Singer Duncan Laurence from the Netherlands has emerged victorious at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The finals were held Saturday night in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The 25-year-old Laurence won the international competition with a song called "Arcade," which he co-wrote. The song is a sweet, emotional ballad that stands in contrast to Israeli singer Netta's wacky "Toy," which won in 2018.
Laurence, whose real name is Duncan de Moor, participated in the Dutch version of "The Voice" in 2014. He's also been writing for other performers, including the K-pop band TVXQ.
In all, 41 countries started out in this year's competition. The 26 finalists' songs included a number of power ballads alongside Duncan's, as well as perky, anodyne pop from artists like the Czech Republic's Lake Malawi and Denmark's Leonora; and aspiring club bangers from the artist Tamta, the singer representing Cyprus, and Belarus' Zena, among many others.
But because this is Eurovision, where camp appeal often outweighs other factors, there was also Serhat — a dentist turned-television impresario-turned singer, who channels Leonard Cohen at the disco and represented tiny San Marino — and Iceland's Hatari, which describes itself as an "anti-capitalist performance art groupinspired by BDSM and anti-authoritarian dystopic aesthetics."