Belgium - Release Me - Hooverphonic

Digital Release Image

Belgium was the first country to announce their artist for the Rotterdam contest. It's Hooverphonic, the critically acclaimed band that was founded in 1995.
Currently the band is Alex Callier, Raymond Geerts (both original members) and singer Luka Cruysberghs.

The song Release Me was revealed and released on February 17.
Here's the official video

Hooverphonic will enter the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest with a new song and a different singer.

Remixes
Three remixes of Release Me were released on May 15 (digital)
- Shades of green dark matter mix
- Shades of green dark radio edit
- Shades of green Triphop mix

Remixes March 15

Release Me is written by Alex Callier and Luca Chiaravalli.
Alec Callier was one of the writers of the 2018 Belgian entry A Matter Of Time by Sennek which unfortunately didn't make it to the final.
Luca Chiaravalli already worked with Hooverphonic since 2010 .
We also know him as co-writer for Occidentali's Karma (Italy 2017)
He wrote and produced for many Italian stars including Eurovision alumni Il Volo, Emma Marone and Anna Oxa.

Versions
Release me - single version
- official 2CD
Release me - karaoke (= instrumental)
- on the official karaoke album (digital)
Release me - Shades of green dark matter mix
Release me - Shades of green dark radio edit
Release me - Shades of green Triphop mix
- digital releases


Charts
Belgium Flemish Charts: 28, 21, 31, 27, 45, 40, -

Who's yer 'phonic?
Hooverphonic started out in the Trip Hop era but later on their orchestral arrangements created a more film-score sound. They also dabbled in some psychedelica and retro-pop.
But really, they're hard to put a label on, which is good of course.
The scored 35 top 100 hits in Belgium and a few made it to other charts (5 in Italy!).
Mad About You (2000) is probably their most known song from the early era.
In 2015 they scored a #3 hit with Badaboum. Sadly not a cover of the Minouche Barelli classic but it features Émilie Satt of Madame Monsieur fame.

2018 CD Looking for Stars

They have release almost 20 albums, the latest being Looking For Stars with current singer Luka, which is their 14th top 10 album in the Belgian charts.
Looking For Stars is released on CD, LP and cassette. It includes the top 20 hits Romantic and Uptight and their latest single Horrible Person.
If you want a brief history of the first 20 years you can check out the 2018 compilation album Hooverphonic Top 40 (2CD) or 2016 collection The Best Of Hooverphonic (2CD/3LP)


Links and sources
Hooverphonic Website, FB, 2021