This year’s Dutch representative at the Eurovision Song Festival will be solo artist Claude, whose past hits include Ladada (Mon Dernier Mot), Layla and Écoutez-moi.

Claude, who is 21, sings in a mixture of French and Dutch – he fled from Congo as a refugee with his mother, brothers and sisters when he was 13 years old.

Claude, who beat the likes of Anouk and Gerard Joling to take part in the prestige event, said he is honoured to be representing the Netherlands on the stage. “I can’t wait for Europe to hear the song,” he told broadcaster NOS.

The selection committee said that this year they had opted for a song with an international flavour, which will appeal to all song festival viewers, young and old.

The song will be made public in early March.

The Eurovision Song Festival takes place on 13, 15 and 17 May in Basel, Switzerland.

This year’s contestant Joost Klein had been offered the chance to try again following his disqualification after an incident involving a camerawoman but decided against it.