The Voice Belgique winner Jérémie Makiese has expressed his interest in representing Belgium at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. He said in an interview that it would be an honour to represent his country at the contest.
The 20-year-old singer from Berchem won this year’s season of The Voice in Belgium, coached by singer-songwriter B.J. Scott. After performing Labrinth’s “Jealous” at his blind audition, he joined B.J. Scott’s team on the ninth season of The Voice Belgique. He then made it all the way to the final and won the competition.
“It would be a complete honour”
Speaking to Belgian news website La Meuse, Jérémie said that he would love to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022.
Besides the single, my other project is Eurovision. It would be a complete honour to represent my country next year.
– Jérémie Makiese, speaking to La Meuse
He is currently working on his first single, which he hopes to release by the end of this year. In The Voice Belgique, he was already surrounded by some familiar Eurovision names.
Loïc Nottet – who began his career on The Voice Belgique, finishing as runner-up in 2014 – is now a coach on the show. Loïc finished 4th at Eurovision 2015 representing Belgium with “Rhythm Inside”. Jérémie’s coach, B.J. Scott, co-wrote “Rhythm Inside” with Nottet for the contest.
Who is Jérémie Makiese?
Hailing from Berchem, Jérémie is currently studying geology as he hopes to become a geologist one day. He is also a keen footballer, playing in goals for D3 Amateur team Wallonia Walhain.
As a musician, Jérémie performs music with a soul and R&B vibe, which could be heard in many of his performances on The Voice Belgique. In the live shows, he performed several songs including James Arthur’s “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You” and Bruno Mars & Anderson Paak’s “Leave The Door Open”.
In the final, he performed songs by Michael Jackson, Gregory Porter and Labrinth which helped him pick up the win. He received 53% of the public vote and beat Alice Van Eesbeeck who finished as runner-up. He plans to release his debut single later this year, and then he plans to record an EP and his first album.
Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest
One of the founding countries in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, Belgium has only missed three contests: 1994, 1997 and 2001. Despite this, Belgium has only won the contest once in 1986. Since the introduction of the semi-finals Belgium has struggled to qualify for the final. Belgium failed to reach the final for five consecutive years between 2005 and 2009.
However, in more recent years, their fortunes had changed for the better. They achieved three top ten placements in a row from 2015 to 2017; both Loïc Nottet and Blanche placed fourth in 2015 and 2017, respectively.
For 2020 and 2021, Hooverphonic were selected as the Belgian representatives. They were set to take part in the 2020 contest with the song “Release Me”, before the contest was cancelled. They returned to Rotterdam this year with “The Wrong Place” and became the first Belgian finalists since Blanche in 2017. In the grand final, they placed in 19th place with 74 points.
Would you like to see Jérémie Makiese represent Belgium at Eurovision? Do you think Belgium can make the grand final again next year?
Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA.
