It’s a theme everyone can relate to; Best Friends. The four 13 and 14 year old girls brings friendship from a children perspective to the 2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. ‘Best Friends’ is what Junior Eurovision should be about.
Naomi and Jayda are 13 years old, Maud and Demi 14. The four girls forms the group Unity which will represent the Netherlands at the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest. They share a similar taste in music as all four mention the Dutch singer Maan when asked about their musical idols.
Unity was selected for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest after winning the national final back in September 2020. It wasn’t without drama though. The final was held, without audience, in Ahoy in Rotterdam (which will also to host the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest) with four acts planned to take part. Shortly before the show, one of the participants was tested positive for Coronavirus and as such had to withdraw.
Unity was affected too with Demi was tested positive. The remaining three girls performed without her, won – and all four of them will now get this Junior Eurovision experience together.
Best Friends – opinions from fans
In order to find out what Eurovision fans think of this Dutch Junior Eurovision entry, we asked our Eurovision Fan Panel. It includes team members as well as fans from all over the world.
🇧🇷 Amir B – The JESC song from The Netherlands is about friendship and takes me to a deep reflection about our relationships. It’s amazing what the power of the song can bring out in some people.
🇳🇱 Frank S. – I am not a big fan of the Junior Eurovision, however I did listen to this year’s entry from my home country. Apart from the video I also watched the live performance and I think there is some work to do. Though the song is kind of catchy for me it misses the X-Factor. Two languages is a bit much for me and too many dance movements might break the girls voices. Not too bad nor deeply impressed.
🇨🇿 Josef S – Netherlands is definitely the JESC powerhouse and they prove it every year. Best Friends is a song which will appeal to the young audience and all the small girls will want to be just like Unity. Which is exactly what I expect from JESC entries. The question is if this is enough to win the contest.
🇳🇱 🇩🇰 Wouter V. – How nice, four friends singing a song about Best Friends. By far not the most original topic, but very relatable to many children. Personally I don’t really like the song, but they sing it well and I’m sure there’ll be plenty of children around Europe dancing along to it. Besides that, I’ve only seen the music video, and heard that version of the song; and it sounds like they have added some effects to their vocals that may not be possible or allowed for their “recorded live” performance. So that will be something to look for during the broadcast.
🇨🇴 🇫🇮 Alvaro S – I find these type of songs more appropriate for a format like the Junior Eurovision. It is a catchy song. Here we do not see little artists pretending to be grown-up adults, but at the same time it is not infantilized to the point of looking fake. Unfortunately, after watching the most recent winners I am not sure if this could win. I hope it gets a good result.
🇩🇰 Charlotte J. – Finally a song where nothing sounds like it’s an adult song. It’s children singing about a topic they can all relate to; friendship. Music wise and lyrics wise, it’s also on the terms of the children. That is so refreshing. It’s a catchy song, and this is the kind of the music I would like children to listen to… No need to grow up too fast, am I naive? Hopefully it will do well too as this is what Junior Eurovision should be like.
🇩🇰 Alberte B – It’s a cute song, but it’s also super cliche. I never watch JESC, but it’s the kind of song that I think will land in the middle
🇬🇧 Michael O. – Netherlands keep sending the same model of song to Junior, and this one has four girls ready to grow into the Spice Girls. Less dramatic than some of the eastern entries, and pleasant enough when it’s on, but like the sundaes they eat in the video, too much will make you sick
In the video below, you can listen to Unity’s entry Best Friends. Below the video you can read more about the Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
The Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
When the first edition of Junior Eurovision Song Contest kicked off in 2003, the Netherlands were one of the 16 countries taking part. Contrary to many others, the country has been a steady participant ever since, not missing a single year.
In 2009, the Netherlands won the Junior Eurovision contest. That’s their only victory so far. They do have a second place and two fourth places too.
Do the names Lisa, Amy & Shelley ring a bell with you? If not, their band name O’G3NE might. The three sisters represented the Netherlands at the 2007 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. With the song Adem In, Adem Uit (Breath in, breath out) they finished 11th. 10 years later we saw them with a new song called Lights And Shadows and the show was called Eurovision Song Contest. The result was however the same – the three sisters also finished 11th at ‘the adult version’.
