In recent years France has roared to life at Eurovision, generating buzz and capturing headlines en route to solid performances at the song contest.
And today France Télévisions officially opened submissions for Destination Eurovision 2019 — the second edition of France’s large-scale Eurovision selection. You can submit your application here.
As is standard in Eurovision selections, the song must not be published prior to September 1, 2018. Owing to Destination Eurovision rules, it may not be commercially available until the contest.
Destination Eurovision 2019 returns
French Eurovision hype is growing stronger every year. This year’s grand final gathered 5.2 million viewers — the country’s best ratings since 2009, when it fielded superstar Patricia Kaas.
Speaking to daily newspaper Le Parisien on May 14, Delphine Ernotte, chairwoman of France Télévisions, confirmed that Destination Eurovision would return in the coming months to find the artist to sing for France in Israel. “We are renewing the show because it’s a good way to choose our representative,” she said.
Broadcast in January, the three primetime shows failed to achieve popularity among French viewers with an average of just 2.1 million people watching. Praised by the fans, the national selection may undergo some changes in order to attract a wider audience.
During the most recent Eurovision fortnight, French Head of Delegation Edoardo Grassi sat down with Le Monde — France’s newspaper of record — to discuss the country’s incredible turnaround.
Speaking to French journalist Aurélie Blondel, he made it clear just how much investigative work he had done prior to taking the helm.
“I was surfing on the wave of French failures at ESC,” he says, remembering when France finished near the bottom between 2012 and 2015, which seemed to mirror the country’s low finishes between 2003 and 2008.
“When I attended the show in 2014 and 2015, invited by the French commentator, I was surprised by the total madness of it. I also felt that France was completely out of step with the other delegations.”
When he came back from Austria after the 2015 contest, he wrote a 22-page memo that he presented to the head of entertainment at broadcaster France 2. The memo, he says, “had to become the bible of the French delegation” and nothing less.
“At the end of our discussion, I was hired and became head of the French delegation.”
I loved the 2018 show and I can’t wait what they gonna have in store for 2019. The only thing that bothered me a tiny little bit, was the participant numbers (9 in the semis with 4 qualifying of each. Why not make it 10 with 5 qualifying?). But that’s a very small point. Hope they’ll have another masterpiece like Lisboa Jerusalem in the selection!
Really looking forward! So many good songs this year! Hope for another successful year for France in 2019!
That’s great, but I’m still waiting for Bulgaria to change their minds about returning to Junior Eurovision.
I’m so happy for this return! And I can’t wait for the selection! I think it will be surprising this year, with candidates of other nationalities who will try their luck (if they can not do so in their country), and we will also have French artists a little more famous than ‘last year. I also think that besides spontaneous candidatures, Bruno Berberes will have made his market on the side of “The voice” (I bet on The Krills, Gulaan and maybe Maelle), “Taratata” (Pomme, Shaka Ponk, Hyphen Hyphen , Sônge) and record companies (we dare to hope Vianney, Eddy… Read more »
Cécile Corbel, Hoshi, Eugénie (son nouveau single sort le 22/06/2018, d’ailleurs, il s’appelle “Équilibre”) et Hyphen Hyphen (“Like Boys” ? ), ce serait top.
Pls I want Vianney to go to eurovision for France
Oui! Oui! Oui!
Oh please no I’m so fed up with “La même”, and he’s far too famous anyway
There doesn’t appear to be any rule regarding the language of the song this year, have you noticed?
Just bring in more quality and diversity in the acts. Most of the songs this year weren’t great, and quite a few sounded exactly the same as one another (which admittedly helped songs like Ok ou ko, Mercy and Ciao stand out).
Genuinely excited about this! Can’t wait!
I dream of a french selection with :
– Boostee
– Hyphen Hyphen
– Betta Lemme,
– Eugénie
– Naya or also Slimane
One of these can this time really give France a fantastic result because its much more closer from European taste and more radio friendly than Madame Monsieur this year. At least one of them would be really good. I know Betta Lemme is interested by representing France, her song “Bambola” is a perfect BOP. But also we can discover a new gem that no one know. So wait and see
Isn’t Betta Italian-Canadian?
Agree with Hyphen Hyphen and Eugenie tho
Yes, she has origins from Italy but she is 100% canadian. I asked her on Twitter, and i am lucky she answered and said she was interested
I would love to see Emmy Liyana and Lisandro Cuxi back.
Very excited about that ! One of the best selection in 2018 and I hope it’ll be the same in 2019!
Yes, they have set quite a high standard!
Emmy Liyana 2019