In the spotlight: Jeangu Macrooy

02 April 2020 at 10:15 CEST

In the spotlight: Jeangu Macrooy Anton Corbijn

With his song, 'Grow', Jeangu Macrooy was chosen to represent the Netherlands in 2020. In light of the unfortunate cancellation of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest, we wish to highlight the impressive acts that were set to appear. This is 'In the spotlight', our feature honouring the artists that would have made up this year's edition of the world's largest live music event.

Jeangu Macrooy was selected for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 by way of internal selection. According to the managing director of Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS and member of the selection committee Eric van Stade, Jeangu has been on the radar for quite some time: “The song he delivered touched us right away.”

By mid-March, the video for Grow had already reached 1,000,000 views on YouTube, and by the end of March, the song had reached 1,000,000 streams on Spotify as well.

Who is Jeangu?

Jeangu Macrooy was born in 1993 in Paramaribo, Suriname. The seeds to Jeangu’s journey were planted when he received a guitar as a 13th birthday present from his parents. Together with his twin brother Xillan, a musical duo was formed.

Jeangu’s musical ambition turned out to be bigger than the music scene in his native Suriname, leading to his move to the Netherlands in 2014. There he met producer and composer Perquisite who signed him to his label, Unexpected Records. From that moment, Jeangu’s career in the Dutch music industry was on the fast track. He has since played several big Dutch festivals, is a recurring guest in TV shows and has been nominated twice for an Edison Award, the Dutch equivalent to the American Grammy Awards.

The Netherlands' Eurovision 2020 representative Jeangu Macrooy Anton Corbijn

The Dutch entry for 2020 is about growing up and realizing that there is no such thing as a clear cut path to happiness. But it’s also about accepting the fact that life is a series of highs and lows, which ultimately makes us grow. In the autobiographical song, Jeangu opens his heart and mind up to the world around him. The song is his personal story about getting older and his quest to find himself.

Recently, Dutch host broadcaster AVROTROS took to Instagram to confirm that Jeangu would remain their representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

You can follow Jeangu on the following social media platforms:

LISTEN: Stream Grow and other Eurovision 2020 songs on Spotify

The Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest

The Netherlands entered the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. The Netherlands has won the Eurovision Song Contest 5 times in total: 2 times in the 1950s, setting an early record of 2 victories in the first 4 years.

After a record-setting 1950s, the new decade didn’t bring much success to the Dutch entries and, in fact, they came last 3 times until Lenny Kuhr finished as 1 of the 4 winners of the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest. De Troubadour was a folk-inspired ballad about the impact music had on the audiences in the Middle Ages.

READ MORE: the Netherlands' country page

In 2019, Duncan Laurence changed the game by bringing the trophy home to the Netherlands after the country missed out on first place for 44 long years. Duncan received 492 points for his winning song Arcade.