The floor of “Dancing with the Stars” and now Europe. Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier will announce the points of the French jury during the grand final of Eurovision 2024 on May 11, she confirmed to us this Saturday, May 4, as our colleagues at 20 Minutes announced.
Natasha St-Pier declared herself “delighted” to take on this role when she gave us an interview on the sidelines of a performance at the Saint-Saturnin church in Blois (Loir-et-Cher) of the show “Jeanne », in which she plays Joan of Arc.
“I didn’t even hesitate”
“Me and Eurovision is a great love story. I am glad. I had the chance to participate in it, to comment on it for a year with Cyril Féraud (Editor’s note: in 2014), and this year, I will award French points. (…) I will be on the air in front of a photo of the Eiffel Tower and I will say how many points we have awarded. It’s a great honor, I didn’t even hesitate when France Télévisions offered it to me less than a month ago,” she told us.
She is also excited by the French proposal for the 2024 edition: “Slimane already has the affection of the public, he already has a history and represents France well. We must not forget that this is not a competition of singers but of songs as well. This is why a Canadian can represent France. But we also like that the person represents today’s France and this is the case with Slimane, he appeals to young people, to the youngest. It brings people together,” she assured us, rave.
The 12 points of the French jury to be announced
Having just been crowned in “Dancing with the Stars”, she succeeds Anggun, who in addition to providing commentary for the semi-finals for France, also awarded Israel the highly prized “12 points” from our national jury.
The “spokespeople”, as they are called at Eurovision, have no longer been responsible for awarding all the points since 2006, replaced by automatic television display. For around ten years, they revealed the three countries to which they gave the most points (8, 10 and 12).
Since 2016, they have only announced the 12 points, but some have managed to stand out, like Élodie Gossuin and her famous “Youhouhouhouhou” by covering the song “J’ai recherche” by Amir.
Until Barbara Pravi, it remained the best French result of the 21st century
If the choice of Natasha St-Pier may come as a surprise as she has just come out of several weeks of competition in “Dancing with the Stars”, interspersed with repeated controversies around her relationship with her competitor Inès Reg, it is not totally incongruous to find her in this position.
The interpreter of “You will find” is indeed the right person to take on the role of “spokesperson”. A former French representative in the competition, she reached fourth place in 2001 with the title “I only have my soul” while the competition was held in Copenhagen (Denmark).
“I think Eurovision is great, I arrived in France with it,” she added this Saturday when recalling this memory. By winning 142 points from the juries and the public, she allowed France to equal its best result since 1994.
If at the time France was often in the top 10, Natasha St-Pier’s result then became a benchmark that her successors struggled to reach. Until Barbara Pravi’s second place obtained in 2021, the Canadian remained the holder of the best French performance at Eurovision in the 21st century. So 23 years later, who will she award the 12 points from the French jury?
