Sea of words

OMGGGG HI LOVELIES 💕,

I’m so excited. I just can’t hide it. I’m about to loose control and I think I like it hahah 😂🎶. I just needed to write this blog post because I feel so emotional and so excited since Saturday night. I felt it already these months when I heard the song Arcade. This blog post will about how I experienced one of the best nights in my life which I will never ever forget. I will write about the victory of The Netherlands winning Eurovision Song Contest 2019 after 44 years. I will also share more about who Duncan is as a person and artist.

I’m such a eurofan and I’ve always been. I love Eurovision Song Contest so much. It’s my favourite music event of the year. I’m always looking forward to it. I’m always most looking forward to the songs of The Netherlands and Spain. I also love to hear the songs of other countries. I’m into pop, indie, latin music, some house music, classic and choir music which I used to sing in my choir and I just love music so much. It makes me the happiest person on earth 🌎😍. Going to a concert and seeing your favourite artist live is just the best thing ever. Meeting them in person and talking with them is even better. Getting a picture with them is just the best too.

I get inspired by many artists and what I find the most important thing of an artist is that they are authentic, stay true to themselves and can be vulnerable. So, the first time I heard that Duncan Laurence was going to represent The Netherlands this year I was like who?! Who is that? Normally popular and famous artists of The Netherlands go to Eurovision. Last year Waylon went and in 2014 The Common Linnets went which were Ilse DeLange together with Waylon. They song a beautiful song which ended at the second place. The song was a lovely country song called “Calm after the storm.”

So first in January they said that Duncan Laurence was going to represent The Netherlands. I saw some videos of him singing in The Voice of Holland on Youtube and was already impressed by his beautiful voice. He reached the semi-finals. He had as coach Ilse DeLange.

Then I also listened to the video below which is especially made as an assignment for the Rock Academy. After singing in the Voice of Holland he went to the Rock Pop Academy in Tilburg. He made his own version of the song “Stolen Dance” by Milky Chance. It’s one of my favourite songs and hearing it with Duncan’s voice gave me goosebumps and makes me cry every time 😭. His voice is so pure and so beautiful. I could listen all day and all night to it 😍🎶

He is such an amazing singer-songwriter. I’m really so impressed. He went through a hard time during his school years because he got bullied. He got bullied because of being different. He wore braces, had glasses and a different body size. He found his passion of music through this experience. He could be himself when he was making music at home and also in the Rock Pop Academy in Tilburg. Music was his safe place where he could be his self. He also told in some interviews how he was covered in his insecurities. He was afraid to be open and vulnerable.

He also said that it is important to not build a wall. It reminds myself of my own experience with bullying. I build a wall and I still haven’t break it fully like it still influences me as a person when someone is rude to me. I think often when I hear a stranger laughing that it’s about me. I still have to break this wall just like Duncan did. The most beautiful words of him during an interview in Tel Aviv in Israel where these ones:

“Don’t build a wall. Don’t focus on the ones who don’t like you, stick to the ones who like you and love you and inpire you. I tried to change myself and focused too much on the ones who didn’t like me.”

I so agree with what he said because it’s just so true. Whenever I’m with my family or good friends I feel happy because they love me for who I’m and accept me. Those are the people who you need in life and not the toxic ones. Being bullied isn’t our fault. Most of the time the bullies are insecure themselves. I wrote about my experience of bullying in this blog post. He also said that with his music he wants to be the voice for those who have a soul which is damaged by others. He is going to tell their stories and let us see that we aren’t alone. He such a bubbly, beautiful and humble pereson that I tear up 😍😭

Ilse DeLange was his coach in The Voice of Holland and always had contact with Duncan after he participated in this talentshow. Two years ago he was writing the song “Arcade”. He put that song together with other songs in a Dropbox file. Ilse heard this song and was impressed. A few months ago before Eurovision began she called him on a Sunday morning and asked him if he wanted to represent The Netherlands this year. The whole delegation of The Netherlands was impressed by this song. Of course he said YEAHHHH and then the adventure began. I don’t want to repeat myself because I already told a lot about this song in other posts like in this post. There I sang my own cover of Arcade 🎶.

“‘Arcade’ is about a lost love. And hoping for that love to return. But it doesn’t. All the emotion, rawness, bitterness, angriness or happiness or hope that comes within that. That’s what I tried to capture in ‘Arcade’. It is indeed a story about myself, about a love that I once lost when I was younger.”

Duncan lost someone very special in his life. This woman only turned 40 years old. She was hoping that her love came back but he didn’t. She stayed in love with her loved one until she died. Duncan wrote this song about that story. The song, lyrics, melody everything describes these real feelings and emotions. It’s so honest and vulnerable just WOW. He is naked in the clip and you can see his butt haha which is very beautiful indeed.

“We tried to capture the vulnerability of a human being. The most vulnerable you can be is naked. Being completely nude leaves you all vulnerable in that massive water world, with the surface representing the hope and everything you long for. The struggle, the fight that comes with it to get there. That is what we try to capture.”

Since I listened to this I have had winner vibes. I knew this song could win because it’s the best song I’ve heard. I get so emotional and have goosebumps all the time I listen to this song. I’m even thinking now to get a tattoo with something of the lyrics of this song. My favourite sentence is: “Loving you is a loosing game.” I’m afraid of needles so don’t know if I will get a tattoo but this just sticks in my head. Since he released his song he was number one in the bookmakers and that didn’t change.

I watched everything from Eurovision such as all his interviews which were so nice to see. I watched the first semi-final of Eurovision last week even though he didn’t had to sing. He was singing in the second femi-final which was last thursday on the 16th of May. It was incredible and I had to cry so much. My father only watched that song with me because he doesn’t like Eurovision. I always watch it with my mother. Of course he passed through the finals which was last Saturday the 18th of May. I was so happy when they said The Netherlands as second name to pass. Normally they say it almost at the end.

He sings Arcade every time so beautiful and every time it’s different. I like that so much because you can feel the emotion. He really feels it at that moment and sings it from his heart. During the final he had to sing at the 12th place and it was even better and more beautiful than in the semi-finals. It’s just incredible how good and beautiful he sings. I feel his emotion all the time when he sings it 💕. We all feel it. We can all relate to this story.

I was so nervous and anxious this whole week too and couldn’t sleep well. It even felt like I had to sing hahah instead of Duncan who always stayed calm. I was just so excited of thinking that he could win 😂. During the jury votes I was getting so nervous. I was happy when we got 12 points from Portugal, Sweden, France, Israel, Lithuania and Latvia. Thank you so much! Sweden won the jury votes but everyting could change during the televotes. They begin with the last country and told every country how much televotes it got. The Netherlands got 261 which made them first. I was already so excited but there was only one country left to tell them their points which was Sweden. If they got more points than The Netherlands they would have won. Duncan was so nervous and me too. We all were. At the end they said 93 points for Sweden.

I began to scream and cry so hard. This was definitely one of the best nights in my life. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I had also stomach cramps but I already have them these months so it’s not only because of Eurovision I guess. My father was sleeping so I didn’t scream that hard hahah 😂. He doesn’t understand all my emotion and happiness around it. It’s just incredible that an unkown artist won with such a beautiful song. I’m also a highly sensitive person so everything makes me feel so much. I feel every emotion deep. My country, The Netherlands won after 44 years! 😍🇳🇱🎶🎉🎙️ I still can’t believe we are going to organise Eurovision next year. My dream is seeing it live so I hope I can get tickets. My dream was also to see The Netherlands or Spain win so I’m so happy and so proud! 💪

Duncan wrote history. Everyone knows him now. His song is number one in many iTunes charts. I will never get tired of this beautiful song or of him. I love him so much 💗. I’m so grateful to have a new artist in my life who I admire so much. He is already writing more songs so I can’t wait to hear them. I also would love to see him live. All his concerts are sold out now. His voice makes me crack my soul open and make me feel so many feelings. I have to admit that this song also reminds me of my break up with my first love 💔 I kept hoping after I lost him that he would come back but until today he didn’t. Maybe that’s why I get so emotional with this song. I can still feel how my heart broke but I also feel the hope in this song. There will be new people to love and experiences to live.

Thank you Duncan for being real and from growing from a wallflower to a beautiful artist who stand for things. He is bisexual and open about it. He told about his bullying experience. He is honest. He is vulnerable. I’m so thankful that you are real in this sometimes fake and dark world. Thank for coming in our lives. You give me hope in my life to reach my dreams 🌠✨. Thank you for making us happy and feel inspired. You are one of my fav artists now. I will never stop loving you 🎶. Loving you is a winning game! 😍✨ i love u forever cutieeee 💗

Life wouldn’t be the same without music. It makes us feel things, we feel less alone and it will never leave us. I will also keep singing as I love to sing. I don’t know if being famous is something for me but joining a choir again or having singing classes would be amazing. I would love to learn guitar or piano too one day. I miss that so much to be honest 😭. With singing I can release emotions and it makes me so happy 😍

Thank you all for reading this blog post. I hope you find this post as inspiring as I found it to write it. What do you think of the song Arcade and the story behind it? Did you watch Eurovision? Do you also tear up with beautiful songs? Let me know lovelies. I will speak to you all in my next blog post.

Much love 💕,

xoxo Christina