S10

S10 will represent the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin next year. Broadcaster AVROTROS announced this on Tuesday afternoon via social media.

“I almost explode with happiness at the idea that I can participate in the Eurovision Song Contest this year,” S10, full name Stien den Hollander, said in an initial response. It has not yet been announced which song she will travel to the Italian city with. In recent years, AVROTROS first announced an artist and followed with the presentation of the song in March.

Eric van Stade, general manager of AVROTROS, says on behalf of the selection committee that the S10 song “shows courage and authenticity”. Van Stade reports that S10 will perform her song in Dutch. For the first time since 2010, when Sieneke represented the Netherlands, a Dutch participant will sing in their own language.

Cornald Maas, commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest and part of the selection committee, says that the entire committee was “overwhelmed” by S10’s song. “You are immediately taken into the story she tells, both lyrically and with the composition. It is a really strong song that we have chosen.”

The 21-year-old singer and rapper, who told her team that she wanted to take a shot at the Eurovision Song Contest ticket, has two albums and two EPs to her name. In 2019 she released the album Snowsniper and Vlinders followed a year later. With Adem Je In she scored her biggest hit to date earlier this year. She has released the song both solo and together with rappers Frenna and Kevin. S10 has been under contract with the record label Noah’s Ark since 2018.

S10 takes over from singer Jeangu Macrooy, who finished 23rd last May. It is the first time since Trijntje Oosterhuis’s participation in 2015 that a solo singer has been sent to the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the Netherlands.

Because the Italian band Maneskin won in Rotterdam, the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest will take place in an Italian city. The semi-finals will be held in Turin on May 10 and 12 and the final will take place in the same city on Saturday, May 14.

The Netherlands is not the first country to announce a candidate for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Belgium previously announced that it would send singer Jérémie Makiese and Bulgaria presented its entry Intention from Intelligent Music Project last weekend.