For the very first time in seven years, The Netherlands held an open national final in order to select their entry and their representative for the Eurovision Song Contest and they appointed one of the most respective television producers; John De Mol to conduct the whole showcase. It seems that things turned out to be quite positive with some 2.3 million viewers tuning in to watch Joan Franka and her track You and Me win the Nationaal Songfestival amounting to some 30.6% in terms of viewing share. The songs which were presented during the selection were somewhat representative of a variety of music styles and were thus respected by the viewers, the international panel of judges and also the well known individuals from the Dutch music industry including the likes of Afrojack.

Joan was not thought to be the favourite heading into the competition with Raffaella and Pearl whose entries Chocolatte and We Can Overcome presenting songs which would have both proven to be superior noting their successful effort on the national charts. In a recent interview with John De Mol gave on the VIOranje talkshow on RTL, which is one of the main music channels in Germany with subsidiary channels in a number of countries, it was stated that the changes that took place in this years' national final will remain in 2013 with himself alongside the company TROS taking care of the production. It will be interesting to see whether the end result could better the disappointing fifteenth place achieved this year. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it comes in.

Source: RTL, Oikotimes, TROS, Eurovision.tv