After two big slaps with beginner or emerging artists, France is betting on Slimane, a singer with an established career, and a title that aims to be unifying, “Mon amour”, for Eurovision in Malmö in Sweden on Saturday.
France has not won Eurovision since Marie Myriam in 1977.
“Representing France means a lot,” said the artist in November 2023 on France Inter radio, when his name was revealed for Eurovision. “It’s crazy, my grandfather came from Algeria, here to France to work in a coal factory, he died because of that, and his grandson is going to represent France with a song of romance and of French love, I like that idea, I find it beautiful.”
A family story told in an old song “The Grandfather”. The 34-year-old singer, born in the Paris region, has had to deal with xenophobic attacks on social networks since the announcement of his name. “Every day I am treated to a racist statement like ‘ah it’s the Arab who will represent us’ or ‘there’s no French singer?’”, he recounts in the magazine Têtu.
“But today it can even make me laugh, I find it so pathetic. I have already responded but now I prefer to remain indifferent.” “I believe that what I do, my career, my concerts, the people who come to see me from all origins and all faiths, are the best answers,” he concludes on this subject.
Slimane can boast some prominent titles: more than 40 million plays for “Des thousands de je t’aime”, one of his hits, on Spotify, market leader in music streaming.
– France is disillusioned –
During the time of his duo with the singer Vitaa, who also now plays solo, he even topped the album sales ranking in France in 2020 with their opus “Versus”. Their title “It’s going to come” allowed them to win a Victoire de la Musique that year in the original song category.
Slimane began to make a name for himself in France by winning the talent show The Voice on TF1 in 2016.
France is therefore relying on an artist “already in the hearts of the French and at the heart of a great career”, as Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of the French delegation, also director of entertainment and games at France Télévisions.
In 2009, France chose Patricia Kaas, known, but whose career peak dates back to the 1980s/1990s (she finished 8th).
In recent history, since the beautiful performance of Barbara Pravi, who finished 2nd in 2021, France has been disillusioned.
Alvan & Ahez, emerging artists like her from the vote of a jury and the public, in use in recent years in France, finished penultimate in 2022.
– Swedish inspiration –
La Zarra, from Quebec, a choice endorsed (like Slimane) by Alexandra Redde-Amiel without a vote from the public or the jury, finished 16th in the competition in 2023, with a controversy to boot.
The singer defended herself from having given the middle finger to the cameras during the final counting of points, calling it a “gesture of disappointment that we use between friends”, according to comments given to the French newspaper’s website. 20 minutes.
France’s battle plan this year is clearly inspired by that of Sweden, victorious last year thanks to singer Loreen, already crowned in 2012.
“Loreen was already very well known in Sweden and in this case, the country is more supportive of its candidate to chart an international route,” explained Alexandra Redde-Amiel.
Sweden, seven times victorious at Eurovision, is therefore the host of the competition in 2024, the year of the fifty years of its first success with “Waterloo”, by the legendary group ABBA.
The 2023 edition of the competition was watched by 162 million viewers worldwide according to BBC figures.
