The Netherlands participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and selected their entry in the national final Nationaal Songfestival 2012; which was organised by the Dutch broadcaster TROS. Joan Franka represented the Netherlands with the song "You and Me", which failed to qualify from the second semi-final, achieving 15th place with 35 points.

For the first time since 2005 the Dutch entry was selected through an open national final. Six acts chosen from an open call participated at the national final, which was held on 26 February 2012.

Entries could be submitted from 6 July 2011 to midnight on 30 September 2011 in a number of ways: people were free to submit just lyrics, (sheet) music, the name of an artist, a complete audio production or a combination thereof. For the submissions, a huge suitcase was installed in the courtyard of the TROS headquarters for these three months. TROS invited artists and composers, both known and unknown, to post their entries through the mailbox belonging to the suitcase. Bidding hopefuls had to submit their entries in person and when posting their envelopes into the large suitcase, had to give their reasons for entering into a camera built into the suitcase. On 1 October 2011, TROS announced that more than 450 songs had been submitted. On 5 January 2012, TROS announced the six finalists for the selection.

The final consisted of three duels with two candidates competing in each. The three duels were determined by a draw on 19 February 2012.

The three winners of these duels got into a super-final that selected the overall winner. The decisions were made by a professional jury (50%) and public televoting (50%). The professional jury members were Carlo Boszhard (TV personality, singer, impersonator and host), Ali B (rapper), Afrojack (DJ), Stacey Rookhuizen (entrepreneur and presenter) and Jeroen Nieuwenhuize (radio DJ). The final also featured an international jury consisting of 100 people, but their vote was merely consultative.

The national final was produced together with Big Brother and The Voice creator John de Mol and hosted by singer Jan Smit.

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