So, as I had nothing better to do on a Wednesday in late August, I decided to translate the announcement that Mustii will represent Belgium at next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Not from RTBF, of course – that would be too easy – but from VRT’s website. Enjoy!
There are 251 more sleeps until the first semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Malmö. After Gustaph’s success this year, everyone is looking forward to finding out who will represent RTBF next year. We didn’t have to wait long: Belgium is the first country to announce its candidate for Eurovision 2024, Mustii.
“I know that Musti is known in Flanders as a little kitten, very cute! But that is only written with one i”, Mustii laughs in his first interview as a Eurovision candidate.
Mustii is hardly known in Flanders. But in French-speaking Belgium and Brussels, they know him well, primarily as an actor. For example, he had a role in the prestigious RTBF series La Trêve, and in 2019 he won the Magritte, the most important film prize in French-speaking Belgium, for most promising actor.
“Ever since I was little, I wanted to be an actor and not a firefighter or a pilot. But I have also released two albums in the meantime. Now I have a double career: actor and singer. I see music as a form of theatre, by the way. Creating a total act. That’s why I said yes when they asked me for the Eurovision Song Contest.”
It was RTBF that asked him if he wanted to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest for Belgium. The French-language public broadcaster does not organise preselections, as VRT does with Eurosong. “I’m also on the jury of Drag Race Belgium, and one morning, I was sitting in the make-up chair and I was still tired when someone from the team came to me and whispered in my ear. I had to let it sink in.”
What style can we expect from Mustii? “My style evolves into pop with a dark edge. I have influences from new wave and rock, but they remain pop albums. I contrast pop with fragile subjects; I like to play with them. My last album, for example, was a homage to my uncle who had schizophrenia.”
We will apparently also find that style in Mustii’s Eurovision song. “My idea is to go to the Eurovision Song Contest with my own DNA. I don’t want to lie; I want to be sincere and authentic. I don’t want to create a fake character.” But we have to wait for the song itself. That will not be presented until February. “But I have been working in the studio for a while. I also want the song to be part of an album and not just a random song for the Eurovision Song Contest.”
And since the Eurovision Song Contest is a competition of national importance, here is this reassuring thought from Mustii: “I will give everything. The idea is to be completely in the performance, something flamboyant, glamorous. The Eurovision Song Contest is the ideal place for that. And the work starts now.”
Well, there you have it. VRT thinks Eurovision is of national importance. That is the main takeaway, along with the fact that no Flemings know who the hell he is! I still think it’s too damn early to be saying who is representing you, but hey….
