PORTRAIT
It had been weeks since he was predicting victory. And the bookmakers were not mistaken. Saturday night, in Tel Aviv, Dutchman Duncan Laurence won the 64th edition of Eurovision. His 492 points attest that the young singer has won the hearts of juries and the public. He is ahead of Italy's Mahmood, second at 465, and Russia's Sergey Lazarev, who has 369 points.
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An artist from The Voice
Duncan Laurence, whose real name was Duncan de Moor, was born in 1994. He made his name five years ago when he participated in the tele-hook The Voice in Holland, where he arrived at the doors of the final. It was thanks to his coach, the former Eurovision candidate Ilse DeLange, that he was able to access the European singing competition. And for good reason, the singer did not hesitate to give her name to the Dutch selection committee.
Harassed in his youth
Since then, Duncan Laurence has been living a daydream, combining quality services and encouraging prognostics. What to heal the wounds of his youth, when he was a victim of harassment on his physique or sexual orientation. The singer, who revealed his bisexuality in 2016, today takes advantage of his new notoriety to call for tolerance, saying that his love of music has served as a refuge to overcome difficult moments during his childhood spent in a small city and during which it was stamped by some as the "Harry Potter mini-look-alike".
Painful memories he sets to music
Saturday night, it is all sober that the author and performer appeared on stage to sing the title Arcade , a ballad entirely in English, planing and moving. The song is inspired by the disappearance of a loved one when Duncan Laurence was younger. "She was very much in love with a boy she had broken up with, she always hoped he would come back, but he never did, until the day she died, he never came back," confided the singer to 20 Minutes. For his performance at Eurovision, Duncan Laurence has chosen a very minimalist staging, presenting himself alone with his piano. This sobriety denoted, it must be said, with the rest of the candidates who presented themselves in front of the public and the televiewers, all dressed in grandiloquent costumes and accompanied by detonating light effects.
Just before his performance, Duncan Laurence said he wanted today to be "a historic day". With this victory, he allowed his country to win the contest, which had not happened in 44 years. Even the Dutch Prime Minister reacted, greeting on Twitter "a sublime and powerful performance".
Relatively little known in his country before Eurovision, the popularity of Duncan Laurence soars. The proof: a tour is already planned.