Netherlands 2023: Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper with ‘Burning Daylight’

Former Eurovision winner Duncan Laurence is on writing duties for two dutchies as our first duet enters the mix:

I quite like this one and it does look strong but maybe not strong enough to challenge what is at the top of the odds. Duets always benefit in helping a song flow and the three minutes pass quicker. It's a bit of a cheat code in mixing things up and keeping interest or at least that’s how I see it. The song behind isn't anything special but does come together well and is better than a lot of Duncan's post Esc output.

I find the Netherlands hit and miss with staging and usually have more issues with it than others. This is in their ballpark however with the main question being on live chemistry and performance between Mia and Dion.

If the juries were still around in the semis this would be a lock for qualification but I'm still not really worried about it's chances. Whilst this won't score as well your Finlands and possibly not your Croatias there is a more mature audience out there perfectly happy with something ‘normal’. The one caveat is Switzerland who could potentially eat into that niche. Still, ten qualify from 15 and this is already 100% ahead of 2 of those and I’d make them favourite vs a good few more. In the final this should be queueing up behind Loreen with the juries somewhere in 2-6 so a top 10 overall should be acheiveable.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Competitve Rating: 8/10

Early Prediction: Semi One 5th-8th, 5th-9th in the final