Beats Italy and Russia: Duncan Laurence from Netherlands wins Eurovision-2019

It is the first time the Dutch have won since 1975.

On May 18, the Grand Final of Eurovision Song Contest 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel, where 26 countries competed for the trophy, and the honor of hosting next year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The winner became Duncan Laurence from the Netherlands with his song Arcade.

He got the 492 points — 231 from the jury and 261 from the international televotes. It was enough to win the Eurovision Song Contest by 27 points. Italy finished second with 465 and Russia third with 369 points.

24 year old Duncan Laurence was born in 1994 in Spijkenisse, The Netherlands. He graduated this year from the Rock Academy in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Here he developed himself as a singer, songwriter and music producer. Besides that, he spent a lot of time writing songs in London and Stockholm.

Speaking when he was selected to represent the Netherlands, Duncan said: “In the past few years many well known artists represented The Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest. I’m not well-known, but that’s also a good thing; The Netherlands has a lot of young and talented musicians. My participation proves that nothing is impossible. You can suddenly get the opportunity to represent your country on an international stage. I’m very proud to represent my country… I will give it my all!”.

Talking about what this year’s Eurovision slogan ‘Dare to Dream’ meant to him, he said he never dreamt of a win:

“I never ‘dared to dream’ to win this trophy. Because this is Eurovision. Anything can happen, and that’s why I love it. But it (the win) did happen, so the predictions came true. I kept seeing the win as predictions. This trophy is a result of the hard work that we did”, — admitted Duncan Laurence.

It’s the fifth win for the Netherlands in the contest’s 64-year history, and the first since 1975, when the group Teach-In claimed victory with “Ding-a-Dong.” Other winners from Holland are: “Net Als Toen” by Corry Brokken (1957), “Een Beetje” by Teddy Scholten (1959) and “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr (in a four-way tie in 1969).ble.”

The top 10 countries in 2019 and their respective combined points from the juries and the public are:

The Netherlands — 492
Italy — 465
Russia — 369
Switzerland — 360
Norway — 338
Sweden — 332
Azerbaijan — 297
North Macedonia — 295
Australia — 285
Iceland — 234