There are 37 songs lined up for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and Belgium’s entry from Gustaph recalls early 90’s vocal house. Because of you is an ode to ballroom and empowerment.
The tune reminds us of Martha Wash’s Carry On and Kiddy Smile’s Be Honest, and a whole bunch of early 90’s house tracks.
Belgium picked Gustaph to be there representative though a public competition. Seven different artists were asked to present two songs each for consideration.
The singer said he wrote the song using his experiences as a member of the LGBTIQA+ community as inspiration. The song has already been a chart hit in Belgium, reaching number three.
Gustaph previously was a featured vocalist with Hercules and Love Affair, and he’s been to Eurovision before too. In 2021 he sang backing vocals for Hooverphonic, and he was also on stage in 2018 performing with Sennek.
Belgium is one of the most frequent participants in the Eurovision Song Contest, they were part of the very first event in 1956, and have only missed three outings since then. They didn’t take part in 1994, 1997, and 2001 – back then if a country scored really low points they had to sit out for a year.
They’ve only won the competition on one occasion; they were victors in 1986 when Sandra Kim performed J’aime la vie.
Australia will be represented by Perth synth-metal band Voyager with their tune Promise. It’s the first time Australia will be represented by a band. All our previous entries have been solo singers. The last two outings of the song competition have been won by bands including Italy’s Måneskin and Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra.
Semi-final 1 will take place on 9th May, and Semi-final 2 will follow on 11th May, the Grand Finale will take place on 13th May, the competition will be broadcast in Australia on SBS.
Find out more about the songs from Australia, United Kingdom and Sweden.
OIP Staff
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