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It’s a Thursday morning in the middle of February. What better time to do the most Belgian thing possible: made a big Eurovision announcement while half the country argues about whether it should happen at all.
This morning, French-speaking broadcaster RTBF confirmed that ESSYLA (caps artist’s own) will represent Belgium at Eurovision 2026 in Vienna with ‘Dancing on the Ice’, unveiled via the “8-9” programme on La Une / VivaCité.
If the name rings the faintest of faint bells, it may be because ESSYLA (known to her parents as Alice Van Eesbeeck) once made it to the final of The Voice Belgique. RTBF’s Eurovision 2026 pitch is very much framing the entry as an upbeat, forward-looking anthem about keeping your footing even when the surface is less professional-grade ice rink and more slushy brown gutter snow.
‘Dancing on the Ice’ is presented as electro-pop with a message of hope and resilience, with both RTBF and the EBU leaning hard into the “determination of youth” angle. Songwriting credits include ESSYLA, Nicolas d’Avell and Emil Stengele, with lyrics credited to ESSYLA and Barbara Petitjean.
That is the tidy, official version. The messier, more human version, from Belgian press coverage, is that the track was reportedly written very quickly for ‘reasons’.
Just two days before the reveal, unions linked to both RTBF and VRT publicly called for Belgium to boycott Eurovision 2026, urging the broadcasters to withdraw and not broadcast the shows. The unions cited objections over Israel’s participation in the contest given the ongoing war in Gaza.
RTBF, for its part, went ahead with the reveal as scheduled. Meanwhile VRT has indicated it plans to broadcast Eurovision but with “additional contextualisation”, which is broadcaster-speak for “we are not pretending this is happening in a vacuum”.
Whatever you think of the wider argument, it is hard to ignore the weirdness of launching your big 2026 Eurovision moment with a national conversation raging behind you, like trying to debut your new single while someone is loudly arguing with the DJ.
The upside is that Belgium now has a clear musical direction and a performer RTBF believes can carry it. The downside is that the story may keep snapping back to the broadcaster and labour politics rather than letting the entry breathe on its own terms.
