905/917 Esther Hart: One more night (Netherlands 2003)

The Dutch Eurovision entries from the 1990's and the early years of the new millenium were a collection of peppy and in principal perfect popsongs that in paper should have provided the country with good final results. The 905th eurosong, the Dutch entry for the 2003 Eurovision song contest is a good example.

At first view the performance works very well on stage. The artists are enthousiastic but also very competent to give a well rehearsed choreography and pitch perfect singing at the same time. The song itself is like a rerun of the 1999 Dutch entry (written by the same songwriter team), which was my favourite song four years earlier. What could go wrong.

The televoters were rather hesitant to share my view. The 13th place among 26 participants must have been a big disappointment to the Dutch team, which apparently had put a lot attention and money to make the entry as perfect as possible.

Now, 11 years later, it is quite easy to see what went wrong. In their pursuit of perfection, Esther Hart and his team had created a rather cold and indifferent entry. Already at second view the flawless choreography starts to irritate, and the wide smile on everyones faces seem rather forced. There is not even the intriguing Dutch language to give warmth and personality to the song. The choice of language saved many Dutch entries from the 1990's from mediocrity.

The song itself is catchy and fun but not an evergreen quality. In all an entertaining but rather disposable Eurosong.

My points 2/5.