The Netherlands – Arcade

Have you ever gone to a party and everyone’s laughed at a joke and you don’t quite get it but you really really can’t figure out what’s so hilarious?

Yeah. That’s how Duncan Laurence’s Arcade makes me feel.

This song has set Eurofandom on fire, and I am just connecting yet. I mean, Duncan’s got a beautiful voice which he controls well in its upper range. And Duncan’s also got a beautiful butt, which everyone in his home country has now seen on national television.

But the song itself is just…well, it goes nowhere. I mean, it’s miles better than the Dutch entry last year, but in the Year of our Lord of the Man Ballad, it doesn’t particularly stand out.

And my investigations have just led me to dislike this song more. I mean, I know that English isn’t everyone’s first language, but Duncan talking about this song being about a girl he once knew who died makes me furious. Now we’ve got the fridging trope in Eurovision? COME ON.

So please, help me understand – what am I missing?