Belgium In The Eurovision Song Contest 2022

Belgium participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with " Miss You" performed by Jérémie Makiese. Makiese was internally selected by the Walloon broadcaster (RTBF) in September 2021 to represent the nation at the 2022 contest, while the song, "Miss You", was presented to the public on 10 March 2022.

Belgium was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2022. Performing during the show in position 16, "Miss You" was announced among the top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 14 May. It was later revealed that Belgium placed eighth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 151 points. In the final, Belgium performed in position 16 and placed nineteenth out of the 25 participating countries, scoring 64 points.

Background

Prior to the 2022 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-two times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in . Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in with the song "J'aime la vie" performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for , Belgium had been featured in only seven finals. In 2021, Hooverphonic represented the country with the song "The Wrong Place", qualifying to the final and placing nineteenth.

The Belgian broadcaster for the 2022 contest, who broadcasts the event in Belgium and organises the selection process for its entry, was Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF). The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: the Flemish Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) and the Walloon RTBF. Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2019 and 2021, both VRT and RTBF internally selected the Belgian entry. On 19 August 2021, RTBF confirmed Belgium's participation in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest and continued the internal selection procedure.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

The Belgian entry for the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest was selected via an internal selection by RTBF. On 15 September 2021, the broadcaster announced during the VivaCité radio programme ''Le 8/9'' that they had selected Jérémie Makiese to represent Belgium in Turin. Makiese was the winner of the ninth series of the reality singing competition ''The Voice Belgique''. The song Makiese would perform at the contest, " Miss You", was presented to the public on 10 March 2022 during ''Le 8/9''. The song was written by Jérémie Makiese himself along with Mike BGRZ, Manon Romiti, Paul Ivory and Silvio Lisbonne. The music video for the song, filmed in Mons and Quaregnon and directed by Mehdi Semoulin, was released on the same day of the presentation.

Promotion

Jérémie Makiese made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Miss You" as the Belgian Eurovision entry. On 3 April, Makiese performed during the ''London Eurovision Party'', which was held at the Hard Rock Hotel in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Paddy O'Connell and SuRie. On 9 April, Makiese performed during the ''Eurovision in Concert'' event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Edsilia Rombley. On 16 April, Makiese performed during the ''PrePartyES 2022'' event which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain and hosted by Ruth Lorenzo. In addition to his international appearances, Jérémie Makiese performed "Miss You" on 14 April during the final of the tenth series of ''The Voice Belgique'' on La Une.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2022, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Belgium has been placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2022, and has been scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2022 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belgium was set to perform in position 16, following the entry from and before the entry from .

The two semi-finals and the final was broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. VRT broadcast the shows on één with commentary in Dutch by Peter Van de Veire. RTBF televised the shows on La Une and VivaCité with commentary in French by Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys; the first semi-final aired on a 35-minute delay on La Une. The Belgian spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Belgian jury during the final, was David Jeanmotte.

Semi-final

Jérémie Makiese took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 6 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. This included the jury show on 11 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

The Belgian performance featured Jérémie Makiese dressed in a silver jacket with jeans and a black shirt, and performing choreography on stage together with four dancers who were dressed in black. The performance began with Makiese alone on stage with the dancers joining him from the second verse onwards. The stage and the LED screens both displayed blue and red colours. The dancers that joined Jérémie Makiese during the performance were: Alpha Lopez, Cédric Libambu, Malik Zaryaty and Shean Assal.

At the end of the show, Belgium was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed eighth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 151 points: 46 points from the televoting and 105 points from the juries.

Final

Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Belgium was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Belgium was subsequently placed to perform in position 16, following the entry from Azerbaijan and before the entry from Greece.

Jérémie Makiese once again took part in dress rehearsals on 13 and 14 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Jérémie Makiese performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 14 May. Belgium placed nineteenth in the final, scoring 64 points: 5 points from the televoting and 59 points from the juries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, each member of a national jury may only take part in the panel once every three years, and no jury was permitted to discuss of their vote with other members or be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member in an anonymised form as well as the nation's televoting results were released shortly after the grand final.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Points awarded to Belgium

Points awarded by Belgium

Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Belgian jury:
* Alex Germys - Producer, DJ
*Elia Rose - Singer
*Joël Habay - TV editor
*Plain Jane - Singer
*Rino Gallo - Journalist

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2022

2022
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022
Eurovision