Stijn Van de Voorde about European Championship anthem: “U2 cast-off that will never live in the stadium” | Remarkable

On paper it is a bit of a strange combination, the Dutch DJ Martin Garrix and the U2 duo Bono and The Edge. Stijn Van de Voorde is not surprised that UEFA has ended up with these artists.

“Usually they just choose a few big names. They have put this together almost mathematically: with U2 we serve the older generation and Martin Garrix is ​​more for the young, so to speak. At UEFA they clearly did not allow themselves to be guided by purely musical motives. “

“It strikes me that they are all white artists. I would have thought they involved someone with color at this time. Or opted for something a little more hip-hop.”

“Once you have given that assignment, you can of course not go back and then you are stuck with something like that. That often happens, that you are then with a monstrosity that you can only withdraw if the artist in question has something up his sleeve. suddenly comes to light, as with Damso in Belgium. “

In any case, it is not an earwig. “The problem is that they have combined a U2 cast-off with the beats of Martin Garrix. That doesn’t really make a rousing song. This is not a song they will sing along in the stadium.”

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What would have been a guarantee of success, according to Stijn Van de Voorde? “I don’t like to say it, but actually you need something like Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike. Music where you can turn your mind to zero.”

“You cannot neglect the marginality and I don’t even mean that wrong. It is logical that people revert to a certain primal instinct when a goal is scored. Then you rather quickly sing” Olé Olé “or something like” 7 Nation Army “, a basic tune that everyone can sing along. “

“I even find that moving, when an entire stadium sings a song that you would otherwise never put on or sing along with because you find it too flat.”

“I understand that they want to send a signal from UEFA in a certain way. That is why songs like this are always full of so many messages – friendship, togetherness, the European idea – that you would forget that it is about football.”

“But this is not a song that will come to life in a stadium. Something like that has to come from the supporters themselves, you cannot impose something like that from above.”

“You will always see that there is a hit in that period that has nothing to do with football, but that has much more the qualities you need in a stadium. A good example is” Freed From Desire “, a song that keeps going. “

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