The Eurovision season has well and truly kicked off today following the announcement of our first official artist for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest! VRT, the Belgian-Flemish national broadcaster, has confirmed that Laura Groeseneken will represent the nation at the forthcoming contest in the host city of Lisbon.

Earlier this year, VRT confirmed to ESCToday that Belgium will once again compete at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest. With 3 consecutive ‘Top 10’ placings, the nation is looking to fare even better at the forthcoming competition in Lisbon.

Laura Groeseneken to Lisbon!

During tonight’s edition of the Eén television show Van Gils & Gasten, the official Belgian representative for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest was presented to the public for the first time, becoming the first officially confirmed act for the 63rd competition.

It was announced that Laura Groeseneken has been internally selected by the country’s national broadcaster who will fly to Lisbon next May in the hope of bringing Belgium their second ever victory in the contest.

Over the coming months, Groeseneken together with the broadcaster will put their full focus into finding the right song for the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest, with the forthcoming Belgian representative revealing:

Very happy that we can now announce this news! What a huge opportunity to go to the Eurovision Song Contest for Belgium. Very exciting. And now, the next step can begin: together with VRT, we will search for the right number and appropriate act. I am already looking forward to our cooperation and to the final result.

Who is Laura Groeseneken?

Born in 1990, Groeseneken is a young singer-songwriter from the Belgian city of Leuven.

Having been working in the music industry for a number of years, Groeseneken’s breakthrough came in 2012 after making a big impression at 007 in Concert with her performance of the James Bond hit, Tomorrow never dies, to celebrate the franchises’ 50th anniversary.

A piano player, Groeseneken has been playing and singing alongside Ozark Henry since 2014 where the multi-talented singer has performed on many big stages both nationally and internationally.

A keen songwriter who has written hits for the likes of Hooverphonic, Groeseneken has more recently been working on a solo career for herself, writing under the name Sennek.

Eurovision 2018

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 is set to take place on the 8, 10 and 12 May in the host city of Lisbon following Salvador Sobral’s victory in the 62nd host city of Kyiv, winning with his entry Amar pelos dois.

Earlier this month on the 15 September, the deadline to officially apply to compete in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest concluded, with nations having a grace period up until the 10 October in order to officially confirm or withdraw their application without receiving a penalty.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is expected to release a full list of participating countries and broadcasters later this year.

What do you think of the first confirmed act for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest? Any thoughts on how Belgium will fare in Lisbon?