Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

On 18 November 2011, VRT announced that they had internally selected Laura van den Bruel (Iris) to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.[3][4][5] On 29 February 2012, the broadcaster revealed that the song Iris would perform at the contest would be selected through a two-song national selection.[6]

A submission period was opened on 19 December 2011 for songwriters to submit their songs until 16 January 2012.[7] Two songs were selected for the national final from 270 received during the submission period and were announced on 16 March 2012.[8][9] The final took place on 17 March 2012 at the Het Omroepcentrum in Brussels, hosted by Peter Van de Veire and was broadcast on Eén as well as online at the broadcaster's website een.be and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[10][11] The two competing songs were both performed by Iris and the winning song, "Would You?", was selected solely by public televoting and announced later on the same day during the Eén talk show Vrienden Van de Veire.[12] The national final was watched by 575,112 viewers in Belgium with a market share of 28.39%.[13]

Iris specifically promoted "Would You?" as the Belgian Eurovision entry on 21 April 2012 by performing during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Ruth Jacott and Cornald Maas.[14]

Iris took part in technical rehearsals on 13 and 17 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 21 and 22 May. This included the jury show on 21 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.[19] The Belgian performance featured Iris in a short white dress and performing together with three backing vocalists. The stage colours were purple and blue, while the LED screens displayed floating pink bubbles in various sizes and the stage floor displayed a floral pattern in the shape of a heart at the end of the performance.[20][21][22] The backing vocalists that joined Iris during the performance were: Billie Bentein, Jana De Valck and Joke Vincke.[23]

At the end of the show, Belgium was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.[24] It was later revealed that Belgium placed seventeenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 16 points.[25]

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belgium had placed eighteenth (last) with the public televote and fifteenth with the jury vote in the first semi-final. In the public vote, Belgium scored 2 points, while with the jury vote, Belgium scored 38 points.[26]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Russia in the semi-final and to Sweden in the final of the contest.