France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019
France participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "Roi" by Bilal Hassani. The French entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel was selected through the national selection Destination Eurovision 2019, organised by the French broadcaster France Télévisions in collaboration with the television channel France 2. The selection consisted of two semi-finals and a final.
As a member of the "Big 5", France automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The final was watched by 2.14 million viewers, making Destination Eurovision 2019 the third most watched show on Saturday evening.
Background
Prior to the 2019 Contest, France had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-one times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in. France first won the contest in 1958 with "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, "Un premier amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in 1962 and "Un jour, un enfant" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in 1969 in a four-way tie with the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. France's fifth victory came in 1977, when Marie Myriam won with the song "L'oiseau et l'enfant". France have also finished second four times, with Paule Desjardins in 1957, Catherine Ferry in 1976, Joëlle Ursull in 1990 and Amina in 1991, who lost out to Sweden's Carola in a tie-break. Since 2000, France has managed to place within the top ten four times, with Natasha St-Pier finishing fourth in 2001, Sandrine François finishing fifth in 2002, Patricia Kaas finishing eighth in 2009 and Amir finishing sixth in 2016. In 2018, France was represented by Madame Monsieur and the song "Mercy". The country ended in thirteenth place with 173 points.The French national broadcaster, France Télévisions, broadcasts the event within France and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the television channel France 2. The French broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose the French entry in the past. Between 2015 and 2017, the broadcaster had opted to internally select the French entry. In 2018, the broadcaster introduced the multi-artist competition format Destination Eurovision to select the French entry. In June 2018, France Télévisions announced that the Destination Eurovision format would be used again for the 2019 Contest.
Before Eurovision
''Destination Eurovision 2019''
Destination Eurovision 2019 was the national final organised by France 2 to select France's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of three live shows, aired in January 2019 on France 2, which were hosted by French-Canadian singer Garou. TV5 Québec Canada aired the shows in Canada on a time delay as did TV5Monde internationally. All shows took place at the Studio de France - Bât 217 in Saint-Denis.Format
The format of the competition consisted of three live shows: two semi-finals, and a final. The two semi-finals featured nine entries each, from which four were selected to advance to the final from each show.Results in the semi-finals were determined by public televoting and a five-members international jury panel. Results in the final were determined by public televoting and a ten-members international jury panel. An international jury member is set to vote in only semifinals. Therefore, twenty juries were involved in the voting this year.
Like the previous edition, the show featured a three-members Francophone jury panel to provide feedback. They did no longer have a say in the results of the contest. The Francophone jury panel will consist of :
- Christophe Willem – Singer, returning as a judge for the second consecutive year
- André Manoukian – Jazz singer and former judge on Nouvelle Star, commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals in 2018 alongside Willem
- Vitaa – Singer, French female artist with the most radio airplay in 2018, Destination Eurovision 2018 participant as a songwriter
Competing entries
| Artist | Song | Songwriter |
| Aysat | "Comme une grande" | Aysat, Mohamed Zayana |
| Battista Acquaviva | "Passiò" | Florent Bidoyen, Théodore Eristoff, Battista Acquaviva |
| Bilal Hassani | "Roi" | Bilal Hassani, Madame Monsieur, Medeline |
| Chimène Badi | "Là-haut" | Yseult, Yacine Azeggagh, Corson, Boban Apostolov |
| Doutson | "Sois un bon fils" | Mamadou Niakate, Jean-Pascal Anziani, Ryad Bouchami, Caz B |
| Emmanuel Moire | "La promesse" | Emmanuel Moire |
| Florina | "In the Shadow" | Manon Romiti, Silvio Lisonne, Pierre-Laurent Faure, Adrien Levron |
| Gabriella Laberge | "On cherche encore " | Gabriella Laberge, Christian Sbrocca, Richard Turcotte, Zander Howard Scott |
| Lautner | "J'ai pas le temps" | John Mamann, Johnny Goldstein, Koby Hass, Sophie Tapie |
| Mazy | "Oulala" | Julie Mazi |
| Naestro | "Le brasier" | Mark Hekic, Alexandra Maquet, Thierry Leteurtre |
| Noémie | "Ma petite famille" | Cehashi, Noémie, Youssoupha |
| Philipelise | "Madame la paix" | Elise Philip, Guillaume Soulan |
| Seemone | "Tous les deux" | Fabrice Mantegna, Alexandre Mazarguil, Léa Simoncini |
| Silvàn Areg | "Allez leur dire" | Caz B, Mamadou Niakate, Erick Ness |
| The Divaz | "La voix d'Aretha" | Yacine Azeggagh, Marielle Hervé |
| Tracy De Sá | "Por aqui" | Tiery-F, Tracy De Sá |
| Ugo | "Ce qui me blesse" | Ugo Benterfa, Vicken Sayrin |
Shows
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final aired live on 12 January 2019.| Draw | Artist | Song | Cover | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Naestro | "Le brasier" | "Perfect" | 12 | 8 | 20 | 9 |
| 2 | Florina | "In the Shadow" | "L'hymne à l'amour" | 0 | 21 | 21 | 8 |
| 3 | Chimène Badi | "Là-haut" | "Je ne regrette rien" | 22 | 44 | 66 | 2 |
| 4 | Battista Acquaviva | "Passiò" | "Parla più piano" | 2 | 29 | 31 | 7 |
| 5 | Silvàn Areg | "Allez leur dire" | "Un homme debout" | 38 | 21 | 59 | 3 |
| 6 | Bilal Hassani | "Roi" | "Carmen" | 58 | 57 | 115 | 1 |
| 7 | Aysat | "Comme une grande" | "Dancing Queen" | 34 | 6 | 40 | 4 |
| 8 | Lautner | "J'ai pas le temps" | "J'ai cherché" | 26 | 9 | 35 | 5 |
| 9 | Mazy | "Oulala" | "Si seulement je pouvais lui manquer" | 18 | 15 | 33 | 6 |
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final aired live on 19 January 2019.| Draw | Artist | Song | Cover | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Gabriella | "On cherche encore " | "L'encre de tes yeux" | 14 | 18 | 32 | 6 |
| 2 | The Divaz | "La voix d'Aretha" | "Respect" | 26 | 28 | 54 | 3 |
| 3 | Ugo | "Ce qui me blesse" | "Résiste" | 30 | 8 | 38 | 5 |
| 4 | Tracy de Sá | "Por aqui" | "Lose Yourself" | 2 | 13 | 15 | 8 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Moire | "La promesse" | "Take On Me" | 28 | 56 | 84 | 2 |
| 6 | Noémie | "Ma petite famille" | "Wonderwall" | 8 | 6 | 14 | 9 |
| 7 | Seemone | "Tous les deux" | "Magnolias for ever" | 60 | 53 | 113 | 1 |
| 8 | Doutson | "Sois un bon fils" | "Femme libérée" | 24 | 15 | 39 | 4 |
| 9 | PhilipElise | "Madame la paix" | "J'veux du soleil" | 18 | 13 | 31 | 7 |
Final
The final aired live on 26 January 2019. As the opening of the show, finalists performed "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Garou performed with André Manoukian as the interval act for the show.| Draw | Artist | Song | Cover | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Chimène Badi | "Là-haut" | "Ne partez pas sans moi" | 56 | 63 | 119 | 3 |
| 2 | Silvàn Areg | "Allez leur dire" | "Le Dernier qui a parlé..." | 76 | 26 | 102 | 5 |
| 3 | The Divaz | "La voix d'Aretha" | "Waterloo" | 44 | 48 | 92 | 6 |
| 4 | Emmanuel Moire | "La promesse" | "Euphoria" | 64 | 51 | 115 | 4 |
| 5 | Doutson | "Sois un bon fils" | "J'ai cherché" | 10 | 8 | 18 | 8 |
| 6 | Seemone | "Tous les deux" | "L'oiseau et l'enfant" | 94 | 62 | 156 | 2 |
| 7 | Bilal Hassani | "Roi" | "Fuego" | 50 | 150 | 200 | 1 |
| 8 | Aysat | "Comme une grande" | "Fairytale" | 26 | 12 | 38 | 7 |
Promotion
Bilal Hassani made several appearances across Eurovision to specifically promote "Roi" as the French Eurovision entry. On 23 February, he performed "Roi" at the final of Vidbir 2019 in Ukraine. He also participated in the Melfest WKND Pre-Party event at the Estelle venue in Stockholm, Sweden on 8 March 2019, and the Eurovision in Concert at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 6 April. He also performed "Roi" at the London Eurovision Party in London, which was hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 took place at Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel and consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May and the final on 18 May 2019. According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big 5", France automatically qualifies to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, France is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals.Voting
Voting during the three shows involved each country awarding two sets of points from 1-8, 10 and 12: one from their professional jury and the other from televoting. Each nation's jury consisted of five music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member, as well as the nation's televoting results, were released shortly after the grand final.Points awarded to France
Points awarded by France
Split voting results
The following five members comprised the French jury:- Bruno Berberes – Chairperson – artistic director, head of casting
- Bintily Diallo – music journalist
- Lionel Maurel – head of video content
- Mohamed Zayana – label manager, producer
- Delphine Elbé – singer, songwriter