Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Background

Prior to the 2015 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-six times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest. Since then, the country has won the contest on one occasion in 1986 with the song "J'aime la vie" performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Belgium had been featured in only three finals. In 2014, Axel Hirsoux represented the country with the song "Mother", placing fourteenth in the semi-finals and failing to advance to the final.

The Belgian broadcaster for the 2015 Contest, who broadcast the event in Belgium and organised the selection process for its entry, was Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française (RTBF). The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: RTBF and Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep (VRT). Both broadcasters have selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections. In 2013, RTBF internally selected the winner of the most recent series of The Voice Belgique, Roberto Bellarosa to represent the nation, while in 2014, VRT organised the national final Eurosong in order to select the Belgian entry.

Internal selection

RTBF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 June 2014. On 3 November 2014, the broadcaster announced that they had internally selected Loïc Nottet to represent Belgium in Vienna. Loïc Nottet was the runner-up in the third series of The Voice Belgique, which is organised by RTBF.

On 10 March 2015, RTBF held a press conference at the Maison de Vienne in Brussels, where the song "Rhythm Inside" was announced as the Belgian entry for the contest. The song was written by Loïc Nottet himself along with his The Voice Belgique coach Beverly Jo Scott. On the same day, "Rhythm Inside" was presented on the radio shows Le 8/9 and Le 5 à 7 on VivaCité and the official music video for the song was broadcast during The Voice Belgique on La Une. In March 2015, Nottet performed the song live on the radio stations Qmusic and Joe FM. The song's first live televised performance occurred on 6 May 2015 during The Voice Belgique.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into five different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 26 January 2015, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Belgium was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 19 May 2015, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.

Once all the competing songs for the 2015 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Belgium was set to perform in position 3, following the entry from Armenia and before the entry from the Netherlands.

All three shows were broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. RTBF televised the shows on La Une with commentary in French by Jean-Louis Lahaye and Maureen Louys. The final was also broadcast via radio on VivaCité with French commentary by Olivier Gilain. VRT broadcast the shows on één and Radio 2 with commentary in Dutch by Peter Van de Veire and Eva Daeleman. The Belgian spokesperson, who announced the Belgian votes during the final, was television presenter Walid.

Semi-final

Nottet took part in technical rehearsals on 11 and 15 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 18 and 19 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries.

The stage show featured Loïc Nottet dressed in a black suit and five backing vocalists dressed in white costumes. The staging concept involved the contrasts of black and white with strobe lighting added and the background LED screens transitioning between full white displays, moving white lines and pulsating 3D boxes. Nottet and the backing vocalists performed a choreographed routine that at one point featured Nottet lying on the stage floor. The five backing vocalists that joined Loïc Nottet on stage were Katie Bernstein, Michael Storrs, Susanna Cork, Sarah Covey and previous Belgian Eurovision contestant Nicolas Dorian, who represented the nation in 2011 as part of Witloof Bay.

At the end of the show, Belgium was announced as having finished in the top ten and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed second in the semi-final, receiving a total of 149 points.

Final

Shortly after the first semi-final, a winner's press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Belgium was drawn to compete in the first half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Belgium was subsequently placed to perform in position 13, following the entry from Australia and before the entry from Austria.

Loïc Nottet once again took part in dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Nottet performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 23 May. At the conclusion of the voting, Belgium finished in fourth place with 217 points, making it the most successful result for Belgium in the contest since the nation placed second in 2003. Belgium received 12 points, the maximum number of points a country can give to another country, from three countries.

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belgium had placed fourth with the public televote and fifth with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Belgium scored 195 points, while with the jury vote, Belgium scored 186 points. In the first semi-final, Belgium placed third with the public televote with 112 points and second with the jury vote, scoring 139 points.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Belgian jury: