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The City Lights are shining bright for Belgium's Blanche

23 March 2017 at 15:00 CET
Blanche will represent Belgium at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. Marie Wynants
17 year old Blanche will represent Belgium in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with the song City Lights. Blanche captured the attention of Pierre Dumoulin, a Belgian singer/songwriter, when she took part in The Voice Belgium. Pierre began writing songs with her voice in mind before they even met!

Blanche, whose real name is Ellie Delvaux, is 17 years old and was internally selected for the Eurovision Song Contest by Belgian broadcaster RTBF. Following her appearance on The Voice she was put in touch with Pierre Dumoulin and the two artists immediately connected and their teams began to collaborate. The duo paired up with producer Tim Bran, the final result was City Lights, an adventurous pop track with a haunting chorus.

According to Blanche City Lights was not written for the Eurovision Song Contest, it was supposed to be a four minute atmospheric track. The words "City" and "Lights" were the only actual English words that were sung on the first demo, which was written in imaginary language.

The Eurovision Song Contest is important to Blanche for several reasons. "It is a unique chance to show who I am in front of such a huge and diverse audience", she said. "We are a small country and we often struggle to be seen. The Eurovision Song Contest is definitely the best place to have our (my) voice heard," she added.

Belgium will participate in the first half of the First Semi-Final in Kyiv, Ukraine on Tuesday 9th May 2017.