The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with the song "Never Alone" written by Jan Dulles, Jaap Kwakman and Jaap de Witte. The song was performed by the band 3JS, which was internally selected by the Dutch broadcaster Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (TROS) to represent the Netherlands at the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, Germany. 3JS' appointment as the Dutch representative was announced on 15 July 2010, while the national final Nationaal Songfestival 2011 was organised in order to select the song. Five songs competed in the national final on 30 January 2011 where "Je vecht nooit alleen" was selected as the winning song following the combination of votes from a five-member jury panel and a public vote. The song was later translated from Dutch to English for the Eurovision Song Contest and was titled "Never Alone".
The Netherlands was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 12 May 2011. Performing during the show in position 3, "Never Alone" was not announced among top 10 entries of the second semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that the Netherlands placed nineteenth (last) out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 13 points.
Background
Prior to the 2011 contest, the Netherlands had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-one times since their début as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest in . Since then, the country has won the contest four times: in with the song "Net als toen" performed by Corry Brokken; in with the song "'n Beetje" performed by Teddy Scholten; in as one of four countries to tie for first place with "De troubadour" performed by Lenny Kuhr; and finally in with "Ding-a-dong" performed by the group Teach-In. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, the Netherlands had featured in only one final. The Dutch least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on four occasions, most recently in the 1968 contest. The Netherlands has also received nul points on two occasions; in and .
The Dutch national broadcaster, Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting (TROS), broadcasts the event within the Netherlands and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. The Netherlands has used various methods to select the Dutch entry in the past, such as the Nationaal Songfestival, a live televised national final to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. However, internal selections have also been held on occasion. In 2010, TROS has internally selected the Dutch song, while Nationaal Songfestival was organised in order to select the artist for the contest. For 2011, the broadcaster opted to select the Dutch artist through an internal selection, while Nationaal Songfestival was continued to select the song.
Before Eurovision
Artist selection
Following Sieneke' failure to qualify to the final in 2010 with the song "Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)", the Dutch broadcaster internally selected the artist for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. On 14 July 2010, radio DJ Giel Beelen claimed that TROS had selected the band 3JS to represent the Netherlands at the 2011 contest. 3JS was confirmed as the Dutch entrant on 15 July 2010 during the Radio 2 programme Gouden Uren, hosted by Daniël Dekker. During the programme, it was revealed that their Eurovision song would be selected through the national final Nationaal Songfestival 2011.