Alma deserved more.

One year after Amir’s brilliant 6th place finish, the “Requiem” singer failed to repeat a Top 10 finish at the Eurovision Song Contest. The lovely chanteuse placed 10th with the televoters — a result we can live with. But despite her enthusiastic and enchanting performance that took us us on a romantic walk through (and on) Paris, the 28-year old ended 19th with national juries. WTF? And it all happened 40 years after Marie Myriam’s triumph in Brighton.

It’s a disappointing result that did not satisfy her — or us.

Get ready for Mission Eurovision!

Now, as France regroups and looks to the future, there is chatter that France 2, the national broadcaster, is planning a different strategy for Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon.

On Monday Nicolas Coppermann, chairman of Endemol Shine, revealed that the state TV channel is considering a national selection contest to choose its next Eurovision singer. That would mark a departure from France’s successful internal selections of 2016 and 2017.

The proposed contest, called Mission Eurovision, would last about one month — two weeks shorter than Sweden’s much-ballyhooed selection show Melodifestivalen.

“We are still discussing this topic,” he said on radio station Europe 1. Sadly, he did not give us further details, leaving French Eurofans to imagine what this contest might look like and who might participate.

Les Fatals Picards in 2007, Twin Twin in 2014

During the last decade, French viewers only selected two of the country’s Eurovision acts. Both of them flopped. Making fun of French clichés with “L’amour à la Française”, the rock band Les Fatals Picard ranked 22th in 2007 with 19 points. Seven years later, Twin Twin and their feel good anthem “Moustache” earned last place in Copenhagen with only 2 points.

Meanwhile, the four songs that succeeded in reaching the left side of the scoreboard were all chosen by the broadcaster: “S’il fallait le faire” by Patricia Kaas in 2009 (8th), “Allez ola olé !” by Jessy Matador in 2010 (12th), “J’ai cherché” by Amir in 2016 (6th) and of course “Requiem” by Alma, who placed 12th.

The Eurovision grand final ratings left France 2 pretty satisfied. But will Mission Eurovision be as successful? Do you think French viewers know enough about Eurovision to pick the best entry? Or is it better for France to keep choosing their songs internally? Share your opinions in the comment section below!

Read more France Eurovision news

66 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
highland adventure
6 years ago

Journey to Puno aboard a comfortable tourist bus.

CyxCy
CyxCy
6 years ago

I ‘m not against a selection by “tele-crochet” in France, as long as it does not generate controversies like that of the Spanish representative this year. The new head of the delegation knows where he is going, no I don’t think we will be imposed again “Twin Twins” but I ‘m sure they regretted to give up some of the songs that were proposed to them When they thought Amir or Alma would be better. I dare to hope that if they are smart enough, they will pre-select a certain number of artists and songs (of a quality equal to… Read more »

dls
dls
6 years ago

I’d love to see caravan palace representing France 🙂 The only problem is that they would have to dump 3 members as there are 9 people in the band

Harpsichord
Harpsichord
6 years ago

french brand Seelenluft-Comme Dans Un Reve? ( Chanel Fall 2008 Haute Couture Show soundtrack) https://youtu.be/F36TYTcXGRo?t=16s

Harpsichord
Harpsichord
6 years ago

I wish french germany italian spanish portuguese belgium … Songwriters use “Harpsichord” in #Eurovision 2018.Harpsichord sounds so magic calssic fresh something new at eurovision. ex: jamelia-no more in dior rtw fw2007 soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kdj9EglUEs&t=12s

Harpsichord pls
Harpsichord pls
6 years ago
Reply to  Harpsichord

María Villalón – «Dirige al viento» https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4jW6LQPUxk

Harpsichord pls
Harpsichord pls
6 years ago

Amanda Jenssen – «Our Time » https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m40RLGyMqe0

Harpsichord
Harpsichord
6 years ago

Within Temptation – « Aquarius » (Orchestral version) https://youtu.be/O0L6ChvBrVc?t=28s

Harpsichord
Harpsichord
6 years ago
Reply to  Harpsichord

Within Temptation – « Aquarius » Dior Haute Couture Fall/Winter 2008 soundtrack https://youtu.be/tmQimaT-njQ?t=27s

Callum
Callum
6 years ago

The French people can’t pick a bad song if there are no bad songs to pick from..

..so I say go ahead with a quality national final that any song could go on and win Eurovision.

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

I’d also love to see an act like “Christine and the Queens” for example! I love their music!

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

That would be great! I love Slimane!He’s so talented! He impressed everyone in The Voice with his deep voice and his emotional performances! With a good song, he can slay! Great idea!

TwistedFrench
TwistedFrench
6 years ago

You also forgot France – 2000- Sofia Mestari – On aura le ciel, who was also chosen by the French people through France Television. She finished 23th out of 24 participants.

M_K
M_K
6 years ago
Reply to  TwistedFrench

But that was a different decade, it was 17 years ago. 🙂

Twisted French
Twisted French
6 years ago
Reply to  M_K

ESC is more than 60 years old so there has been decades. They all have a meaning on their own and make history. It’s always the same. 1960 or 2000 or 2018 it’s always the same thing.

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

Is everyone wanting to copy Melodifestivalen?

R
R
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

As a TV show, it’s the best selection for Eurovision.

And the shows are always in different cities!

HEY MAMMA
HEY MAMMA
6 years ago
Reply to  Mark

No , i dont wonna see that in Bulgaria , we have chosen our worst entries via national selection , it was rigged , we had our best song in 2005 with duo Slavi Trifonov and Sofi Marinova and they lost in a contraversy to a booring and stupid band Kafe that didint even made it to the final. Same thing happened in 2009 with this horrible and retarded singer Avramov …. Its just a process that works for some countries and its just bad and corrupt in others.(Spain also had this corruption problem this year)

Richardinho
Richardinho
6 years ago

What happens in the entertainment business in general when they need a song for song purpose, for example, for a film?

They certainly don’t hold a public talent competition. I would imagine that they go hire a song writer with a proven track record and then a professional performer from somewhere. Why is that not good for Eurovision?

AngieP
AngieP
6 years ago

NO NATIONAL FINAL!! We all saw what happened the last two times there was a national final…disaster. Internal selections work for France, why do they want to change it? Now that they do better, they want to mess it up again. Eduardo Grassi has done a good job the last two years. He understands how it works. He invests in young and talented artists. He’s trying to bring back the bad reputation Eurovision has in the country.He wants people be more engaged in this contest and support their entry, not just ignore it. Don’t forget Eurovision is a good product… Read more »

Mark
Mark
6 years ago
Reply to  AngieP

But what if he could find 10 or 12 good young artist?

Richardinho
Richardinho
6 years ago

There’s no great skill to taking a group of songs and picking the best one. The difficulty is in getting together a group of great songs in the first place. How does having a talent show to do that help? Serious question. Maybe it does? I don’t know.

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
6 years ago
Reply to  Richardinho

If it becomes a cultural expectation and an ongoing success, it becomes self-reinforcing. At this point, a lot of good music is going to be written and made for Melodifestivalen, year in and year out. But one can’t just conjure that expectation out of nowhere. *Someone* has to reach out to known-good composers/performers and up-and-coming composers/performers and successfully encourage most of them to heavily contribute to a huge event where only one of them will win the prize of being fed into the Eurovision meat-grinder for three months. If that leap can be made, it’s a good leap to make.… Read more »

D
D
6 years ago

Please no national final. Just when they start doing good they’re gonna mess it up again.

Racal
Racal
6 years ago

Meh… A national final is no guarantee of success. And that also means that big names of the French chanson will not represent France, because they would never accept to go through a public selection process.

All of France’s recent successes were selected internally, so why change for a concept that will have an unpredictable outcome?

Felix
Felix
6 years ago

ESC 1977 was in London, not Brighton 🙂

DR
DR
6 years ago
Reply to  Felix

Yeah ABBA won on Brighton in 1974

Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

The first paragraph of this article is pathetic. I love Alma and her song, but seriously, she ended 10th in televote with 19 points less than Amir without ever being high in the odds. Her performance looked like a cheap Google Maps commercial, and that’s probably why the juries didn’t vote for her. Did you guys SERIOUSLY expect more? Maybe try harder next time. At least she got on the left hand side of the scoreboard, 9-13 is the result I was expecting for her all along.

Marina
Marina
6 years ago

I told you Gabbani was gonna flop, kiddo.

Racal
Racal
6 years ago

I don’t agree, I personally thought her staging looked amazing! It was pretty smart of them to you the Eiffel tower and Paris, two big French icons, to give it a very French cachet. And they had also the best camera work this year.

I have no explanation for Alma’s low ranking with the juries, I seriously thought she would place top 10, maybe even top 5.

Racal
Racal
6 years ago
Reply to  Racal

*to use the Eiffel tower

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
6 years ago
Reply to  Racal

The final map-and-tower staging was quite beautiful, but all of the “random floating buildings” earlier were not doing her any favors. None of them were recognizable famous-French buildings, they were all just weird random CGI.

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
6 years ago

Stop constantly lashing out at and belittling others. You keep making these inane assertions about other people’s mental states, perhaps missing the rather obvious conclusions one can draw from a person’s frequent use of put-downs and flippant remarks. You know full well your own abysmal record of predictions, such as claiming that Belgium and Bulgaria will bomb in the televote, that last place finisher Latvia is a safe qualifier, that Israel will be a surprise non-qualifier and that it will be a “scandal” if Italy doesn’t win. In no way are you in a position to berate others for their,… Read more »

Pls
Pls
6 years ago

Calm down George you’re not better than anyone else try learning to be positive 🙂

Étoile
Étoile
6 years ago

Oh mon Dieu, a national selection and all the Frenchies are complaining ? But I’m French and I’m complaining about them too 😛 Well I don’t think we will have a TwinTwin redo BECAUSE it will STILL be artists chosen By Edoardo Grassi and HE doesn’t want to sabotage US. And you can’t compare with the joke selection on France 3 when all entries were bad. It’s still on the mind so that means that it’s not sure that they will do it at least for next year so it’s still an internal selection. I’m for it but I want… Read more »

Damn
Damn
6 years ago
Reply to  Étoile

Also if they added a jury it would prevent from joke acts winning, I think Edoardo will choose quality acts for the contest.

Étoile
Étoile
6 years ago
Reply to  Damn

Absolutely, I’m not scared because with twintwin (and fatal picard too btw) the eurovision was broadcasted on France 3 (a more minor channel) and they never gave a care. Edoardo is passionate about ESC and it’s on France 2 (our major public channel). But it’s hard to please the French because when it’s national selection they complain (the people will sabotage us) and when it’s an internal selection (why we can’t choose our entry ?) so it’s so complicated. xD We’ll see what my country will do. 🙂

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
6 years ago
Reply to  Étoile

Thing is, Germany and Spain “got a word to say”, and didn’t have a great pool to choose from, and in one case they got over-ruled anyway. Both crashed to the bottom of the board, and are very lucky they didn’t get nul.

Broadcaster Selection is not the worst thing in the world, if the alternative can’t find and pick quality.

quince
quince
6 years ago

Marie Myriam, winner for France 1977 is Portuguese, did you know? lol

TwistedFrench
TwistedFrench
6 years ago
Reply to  quince

She has Portuguese origins, she is not Portuguiese. She was born in Congo. She lived in France from the age of 6 yo or so.

Damn
Damn
6 years ago

Well last tume French people had power they choose 2 horrible entries, but let’s not forget that as horrible as they were, those entries were the best among the finalists, and the selection only happened on 1 night like the Uk’s You decide. If all the finalist for Mission Eurovision are potential Eurovision Winner or top 5 it may be worth it. Besides, it will draw people into Eurovision Final Night and will give some competition to The Voice which wil benefit France 2 in the long-term. Im sure Edoardo will select 10 beautiful for the competition, no more comedy… Read more »

Étoile
Étoile
6 years ago
Reply to  Damn

I didn’t read your comment ‘^^, yes twintwin were THE best of ALL the entries which means a lot about the ancient broadcaster (France 3), the organisation and how they didn’t care at all about it. With our new HoD he will not choose that kind of acts but again nothing is sure. So if he struggles he will keep the internal selection. 🙂

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

Unless they do something like Sanremo, it’s a very bad idea.

Mattias Sollerman
Mattias Sollerman
6 years ago

Letting the people decide might not yield the best results short term, but the national broadcasters should, I think, do what they can to engage the public.

Twisted French
Twisted French
6 years ago

Damn don’t let the French decide. It’s a VERY bad idea. Unless it’s Céline Dion or Adèle the French will NEVER chose a winner. Just look at the French are listening to and buying and you’ll have an idea.

Osterreich
Osterreich
6 years ago
Reply to  Twisted French

Haha sooo true! ?

Nico
Nico
6 years ago

As long as they’re part of Big 5 and automatic qualifiers in the grand final I don’t see them doing better. Put them through semifinals, like the rest of the countries (equal rights) and they’ll put an effort!

GG
GG
6 years ago

Although it has changed a little, a large majority of French people love to hate Eurovision.They think it’s cheesy and don’t even realize it has changed a lot and still think it is the same as in the 80s.The thing is there are some tv shows whIhich, just a few days before the ESC, show programmes which make fun of the contest insisting on bum notes, strange outfits,songs that have become dated, which is fun, but they think it’s still the same thing.So, my answer is no.I think Edoardo Grassi should keep on doing his job (as he’s done it… Read more »

SpirK
SpirK
6 years ago

I actually think that the song did deserve more but the staging brought it to were it ended. It was dark and the stunning Paris LED was to late on, and they kinda overdid the spinning thing a bit. Also, coming after 3 top 10 entries (Belgium, Sweden, Bulgaria) hurt France a bit for sure. Alma also didn’t give her most confident performance on Saturday. I think that considering these facts altogether, France got a respectable place on the left side of the scoreboard, being 2nd from the Big Five.

Nickfan
Nickfan
6 years ago

No please it will be a disaster !! Like in 2014 (last place)

Azaad
Azaad
6 years ago

I’m guessing that this new national selection would only feature quality songs, although much like Australia, France have done well with internal selection.

Jake
Jake
6 years ago

Alma has nothing to be ashamed of…her song was special.
I wish they kept it completely in French and the delegation made a mistake with that dizzying backdrop–I wish they stuck to that romantic tension of the video with the dancers on the Parisian roofs
But Alma was on point and was flirty without being sexual
Congrats Alma–you represented France well

david
david
6 years ago

Marie Myriam triumph was in london.not in brighton.
Abba was in brighton.
I wish one day eurovision will come back to my belove london.

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago
Reply to  david

Indeed, the 1977 contest was held at Wembley, North London.
The Brighton contest was 1974, where ABBA won.
In spite of the incorrect fact, this was quite an interesting conceptual article.

L'oiseau
6 years ago

Normally this turns out to be a disaster…

Purple Mask
Purple Mask
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

…because the French want to sabotage their own Eurovision entry?

L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  Purple Mask

It seems to me that the French music industry is not in tune with Eurovision and don’t participate in the internal pre-selection. They have been more successful with internal selection. Take the best position this century: 4th place with Natasha Saint-Pierre – internal selection. The year before 23rd with Sofia Mestari “On aura le ciel” (actually unfairly placed in my opinion) – national pre-selection. Other examples are given in the article. A good contest in France would be really interesting, but I don’t see it happening…But than again… I said that about Portugal, so what do I know?…

JulienBch
JulienBch
6 years ago

Si on avait écouté le public français, on aurait eu droit à JUL cette année à Kiev… Laissons Edoardo Grassi exprimer son talent pour dénicher des pépites, SVP ! Pourquoi changer quelque chose qui a marché ces deux dernières années ? ?

Celeste
Celeste
6 years ago
Reply to  JulienBch

Non car Edoardo n’aurais jamais sélectioné JUL comme finaliste 😉
Edoardo peut très bien sélectionner une 10zaine de chanteurs talentueux (et qui chante bien en live) et laisser ensuite le public, et pourquoi pas un jury de pro et international, les départager.

Étoile
Étoile
6 years ago
Reply to  Celeste

Oui il y a une interview que je ne retrouve plus où il explique qu’il avait des contacts avec Claudio Capello, avec Tal et d’autres mais je ne me souviens que d’eux. Il ne choisira plus de ballades aussi parce qu’on a envoyé suffisamment et qu’il veut faire une pause et avoir des chansons qui bougent. Donc non pas de jul ou d’actes folklo à la twintwin. Pour le jury il sera national si on en a un parce que c’est diffusé en France à moins qu’on choisisse de l’aide du côté belge, suisse ou luxembourgeois (mais je n’y crois… Read more »

Dirtyfalcon
Dirtyfalcon
6 years ago
Reply to  JulienBch

Oui si Edoardo n’a pas un bon feeling sur certains artistes, il leur refusera l’entrée à cette finale. En soi l’idée d’une finale est une bonne idée si les artistes et leurs chansons sont auparavant sélectionnés par Edoardo et par un jury national/international

Étoile
Étoile
6 years ago
Reply to  Dirtyfalcon

Oui il aura son mot à dire sur la sélection des artistes. Un jury serait le bienvenue mais je pense que ce sera comme en Italie un jury français. Ce n’est qu’une supposition, ils vont peut-être rien faire du tout. 🙂

DGpottogue
DGpottogue
6 years ago

I think both are fine. I trust us to choose a good Artist like American r or Alma. Next year Will be ours. 🙂

DGpottogue
DGpottogue
6 years ago
Reply to  DGpottogue

Like Amir or Alma *

Hippolyte
Hippolyte
6 years ago

Very bad idea- the French audience just want to pick the worst entry cause no one really take eurovision seriously 🙁

beccaboo1212
6 years ago
Reply to  Hippolyte

You know what’s funny? Whenever there’s a “fan favorite” to win a national selection like Melfest, some people intended to criticize some of the entries. For example, a number of readers were hoping for Wiktoria to win this year’ she Melfest with “As I Lay Me Down”, but some of the staff members at Wiwibloggs gave it bad reviews. 🙁