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About Belgium...
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2004 Result
Points in Semi Final: N/A
Position in Semi Final: N/A
Points in Final: 7
Position in Final: 22nd
2005 Contest: Must compete in Semi Final
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History (1956 to 2003)
Belgium's previous appearances: 45 year(s) out of 48
Years participated: 1956-1993; 1995-1996; 1998-2000; 2002-
Best result: 1st (1986)
One of the original Eurovision entrants, Belgium had to wait thirty years before scoring its first victory in 1986. It did so with probably the most nauseating Eurovision winner ever, 'J'aime la vie', performed with horrific gusto by 13-year-old Sandra Kim. Watching the 1986 Contest as a 12-year-old, I was staggered that what I felt was the weakest song in the whole show had triumphed, beating superior efforts by Switzerland's Daniella Simons and the fabulous Doris Dragović for Yugoslavia - two decades later, my feelings haven't changed. Fortunately, the EBU has since decreed that all Eurovision entrants must be aged 16 or over, while those who are underage now have their own Junior Eurovision to take part in.
Looking at Belgium's record since 1986, the country may have to wait another thirty years before its next victory. Following its Eurovision win, no further top ten places were forthcoming until 1998, when Melanie Cohl managed 6th place with the likeable 'Dis oui'. However, this flash of success was not sustained, with Vanessa Chinitor only managing a mid-table 12th in 1999. The following year, Natalie Sorce sang the unfortunately titled 'Envie de vivre', or 'Desire to live'; the song wasn't that terrible, but by the end of her performance most of Europe had certainly lost the 'Envie de vivre', and it finished last with just 2 points. 2001's song, 'Sister', did better, but even that stalled in 13th place. Urban Trad's excellent result with 'Sanomi' in 2003 certainly gave Belgium a welcome boost, not only coming within a whisker of winning, but also affording the country its first top five placing since Sandra Kim's 1986 victory. As a result, Belgium benefits from a direct place in the Final in 2004.
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This year's entry
Position in Semi Final draw: N/A
Position in Final draw: 13
What I said prior to the Semi Final:
"After selecting its 2003 entry internally, Belgium returned to a national final format in 2004, Xandee emerging as a clear winner with her fantastic dance anthem '1 Life'. As a modern, radio-friendly single it works brilliantly - '1 Life' resembles the kind of tracks produced by Ian Van Dahl or Lasgo, and it's quite easy to imagine Xandee performing it on 'Top of the Pops'. It's also a popular choice with the fans, jostling with Greece for top spot in many of the online polls. With bookies rating it highly, can it be that Xandee has victory wrapped up already?"
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What I predicted...
My prediction for Semi Final: N/A
My prediction for Final: 10th to 15th
What I predicted prior to the Semi Final:
"No, not so fast
while '1 Life' is undoubtedly a great single, I'm less convinced that it's going to appeal as a live performance. Marlain's poor result for Cyprus in 1999 is a reminder that brilliant dance tracks don't necessarily translate into Eurovision success. Taken as a high energy dance anthem, I think '1 Life' is fantastic; but as a musical composition - and this is a Song Contest, supposedly - there's something sterile and clinical about it. I just feel it lacks emotional depth and warmth, and that there are other songs in the contest - such as Iceland, Germany or Ukraine - that viewers are more likely to connect with on an emotional level, or be moved by. Perhaps I'm over-analysing... but the gist of my musing is that I don't think Belgium's going to win. I'd decided that even before the draw for the Final was made; Belgium's unfortunate position immediately after the advert break, when many viewers are still on the loo or making coffee, certainly doesn't help its cause. Making my second controversial prediction (the first being that Greece will fail to reach the Final), I think Belgium may cause a surprise by doing much less well than expected - not necessarily a result of Corinna May proportions, but certainly not a guaranteed top ten. If I'm completely wrong, I apologise. This crystal ball gazing is only for fun, after all."
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What you thought...
Final Poll Ranking: out of 36 ()
(Updated 15 May 2004; change refers to movement over final week)
In the run up to the Contest, over 5,000 visitors to this site voted for their favourite song in the Soult.com Eurovision Poll.
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What actually happened
"Not necessarily a result of Corinna May proportions", I said. Well, Xandee was well and truly Corinna-ed. Marlain-ed and Jemini-ed, with an added dollop of Chircop on top (try saying that quickly). No Eurovision Song Contest is complete without a bookies' and fan favourite doing extraordinarily badly, and in 2004 this honour unfortunately fell to Xandee, falling slightly short of victory by finishing in 22nd place with just 7 points - 1 each from Andorra and Cyprus, and 5 from those nice Dutch people across the border. Analysing what went wrong, quite a few observations can be made:
1) The vocal was poor.
2) Xandee and her backing dancers wore unflattering tarty outfits.
3) Xandee and the dancers looked like they were each dancing to a completely different song, making up their moves as they went along.
4) The whole thing looked and sounded like it belonged in a club - probably somewhere like the Moulin Rouge - rather than on the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest.
In short, it all looked and sounded a bit of a mess, particularly coming straight after the splendid Deen with his polished routine and impressive vocal. To be fair, the Belgian performance was not awful enough to warrant the 22nd place it ended up with, but at least it bore out some of my comments prior to the Contest, even if I failed to foresee that '1 life' would do quite as badly as it did.
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What the bookies thought...
 | Belgium to win: | 15/05/04 (prior to Final) | 8-1 |
| | 13/05/04 (after Semi Final) | 12-1 |
| | 11/05/04 | 9-1 |
| | 08/05/04 | 10-1 |
| | 06/05/04 | 9-1 |
| | 04/05/04 | 8-1 |
| | 31/04/04 | 8-1 |
| | 24/04/04 | 8-1 |
| | 17/04/04 | 10-1 |
| | 07/04/04 | 16-1 |
| | 24/03/04 | 16-1 |
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This year's big shock! Belgium opened at quite long odds of 16-1, though the odds of 8-1 prior to the Final were a much better reflection of the real buzz around this song. Never mind, at least the bookies made lots of money out of its failure to win.
(Odds quoted here were those offered by Coral.co.uk. 'F' indicates favourite, 'JF' joint favourite.)
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Links
 http://www.xandee.be/
 http://www.vrt.be/
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Notes (see 'History' above)
- The 1956 Contest (where each country had two songs) is counted as a single appearance;
- Countries eliminated in the 1993 preliminary heat (EE, HU, RO, SK) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 1996 preliminary heat (DE, DK, HU, IL, MK, RO, RU) ARE NOT counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest;
- Countries eliminated in the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Semi Finals ARE counted as making an appearance in that year's Contest.
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Your comments (43)
From said, BELGIUM
Added 18:18:1 2004-5-16
We just have to realise that our song this year was the worst we could send to the contest! We better judge our selves first and after we can judge the others! The first 3 song are exactly the ones which worth to be in this position! I hope next year year we will not send a crap song like this year!
From USA, --
Added 18:10:7 2004-5-16
My top 5
1.Greece
2.Albania
3.Ukraine
4.Serbia
5.Turkey
Your pornostar was great but for other things
From LoLo, BELGIUM
Added 16:10:14 2004-5-16
We should just stop participating. Even if we have the greatest song in the world, we wouldn't make it in the top 3. It's just a fact that all neighbourcountries will choose each other .....
but I do think Ukraine deserved to win deffenitely. I just don't get how songs like the one from Germany (AARG such crap), Greece, Cyprus(Djeezus!What a corny shit), Roemania, Austria (?!?!?!),Croatia and Russia (and some others) could even score points. And what a coincidance: Belarus gave 12 points to Russia and Portugal 12 points to Spain :s I think Eurosong should go back to the old system: jury!
And besides There was one country that should've made the finals and that was Belarus. Such a great song and then they choose Croatia or Cyprus instead of Belarus. Ballony!!(or how you write the damn word)
From caroline, BELGIUM
Added 14:7:12 2004-5-16
everybody here thinks that Belgium haves (one of) the best songs, but she almost finishes in last place. Terrible songs as Greece(what the hell?) almost win.
Now, what's Europe's problem? Maybe too much eastern-european political votes???
From Timothy, BELGIUM
Added 13:44:17 2004-5-16
Blimey, what happened to Xandee last night?
Didnīt catch one note.
And not a single point for our neighbours Germany, who were quite good. Sad.
From Mindaugas, LITHUANIA
Added 17:59:17 2004-5-15
My top 5:
Belgium
Ukraine
Malta
Serbia
Sweden
From stoja70ca@hotmail.com, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Added 14:46:9 2004-5-15
1.Belgium
2. Serbia
3Bosnia
4.Ukraine
5.France
4
From ZORAN, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Added 0:19:42 2004-5-13
My top 10
1 Albania
2 Bosnia
3 Croatia
4 Belgium
5 Cyprus
6 Malta
7 Germany
8 Israel
9 France
10 Serbia
I like albanian song and i will vote for her.
From david, SLOVENIA
Added 20:28:17 2004-5-11
I really like this song, it's one of my favourites. it remindes me on saturday night, being in the discoteque. there should be more songs like this one, because this years other songs make me sleepy because of their slowness. what a sheme. belgium defenetly has my votes!!!!
From Ran Rahamim, ISRAEL
Added 18:26:14 2004-5-11
hey!!!
my 15 top are:
1.Cyprus
2.France
3.Belguim
4.Israel
5.Switzerland
6.Norway
7.Malta
8.Greece
9.Russia
10.Serbia
11.Ukraine
12.Sweden
13.Denemark
14.Germany
15.Bosnia
From Dinos, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 22:35:4 2004-5-10
Hello!
My top 5 is...
1)Belgium (i love the song)!
2)Greece (another good song)!
3)Ukraine
4)Russia
5)Turkey
From Dinos, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 22:31:11 2004-5-10
Hello again!!!
Xandee has truly touched everones latino flaire!!! well done to her! Another contender for a win! Amazing! It will be a great summer song!
From bluejet, BELGIUM
Added 10:36:22 2004-5-9
Well, I'm happy with the very black-white opinions. It's obvious that something special is in this song then. Or you hate it or u like it. Btw, I hate the swedish song too, it's soo boring...
From Charlie, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 21:40:16 2004-5-8
Nice song.
My top 5 are:
1) Greece
2) Belgium
3) Albania
4) Turkey
5) Norway
Greece has a very upbeat song..crap lyrics but very nice rhytm however. This counts alot!
Belgium has both lyrics and rythm but they are just not good enough!
Albania is the opposite to my Greece comment. The Albanians have a younger and better looking singer though and I think they have the best song of the whole newcomers.
Turkey is like punk or rock but old fashioned-still in my liking though and Norway em better than the bottom places. I hope my predictions come true and the best of luck to Belgium.
From Nathalie, BELGIUM
Added 16:47:6 2004-5-7
I can't believe why everbody thinks this is a bad song. I love it!!!!
From Koala, FRANCE
Added 20:47:28 2004-5-6
S'il vous plait voter pour la Belgique et pas pour notre malheureux chanteur Francais(Belge) consternant !!! Quand est ce que nos compositeurs et auteurs comprendront que l'on a besoin de chanson rythme, qui respire la joie !!!
Un Francais pur Souche pres de la Frontiere Belge
:-)
The Fun is Good 4 U !!!
From Nikolas, SWITZERLAND
Added 21:20:9 2004-5-5
She looks so different on that pic above?
The video shows her looking like a transvestite, who is obviously a rage on stage. Nice pumping beat, very good produced but leaves power on the end.
From Vali, BELGIUM
Added 17:10:1 2004-5-4
I'm from Belguim,and I like music but my top 6 is :
1) Serbian
2) Ukraine
3) Belguim
4) Greece
5) Sweden
6) Turkey
From Manu, BELGIUM
Added 19:6:17 2004-5-3
This is the first decent Belgian entry ... for ages. I was glad Belgium didn't win last year -and I'm Belgian!!!- and I hope it won't win this year because there are many other better songs. But this one isn't that bad. At least it's up to date and people can dance to it. By the way, Hanna, when you speak of cheap lyrics, you're probably right but remember that "Sanomi" was just a few sounds put together and that even "La la la" sounds like a masterpiece compared to that pathetic attempt to do something original. And to be honest, I prefer watching Xandee dancing (or trying to) than some boring scarecrows who almost fall asleep behind the micro!!!
From Maria, MALTA
Added 6:53:36 2004-5-2
I don't like this song at all, it's one of the worst this year together with Estonia.SO THIS YEAR MALTA HAS A BIG CHANCE GOODLUCK JULIE and LUDWIG
From Nico, BELGIUM
Added 0:18:13 2004-5-2
Why did we send this terrible flat song??? I don't understand the Belgian vote...If I could choose the winner from the preselections, it would be Natalia with the song 'higher than the sun.' A lot better than this piece of crap...but I'm still hoping that we will reach the top 5!
From Erik, SWEDEN
Added 12:43:53 2004-5-1
Well everybody can see how boring this song is so just very few people write their opinion about this stupid song! Be happy If you get a position between 7-10!
From Thomas, GREECE
Added 3:42:18 2004-4-30
Please tell me why this song is leading the most polls? It's just a good dance song...I have heard thousands of similar songs before and the most better than this. It tries to sound something like last year's winner but "Everyway that i can" was a great original song. This is just stupid..Definitely not a winner, but unfortunately it can make the Top-10, even the Top-5 actually...
From tim in brum, UNITED KINGDOM
Added 23:11:11 2004-4-28
can't understand the hysteria about this track...well i guess i can-it's well produced! it does sound modern in the eurovision world but as has already been said, it's dated as far as dance music goes. the lyric is naff and i hope the public will see past the gloss!
From Lena, SWEDEN
Added 21:28:58 2004-4-28
Well this singer is very ugly (with very big teeth like a horse) and her dance is aufull(jumping like a monkey)! Her song is very middle 90's without anything special, and very boring! Not a chance to win! A position between 5-10 is posible with an alternative show but not the one we have allready have seen in the video!
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Belgium
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