Europapa

Europapa, the song with which Joost Klein will compete in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, is a tribute to his father. The song also features Paul Elstak.

“It is a letter I wrote to my father,” Klein told about Europapa in a special broadcast of De Avondshow met Arjen Lubach on Thursday. Klein previously told NU.nl that he grew up with the Eurovision Song Contest. Together with his parents, he always watched it at a young age.

The song, which has clear gabber influences, ends with an ode to his parents. The song then slows down in tempo and the singer addresses his father directly. Klein’s parents both passed away when he was young.

“My papa and my mama are forever my heroes,” he sings at the end of Europapa. “Rain on the window and I stood at the window crying. Darkness far too early, it’s winter in spring. ‘I miss you every day,’ is what I secretly whisper. You see dad, I listened to you.”

“It’s a very surreal feeling. I think it’s really fat that I get to share the art I made with my friends now,” the 26-year-old Klein told us. Besides Elstak, the music video also features rapper Donnie, René Froger and S10.

“The Eurovision performance will be a full circle experience of turning sadness into euphoria,” the artist said of his performance in Malmö in May. “When people see my act, the first reaction should be: what is happening here? To then touch the viewer anyway. An invitation to dive deeper. At first glance it looks like a very happy act, but once past that, blood, sweat and tears lie.”

The title of the Song Contest song had been known for several weeks, but neither Europapa‘s lyrics nor its subject matter had been known yet. Klein announced on the talk show. Lubach and Klein have known each other for years, the presenter told at the start of the show.

Klein will be in the second semifinal of the Song Contest on Thursday 9 May. He will then compete against Belgium, Austria and Greece, among others. Ten other countries will then have already qualified for the final which is on 11 May.

This year’s Song Contest will be held in the Swedish city of Malmö, after Loreen won the event for the second time last year with Tattoo. The first semi-final will take place on Tuesday 7 May. Source: nu.nl.