Mesdames et Messieurs, France has just recently published all the names that will take part in the French national final, which goes under the name “Destination Eurovision”, and one of these 18 acts will represent France in the grand final in Lisbon. The question as it stands is, who will it be, and can he, she or they deliver? Let’s take a fast look on the acts, and guide you ready for the French national final.
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Some might say, that it’s quite a bold move of France to go back to a national final, since last time they did that, it resulted in a catchy moustache song, finishing bottom last in Copenhagen, back in 2014. This was the first time ever, that France finished last, so at least they crashed with style back then. In 2015, they went back to a internal selection, which almost also caused them a double last place, so changes were made, and France gathered a respectable 6th place in Stockholm and an acceptable 12th place in Kiev.
Despite the success with internal selections the past 2 years, then France has decided to give it a shot once again with a national final, and who knows? Maybe one of them can give France their first glorious victory since 1977. Portugal’s win last year, pretty much proved within the Eurovision world, that any country can win, so hopefully they have the motivation.
The Semi-Finalists
The first semi-final will take place now on the 13th of January 2018, while the second semi-final will take place on the 20th of January 2018. We’ll first take a look on the acts, that will participate in the first semi-final, in alphabetical order, then afterwards, we look at the remaining acts which compete in the second semi-final, also in alphabetical order.
The First Semi-final
Ehla – “J’ai Cru”
Her song is composed by Grand Corps Malade, who’s birth name is Fabien Marsaud. Ehla first rose to fame, when she won the French version of Popstars in 2013. She won the competition as part of the girl group The Mess.
The girl group didn’t last long, and decided to split up one year later. Ehla focused on a solo career afterwards, and released her first single last year entitled “Demain Encore“, as well as performing a cover version of “Les Voyage En Train“, a song by Grand Corps Malade.
Emmy Liyana – “OK ou KO”
Her song is comped by Olivier Schultheis, Zazie, Jean-Pierre Pilot & William Rousseau. Emmy is a upcoming singer, having taken part in the 6th season of The Voice France.
Despite a short stay in the competition, she was shortly after signed by Warner Music France, and afterwards got to perform in countries such as Belgium, Germany & even Canada. Here’s a video from her time at The Voice, performing “The Power Of Love“.
Enéa – “I’ll Be There”
Born as Sonia Boraso, and goes under the performer name Enéa, she has penned her own song for the contest. She was one of the 5 French jury members, who voted for France during the 2017 Contest.
In 2016, she won NRJ Talent, which is runned by the French radio station NRJ, and has since made a few mash-ups as well as releasing a debut single, under the title “Je T’ecris“.
Lisandro Cuxi – “Eva”
Lisandro is of Portuguese origin, and he even comes from Lisbon, but moved to France at a young age. In France, at the age of 15 year old, he took part in the kids version of The Voice, and finished as the runner-up.
A few years later, he took part in the 6th season of The Voice for adults, in France as well, and once again reached the final. However, this time he managed to win it all. Her you can see his performance of “Cry Me A River” along with his coach Matt Pokora.
Louka – “Mamma Mia”
His song is penned by Vitaa, Renaud Rebillaud Maître Gims and himself. Born Lucas Bennici, his involvement with the contest, comes after he was mentored by well known French rapper Maître Gims.
Louka was even signed by Gims himself, to his record label and so Louka got to release his debut single last year, with the title “Gamin“. In case you’ve forgotten who Gims is, he was the singer behind what would become, the worldwide hit “Est-ce Que Tu M’aimes?“.
Malo’ – “Ciao”
Malo’s song is written by Malory Legardinier, which is Malo’s birth name. Being French-Australian, his songs tend to have lyrics in both French and English.
Malo’ has as a sing-songwriter released 2 albums in the past, the first one being titled “The Old Way” back in 2011, and his second album being from last year, under the title “Be/Être“. Her you can listen to his song under the title “Why“.
Masoe – “Paradise”
The title is Paradise, and the song is written Dany Synthé and Jonah. Born as Kevin Duarte, this will be his career launch into the music business.
Since this will be his big debut, not much is known by this still unknown singer. However, his song is written by Dany Synthé who is a childhood friend of Masoe, and one of the judges of the French version of Pop Idols.
Noée – “L’un Près De L’autre”
This song is written by Barbara Pravi, Tomislav Matosin, Jules Jaconelli & Mélanie Di Petrantonio.
Another artist that has been quite hard to track down, when it comes to her previous accomplishments when it comes to music, but one thing is for sure. She is looking forward to show what she got to offer, and we can only look forward to it, after watching this nice cover, of the song “Issues” by Julia Michales.
Pheno Men – “Jamais Sans Toi”
The last act competing in this semi-final is Pheno Men, which is a soul group consisting of 5 members. Their song is written by François Welgryn, Gabin Lesieur & of course the group itself.
The group consists of Eddy, Kay, Malcolm, Opé and Tiery, and are inspired by great names such as The Jackson 5, Marvin Gay and Stevie Wonder. Not much can be found at the moment, by the group, but a debut album is soon on the way.
The Second Semi-final
Igit – “Lisboa Jérusalem”
Born under the name Antoine Barrau, he will sing his own penned song. It all started for Igit back in 2014, when he reached the semi-final stage of The Voice, being under Team Garou. It was also the same season where Amir competed as well.
Since his success at The Voice, he has published multiple singles. Her you can listen to one of his more succesful songs, released in May 2016, under the title “Des Conséquences”
Jane Constance – “Un Jour J’ai Rêvé”
Jane’s song is penned by herself and by Pascal Obispo, who is a succesful French singer-songwriter, and has been performing since the 90’s. This powerful singer is orginally from Mauritius and is blind.
Despite her blindness, she took part in The Voice Kids in France, here she finished as the winner back in 2015. After her victory, she released the album “À Trevers Vos Yeux“. Here you can watch her performance of “The Prayer” by Andrea Bocelli
June The Girl – “Same”
The song is written by François Welgryn, Antoine Essertier and finally, Marine Bollengier, which is the birth name of June The Girl.
She is 22 years old, and started out as a singer back in 2016, she is signed by Believe Recordings, and is still working on her debut album. Since the start of her newly formed music career, she has released a few singles, her you can listen to her first single “I Say Love“.
Lucie – “My World”
Song is written by François Welgryn, William Rousseau & Mathieu Johann. Just like some of her competitors, Lucie first started out, by taking part in The Voice France, she took part in the most recent season, and finished as the runner-up, where she lost to Lisandro Cuxi, who is also competing for the French Eurovision ticket.
She has been performing since a young age, and has a Youtube channel, where she shares some covers and mash-ups of some songs. Here you can watch her performance of the song “Halo” by Beyoncé during her time on The Voice.
Madame Monsieur – “Mercy”
This duo consists of Emilie Satt and Jean-Karl Lucas, together they form Madame Monsieur, and the song is written by them. The duo is best described as a electro-pop duo.
They describe their song, as being based on a true story, a telling of a little girl who was born aboard the SOS Mediterranee France. A group who works on saving the lives of people in the Mediterranean sea. Here you can listen to their song “You Make Me Smile“.
Max Cinnamon – “Ailleurs”
Max will compete with his own penned song. He’s another upcoming young singer, who is set to reach for the stars, in his very own way.
Max is one of the less known performers taking part, but here has his own Youtube channel, where he has shared some of his cover versions of different songs and also released a single under the title “Without You“.
Nassi – “Rêve De Gamin”
Nassi is more known as a great songwriter, having written songs for other great young artists in France, so now he is taking it one step further, now as a singer as well, which explains the fact that his entry, is written by himself.
Among the people Nassi has written for in the past, include The Voice season 3 winner, Kendji Girac. However, now is Nassi ready to perform on his own, and has since last year released 2 singles, that can be heard here and are titled “Pas Fatiguè” & “La Vie Est Belle“.
Sarah Caillibot – “Tu Me Manques”
Next up, another former The Voice competitor, which is Sarah Cailibot, and she will as well sing her own penned song. Sarah participated in the second season of The Voice France.
She didn’t manage to reach as far as some of her other competitors, but despite that, she managed to impress her way, and have managed to build an impressive career with multiple singles and as well some covers, here you can check out one of her more popular songs “Avant Qu’elle Parte(Sexion d’Assaut)”
Sweem – “Là-Haut”
Last, but not least, we have Sweem, who also goes by his birth name Clément Bighelli. He will as well enter the competition with a song written by himself. Sweem’s career also began when he took part, like so many of the others, in The Voice France.
Despite the short stay in The Voice, he fought on, and has like many of his opponents, released some singles, as well as performing some cover songs. A style that features a lot on his channel, is acoustic versions of some of his songs as well, here you have one example, of his latest single “La Baie D’Agonda“.
All In All
What we can conclude from all of this, is that we have 18 different names, who all has the same kind of wish. Of course they all have in common, that they all wish to represent France at the Contest in Lisbon, but of course there is more to it.
They are all looking for that extra push in their career, and with the better success for France in the past 2 years, then surely this could help the artist, that will defend the colors of Les Tricolores.
If I’d have to say from a personal perspective, then I believe that France are in good hands this year, but anything can happen, so we shall see.
The Shows
The 2 semi-finals will be pre-recorded shows, so despite we’re still waiting for both semi-finals to take place, then it can only mean that the results are already decided, and we can only hope that the ones we cheer for, are preparing for the grand final, since that will be broadcasted live.
Other than performing the songs that they will compete with, the singers must as well perform a cover of a more popular song.
The semi-finals are solely decided by a professional jury, the jury will consist of 3 members from the Francophone community, while the remaining 3 members will be part of a International jury.
The Francophone jury consists of:
- Amir (Represented France in 2016)
- Isabelle Boulay
- Christophe Willem
While the International jury consist of:
- Christer Björkman (Sweden)
- Nicola Caligiore (Italy)
- Olga Salamakha (Belarus)
All of the members from the International jury, are all the Head of Delegation from their respective countries.
The Final on the other hand, will be decided by both a televote (50%) and a International jury (50%). The international jury will consist of the 3 semi-final juries, as well as the Head of Delegations from Bulgaria, Armenia, Switzerland, Russia, Israel, Finland and Iceland.
The 3 shows will all be hosted by Garou.
The final question that remains now, is if you’re looking forward to the French national final, as always we want to hear what #YOU have to think about it!
