With Luxembourg’s return to the Eurovision Song Contest last year, all of it is quite new to the delegation but also to whoever steps on to represent the country in the world’s biggest music competition.
Regardless, the country’s Eurovision broadcaster (RTL) has invested in producing a couple of tasteful national selection (one of them hosted by former Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst) bring quality songs to it and plan a careful and detailed journey to the actual show.
Related storyLuxembourg: Laura Thorn to Eurovision 2025 with “La poupée monte le son”
This time around, and unlike last year’s act, they are not revamping the song and we can expect a similar staging to Luxembourg Song Contest 2025… At least, that’s what Laura Thorn – this year’s representative – shared with us a few days ago when we spoke:
– It won’t be completely different, she explains.
– We will keep the main idea of what we did in the national selection but, of course, we will adapt as the stage is going to be much bigger. You have that long catwalk and a T shape at the front so there’s a lot of space and we will use it in an interesting way.
Luxembourg 2025: Laura Thorn – “La poupée monte le son”Luxembourg 2025 Laura Thorn – “La poupée monte le son”
She also hints that, with the bigger staging, the choreography will be adjusted. Laura’s performance of “La poupée monte le son” is fully choreographed from beginning to end.
Is dancing hard or natural for you?
– I have danced my whole life. I actually have been a classical dancer for 15 years and I’ve taken part in many competitions, she shares.
– It’s really easy for me to get it and I learn it quite quickly. I don’t need a lot of time.
Yet all of it together – singing, dancing, breathing and focusing on the in-ears – is something completely different and way tougher. She believes that having this advantage of dancing for a long time has helped her face this Eurovision challenge that in its essence has indeed been that: a challenge.
Laura Thorn performs at Eurovision in Concert
While she has experience as a dancer, the same cannot be said about the in-ears usage. When we spoke, Laura had just returned from the Dutch pre-party:
– I see these parties as training, besides being important for visibility. I try to analyze what went right or wrong so I can work on it. Lately, I’ve been struggling with the in-ears. I am not used to sing with them and you hear yourself in a very weird way.
– You hear yourself with a delay. It’s weird because you hear yourself in your in-ears but then again a half second later. You have to blend all of that and I’ve had trouble hearing myself well in Amsterdam so it’s something I know I have to work on so I won’t be off key, she explains.
Making the song her own
Another challenge for Laura was addressing her song, “La poupée mont le son” which falls a bit outside of her comfort zone. The song wasn’t written for her, it was sent to her:
– It wasn’t an easy process. It’s very far away from what I usually do. I’m more of a soul singer and I don’t really sing in French. Besides soul music, I love musicals and songs for villains, she confesses.
– I had to make the song my own and test different vocal qualities with it and, honestly, it still doesn’t feel very natural for me to sing that song but I’ve learned a lot from it and found my connection with it.
It still doesn’t feel very natural for me to sing that song
As explained by herself, Laura is fascinated by villains’ songs in musicals and she found that characteristic in this specific song that made her bond with it:
– It has something from a villain song to it because there’s so much irony, sarcasm and humor in it which villains usually have as well. I also like to play with its lyrics and sing it in a different way so I don’t get tired of it. I’m singing it like I would do in a musical.
Follow Laura Thorn
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Spotify: Laura Thorn
As we continue our conversation, we speak about Eurovision and if it has been a goal of hers to perform in the show. It hasn’t… So how did the Luxembourg Song Contest participation come around?
– I got a random text from someone I didn’t know back in June. It basically said “Hi, we wrote a song for the Luxembourg Song Contest and we’re looking for a Luxembourgish female singer to do it. Here’s the demo. Listen to it and if you’re interested, we’d like to do auditions with you”.
She goes on to share she found it a bit suspicious because it came out of nowhere and she didn’t know the sender but gave it a listen to the demo:
– I felt like it was a cool project so I sent them a video of myself singing it in my room and they liked it. The process was quite rushed so I recorded the song with my own material at home and sent it to RTL. A month later we got an email saying we were through the main auditions.
From the overall amount of participants, it was reduced to 52 contestants, then 12 and finally the last seven who performed in the actual show.
Laura Thorn – “Poupée Électrique”
“La poupée monte le son” is actually Laura’s breakthrough in music. It’s her first song released and the first time she emerges as a popstar:
– Indeed, I mostly sing covers whenever I have shows and I am not exactly a songwriter so this is my first time singing a song of my own in front of an audience.
How has the public been embracing you?
– Incredibly nice! I was really scared though because whenever you become a public figure, you never know what to expect but I’ve been getting really positive feedback and whenever it’s negative, it’s about the song, not exactly about myself.
Enjoying the experience carefully
Despite being her first song, Laura’s career in music goes away back. She was only five when she started taking part in competitions, is trained in music theory, piano, cello, dancing and more and even has a master degree in pop singing.
Needless to say she’s extremely disciplined. She sees herself as someone determined, professional and quite serious but also fun:
– I take everything seriously and I try to be as professional as I can be but I am also fun and positive. I think there are times to be both but for Eurovision you have to be serious about it.
It is a singing competition after all…
– Well, yes but I don’t really see it as a competition. For me, the competition was before, she says referring to the Luxembourg Song Contest.
– There isn’t another step and you don’t have to win Eurovision in order to do something else. I am very open to whatever could happen afterwards.
You’ve got to take care of your body in order for your instrument to work.
She continues her rationale on the seriousness of doing Eurovision:
– You do have to be serious about it. You have to preserve your voice for the actual show while doing multiple interviews, attending to parties, meeting important people and so on, she says.
– With this sort of schedule, it’s easy for you to go to a restaurant every day, not eating well, not getting enough sleep as there’s always something to do. After a few days, you cannot sing your song anymore. You’ve got to take care of your body in order for your instrument to work.
Laura Thorn – “La poupée monte le son (Acoustic)”
All of this leads to Laura’s main goal with this Eurovision participation which is to enjoy the experience and having fun but keeping in mind the discipline and dediciation it requires:
– I don’t want to look back and think I was so stressed that I was always in a bad mood and think “now it’s done and I’m never going to do it again”. I try to be positive and enjoy it as much as I can.
She’s living the dream and making life experiences that she’ll remember for the rest of her life. On 15 May, Laura Thorn will step on the Eurovision stage hoping to qualify for the final with her song “La poupée monte le son“, a song that pays homage to France Gall’s “Poupée de cire, poupée de son“.