Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

ESC National Year
Year = 2004
Country = BEL
Preselection = National Final
Preselection date = Semifinals
18 January 2004
25 January 2004
1 February 2004
8 February 2004 Final
15 February 2004
Entrant = Xandee
Song = "1 Life"
Final result = 22nd, 7 points

Belgium was represented by Xandee and the song "1 Life". VRT's (Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep, the Flemish broadcaster) organized the Belgian National Final 'Eurosong 2004', which took place on February 15, 2004. Four preselection programmes were produced and broadcasted on 18th and 25th of January and 1st and 8th of February, 2004. All five programmes were broadcasted from Studio 100 in Schelle and were hosted by Bart Peeters. The automatic favourite "1 Life" triumphed throughout the competition, which included a performance from the infamous Barbara Dex who came in last for Belgium at Eurovision 1996.

Before Eurovision, Belgium was considered the favourite to win the whole competition and received a good amount of pre-contest promotion. Xandee even sang the song in a Turkish version for a visit to Istanbul. However, the performance was considered by many as poor and flat, which may have led to a complete fail during the voting procedure. Xandee reproduced her Eurosong performance with a few minor changes, but it didn't seem to help as she only managed 22nd place with 17 points.

External links

[http://www.geocities.com/national_finals_90s_00s/Belgium2004.html Belgian National Final page]