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Belgium was represented at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe (Dima Bilan song), Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the Eu ...
with the song "Copycat" written by Benjamin Schoos and Jacques Duvall. The song was performed by the group Copycat, which was internally selected by the Walloon broadcaster Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF) in February 2009 to represent the nation at the 2009 contest in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, Russia. The song, "Copycat", was presented to the public on 10 March 2009. Belgium was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2009. Performing during the show in position 3, "Copycat" was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed seventeenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 1 point.


Background

Prior to the 2009 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty 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 "J'aime la vie" (; "I Love Life") is a song recorded by Belgian singer Sandra Kim, with music composed by Jean Paul Furnémont and Angelo Crisci, and lyrics by Marino Atria. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, held in Bergen, winning the co ...
" performed by
Sandra Kim Sandra Caldarone (born 15 October 1972), better known as Sandra Kim, is a Belgian singer of Italian descent who won the Eurovision Song Contest 1986 in Bergen, Norway. Her father was an Italian immigrant from Torrebruna in the Province of Chie ...
. Following the introduction of semi-finals for , Belgium had been featured in only one final. In
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
,
Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
represented the country with the song "O Julissi", placing seventeenth in the first semi-final and failing to advance to the final. The Belgian broadcaster for the 2009 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 The Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie ("Flemish Radio and Television broadcasting organisation"), shortened to VRT (), is one of the national public service broadcasters for the Flemish Community of Belgium. Its counterpart in the Fr ...
(VRT) and the Walloon RTBF. Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. In
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
, RTBF internally selected both the artist and song that would represent the nation, while in 2008, VRT organised the national final '' Eurosong'' in order to select the Belgian entry. On 28 July 2008, RTBF confirmed Belgium's participation in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest and continued their internal selection procedure.


Before Eurovision


Internal selection

The Belgian entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest was selected via an internal selection by RTBF. On 17 February 2009, the broadcaster announced that they had selected Patrick Ouchène to represent Belgium in Moscow, performing the song "Copycat" at the contest. The song was written by Benjamin Schoos and Eric Verwilghen under the pseudonymn Jacques Duvall, and was selected in late 2008 from 10 entries shortlisted among proposals submitted by record companies. Among artists that were previously rumoured to be selected for the competition included Elvis Junior (Franz Goovaerts) following a teaser released by RTBF in early February 2009. Ouchène would ultimately perform as the lead singer of the group Copycat, specifically created for the Eurovision Song Contest with the remaining members being backing vocalists Miss T Blue (Marie-Ange Tchai) and Miss D Lite (Desta Hailé), bassist Benjamin Schoos and cellist Lenn Dauphin. On 10 March 2009, RTBF held a press conference at the Mirano Continental hotel in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
where "Copycat" was presented to the public. The music video for the song, which featured an animation sequence by Philippe Geluck, was released on the same day of the presentation. In regards to the song, Patrick Ouchène stated: "Many people will think it's kitsch and ridiculous, but I think that this is a big opportunity to give media exposure to the music style I'm bringing. When we recorded the song we made it very much 'pop' and 'Eurovision' but you recognize the rockabilly I represent. For me it's a way to put this music style that is popular from Russia over Turkey to Spain and Italy in the spotlight. I'll have two missions: represent Belgium and defend this music style."


Controversy

Following the release of "Copycat", the Belgian and Dutch fan club of
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
, ElvisMatters, complained that the song was offensive to the singer and called on the
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...
(EBU) to disqualify the Belgian entry as it violated the Eurovision Song Contest rules which prohibit unacceptable language. The song was ultimately deemed eligible for the contest by the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group.


Promotion

Copycat specifically promoted "Copycat" as the Belgian Eurovision entry on 18 April 2009 by performing during the ''Eurovision Promo Concert'', which was held at the Amsterdam Marcanti venue in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, Netherlands and hosted by
Marga Bult Marcha (born Margaretha Hendrika Maria Groeneveld on 2 July 1956), also known as Marga Bult, is a Dutch singer and television presenter, who has been a member of the groups Tulip, Babe and Dutch Divas and is also known for her participation in th ...
and
Maggie MacNeal Maggie MacNeal (born Sjoukje Lucie van 't Spijker; 5 May 1950) is a Dutch singer. She was a member of Mouth & MacNeal, a pop duet (music), duo from the Netherlands, who are best known for their million-selling recording of "How Do You Do (Mouth ...
. In addition to his international appearance, Copycat took part in promotional activities in Brussels and performed during an event held at the Place Sainte-Catherine/Sint-Katelijneplein on 18 and 19 April.


At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the " Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top nine songs from each semi-final as determined by televoting progress to the final, and a tenth was determined by back-up juries. The
European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; , UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations in countries within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA) or who are member states of the Council of Europe, members of the ...
(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 30 January 2009, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals. Belgium was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 12 May 2009. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 16 March 2009 and Belgium was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
and before the entry from
Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
. The two semi-finals and the final was broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. VRT broadcast the shows on
één VRT 1 is a public Dutch-language TV station in Belgium, owned by the VRT, which also owns Ketnet, VRT Canvas and several radio stations. Although the channel is commercial-free, short sponsorship messages are broadcast in between some programm ...
and Radio 2 with commentary in Dutch by Anja Daems and
André Vermeulen André Leopold Adiel Vermeulen (born 25 October 1955 in Bruges) is a Belgian-Flemish journalist and television personality for VRT. Between 1991 and 2013, Vermeulen following Luc Appermont had been the Flemish commentator for the Eurovision So ...
. RTBF televised the shows on
La Une La Une () is a Belgian national television channel, owned and operated by the French-language public-service broadcasting organization RTBF. La Une is the equivalent of Flemish station VRT 1, of the Flemish broadcaster VRT. History INR ...
with commentary in French by Jean-Pierre Hautier and Jean-Louis Lahaye. All shows were also broadcast by RTBF on La Première with commentary in French by Patrick Duhamel and Corinne Boulangier. The Belgian spokesperson, who announced the Belgian votes during the final, was
Maureen Louys Maureen Louys (born 3 November 1978 in Liège) is a Belgian television presenter. Career In 2005 she co-presented the 2005 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Marcel Vanthilt. Louys still remained associated with the regular Eurovision Song Co ...
.


Semi-final

Copycat took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 7 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 11 and 12 May. The Belgian performance featured the members of Copycat performing on stage, with the group's lead singer Patrick Ouchène dressed in a glittery jacket and black trousers and the backing vocalists in shiny long dresses and wigs. The stage colours transitioned from black and white to red and back, and the LED screens and stage floor displayed the name of the group as well as animations of a cartoon cat that was taken from the music video of the song. At the end of the show, Belgium was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed seventeenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 1 point.


Voting

The voting system for 2009 involved each country awarding points from 1–8, 10 and 12, with the points in the final being decided by a combination of 50% national
jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence, make Question of fact, findings of fact, and render an impartiality, impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a sentence (law), penalty or Judgmen ...
and 50%
televoting Televoting (also telephone voting, phone voting, and call-in voting) is a method of decision making and opinion polling conducted by telephone. Televoting can also extend to voting by SMS text message via a mobile cell phone. Broadcast contest ...
. 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, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Turkey in the semi-final and the final of the contest.


Points awarded to Belgium


Points awarded by Belgium


Detailed voting results

The following members comprised the Belgian jury: * Marie-Paule Lemmens * Pierre Guyaut * Manu Champagne * Corrado Falciglia * Isabelle Monnart


References


External links


Belgian Broadcaster: RTBF
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2009
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Eurovision The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster submits an origina ...