Dion Cooper and Mia Nicolai to represent Netherlands in Eurovision Song Festival

Singers Dion Cooper and Mia Nicolai will represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Duncan Laurence, the Dutch singer who won the Eurovision title in 2019, made that announcement on Radio 2 on Tuesday.

Cooper and Nicolai will perform a song together. Laurence nominated the duo to the selection committee, NU.nl reports. Cooper called it “bizarre” that he is going to Eurovision. Nicolai said in a first reaction: “I am so very happy that our number has been chosen and to do it together with Dion. I feel honored.”

Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper will represent the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023!#eurovision #songfestival #liverpool #netherlands pic.twitter.com/VK2DHwXyi6

— EurovisionInConcert (@ESCinConcert) November 1, 2022

Laurens described Cooper, who previously performed as a support act for Laurence, as a “go-getter, very hard worker, with a killer voice.” Cooper has been releasing music since 2020. Laurence and his fiancee Jordan Garfield co-wrote Cooper’s singles Know and Blue Jeans, which were released earlier this year.

Nicolai comes from Amsterdam. She released her first single in 2020 and has since released a handful of songs. Her mother is Russian, and her father is Dutch.

The Eurovision Song Contest will happen in Liverpool in May next year. Ukraine won the 2022 edition but cannot organize the festival due to Russia’s invasion of the country. The United Kingdom, which took second place, will host the festival with Ukraine’s broadcaster.