Time to Get Over Eurovision? ‘Hell No!' Joost Klein Says.

New York Times

31-03-2025

In the run-up to last year's Eurovision Song Contest final, Joost Klein was amped for victory.
Klein, a Dutch pop star, was a favorite to win with 'Europapa,' a madcap song in which he raps over a bouncy beat and circling piano riff about a journey through Europe. The track ends in a hyperfast dance break, but the upbeat song also has a melancholy side: Klein wrote it as a tribute to his father, who died when Klein was 12.
Then, just hours before the finale, Klein's chance to honor his father vanished when Eurovision organizers threw the singer out of the contest, saying he had threatened a camerawoman. When Klein learned he was in trouble, he was backstage and dressed up in a comically large blue suit for a rehearsal. He begged to talk to the upset camerawoman, in a desperate bid to change his fate. But his pleas went nowhere: Klein was out.
Nearly a year has passed, and the incident doesn't appear to have hurt Klein's career. He now has over three million monthly listeners on Spotify, and in February, he released a new album, 'Unity,' to rave reviews in the Netherlands. After finishing a string of large European dates, this week he is embarking on his debut U.S. tour, including two shows at Irving Plaza in New York.
Still, in a recent interview in London before a show, Klein, 27, was stuck under the cloud of his Eurovision misadventure. 'Everyone's like, 'Hey, your career grew,'' Klein said. 'I don't care.' 'Everyone's like, 'Hey, your career grew,'' Klein said. 'I don't care.' Credit... Jeremie Souteyrat for The New York Times
The disqualification still 'stings,' he said, and he didn't expect to get over it soon. Klein said that both his parents died before he was 14, and it took him more than a decade to process their deaths. He feared that shrugging off the Eurovision fiasco could take just as long. His new album features several tracks brooding on the incident.
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