Surprising news from AVROTROS this afternoon. Initially they announced they would go the same route they took last year in selecting the Dutch entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest: open auditions and the best of the best would be put together to form a group or band. This afternoon however they announced that the national final, which they have been using to choose their entrant all the way since the inaugural 2003 edition they took part in as well, will make its return!

There are some changes to the old format, however: The artists will be singing cover songs during the live shows instead of own entries and there is a new host! Romy Monteiro will be taking over from Jan Smit. Romy rose to prominence after impressing the judges of The Voice with her rendition of Whitney Houston’s version of ‘I Will Always Love You’ and reaching the quarter finals. Big Dutch theatrical producers noticed her and she got the leading role in the musical The Bodyguard, based on the 1992 movie in which the same Whitney Houston had the leading role.

Romy is excited and states:

”It’s a jubilee year: the Junior Songfestival is turning 15 and is returning to television after one year of absence. In recent years the festival proved to be a true springboard for young singing talent. And the boys and girls we’ll get to see in the semi-finals this year are also, every single one of them, very promising talents.”

The acts who made it to the semi-finals are:

1. Sezina
2. Montana
3. Manouk
4. Luana, Manou and Lois
5. Wieke and Dylan
6. Niels, Max, Jannes and Ian

Initially a boy called Ivo was part of the lastnamed band but after getting a role in a musical he left a spot in the band, which was taken up by another boy called Ian.

The semi-finals will be on the 2nd and 9th of September, with the grand final being held on the 16th! The winner or winners will be representing The Netherlands at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017 in Tbilisi in Georgia!