Getty Image / LAURIE DIEFFEMBACQ / Belga / AFP
The finals for the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest are just about two months away and the various competing countries are finalizing their entries by releasing music videos for their representatives.
Representing The Netherlands is Joost Klein with an original song titled ‘Europapa’ and we’re not afraid to admit that our American minds simply cannot comprehend the appeal here. We are not able to wrap our minds around why this song is in the running for the Eurovision Song Contest Finals.
Without giving anything away about the truly insane nature of the ‘Europapa’ music video from Joost Klein of The Netherlands, I’ll present it without attempting to preview it. Meet me on the other side of the video and we can discuss…
Like I said, our American minds cannot comprehend this.
On some level I’m aware this is a joke and that there are layers to that joke. But there’s also such a deep sense of national and European pride that accompanies entries into the Eurovision Song Contest. There is also the allure of creating a song that gets played by every DJ from Cannes to Mykonos this Summer.
I can’t help but wonder how someone lands on ‘Europapa’ as the song they believe will be that song. The beat’s catchy, to be sure. And the music video is so over-the-top insane that it will certainly pick a lot of points for The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest Finals in May…. But why?
The Netherlands has won the Eurovision Song Contest 5 times. Most recently in 2019 and their first win was back in 1957.
Looking at the competing countries’ songs uploaded to the Eurovision YouTube channel in recent days, the only song other than ‘Europapa’ with over a million views is Croatia’s ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’ by Baby Lasagna.
Rim Tim Tagi Dim is going to be stuck in my head all day now, isn’t it? My brain has zero comprehension of what it’s about or why it needs to exist. But it’s a proper earworm.
Our American minds simply are not meant to understand the Eurovision Song Contest and songs like ‘Europapa’ from The Netherlands. That is the only reasonable explanation here. Will Ferrell tried with his Eurovision movie which went largely misunderstood by Americans because it so closely mirrored the actual event itself.