a profoundly personal issue.

            • Maybe I am wrong, but late-stage abortion for all was not on the cards here, was it? It was either the court sides with the plaintiff and there are no late-stage abortions for fetuses with disabilities, or the court sides with the state, and the late-stage abortions for fetuses with disabilities may continue? If that is the case, then I think that restricting access to abortion, regardless of the reasons for doing it, would cause more harm than anything else. I understand that a law like this may make people with disabilities feel as if their lives are not as valued as others’, but quite frankly, this is not about them or their feelings. They were likely lucky enough to be born to parents who wanted to and were able to care for a disabled child, that is great, but the reality is not everyone is that lucky, and if this law was overturned, maybe they will feel better about themselves, but they will also be risking putting a number of disabled babies in homes that cannot care for them or are outright hostile to their existence.

              I don’t think we are telling anybody what lives are worth saving, nobody is forcing these mothers to abort if a disability is found in the fetus, but it is a fact that it is going to be more difficult taking care of a disabled child than a non-disabled child. You listed serious illnesses, car accidents, substance abuse, etc., as other things that make caring for a child more difficult, but those things cannot be predicted in utero, if the science is available to tell a would-be mother that caring for her child will be more difficult than it typically would be, she should every right to back out right there even if she wouldn’t have that right with a non-disabled fetus. There are just many would-be parents who do not have the mental or emotional capacity (or the financial resources) to care for a disabled child, and if they were to find this out after the legal limit for an abortion was up, they should not have to have that baby, regardless of the implications regarding equality.

              I understand that your belief here is that we shouldn’t be implying that the life of a disabled baby is less worth living than the life of a non-disabled baby, but in my opinion this is not about the baby or the disabled adult activists, but about the parents and what they want/can handle, as all abortions should be. I agree that abortion is a personal issue, but it will be a political issue for as long as politicians are able to enact limits on it. If things could be equalized so there were no longer any restrictions, I absolutely would support that, but if the only way of equalizing things meant making it harder for women to have abortions in certain situations, then no, I do not agree with that. Equality is obviously a good thing but if we are sacrificing the greater good (in my opinion) just for the sake of equality, then I do not think that is worth it and it is a net-bad in this world.

            • Well, we have to disagree then. To me justice and equality are the most important aspects of society, and having double standards regarding unborn lives is outright repulsive to me. I prefer everyone being treated like shit to a defined minority being treated like shit. It’s one of the lessons Germany’s terrible history tells us.

      • Agree with you 100% – it’s the mother’s choice. While this is the exception, women can also decide to have an abortion for essentially noreason. And especially in cases like Down’s, it’s understandable that women may decide that they won’t be able to take care of the kid. It’s unliekly anyway anyone would have an abortion super late in their pregnancy, which I think was part of the plaintiffs’ issue.

          • Yes it’s just really rare so it seems odd the plaintiffs would take a stand on that. And if there are medical issues like with ectopic pregnancies are severely sick kids the woman should have the right to terminate IMO.

            • I have two examples in my immediate family that didn’t terminate pregnancy though in the case of my grandmother I don’t think there was a diagnosis. You need to really love that child and have the strength to raise it and yet again it might not have the best life. So, it should really be a choice.

            • However, in the case of my uncle it was somehow challenging. Obviously, 60s Cyprus didn’t have the means to support people with Down Syndrome so it was down to the family to take care of him. He lived with his mother until 1993 when she died but my mother had to literally adopt him and bring him home and take care of him the way he was raising me and my brother. Putting him to a care house at that age was too late anyway. He lived with us for 20 more years and I believe he had a good life. My mother never regrets taking full responsibilty of him but she is a strong mother nonetheless…it was tough for her sonetimes tough.

            • Admirable and I’m glad your mom has no regrets and your uncle had a good life.

            • My auntie in Australia is raising an autisticvchild. And she brings him with her every time she visits Cyprus. I guess in such cases culture plays a role. The more traditional you are the easier is for you to acceptbsuch cases and go all the way. Other women parents can’t though.

            • Probably yes…. I couldn’t do it but then I would be really bad at raising a kid, period.

      • exactly! I got a bit confused on women’s rights etc
        Here in Spain, despite right wing conservative Franco fascist protests , we are really advanced in terms of abortion rights, LGBTQ¨+ etc I feel despite some drawbacks in many years

        • Not sure if you repied to me, but indeed I feel there is a disconnect and stereotypical bias about countries and progress
          eg everyone thinks Spain is a sexist country full of bullfighters , Javiem Bardem characters
          wrong: Spain was first country in Europe to allow same sex marriages, first country to accept trans as an identity on official bureaucracy….

  7. In the best news of the week, I managed to get the heater in this house fixed. The initial repair guy was useless (when I checked online reviews later, it turned out he got 5 stars up until about a year ago and since then mostly 1 stars); then the 2nd guy ordered the part that had to be replaced, came by in the morning. Puts it in, says some other big part needs to be ordered and put in. Calls me back 2 hours later, says he thought that a filter might need to be cleaned and bing – that’s it! So happy, I feel liek I have been living with space heaters, in cafes or at friends forever.

    • It’s normal here in Spain, is why the typical phrase “Mañana, Mañana” exists
      Everything will be either tomorrow, postponed to another day, or they never arrive!!

      • It wasn’t manan though – he just did not answer the phone or return calls and going by online reviews, that has been going on for a year or so. Probably drugs or drinking. It was just really annoying because it was freezing early in the week so I could stay warm with the space heaters in my room but the rest of the place was freezing and wet.

        • ok thanks for your comment which goes beyond typical Euro commments here, I hope you can survive the winter with your heaters etc, it is such a sad comment to make in 2022, I know from friends and family in the UK this winter will be truly awful :-(

          • Thx, it’s repaired now so I’m good – I literally have every heater in thehouse on just to warm up the house and then tomorrow just rotate according to where I am. It’s natural gas so trying to keep both cost and gas usage down. But it’s good to just get the moisture out of the air, thats a real pronlem here.

            • Sorry, I meant every radiator on, the heaters are off ( I need to get his back to my cousin tomorrow).

            • I actually don’t have the heater on in my room because I have all the ones downstairs turned up and the heat seems to rise to the top. This house has always had an incredible level of chilly north German humidity, no idea why, neighbors don’t have it like that.

            • LOL! Added disadvantage is that you walk from outside right into a big hallway with staircases going up- and downstairs. It’s predestined to be a cold hallway. The typical thing in the area is you come in, then there’s a little hallway (to hang jackets, place umbrellas, etc.) and then there’s another day before you enter the actual hallway.

            • LOL yes no idea why but my spelling really sucks today, must be the deleriousness about heating the place!

            • It was awfil for a couple of days, -1 to -3 at night. Really odd since it had been nice and warm most of the year both here and in CGN. There are still an astonishing number of leaves on the tress, usually they all seem to be gone by the end of October max.

            • I saw the awful weather you have had lately on Tagesschau and once again called myself blessed for living in the SW. We still have a lot of beautifully coloured leaves on the trees too. 🙂

              Btw, I have a dying tree in my garden which needs to be cut down in January. Mein Freund der Baum … 😢 I asked the gardener which tree I should substitute it with, and he replied: “If you are thinking long-term, I suggest a palm tree” … I hope that he was joking.

            • Do not get a larch. There’s one out front here and I feel I need to sweep the path from the gate to the door every day. I didn’t at first and then I had the damn needles all over the house.

      • One was the lowest I could give so that’s it. My review:
        “Totally useless, lies, doesn’t do anything and doesn’t answer the phone. The spare part that he supposedly couldn’t get in 7 weeks was no problem for another mechanic who got it in one day. Totally not recommended, should go to rehab, I have no other explanation.”

    • LOL it really is pretty accurate! My favorite is Frankfurt when she says “his parents want him to be a banker but he prefers to hang out with sketchy people”. The whole area around the train station is super sketchy. I was there the night when the 2nd lockdown started at midnight and we were at the bar till 4 am. No cops, just a bunch of people who looked like dealers and pimps and we kept being able to order drinks, she just left the 23:59 bill on the table. It sound awful probably but it’s so over-the-top sketchy, I love it.

      • Train hubs are often prone to sketchy dealings. The otherwise quiet town/small city of Nässjö here in Sweden has problems with drugs, for instance, because six different train tracks meet there.

        • The Hamburg one has one entrance where you really quickly get to a gay area. It’s become really gentrified though but it’s more the doctor and his husband the lawyer going to the gay restaurant. Cologne has the cathedral one one side and then close to sketchy (now also gentrifying, sigh) 3 minutes on the other side. That’s why the Frankfurt one is so wild; it’s definitely more upper Bronx than Manhattan.

  12. It’s official Qatar is out! LOL 200 billion spent to go out likely without points and to have the most expensive PR fiasco in history.

  17. I have just finished my 2022 review of all ESC songs. Here is my medal table:

    ITA – 8 gold / 3 silver / 2 bronze
    PRT – 7 gold / 1 silver / 3 bronze
    FRA – 6 gold / 6 silver / 4 bronze
    BEL – 4 gold / 3 silver / 4 bronze
    NLD – 4 gold / 2 silver / 4 bronze
    DEU – 3 gold / 4 silver / 1 bronze
    CYP – 3 gold / 0 silver / 3 bronze
    YUG – 2 gold / 6 silver / 0 bronze
    NOR – 2 gold / 3 silver / 5 bronze
    SRB – 2 gold / 3 silver / 0 bronze
    FIN – 2 gold / 2 silver / 0 bronze
    ESP – 2 gold / 1 silver / 6 bronze
    LUX – 2 gold / 1 silver / 2 bronze
    BIH – 2 gold / 0 silver / 4 bronze
    LVA – 2 gold / 0 silver / 0 bronze
    ISR – 1 gold / 5 silver / 3 bronze
    TUR – 1 gold / 5 silver / 2 bronze
    SWE – 1 gold / 3 silver / 2 bronze
    EST – 1 gold / 3 silver / 1 bronze
    HRV – 1 gold / 2 silver / 0 bronze
    UKD – 1 gold / 1 silver / 4 bronze
    DNK – 1 gold / 1 silver / 2 bronze
    IRE – 1 gold / 1 silver / 2 bronze
    UKR – 1 gold / 1 silver / 0 bronze
    CHE – 1 gold / 0 silver / 1 bronze
    GEO – 1 gold / 0 silver / 1 bronze
    SVN – 1 gold / 0 silver / 1 bronze
    AZE – 1 gold / 0 silver / 0 bronze
    MCO – 1 gold / 0 silver / 0 bronze
    RUS – 1 gold / 0 silver / 0 bronze
    GRC – 0 gold / 2 silver / 3 bronze
    AUT – 0 gold / 2 silver / 2 bronze
    MDA – 0 gold / 2 silver / 0 bronze
    HUN – 0 gold / 1 silver / 1 bronze
    POL – 0 gold / 1 silver / 1 bronze
    ALB – 0 gold / 1 silver / 0 bronze
    ISL – 0 gold / 1 silver / 0 bronze
    MKD – 0 gold / 0 silver / 3 bronze
    ARM – 0 gold / 0 Silver / 1 bronze
    BGR – 0 gold / 0 Silver / 1 bronze
    ROU – 0 gold / 0 Silver / 1 bronze

  19. It’s official!
    Next month, December, we’re revisiting:

    So start relistening to the 25 songs, rewatch the live show and start preparing your Top10!

    No deadline available yet, but count with at least 3 weeks from now.
    Full show here:

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