Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001
The Netherlands was represented by Michelle Courtens, with the song '"Out On My Own", at the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Copenhagen on 12 May. Michelle was the winner of the Dutch national final for the contest, held in Rotterdam on 3 March.
| Eurovision Song Contest 2001 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Nationaal Songfestival 2001 | |||
| Selection date(s) | 3 March 2001 | |||
| Selected entrant | Michelle | |||
| Selected song | "Out On My Own" | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 18th, 16 points | |||
| Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
Before Eurovision
Nationaal Songfestival 2001
The national final was held in the Rotterdam Ahoy arena, hosted by Paul de Leeuw. Eight songs took part with the winner being decided by a 50/50 split between televoting and three expert juries (singers and musicians, composers and music industry personnel). The televote proved decisive in Michelle's favour as she received twice as many votes as her nearest competitor. Michelle's victory was unexpected to most, as prior to the final the female trio Ebonique had been seen as hot favourites to win.[1]
| Final – 3 March 2001 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Friday Night Fever | "Love Will Rule the World" | Peter de Wijn | 8 | 2 | 10 | 5 |
| 2 | Céline & René | "Simply In Love" | Wim Rijken, Haro Slok, Henkjan Smits | 6 | 3 | 9 | 6 |
| 3 | Bart Brandjes | "Count Me Out" | Erwin Radjinder | 19 | 15 | 34 | 4 |
| 4 | Paul de Graaf | "Laat je zien" | Paul de Graaf, Paul Fiselier | 3 | 5 | 8 | 7 |
| 5 | Ebonique | "So Much Love" | Tjeerd van Zanen, Alan Michael | 29 | 25 | 54 | 2 |
| 6 | Montezuma's Revenge | "Danielle" | Bouwe de Jong, Arthur Cune | 18 | 18 | 36 | 3 |
| 7 | Michelle | "Out On My Own" | André Remkes, Dirk Jan Vermeij | 34 | 50 | 84 | 1 |
| 8 | Sven | "Fool for You" | John Geuzinge | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Detailed Jury Votes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | Song | Musicians | Composers | Industry | Total |
| 1 | "Love Will Rule the World" | 5 | 3 | 8 | |
| 2 | "Simply In Love" | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 3 | "Count Me Out" | 7 | 7 | 5 | 19 |
| 4 | "Laat je zien" | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 5 | "So Much Love" | 10 | 12 | 7 | 29 |
| 6 | "Danielle" | 3 | 5 | 10 | 18 |
| 7 | "Out On My Own" | 12 | 10 | 12 | 34 |
| 8 | "Fool for You" | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
At Eurovision
On the night of the final Michelle performed first in the running order, preceding Iceland. This was the sixth time the Netherlands had been drawn to open the show, a contest record which still stands, and was a poor draw for a quiet, reflective song. At the close of voting "Out On My Own" had received only 16 points (6 from Portugal, 5 from Israel, 4 from Slovenia and 1 from Russia), placing the Netherlands 18th of the 23 entries. The 12 points from the Dutch televote were awarded to contest winners Estonia.[2] The low placement meant that the Netherlands were relegated from taking part in the 2002 contest. The 2001 contest marked the only occasion on which two performers participated under identical names: that year's German singer was also called Michelle.
