Selection and reception

Ilse DeLange, runner-up of Eurovision 2014 as a member of The Common Linnets, came across Duncan in The Voice of Holland later that year, where she became his coach, and he regularly shared his songs with her since. DeLange sent one of those songs, "Arcade", to the Dutch Eurovision selection committee.^[21][23] Laurence was revealed as representative of the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 on 21 January 2019, after "Arcade" was internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster.^[24] The song was never specifically written for Eurovision.^[25] Following the announcement, the selection committee received backlash from social media users, because of the decision to let an unknown artist represent the Netherlands in Eurovision, after previously sending unknown artists to the contest who usually achieved miserable results for the country.^[26]

After "Arcade" itself was revealed on 7 March 2019, the track received mostly positive reactions.^[27][28] The sound of "Arcade" has been compared to that of Coldplay. Peter Van de Veire, Belgium's Dutch-language Eurovision commentator, said that the gravity of the song's lyrics and composition would appeal to Eurovision viewers.^[29] Editors of the Eurovision fan site Wiwibloggs praised the emotional atmosphere of "Arcade" and gave the song an average score of 9.15 out of 10.^[30] Dan Niazi from ESCXtra, another Eurovision fan site, said he was not prepared for a song "as good and as perfectly produced as Arcade" to represent the Netherlands. He praised the song's composition and lyrical content, and thought the song had "the potential of changing the face of the contest for good", comparing the song to Loreen's "Euphoria", Sweden's 2012 entry.^[31] OGAE members placed the song third overall, behind Switzerland's and Italy's entries.^[32] Shortly after the release of "Arcade", the Netherlands became the leader of the betting odds;^[33][34] the Dutch broadcaster revealed they had a hosting plan on hand in case of a Dutch victory, written years beforehand,^[35] and The Hague had already applied a bid for hosting the following Eurovision, might Laurence take home the trophy, by April 2019.^[36]

In Eurovision

On 28 January 2019, an allocation draw was held, which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. The Netherlands were placed into the second semi-final, held on 16 May 2019, and were scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. Once all the competing songs for the 2019 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the show's producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. The Netherlands performed from starting position 16 and qualified for the final.^[37]

The performance of the song in Tel Aviv featured Laurence sitting behind an electric grand piano, with three backing vocalists supporting him offstage. DeLange and the Netherlands' creative team decided that Laurence should sit behind a piano on stage, because, him being a singer-songwriter, they wanted to portray him on stage as a musician.^[38] Surrounding Laurence and his piano, smoke, water and lighting effects, reminiscent of the official music video, accompanied the performance.^[39] Reactions to the simplistic performance were mixed. The Telegraph's Charlotte Runcie found that "the song deserves to do well, but the pared-back staging was in danger of being forgettable".^[40] Heidi Stephens, reporter for The Guardian, found the Dutch performance "bleak, but hauntingly beautiful".^[41] Writing for The Independent, Rob Holley found that "Arcade" was well performed,^[42] and although he feared that the performance was underwhelming for Eurovision standards, he thought the Netherlands were the biggest contenders for victory.^[43] The BBC's commentator for the semi-finals, Rylan Clark-Neal, put the Netherlands in his top five.^[44] During the Eurovision week, the Netherlands remained a favourite to win the competition, according to the bookmakers;^[45] shortly before the contest's final, their chances of winning were as high as 46 percent.^[46]

In the Grand Final, Laurence was drawn to perform in the first half of the show, in spot 12.^[47] Arcade received the maximum score of 12 points from six national juries, and twice from national audiences.^[48] The Netherlands finished third in the jury vote, behind North Macedonia and Sweden, and second in the televote, behind Norway,^[49] but ended up winning the Eurovision Song Contest with 492 points. After the Belarusian jury's results were revised, the final number of points was 498.^[50] It was the first Eurovision victory for the country since 1975, when Teach-In won for The Netherlands with "Ding-a-dong". Apart from winning the contest, "Arcade" also won the Marcel Bezençon Press Award.^[51] During his victory speech, the artist said: "This is to dreaming big; this is to music first, always."^[52]

Covers from other Eurovision acts

The song was featured three times in the Eurovision Home Concerts series, and covered by all the acts in Armenia's Depi Evratesil selection for the 2020 contest that would be cancelled in a group performance.^[53] The song was covered once again by Polish Junior Eurovision victors Roksana Węgiel and Viki Gabor, alongside a hologram image of Laurence as part of the interval act of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 which took place in Warsaw, Poland on 29 November 2020.^[54]