Eurovision 2020 | Jeangu Macrooy will represent The Netherlands
In the last couple of hours, it has been announced that Surinamese-born singer, Jeangu Macrooy, will be the hosts’ representative for the Netherlands in Rotterdam. It was revealed in the early afternoon on Friday through Jeangu’s personal Instagram handle as he wrote, “It’s a dream come true and the most beautiful thing that has come my way so far! My team and I are excited to make you all very proud!”
Jeangu is clearly overwhelmed, yet excited, to be representing his country, and is ready for a new musical challenge. The Managing director of the Dutch broadcaster AVROTOS, Eric Van Stade, also commented on the yet to be released song Jeangu proposed to the select committee stating, “The song he delivered touched us right away. We are very happy that Jeangu wants to go on this journey with us!” This is highly promising for Eurovision fans everywhere as not only did Jeangu become the 8th artists to be confirmed for the 2020 contest, but we also have gotten one step closer to knowing the song that the Netherlands will sing on home soil!
Check out one of Jeangu's more recent releases, Shake Up This Place
Who is Jeangu Macrooy?
The 26-year old was born in Suriname’s capital Paramaribo. He started his music career by signing with the record label Unexpected Records in 2015 and has since released two studio albums, in 2017 and 2019. The first of his albums peaked at no.69 in the Dutch charts were he has now been living, (in Amsterdam) since 2014.
Jeangu is mostly a Jazz artist and is particularly famous for his groovy, big band-styled track “Step into The Water” that was released as part of his first album and has over 2 million streams on Spotify. Throughout his career, Macrooy has also played at several major Dutch music festivals and has also been nominated for an Edison Award, which is the national equivalent of an American Grammy. He has also paid tribute performances to the likes of Stevie Wonder, The Blue Diamonds and George Michael on Dutch TV in the past, giving us an insight into his personal taste, inspirations and favourite artists.
We caught up with Duncan Laurence on the Orange Carpet in Tel Aviv, check out what he had to say!
The average score of the last three host entries at the contest has been just 36.6 points, with an average finishing position of 24th; So of course, The Netherlands will be looking to beat this bad streak of luck and follow their narrow but heroic victory in Tel Aviv with another good result. Good luck, Jeangu!
