Laura Thorn will represent Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest in May, after seeing off six competitors at the national contest at the Rockhal in Esch-sur-Alzette on Saturday night.
The 25-year-old won with her French song “La Poupée monte le Son” [The doll turns up the volume], transporting the audience into a doll’s house at the Luxembourg Song Contest, which like the Eurovision is decided by votes cast by the public and a jury of experts.
Dressed as a doll and with robotic dance movements, Thorn is controlled like a puppet with strings by the male dancers, until she breaks free towards the end and the dancers fall to the floor.
In addition to families, friends and fans of the competitors, Luxembourg’s politicians were out in full force to watch the much-anticipated contest.
Prime Minister Luc Frieden outed himself as a recent ESC convert. “It’s important for the Luxembourg cultural scene,” he said in an interview. “It’s right and good that we give young talent the opportunity to show themselves, and this with such a show around them and such a big audience. It’s unique.”
On a scale of one to ten for being a fan of the ESC, Deputy PM Xavier Bettel said he is a seven but his husband a 13. “So, together it’s a quite a lot,” he told the Luxemburger Wort. Justice Minister Elisabeth Margue, Culture Minister Eric Thill and Transport, Defence and Equal Opportunities Minister Yuriko Backes were also in attendance.
Throwback
Thorn’s song is also a throwback to Luxembourg’s winning Eurovision entry of 1965, with the song alluding to France Gall’s “Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son”.
She will now hope to repeat Gall’s fate when she takes to the stage in Basel, where the semi-finals will be held on 13 and 15 May before the final on 17 May.
In Saturday’s contest, Zero Point Five took second place in the overall ranking, followed by Luzac, Rhythmic Soulwave, One Last Time, MÄNA and Rafa Ela.
Thorn, who works as a solfège and a singing teacher at the Esch Music Conservatory, has been regularly on stage and taking part in musical competitions since she was five years old, including piano, cello and dance. However, she has said she only discovered singing late, when she studied in the Belgian city of Namur.
Her appearance in Basel in May will be only the second time Luxembourg has entered the competition this century, after Tali Golergant became the first performer to represent the Grand Duchy last year since 1993.
Luxembourg has won the competition five times, behind only Ireland and Sweden, although those countries have participated 56 and 62 times respectively, in comparison to Luxembourg’s 38 appearances.
(With additional reporting by the Luxemburger Wort)