Last night the Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — caught the Eurostar to the northern French city of Lille, where we explored the cobbled streets of the old town, Vieux-Lille. After finding a cosy little café, we got to work reviewing France’s Eurovision 2015 act Lisa Angell. Did her song “N’oubliez Pas” stir our emotions? Or is it something we’d rather forget? Read on to find out…
France’s Eurovision 2015 song
Reviews: Lisa Angell with ‘N’oubliez Pas’
Angus: “N’oubliez Pas” is a double history lesson – never forget the First World War and never forget the mighty French chanson. Lisa Angell has the true grit of a chanteuse and she puts emotive intensity front and centre. It is a startling demonstration of vulnerability which resonates on every listen.
Score: 7/10
Bogdan: I love this song. Maybe it’s the fact that I speak French and the message resonates with me. I also like the instrumental, which elevates the melody. It grows spectacularly towards the end and it keeps it there, like a trophy. And I know that Lisa Angell will deliver “N’oubliez Pas” beautifully live, hopefully winning a lot of points from the juries. It’s time to bring France back to the left side of the scoreboard!
Score: 9/10
Sopon: Remember the last time France sent a middle-aged lady with way too much class for a show meant for cheese? They got eighth place, of course! So what’s the difference between Patricia Kaas and Lisa Angell? Patricia’s song was dramatic, intense, and had us on the edge of our sofas. Lisa’s song is something I would go to a run-down café to hear her pluck out on a guitar in the background while I have a casual dinner. Although last year’s Twin Twin arrived at the bottom of the scoreboard, at least “Moustache” was fun and enjoyable. This is boring, unmemorable, but sweet.
Score: 1.5/10
Chris: Much like the UK, you get the feeling that France is a little bit over Eurovision at this stage in the decade. After last year’s underperformance, they’ve turned to an act with little to no real commercial success bringing a song from the 1980s. To her credit though, Lisa Angell performs the song beautifully live and I think that will be its one saving grace. She has a good – not great – voice, but it conveys the emotion of the song well, which will probably charm some jurors enough to spare France’s blushes this year.
Score: 3/10
Deban: Not what I’d normally gravitate towards, yet Lisa Angell’s vocal expression gripped me from start to finish. “N’oubliez Pas” combines the merits of a eulogy, and in the same token marks a celebration. Like quality French wine, “N’oubliez Pas” appreciates with every listen.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: If there’s one thing France would really like to oublier it’s last year’s deux points. “N’oubliez pas” is going back to what France does well – a strong, emotional chanson, with stirring lyrics in memory of the First World War. Amongst all the ballads this year that are asserting how powerful the singer is, it’s so refreshing to hear one with a scope bigger than just the singer’s personal journey. This song is so different from the rest of the competition that it’s difficult to know how it will fare, but it will be a welcome part of the final.
Score: 7/10
Marek: For me, this is the best song this year. I didn’t think this way initially, but listening to it more and more has made it my winner. This song isn’t simple, nor does it repeat the word “love” over and over. This traditional chanson has a strong message about survival. The title, meaning “Don’t Forget”, is very appropriate for this song. Although it may be related to the events in Paris this past January, I personally see the history of my homeland in this song. Us Poles did not have our own state for more than a century, but we did not forget any detail about our culture. No matter what country this song is written for, the song is universal. Each of us can be the village that Lisa croons about. I feel this quote in the song – “You know who you are and you can’t forget this” – describes my thoughts perfectly.
Score: 10/10
First reaction to “N’oubliez pas”
William: Every time Lisa sings, and Angell gets its wings. I adore this diva from the French Riviera. She oozes natural soul, but not in an over-the-top pop star way. Her authenticity shines through and when she sings “I am here” I am feeling every note. One of the most powerful — and underrated — songs of the year.
Score: 8.5/10
Kristin: The return of the French chanson! I welcome it. I’m loving Lisa and I’m loving this song. I’m also very well aware that France will most likely be underrated yet again. But whatever… I’m gonna sing along, and express my love (some call it obsession) for everything French. Viva la France!
Score: 9/10
Padraig: When this was first released, I wrote it off as a sub-chanson dirge. In hindsight I was a tad harsh. Yes, the song is dated, formulaic, and something we’ve heard countless times before, but Lisa’s live performance does elevate it substantially. There’s little chance of it winning or even sneaking on to the left-hand side of the scoreboard. However, a repeat of last year’s (undeserved) last place is equally unlikely. No longer a dirge, just distinctly average.
Score: 5/10
Our jury consists of 29 people, but we only have room for 10 written reviews. Here are the remaining 19 scores.
Anthony: 7.5/10
Denise: 5.5/10
Francheska: 5/10
Josh: 7/10
Judit: 6/10
Liam: 6.5/10
Luis: 6/10
Mario: 3.5/10
Max: 2.5/10
Mike: 8/10
Mikhail: 8/10
Patrick: 6/10
Ramadan: 2/10
Renske: 7/10
Rezo: 5/10
Sami: 2/10
Sinan: 7/10
William C: 4/10
Zach: 7.5/10
To reduce potential bias, we drop the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. We removed a low of 1.5 and a high of 10.
This is a song that builds and keeps on building to the final note.
Watching the video I was at times thinking I was watching a tourism film for the northern French coastline
And then felt I was in the middle of a scene from Les Miserable
Think the staging of this on the night could make or break it.
Delete ‘vessels’ in my last!
Builds up nicely to a crescendo casting aside war and hatred with determination to start afresh. It deserves vessels to be in the top 10. 8/10
@ct: Don’t bother answering Eugene’s comments. According to his hysterical logic, it seems that the mere fact of reading/answering him makes you a stalker/troll (or whatever other meaningless dumb insult he can find) in his eyes. Cause he’s such an inspirational person that, of course, nobody can refrain from stalking him. Cheers. 😉
The song is dull and will not have any success even though the singer is talented. I miss the beautiful French ballads from 2001, 2002 and 2003.
http://www.adal2015.hu
It’s a very nice song, beautifully sung and the music is enchanting. It is miles away from last year’s and I sincerely hope it does well because it deserves it.
Classic French ballad that builds up up up
French’s do it better and know how to deliver. I am sure this mighty fine lady will not fail to deliver at all and I bet her live performance will surpass the studio version. Warning : bring your Kleenex
I don’t wanna live on this planet anymore, wiwibloggs gave more than 8 poitns for disney, childish Iceland and just 5,98 for epic, classy France? o.O
I love this song! 🙂 The first time I listened to this, it really gave me chills and I can imagine it having instant impact in the final, with people thinking “wow was that France?” This will undoubtedly do well with the juries and I really think it will do well with the televote too. This year will be an interesting year for the ‘Big Five’ as I can vision seeing Spain, Italy and France all in the top 10, which is unusual for The Big Five as we know. (Also France and Spain were both chosen through internal selections… Read more »
@ Eugene “but it’s sung in French so the majority on the night won’t understand the lyrics anyway” “The French have never sung in 100% English” “The music is typically French, it’s extremely dated” Your parochialism and obsession with everything Anglo is really getting quite tiresome by now. I think you’re slowly becoming a troll. Eurovision is about bringing different cultures together. It’s not about one culture dominating the rest. And strange as it may seem to you, some of us do understand and appreciate the french language. “This would never be played on UK radio or chart in the… Read more »
I loved it from the first listen. Wonderful music, moving and meaningful poetic lyrics. It’s the anti-war message done right, completely overshadowing Hungary and Russia. Also, Lisa is a fantastic performer. Congratulations France, 3rd on my top this year. 10/10
France have not sent any decent songs to ESC since “Je n’ai que mon ame” in 2001 and “Il Faut du Temps” in 2002.
This is distinctively average and will end up about 20th, near the UK!!
mee:7/10
It’s an OK ballad, nothing special about it. Don’t think the televoters will get behind it, but the jury could help it up to a mid-table placing
One of my favourite songs this year, France’s entry has beautiful lyrics and builds up nicely. The live performance that’s on Youtube is actually brilliant and I really hope France doesn’t come towards the bottom of the leaderboard this year 🙂
Hot contender for last place in final. I predict from 22 to 27 in final for France.
Very underrated, y’all. It’s beautiful <3
I Like France, they are one of my Favourites. also a lovely heart warming ballad, my score for them would be: 9/10, since Malta is still my number one fav.
#TeamAmber and for you French People #TeamLisa #JeSuisCharlie
I was 100% sure that France would end up last in the final when they picked TwinTwin (0,5/10) over Joanna (6,5/10) and Destan (5,5/10). They desurved it, but its sad cause France had NEVER been in last place.
This year i expected something great, a song so good that it could win. After they revealed their entry i was really dissapointed. However this song still isn’t that bad after all and its one of the few songs that really has an message. (7/10)
3/10
Well.. When I first heard it I was like: This isn’t so bad, I don’t get why everyone is complaining. But now it bores me really bad, maybe because of the videoclip. I hope the liveperformance in Vienna will be good, so it can rise a little in my top.
When I first heard it, it was boring and shot straight down to the bottom of my list. When I heard her live, I fell in love with the song. If she has some smart but simple staging and sings like she did live when I listened to her, France will have a good chance of getting on the left hand side of the board.
It’s not a winning song, but it is definitely not a song that deserves last place. I’d like to see it at least 15th. 7/10
This song has long been in my top 10 from the moment I heard it. It’s grown on me. 8/10. Amazing, powerful, passionate voice and song! Bonne chance, Lisa!
This song definitely deserves to finish in the top 10. The message is beautiful and Lisa has an amazing voice. 8/10
Only 5.98? A little harsh, especially considering she’s one of the best, most relaxed performers this year. Obviously it won’t win but if it gets a good spot in the running order then I see this definitely on the left side of the scoreboard
Robyn, that seems like a decent-sized gap to me.
Gosh… I love this song! It’s my favorite.
It is very much at the bottom of the pile for me this year. It is a pretentious song (as the French songs often are) and as usual, they have picked an average singer to belt it out. A very forgettable effort. I do not see many people picking up the phone for this one so it will need a lot of saving from the juries not to come in the bottom 5.
1.5/10
Thank you Marek, for realising that such a song is fitting considering what’s happened in France recently. And Eugene, no Eurovision song gets played on the radio in the UK. Meaning mainstream radio, not pop-up specials. That’s a situation BBC needs to change if the UK are going to win again in our lifetime.
If France was competing in a semi final, I don’t think it would qualify. But I do think the song is nice, plus it is performed well by Lisa but I think its the fact that its sung in French that makes it nice, as she could be singing about shaving her legs but it would still sound awesome in French.
I like France at Eurovision though and it certainly wouldnt be the same without them, especially when they send the quirky novelty acts (2007, 2008, 2014) or quality performances (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
The last “French” song that is similar to thisit was the one that Patricia Kaas sang in 2009 and actually bring the last Top 10 placement for France… I do think that Lisa will do very good in Vienna.
But i want another song like “Allez Ola Ole” tho…
The moment I heard it, I was like, “This is pure goodness.” My 4th overall, behind Italy, Estonia and Norway!!!
It’s like Cyprus (pretty but meh) but slightly better. It will finish better than Twin Twin for sure.
7/10
Good song with a powerful message. I may not understand most of what she sings but you can sense the feeling that’s conveyed in this song. As long as France doesn’t come in last again, I’m happy. Hopefully she sings in Vienna the way she sung it live simply because she made it more climactic by hitting more high notes at the end.
Best ballad of the year, hands down.
Of course…Really unfair that last year France finished even last with a really good song…It was the first time that the French came last in our Vision.. This example that great songs can finish last or at the bottom of the scoreboard is very possible to happen with the current so unfair system of voting when only 10 songs are receiving points and 17{ 4 this year} will unfortunately get big fat zero none points at all… The entries that will gonna finish in 11th-12th places will have exactly the same fate with the entries that will finish 27th-26th….So ridiculous… Read more »
France is one of my favourite countries at the ESC. Actually, in 2008 and 2009 French entries were my favourites and I still have them on my song list (although, beside these two there are only few more I still listen regularly). This song is ok and it sounds soooo jury-friendly. I think France may score fine- nothing too much, but this is ok. I don’t think it will be very popular with the televote but I am sure France will not repeat the last place from 2014 (they deserved it last year). I hope France will bring some modern… Read more »
By the way…
Lisa Angell is representative sample of the french female beauty… <3 🙂
4 her age & type of woman she really looks perfect… <3 🙂
A great example of MILF {that my ''adored'' one & only Eric Saade had called the same Petra Mede in Malmo's Vision 😛 hehe 😉 }
Twin-Twin were robbed, and I fear Lisa might suffer the same fate. I do believe it could be a dark horse, not for the win, but maybe the top 10.
I love this 7/10.
Sweet Lisa, I’m so happy to see her represent my country this year.
No matter our result, I will be proud 🙂
I really love France’s entry in the Diamond Vision of Vienna! <3 Ok at first i was not that much excited about this song but it managed to grow on me a lot and now its almost my personal winner most favorite entry among all the 40! <3 Its videoclip is just wonderful! <3 4 me its one of the most beautiful videos 4 this Vision! <3 It really reminds me of the dreamy times of 2001 & 2002 4 dear France… <3 Exactly the same cool vibes with these diamonds ballads.. <3 Hopefully France will avoid the bottom of… Read more »
Personally I think there are way too many jurors on the Wiwi Jury for your average score to be accurate, even if you remove the highest and lowest scores.
6/10
A beautiful song but that wasnt my opinion from the very start. It will get lost in Vienna in the ocean of ballads. Her live performance somewhat elevates the song however and I think if they get the staging right, France could achieve their best placing in years.
This song has been overlooked by many I fear. The song is alright, but boy, can Lisa perform! She’s an excellent live performer, and with the right staging, I can see this sitting on the left hand side of the leaderboard come the final. 7.5/10
Its a sweet song looking at it objectively but it does absolutely nothing for me, its my 40th this year ( yes lower than Finland)