It’s an odd-numbered year, and that means it’s the turn of Belgium’s Flemish-language broadcaster VRT to take control of Belgium’s Eurovision journey.

In 2023, VRT revived Eurosong as Belgium’s national final (something the French-language broadcaster RTBF chose not to repeat in 2024), and it was a huge success! Gustaph triumphed and finished in 7^th place in Liverpool — Belgium’s best result since 2017!

In the hunt to take the torch from Gustaph are eight eager and motivated artists. A short time ago, Jan and Dave spoke with one of them — Seppe Herreman, now known professionally as Red Sebastian.

Due to VRT’s rules surrounding Eurosong, when we spoke with Red Sebastian, he could say nothing about his song — not even the title. We now know that it’s titled Strobe Lights. So we asked him what he could say about his entry, without getting himself into any trouble:

“In the previous years, I put out some ballads. I put out some some pure bubblegum pop, but I would say this is nothing like, what I released before. So it’s something new for me, but it’s still very Red Sebastian, and, I’m very excited about it. I believe in the song. I believe in in everything about it. What I can say without giving away too much is that, I go from very low to very high, and the range is a 3 octave range in the song.”

— Seppe Herreman

In some ways, Red Sebastian is fulfilling a life-long dream. As a Eurofan as long as he can remember, this is how he reflects on getting to the Eurosong stage:

“I mean, since I was born, I I felt like I was born to entertain and to make people happy and to be on stage and entertain people. So, I mean, I love the fact that I get this opportunity this year to to compete in the finals of the national contest here, because Eurovision has been such a holiday for me and a festive season. And I’m watching it every year. And, I mean, it’s also a big dream to be there, and I think it’s also a very nice start, for me as an artist to introduce myself to the world.”

— Seppe Herreman

As the Belgian broadcaster VRT is keeping things very secretive this year, we’ll have to watch Eurosong on Saturday, 1^st February to see what Red Sebastian has planned for his shot to wave the Belgian flag in Basel!

The snippet of Strobe Lights will be released 20^th January, while the song in its entirety will be performed the 25^th of January during the second Eurosong 2025 pre-show on VRT1 (and then released at 21:30 on all platforms).

Until then, be sure and check out the full interview with Red Sebastian (above) to find out the cute origin of his stage name, what influences his fashion choices and some of his favourite Eurovision memories. The episode is available now wherever you get your favourite Eurovision podcasts!

We wish Red Sebastian the best of luck at Eurosong in February! Let us know in the comments and on our social media profiles @buildingbridgespod what you thought of the interview and if you think we’ll see him in Basel in May!

Image: VRT / Usman Abdul