Belgium was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Mother", written by Ashley Hicklin and Rafael Artesero, and performed by Axel Hirsoux. The Belgian participating broadcaster, Flemish (VRT), selected its entry through the national final Eurosong 2014. The competition featured thirty competing acts and consisted of seven shows. In the final on 16 March 2014, "Mother" performed by Axel Hirsoux was selected as the winner via the votes of seven international jury groups and a public televote.

Belgium was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 6 May 2014. Performing during the show in position 10, "Mother" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Belgium placed fourteenth out of the 16 participating countries in the semi-final with 28 points.

Background

Prior to the 2014 contest, Belgium had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-five times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in . Since then, they have won the contest on one occasion with the song "", performed by Sandra Kim. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the , Belgium had been featured in only three finals. In , "Love Kills" by Roberto Bellarosa qualified to the final and placed twelfth.

The Belgian participation in the contest alternates between two broadcasters: Flemish (VRT) and Walloon (RTBF) at the time, with both broadcasters sharing the broadcasting rights. Both broadcasters –and their predecessors– had selected the Belgian entry using national finals and internal selections in the past. In and 2013, both VRT and RTBF internally selected an artist to represent Belgium and organised a national final in order to select the song. On 3 June 2013, VRT confirmed its participation in the 2014 contest and announced that the Eurosong national final would be held to select its entry. This marked the return of a multi-artist Eurosong for the first time since .

Before Eurovision

Eurosong 2014 Eurosong 2014 was the national final that selected Belgium's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The competition consisted of seven shows that commenced on 2 February 2014 and concluded with a final on 16 March 2014 where the winning song and artist were selected. All shows were hosted by Eva Daeleman and Peter Van de Veire and broadcast on Eén as well as online at the broadcaster's Eurosong website eurosong.een.be. The final was also broadcast online at the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.

Format Thirty artists were selected to compete in Eurosong. Two casting shows aired on 2 and 9 February 2014 with each show featuring fifteen of the artists auditioning in front of an expert jury by performing a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song. The top four as determined by jury directly qualified to the semi-finals, while the fifth to eighth placed acts advanced to the Call Back round. The Call Back round took place on 16 February 2014 where an additional four artists as determined by an expert jury and public televoting qualified to the semi-finals. Three semi-finals took place on 23 February 2014, 3 March 2014 and 9 March 2014 where each artist presented their candidate Eurovision song. Each show featured four artists and the top two as determined by an expert jury and public televoting qualified to the final. The final took place on 16 March 2014 where the winner was chosen by seven international jury groups and public televoting.

During each of the seven shows, the expert jury provided commentary and feedback to the artists as well as selected entries to advance in the competition. The experts were:

Bart Peeters – singer and television presenter Piet Goddaer – musician known by his stage name Ozark Henry Jef Martens – musician and DJ known by various aliases such as Basto and Lazy Jay Ruslana – Ukrainian singer, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Competing entries On 1 October 2013, VRT opened two separate submission forms: one for artists to submit a video recording of them performing a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song and another for songwriters to submit their songs. The submission deadline for the two applications concluded on 14 October 2013 and 28 October 2013, respectively. The names of the thirty acts selected for the competition were announced on 24 January 2014. Among the competing artists were former Eurovision Song Contest participants Veronica Codesal (member of Aelia), who represented Belgium in 2003 as part of the group Urban Trad, and Kate Ryan (lead singer of Day One), who represented Belgium in 2006. Sixteen songs were selected from those received during the submission period and matched with the artists that advanced from the casting shows. The jury panel that selected both the artists and songs for the competition consisted of Bart Peeters, Piet Goddaer, Jef Martens and Ruslana. The four artists that failed to advance from the Call Back round to the semi-finals (Jessy, Joyce, Mr. Jones and White Bird) were also matched with a candidate Eurovision song but did not perform them during the competition.

Artist SongSongwriter(s) 2 Fabiola feat. Loredana "She's After My Piano"Ovidiu Jacobsen, Phillip Halloun, Simen Eriksrud, Cecilie Harboe Axeela "Chasing Rainbows"Bernd Klimpel, Dimitri Ehrlich, Lauren Amaris Axel Hirsoux "Mother"Ashley Hicklin, Rafael Artesero Bandits "One"Tony Adams Rosa Day One "Whoever You Are"Yves Gaillard Eva Jacobs "Nothing Is Impossible"Mick Lee, Pernille Georgi, Chris "Ruff Diamond" Robinson Jessy "Beautiful"Jessy De Smet, Yves Gaillard, Tim Burkes Joyce "I Think I"Joyce Lemmens, Robbe Tom Balis, Wouter Vander Veken Mr. Jones "Still Believe"Patrick Hamilton, Vincent Pierins, Tom Eeckhout Nelson "Wild Side"Nelson Moraïs, Yves Gaillard Petra "Killer Touch"Georgie Dennis, Christopher Wortley, Paul Drew, Greig Watts, Pete Barringer Sil "What's the Time in Tokyo?"Marcella Detroit, Marcus Winther-John, Paul Drew, Greig Watts, Pete Barringer Tisha Cyrus "Kitty Cat"Big John Snr, Yves Gaillard Udo "Hero (In Flanders Fields)"Pokka Jr., Nadge, Udo Mechels White Bird "Fire and Ice"Tom Helsen, Yannick Fonderie Yass "Need You Tonight"Yass Smaali, Yves Gaillard, Ashley Hicklin, Leon Paul Palmen, Rupert Blackman

Shows

Casting shows The two casting shows aired on 2 and 9 February 2014 and took place at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp. Both shows were filmed earlier on 3 December 2013.In each show fifteen artists performed a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song and an expert jury determined four acts that qualified to the semi-finals and an additional four acts that advanced to the Call Back round. Jury member Ruslana did not vote during both shows as she was unable to attend the casting shows due to her involvement in the pro-European Union protests in Ukraine.

+ Show 1 – 2 February 2014 Artist Song Average PlaceResult 1 Joyce "Mister" 88 78 79 82 5 Call Back 2 The Exclusive Strings "Hard Rock Hallelujah" 72 64 68 68 15 3 White Bird "Fly on the Wings of Love" 84 79 77 80 8 Call Back 4 Eva Jacobs "In Your Eyes" 86 85 86 86 3 Semi-final 5 The Fuckuleles "Waterloo" 76 80 73 76 10 6 Jessy "Euphoria" 86 82 75 81 7 Call Back 7 Gracious Wild "In Love for a While" 76 76 65 72 12 8 Violet Sky "Door de wind" 76 73 69 73 11 9 Axel Hirsoux "Tu te reconnaîtras" 86 82 83 84 4 Semi-final 10 3M8S "Only Teardrops" 75 75 62 71 14 11 Nelson "Glorious" 90 89 80 86 2 Semi-final 12 Elvya Dulcimer "Sweet People" 76 70 69 72 12 13 2 Fabiola feat. Loredana "My Number One" 84 81 79 81 6 Call Back 14 Di Stephano "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" 80 79 75 78 9 15 Udo "Ne partez pas sans moi" 96 95 89 93 1 Semi-final

+ Show 2 – 9 February 2014 Artist Song Average PlaceResult 1 Soulbrothers "Puppet on a String" 74 66 65 68 13 2 Mr. Jones "Standing Still" 84 82 74 80 8 Call Back 3 Sil "Where Are You?" 86 85 80 84 6 Call Back 4 Aelia "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" 74 66 65 68 14 5 Tisha Cyrus "Düm Tek Tek" 90 86 81 86 3 Semi-final 6 Yass "L'oiseau et l'enfant" 92 89 85 89 2 Semi-final 7 Day One "Satellite" 91 89 75 85 5 Call Back 8 Dina Rodrigues "Ne partez pas sans moi" 72 72 70 71 12 9 Andrei Lugovski "In a Moment Like This" 76 75 74 75 10 10 Bastien "Fly on the Wings of Love" 82 78 76 79 9 11 Maureen "Ding-a-dong" 77 75 69 74 11 12 Manuel Palomo "Eres tú" 66 60 62 63 15 13 Axeela "Believe" 88 84 83 85 4 Semi-final 14 Bandits "Geef het op" 88 81 80 83 7 Call Back 15 Petra "All Kinds of Everything" 94 92 89 92 1 Semi-final

Call Back The Call Back round took place on 9 February 2014 at the Videohouse in Vilvoorde. The eight artists that placed fifth to eighth in the preceding two casting shows each performed a cover version of a past Eurovision Song Contest song and the combination of results from an expert jury and a public televote determined the top four that qualified to the semi-finals.

+ Call Back – 16 February 2014ArtistSongJury VotesPlace AverageRank 1 White Bird "Love Shine a Light" 88 84 75 80 824 5 2 Jessy "Je t'adore" 78 80 60 60 706 6 3 Mr. Jones "My Star" 72 65 50 50 598 7 4 Bandits Eurovision Medley 95 87 80 86 873 1 5 Joyce "Save Your Kisses for Me" 78 70 55 70 687 8 6 Day One "Nocturne" 95 98 80 90 911 3 7 Sil "J'aime la vie" 93 92 81 90 892 2 8 2 Fabiola feat. Loredana "Euphoria" 90 80 65 65 755 4

Semi-finals The three semi-finals took place on 23 February, 2 March and 9 March 2014 at the Videohouse in Vilvoorde. In each show four artists performed their candidate songs for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest and the combination of results from an expert jury and a public televote determined the top two that qualified to the final.

+ Semi-final 1 – 23 February 2014ArtistSongJury VotesPlace AverageRank 1 Day One "Whoever You Are" 96 98 80 85 902 3 2 Eva Jacobs "Nothing Is Impossible" 95 90 90 90 911 1 3 Udo "Hero (In Flanders Fields)" 85 70 69 75 753 2 4 Petra "Killer Touch" 86 75 68 70 754 4

+ Semi-final 2 – 2 March 2014ArtistSongJury VotesPlace AverageRank 1 Axeela "Chasing Rainbows" 88 78 72 85 814 4 2 Yass "Need You Tonight" 95 90 80 92 892 2 3 2 Fabiola feat. Loredana "She's After My Piano" 90 80 75 90 843 3 4 Sil "What's the Time in Tokyo?" 96 95 87 95 931 1

+ Semi-final 3 – 9 March 2014ArtistSongJury VotesPlace AverageRank 1 Nelson "Wild Side" 92 84 72 85 833 3 2 Axel Hirsoux "Mother" 98 100 99 100 991 1 3 Tisha Cyrus "Kitty Cat" 88 60 50 75 684 4 4 Bandits "One" 97 88 78 95 902 2

Final The final took place on 16 March 2014 at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp where the six entries that qualified from the preceding three semi-finals competed. The winner, "Mother" performed by Axel Hirsoux, was selected by the combination of results from seven international jury groups and a public televote. The public and the jury each had a total of 280 points to award. Each of the jury groups awarded points in the following manner: 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points, while the televote awarded points based on the percentage of votes each song achieved. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 280 points rounded to the nearest integer: 28 points. The expert panel participated in the final solely in an advisory role.

+ Final – 16 March 2014 Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place 1 Yass "Need You Tonight" 58 19 77 4 2 Sil "What's the Time in Tokyo?" 32 6 38 5 3 Udo "Hero (In Flanders Fields)" 22 10 32 6 4 Bandits "One" 42 48 90 2 5 Eva Jacobs "Nothing Is Impossible" 52 37 89 3 6 Axel Hirsoux "Mother" 74 160 234 1 + Song Total 1 "Need You Tonight" 12 12 10 8 8 8 58 2 "What's the Time in Tokyo?" 4 4 6 6 6 6 32 3 "Hero (In Flanders Fields)" 6 4 4 8 22 4 "One" 6 8 4 10 10 4 42 5 "Nothing Is Impossible" 10 10 6 12 4 10 52 6 "Mother" 8 8 12 10 12 12 12 74 Ratings