Our next Eurovision preview takes us to my current country of residence; the land of chocolate, too many governments and the current holders of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It’s Belgium!
History
Belgium was one of the seven countries that took part in the very first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. They will take part in the contest for the 65th time this year. They have only won once, when Sandra Kim sang “J’aime la vie” in 1986. She is the youngest winner in history after winning the contest at 13 years old (although her song stated that she was 15!). The closest Belgium have come to winning since then was in 2003, when Urban Trad finished second with “Sanomi”, just three points behind the winners Turkey.
At the 2023 contest, Gustaph finished seventh with “Because of You”, giving Belgium their best result since 2016.
Selection
The selection of Belgium’s entry alternates between two broadcasters; the Dutch-language Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroeporganisatie (VRT) and the French-language Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française (RTBF). RTBF was in charge this year.
RTBF used an internal selection to select their 2024 entry. Mustii was selected to represent Belgium in Malmö.
Artist
Thomas Mustin, better known as Mustii, was born on November 21 1990 in Brussels. He studied acting at the Institut des arts de diffusion in Louvain-la-Neuve. After graduating in 2012, he landed his first acting role in the Belgian police drama “À tort ou à raison” (Wrong or right). He also played Benvolio in a touring production of Romeo and Juliet, which notably was the first play to be performed in the Théâtre de Liège in 2013.
He continued to perform on both screen and stage in the following years; such as in the play “Débris” in 2014, the French-Belgian film “Un petit boulot” (Odd Job) in 2016 and the Belgian television series “La Trêve” (The Break) in 2016, which was also broadcast in France, Switzerland and worldwide on Netflix.
In 2014, Mustii signed a recording contract and released his debut single “The Golden Age”. The single received frequent airplay on both Dutch- and French-language radio stations in Belgium. After performing as a support act for multiple artists in Belgium and Luxembourg, he released his debut EP “The Darkest Night” in 2016. In December of that year, he won Revelation of the Year at the D6bels Music Awards.
In 2018, Mustii released his debut studio album “21st Century Boy”. In 2019, he won two acting awards; the Magritte Award for Most Promising Actor for his role in the film “L’Échange des princesses” (The princess exchange) and the Critics’ Choice Award for his role in a production of Hamlet.
In 2021, Mustii released his second studio album “It’s Happening Now”. He also was a featured artist on the song “What About Ecosystem?” by Mumiy Troll, who represented Russia at Eurovision 2001.
In 2023, he was announced as a jury member for Drag Race Belgique. He continued his role for the second season, which recently finished airing.
The song that Mustii will perform in Malmö is called “Before the Party’s Over”. It was written by Arianna Damato, Benoit Leclerq, Charlotte Clark, Nina Sampermans, Pierre Dumoulin, and Mustii himself. Nina Sampermans has written three Eurovision entries; “Would You?” (Belgium 2012), “Tout l’univers” (Switzerland 2021) and “Bridges” (Estonia 2023). Pierre Dumoulin has previously written two Belgian entries; “City Lights” (2017) and “Wake Up” (2019).
The last part of the song features a choir made up of over 1,000 recordings from members of the public. Mustii asked for members of the public to submit their recordings singing some lines of the songs, from which a choir was created.
Song Review
Last year, we got a happy gay song. This year, we got a dark gay song.
It is very clear from this song that Mustii is trained in the dramatic arts. This is starts off as moody but ends up being defiant in the face of everything bad life throws your way. It is the dark Belgian pop that we have come to know and love at Eurovision. And RTBF, thank you for realising that not every French-speaking artist in Belgium has participated in The Voice Belgique!
My worry for Eurovision is that Mustii has been going at Eurovision at a rate of knots and hasn’t found the time to rest yet. I know we say that you have to suffer for your art but if you don’t rest, you will be suffering in more ways than one! Staging has also traditionally not been Belgium’s strength (except for last year). However, if they can get both elements right, Belgium could be looking at a second consecutive top ten finish.
The One That Got Away
Now that RTBF have realised that artists exist outside of The Voice maybe they can continue picking high-quality artists. Rory would be a good example.
Hailing from Liège, Rori burst onto the Belgian music scene with her punk-influenced pop. Her 2022 song “Docteur” (Doctor) went viral and was her breakthrough hit. Since then, she has performed all over Belgium and even in front of the Belgian Royal Family.
Belgium has so many homegrown artists taking on the world at the moment. Hopefully we get to see a lot of them on the Eurovision stage over the next years.
Bonne chance à la Belgique! Veel succes België! Viel Glück Belgien!
Are you staying with Mustii until the party is over or are you leaving earlier? Leave your comments below. Stay tuned for another preview tomorrow!
(Sources: eurovision.tv, RTBF, YouTube)
Thinking About It 