Last Saturday, Eurovision winner Marija Šerifović visited Amsterdam on her winner's tour. She was joined at shopping centre Magna Plaza by this year's Dutch participant Edsilia Rombley. The Dutch website Highlow communications spoke on that occasion with Edsilia about her second Eurovision participation.
In the interview, which you can read in Dutch by clicking here, Edsilia says that she doesn't regret her participation at all, despite the poor result she gained. "It was fantastic! It is something that I'll never forget. It was great fun".
Edsilia was afraid that she would be criticised by the Dutch people but on her return from Finland, she only received positive reactions. "Everybody was enthusiastic about my performance and said that I gave my best. All reactions were great and friendly". Edsilia was most surprised by the fact that her single, the Dutch version of her Eurovision song Nooit meer zonder jou, climbed in the Dutch charts from 76 to 18 after her defeat in Helsinki. The same happened with her album, which climbed 31 places in the Dutch album chart after the Eurovision Song Contest. The album can now be found at number 34.
It is typical that the appreciation in the Netherlands only started after the deception in Helsinki, but Edsilia sees the fun of it all. "Maybe we should not qualify more often", Edsilia joked. "Seriously, off course I wanted to qualify for the final, that is why I went to Finland in the first place. This side-effect is really nice but it wasn't the main issue of my participation in the Eurovision Song Contest".
On being asked if she would consider a third participation, Edsilia answered with conviction: "No, no way. I don't regret my second participation but I won't become a second Sandra Reemer". Sandra Reemer participated three times for the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest in the seventies. In 1972 as part of the duo Sandra & Andres, in 1976 as a solo singer and in 1979 as lead singer of the group Xandra. Sandra Reemer did return to the Eurovision stage for a fourth time as she was a backing singer to Bernadette in 1983. In 1956, 1957 and 1958 Corry Brokken also participated three times in the Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands, winning on the second occasion.
