They’re all on a musical journey, but whose road leads to Eurovision? France started to answer that question tonight during Semi-Final 1 of Destination Eurovision 2019 — its highly anticipated national selection for Tel Aviv. Nine acts sang, but only four could advance to the grand final. And they are….
Bilal Hassani – “Roi”
Chimène Badi – “Là-haut”
Silvàn Areg – “Le petit Nicholas”
AySat – “Comme une grande”
From a results perspective, tonight was all about Bilal Hassani. He won the jury vote in a landslide and also topped the televote. We aren’t particularly surprised: he was the runaway winner in our Destination Eurovision Semi-Final 1 poll as well.
The jury and public were definitely split when it came to other acts, though. Florina finished dead last with the jury with nil points, but managed to finish joint fourth with the public. Aysat came third with the jury…but finished last with the televote.
After the show, France’s Head of Delegation put it to us this way: “There were a lot of surprises…a lot of [different] tastes. Tonight’s show was even more surprising because we felt it live.”
Jury results
Televote results
- Roi – Bilal Hassani 57
- La Haut – Chimene Badi 44
- Passio – Battista Acquaviva 29
- In the Shadow – Florina and Le Petit Nicolas – Silvan Areg (tie) 21
- Oulala – Mazy 15
- J’al pas le temps – Lautner 9
- Le Brasier – Naestro 8
- Comme une grande – Aysat 6
Final results
Naestro – “Le brasier”
Naestro collaborated with France’s Eurovision 2017 star Alma on his song “Le brasier”. He sang on an elevated platform with two female backing dancers and a man on a piano, giving the audience plenty of feels with his ballad. The song had drama, but it was also restrained, which worked well with his husky voice. His vocals seemed to crack at times. Was it nerves? Was he having an off day? We’re not sure. But in any case it seems like he has more in his tank to draw from than he could put on show tonight.
Florina – “In the Shadow”
Digne de l'artiste @Sia selon notre expert @VITAA , qu'avez-vous pensez de la prestation de @FlorinaPerez1 ? pic.twitter.com/WwG2am202p
— Eurovision France ?? (@EurovisionF2) January 12, 2019
Florina looked absolutely stunning in a black sequinned dress that skimmed her thighs and featured a plunging neckline. She looked chic, sexy and ready for her moment. The staging saw her standing centre stage before a mic amid a sea of smoke and some flashing white LEDs. At times her voice sounded a little “thin” and she didn’t really hit the high notes, though she did come close. At times we heard “in de shaaaaadoh” more than “in the shadow”. But thankfully this is a contemporary track delivered by a very likeable performer. Unfortunately the jury didn’t care about that. They gave her zero points, leaving many folks flabbergasted.
Chimène Badi – “Là-haut”
Notre chère @chimeneofficiel interprète ce soir un grand classique français : « Je ne regrette rien » d’Edith Piaf ! ? #DestinanionEurovision pic.twitter.com/VOq7oWAwtj
— Eurovision France ?? (@EurovisionF2) January 12, 2019
Wow. An established star with a big voice, Chimène already had us gagging during her cover of Edith Piaf. As for her own song she was confident, assertive and on point. And omg did she have a box! Putting Farid Mammadov to shame, she stood inside a structure that illuminated with projected steam and waves — it was a delicious purple and black spectacle that left us wanting more. Our Spanish bloggers have pointed out that chimène means chimney in Spanish. Well our girl definitely brought the heat!
Chimène Badi has quite the box! #DestinationEurovision pic.twitter.com/sHPLQo80VR
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) January 12, 2019
Battista Acquaviva – “Passio”
She sounds like an expensive brand of bottled water. But tonight Battista’s performance wasn’t quite so pure. She had classy Aisel visuals and a bit of star quality that came through in her Enya-like vocals. But unfortunately her potentially ethereal performance was overshadowed by a dominant backing track and topless dancers. The addition of fake snow created a snow globe effect. Visually appealing, but vocally not quite there. It’s a ‘pass’ on ‘Passio’.(Sebastian)
It's like strippers stormed the stage during Aisel's performance. #DestinationEurovision pic.twitter.com/9OhLqGGwwv
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) January 12, 2019
Silvàn Areg – “Le petit Nicholas”
L'authentique @silvanaregoff enflamme la scène de #DestinationEurovision avec son titre " Le Petit Nicolas " ! ? pic.twitter.com/r7EMygeQc1
— Eurovision France ?? (@EurovisionF2) January 12, 2019
Well this was original. Drawing on sounds tourists might associate with a Parisian circus, Silvan took things in a new direction by adding some playful and assertive rap-like verses. Walking on a treadmill and hidden by adorable cutouts of world monuments, he seemed to be living a cartoon — and it really came to life. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it stands out for performance appeal and creativity. Plus the man can deliver a tune in-tune and with vigour!
Yessss. Zoë's treadmill reborn in a French cartoon. It's cute! pic.twitter.com/nSoeFoW1KA
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) January 12, 2019
Bilal Hassani – “Roi”
?Pensez-vous que @iambilalhassani portera fièrement la couronne de France à Tel Aviv pour l'#Eurovision ? pic.twitter.com/2ADeZ63v3g
— Eurovision France ?? (@EurovisionF2) January 12, 2019
Wearing all white and owning his natural flair, Bilal oozed confidence far beyond his years. He started his performance in the audience, treating the walkway as a runway before mounting the stage to preach a message of empowerment. He was joined by a series of dancers who helped give the song a bit more dynamism. And good thing: it started to feel a tad monotonous after the first chorus. But that’s easily remedied with a few quick camera cuts and angle swaps. Ultimately Bilal has charisma and a tune that many people can identify with. That puts him out in front in our minds.
Aysat – “Comme une grande”
. @aysatofficiel ira-t-elle "Comme une grande" au bout de l'aventure #Eurovision ? ????? pic.twitter.com/nI0Q6dZNQy
— Eurovision France ?? (@EurovisionF2) January 12, 2019
Aysat — as wiwiblogger Bernardo said — is ‘someone that beats to the sound of her own drum.’ Or in this case, drums. And while her performance was a little breathy because of her lyrically demanding song, she moved with sass and attitude and filled the stage with non-stop urban energy. As she moved to her higher vocal register, ‘Comme Une Grande’ started to feel grandiose. She’s an independent woman, and we’re here for it. (Sebastian)
Lautner – “J’ai pas le temps”
Pour #DestinationEurovision, les @lautnermusic n'ont plus le temps ! Découvrez vite ce nouveau titre ! ???????? pic.twitter.com/Fd6effRE9P
— Eurovision France ?? (@EurovisionF2) January 12, 2019
You’d all seen those photos of Lautner before tonight’s show. And judging from social media, the aesthetics remained the highlight of this. The guys ooze charisma and have beautiful smiles, which helped distract us from the hot mess of a stage show. There didn’t seem to be much of a connection between the neon-lit skateboard ramp and the two dudes singing at front. The singer with darker hair looked particularly terrified by it all. But no matter. They will end the night with tens of thousands of new fans.
Find yourself a man who looks at you like Lautner #1 looks at Lautner #2 #DestinationEurovision ? pic.twitter.com/ZtVRQ7Y9vd
— William Lee Adams (@willyleeadams) January 12, 2019
Mazy – “Oulala”
Going out with a bang — and on a box! Mazy’s “Oulala” was an explosion of fluorescent everything — it was as if you were entering some kind of French trance. This felt true and authentic to Mazy, who sang “Oulala” effortlessly. And when she wasn’t on a box, she was banging a box like a busker on the streets of Paris — no doubt pulling in those Euros. This was French artistry, at its finest. (Sebastian)
Reduce, reuse, recycle — Mazy making the most of Chimène’s box at #DestinanionEurovision pic.twitter.com/0hIsLsbpIX
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) January 12, 2019
Did your favourites make it through? Do you think that Bilal has a chance to win all of Destination Eurovision? And how would he fare at Eurovision? Let us know in the comments box down below!
Great overall show from France. Most artists though looked stressed. Dissapointed by Florina. Silvan was a pleasant surprise,. Clever staging, clear vocals, great performance. Chimene doesn’t have THE BEST SONG of the national final, but her performance was amazing and her vocals were the best of all the other contestants. Suprised Aysat qualified because her vocals weren’t good, despite the good staging. As not a fan of Bilal, I really liked his performance, though it could have been better.
I AM OBSESSED with Roi – OBSESSED. This will be top 5 in the Grand final of ESC 2019. Bilal will build in confidence and his performance will improve. Loved his very obvious humility as well, and this will allow him to make changes as he goes along.
Lautner also have a good song – I feel bad for them that the staging was just awful and Axel (who is absolutely GORGEOUS) seemed paralysed with nerves.
I was really disappointed by Bilal! His cover of the Stromae song was amazing, and then he was vocally flat during his own song. I can only assume the song just doesn’t fit his vocals, which is a shame. For me? I would love to see Silvan Areg at eurovision. And yes, I am also surprised by that haha.
ur just a h8r! Get new ears boo.
You miss the bit where I complimented his cover of the Stromae song, “boo”? If he had a good song that he could sing I would be right behind him. As is, Roi is going to receive as flat a reception at Eurovision as his vocals in that performance.
I was so sad and angry with myself for forgetting when the show was on but now I’m so glad I didn’t watch this travesty. Destination Eurovision was the best national final last year and I just can’t understand how they let such horrible sound mixing happen. And I’m perplexed by the voting. I’m a very gay-friendly person but I don’t understand getting behind someone just because of their orientation and styling. Sub par song, awful voice and cringey lyrics… What’s going on? ”I’m not rich, but I’m shining bright”. Really?!
Comme une grande is literally the only song that I can listen to. The rest – terrible. I see everybody’s favoriting Roi, honestly have no idea why, I assume gays support him because he’s gay and looks like a girl. The song it self is extremely boring, and his singing last night was seriously horrible. Didn’t hit not one note and yet scored highest. Yeah, I hope Comme une grande was sung better, but song as a song is very good.
Don’t generalize gay people. I’m gay but I don’t think he is good enough for Eurovision.
I agree the song isn’t as good as we hoped but Tedi your comment was extremely ignorant. I recommended you open your mind a little rather than fester in bitterness, lashing out at minorities
I’m surprised and disappointed that oh Layla never qualified, it was really catchy. I can’t even remember the Badi song and expect more from the bilal song. Let’s hope better is to come from Semi 2!
I actually enjoyed most parts of the show, yeah that were obvious issues with sound and staging of some artists been a bit off, but overall i liked it:)
Can’t wait for second semi!
i also looking forward for my favs NS MelFest and Vidbir in few weeks, Romania and Hungary selections is intresting too
If this is about music after all, there’s no way that Seemone’s “Tous le deux” doesn’t win.
Yesterday, I heard all the songs for the first time.
WHAT IS THIS GARBAGE?
“Roi” as a song is growing on me but it was not a very well executed vocal performance. The irony is that he might have been one of the better vocally in this semi, but in Eurovision it will be a bottom 5 result if he doesn’t improve greatly. That said I do agree with all the qualifiers.
The problem with Aysat for French viewers was that she sang so badly (mumbled would be the right word) that it was impossible to understand what she was saying.
As a French native speaker, one of the only words I understood was “capote” or “condom”! I have no idea about the rest of the sentence (though I think she said “doigt” or “finger”) but I don’t want a song about condoms to represent us!
I’m hoping Seemone and Gabriella can bring the thunder in SF2
France, please send Chimène and say bonjour to a top 10 spot.
Sorry I don’t get the hype on Bilal. It will be a disaster for France if he wins. So far I don’t see anyone that could place top 10 in ESC.
The only two performances that were polished, sung well, and ready for Eurovision were Chimène and Silvan. All the other acts felt like they were still in audition mode. So far 2018 Destination Eurovision is far better than 2019.
I already knew SF1 was weaker, but a lot of live performances were disappointing. I think the jury were too harsh on Florina not giving any single point. Also, how can be a Conchita wannabe the front-runner? I mean, she even tries to talk like her. The studio version of “Roi” was interesting, but the live performance has an evident lack of power, it’s too bland and plain. The chorus sounds too weak, for a song like that you need stronger vocals. Conchita delivered that power in “Rise Like A Phoenix”. Hope SF 2 lives up to the expectations. I’m… Read more »
I’m sorry but I wasn’t able to watch the whole performance. When she reached the chorus I cringed and had to end the clip… It hurt inside me. I don’t think the song is very well sung even in studio recording so miracles had to happen for it to be better live….
There is no denying Chimène can sing but I agree with the fact she needs to add or change something to wow the audience, a touch of gospel, like Austria last year or a more modern or contemporary instrumentation like they’ve done it in the two thirds of the song.I wish I could hear that beat once more.That would do the trick and appeal to a broader audience. I also appreciated the fact Sylvan managed to qualify.The song has an indeniable French touch but I think the clever imaginative staging made him stand out. Aysat’s qualification came as a surprise.She… Read more »
French POV ^^- I’m happy that Chimène and Sylvàn qualified. I knew that Bilal will end first but I didn’t think with so much points. The juries were true jokes. How can with his vocals can he be placed higher than Chimène for example ? I though they will tank him a little but no. It looked fishy. He will represent us I think. Semi 2 is much more interesting on the paper but the juries + his fan base are SO huge we can’t beat that. We don’t have a strong runner-up too. His fans also disappointed me so… Read more »
My favourite was J’al pas le temps – Lautner but after the live performance i knew it was over. I dont get the hype of Bilal. Im sure Europe will not get it. Sorry.
Basing the semi final 1 performers, I’d rather pick Chimene or Silvan to win this. If Bilal wins, she might end up being worse than Madame Monsieur.
Also to add: I think Destination Eurovision (especially the juries) is having a reputation of robbing female singers with just a good amount of songs and vocals. Just look at Lucie’s “My World” last year which garnered no points from juries as well and also no points from televotes. Florina’s lucky that there are plenty of televoters who voted for her. She deserved to qualify yet juries wronged her this year.
I just know France will pick Bilal, he won the semi-final by a landslide and there’s no over act that’s going to beat him because of his fanbase. IMO, Seemone is the only good song still in the running.
I hope France don’t make a huge mistake and pick Bilal, otherwise France will be disappointed come May 18th
Remember Lisandro last year? He had a big fanbase and nearly ran the table with the juries in the final, but he was only good enough for third place in the televote. It’s probably that his fans got complacent, they were likely convinced that he had it so in the bag that they shouldn’t even bother to vote. Who’s to say it could potentially happen again with Bilal in the place of Lisandro?
I’m pretty sure that France Télévisions wants Roi to win; when you go on Destination Eurovision’s channel, the video at the top is Roi. Before this semi-final, the snippet for Roi was at the top of their channel page. Coincidence, I think not.
I noticed that too!
Mazy = The French Mariette ‘For you’ ?
I have not listened to all songs yet… 5, so far… I wonder if these “singers ” have ever heard of singing lessons?… Battista is so bad live. I first heard her singing on her “The Voice” audition. She sounded good, but all performances that came after that were just dreadful… how on earth can someone who can’t sing appeal to so many people?! Ayat has a great song but bad live vocals – needs desperately singing lessons. If she was to represent France at Eurovision she would get what Jessica (who had one of the worst live performances at… Read more »
So so sad for my country and disapointted… So poor… Chimène Bady was the only one to sing correctly… OMG! Come on! It’s France here! Dont we have some real singers in our country ? Just studio performers?
I ‘m French, therefore, from my point of view: – The message of Aysat’s song is very strong, her choreography was very good against it we don’t understand anything when she sings, for me it was a long mumbling. But this musical style resembles what sells well in France. She is nice, it’s good for her she qualified, for cons I don’t see her win in the final. -For Sylvan, it’s a very good surprise that I didn’t see happen. The text of his song was very good and his staging very poetic. And it’s a performance to get out… Read more »
Disappointed with the overall quality compared to last year’s Destination Eurovision.
On reflection, I’m happy with the top 4, I don’t think it was the wrong result (even if the lower rankings of the phone vote were a bit of a shock). Listening to the studio versions, Roi is a very good song. If he gets some proper vocal coaching in the next fortnight to eliminate the breathiness and better reflect the recorded version (and ditches the hideous white 80s ski suit) then there’s hope. I do feel the “look” is too contrived and not as authentic as it could be – given the message of the song, that authenticity needs… Read more »
Although I am happy the jury got Aysat through, I do question the taste of some of them. Especially this Eurovision ‘expert’ Dr. Eurovision. He is just a glorified superfan with questionable taste and even worse prediction skills (watch him in the breaks of the BBC’s broadcasts of the semi-finals). Expert my ***!
Have to admit though, looking at the breakdown of the jury votes, his were the closest to what I would’ve given (obviously with Florina needing some points)!
I will be so disappointed if Bilal wins…
Is Bilal the big favorite? Really France? Sorry, but very mediocre voice and almost zero stage charisma.
The whole level of the songs and the performances last night was also bad, MUCH lower than last year. Not big thing for France in ESC this year, I’m afraid. Go back to the internla selection.
Bilal deserved to win the Semi Final. But Florina was robbed by the juries…
Anyone but Bilal..
Oh and was I think Sanja had a little too much coffee during the live show. She was quick to give out her points and didn’t even pause to let the scoreboard catch up to her.
Either that or she was trying to hold something in and leave for the restroom to answer nature’s call once done with announcing the points. lol
Okay so my thoughts: 1. Naestro -It was alright but I wasn’t amazed. 2. Chimène -Being one of the more experienced in the bunch and the name recognition from viewers (and one of the only ones who sounded great live without any issue), she was a sure lock as a qualifier as long as her jury points were mid-table. 3. Florina -An okay performance but the nerves got the best of her although she did do a relatively good job despite of it, it just wasn’t enough to hit the notes when it mattered. Such a shame she didn’t get… Read more »
I agree with your comment on Bilal. I think the constant switching back and forth only kinda works if one can speak both languages, otherwise I can see how it would appear off.
With all due respect the general vocal performances were painfully off. I liked at the beginning Passio but she was barely singing. I suspected Florina could disappoint live still her position was extremely underrated considering who finished above her. I’m fine with who qualified and Now I am certain that Bilial Will win but he needs absolutely to improve on his vocals otherwise I can predict un unfortunate position at eurovision
My thoughts: 9th: Naestro – no surprise. Nice enough voice but a dull song. I figured it would go last. 8th: Florina’s singing wasn’t perfect (granted almost NONE of the singing was great – which I suspect has more to do with the quality of the production) but the jury did her dirty. The fact she was tied 4th/5th with Silvan shows that the quality of the song should have at least gotten her through 7th: Same with Battista – not the best but still deserved a much higher result. Her 3rd place with the televote is a testament to… Read more »
4th: Aysat – Perhaps the only song I’m truly happy that qualified. I was surprised the televote voted her so low (and again, something was off with the production/sound quality of this years DE – did they borrow armenia’s equipment from last years depi evratesil or something?). Either way, her qualification is perhaps the only right thing the jury did during SF1. 3rd: I’m sorry but I don’t think Silvan should have qualified. He is barely singing. The ‘spoken’ bits he is speaking but the refrain where he is ‘singing’ he is in and out and (just listen at 1:10… Read more »
2nd: Chimène was alright. Great singer but not a very interesting song. A boarder qualifier. (sorry for the spam, wiwiblogs won’t seem to let me post my entire thoughts in one blurb)
1st: Bilal has a good song but I think he is overrated. I honestly see him going the Alfred and Amaya route. Overhyped at the selection but gets lost in the crowed and ends with a low score in the Eurovision final.
Bilala has an o.k song. And i agree what you wrote about bilal’s song. Finally!!! Voice of reason
I predicted that Silvàn would be this year’s Igit! Got three of the four qualifiers right.
Of course, it’s easy to exceed expectations when everyone else sings badly. What happened tonight?
Some of it was nerves, some of it was inexperience, and some of it was sound mixing issues. But through all of that, Bilal still won by a clear lead. Game over for the rest in that Semi, sadly.
I can understand why Bilal is 1st but… 115 points? Almost twice as many points as the second place? That’s ridiculous. Vocals weren’t good, Bilal was ridiculously cold, 0 emotion, staging was bad… France, send Roi and say goodbye to the top positions in Eurovision.
Agreed, couldn’t have said it better myself!
I’m not going to talk about the audience cause they don’t need to act professionally, but the jury is different. Roi 58 points and In the Shadow 0? What’s the difference between those acts? Song quality? Both songs are good. Staging? Both stagings were meh. Voice? Both were cold and made mistakes. This isn’t a professional result. That big difference isn’t justified, no matter how they try to explain it. What a shame.
There are legitimate reasons for the glaring points gap, in my opinion. For Florina, the difference is mostly to do with song content, but is multiplied when added to zero choreography, really poor staging and some unflattering vocals. Zero multiplied by zero unfortunately equals zero in maths. Sorry 🙁
I don’t really understand how someone can sue you for expressing your personal opinion on songs performed by public figures in a contest.
Threatened? That wouldn’t surprise me, lots of crazies on the internet.
I would love to read those reasons, honestly. It seems we have different points of view and that’s always interesting and enriching. Can’t force you, but hey, if you wanna explain your point of view… go ahead, I’m not going to sue you xd
N.B. I edited my comment above to try to explain the more mundane maths aspect of music reviewing. (But I may be on risky ground.)
Well I don’t disagree on the dull staging.
Unflattering vocals, well I think most acts tonight weren’t so sharp (including Bilal – which I think has a lot to do with the production). As for song content, I don’t really understand if you mean the song just isn’t good or the ‘message’ of Bilal’s song is just ‘better’ than Florina’s?
Regardless I appreciate your input – and I won’t sue you… I don’t think I or anyone would have much of a case anyway, lol.
I’m sad Lautner didn’t qualify. 😥 But other that, great show.
They were out of tune for three minutes
People seem to have forgotten that last year, comments were easy to write off other entries believing “Eva” got it in the bag when it didn’t.
Thank you for reminding us. 🙂
I thought about that too. The thing is that last year the semifinals were recorded, so we didn’t had any televoting results by then. In terms of juries, the difference between Bilal and Silvàn (58×38) is slightly bigger than the one Lizandro had against Emmy on his semi (66×50). Of course we still have a 2nd semi, maybe we’ll have someone as successful as he was tonight.
Eva was a good entry but the disconnect was clear between the staging and the song it was supposed to bring life to.
I think Lisandro may have had a problem attracting demos beyond his younger audience for him to win so his televote outcome was unsurprising.
Actually, Eva is an amazing song and is still in my NF Top list. Only, I was totally into masterpiece of Mercy. Also, Ciao and Ok ou Ko were at least as good. Gosh, was the last DE amazing! This year they have great songs too, but not all are my favorites. Roi would possibly be my favorite in Latvia or Czech Republic, but France has better songs.
Oh no! I now have “She’s just a single mother!” stuck in my head
Can’t wait to hear the qualifiers!
In semi-related news: Mihai pulled out of Selectia Nationala. Maybe he knew he had no chance?
Thank heavens! My fear is gone.
I just fell over with shock!
No place for 2 Fuegos in that NF.
No year without a drama by Mihai. Oh, well, his song was neither the best or the worst in the Romanian selection.
Seriously? 🙁 I’m a bug fan of Mihai. 🙁
It seems my comment was stopped by the mysterious filter. If any moderator can save it, I would appreciate. 🙂
I will just assume that you are happy with the results, and look forward to SF2. 🙂
Well, I wouldn’t say that I’m happy, but I’m perfectly fine with the qualifiers. My only complaint is the difference of points from Bilal to the others, which I think it was very exaggerated. It’s not just unfair to the others, but also creates the impression that we already have a winner, which doesn’t help to build expectation for the next shows.
I’m fine with the qualifiers, I just can’t see why Bilal had that many more points than the others. I know he’s popular and I can get why, but the competition was much more even than the results show. It seems he’s in an even better position than Lisandro was last year, with the advantage that I can’t see anything as good as “Mercy” coming his way. I’m glad that both the juries and the televote rewarded Silvàn’s entry for its creativity and that the televoters saved Chimène from elimination, because she was the best performer tonight.
I’ve heard Chimene now (I couldn’t due to loading issue) and I think she did great. Amazing vocals, good staging, very good song too.
My favorite ended up dead last 🙂 well now I know which country will be last in my top 42.
Aysat had a TERRIBLE live performance , I don’t know how you are THAT surprised she was last in the televote… The only decent song that qualified is La Haut, but Le brasier was the only song I loved.
But “Le Brasier” was boring and so was the performance.
Well, in your opinion, true. In my opinion the song is great and he was one of the best vocally tonight, togheter with La Haut and Roi, but I dislike those songs. And 99.9% is that Bilal is going to represent France and I really don’t like that song… That’s why I think France will be my last this year… That is if there won’t be any more generic or the songs with less quality… But you have every right to think the song is boring, and it seems France agrees. But did he really deserve the last place?
Perfomance but not the song, was one of better. Idk the main audience who voted, giving it so little credit, as song seemed more appealing for older gen.
also I don’t get article’s nitpicking on his vocals – he was fine.
Already last, ha? Even if Latvia picks “You Come on Tiptoe”? Even if Czech Republic picks “Posledni slova tobe”? Even if Romania picks “Make Me Your Man”? Even if San Marino again serves us something very dumb? Bit early for superlatives maybe.
Go back and watch Aysat’s live again. It was great. She served sass in not only her movements but her vocals as well. She hit every note and wasn’t nearly as breathy as people seem to think. The sound mixing was just atrocious
Aysat was struggling with that sound engineering setting. Her vocals was often off at important times, but the charisma was appropriate.
Maybe I didn’t like Aysat as much because I only listened to the performances as I was doing other stuff and I wasn’t watching them… Vocally Naestro was definitely one of the best. I loved Naestro and Battista before sf but Battista was also terrible vocally, unlistenable. And no one answered my question: did Naestro really deserve to be last? Colin, I said France will be my last IF there won’t be any songs with less quality or songs that are more mediocre that Roi. I haven’t listened to the other songs except for Romanian songs but I’m pretty sure… Read more »
What a disastrous televoting results. Thank God there were juries. I’m just traumatized by the fact that they placed Aysat LAST! They literally voted for the worst acts.
Disappointed in some of the results. Bilal will definatly win unless Gabriella can pull off a miracle but Roi is a good song but not something everybody can connect with. If it is selected it will not be able to pull off what Austria did with awesome Conchita. Already predicting us France joining the bottom half.
Gabrielle or Seemone or Ugo theoretically *could* pull an unexpected advantage, but how likely is that? Roi isn’t my favorite, but it’s definitely an expected winner. That would mean that after six years, France will likely not be in my top 15. Oh, well… not everyone can be on top all the time.
I said that Bilal will definitely win but that I hope somebody else represents us like Gabriella. But yeah, I will not be supporting our winner if it is Roi. The song is just about him and does not connect much with the public. Plus I think his image with French Youtube help him but I doubt people actually took the song and vocal into account when voting. Give that song to another singer and I doubt it would have qualified. Guess we will join Spain in the lower half this year
I think this NF1 was so weak. For me Bilal is a bad copy of the queen Conchita. Conchita can sing like a god – Bilal can’t !
I have to admit I’m quite overwhelmed about tonight’s show. Like what the hell happened with the sound?? Nearly most of them sounded bad and the staging were out of the place. I only liked two performances- Silvàn and Chimène. Silvàn, or should I say SLAYvàn, killed the staging, that was one of the most creative staging I have seen in a while and the song is fun and I stan for that. With Roi- I just don’t get the hype. It’s like Lisandro Cuxi case right here and I can see it having the similar end results. I hope… Read more »
I agree completely – I also liked only two performances: Silvàn and Chimène were both great and I was really worried that Chimène won’t qualify.
With Roi – maybe people vote for it because it was composed by last year representants?
b.t.w. Lisandro was my winner last year.
I can see why due to some Madame Monsieur effect, but it’s most likely because of his fans and people seeing him as their own Conchita (but with weak vocals apparently). I don’t necessarily hate the song, it does have a good production, but I just don’t like the lyrics (“you cannot change me boo” really? boo? c’mon…). The song itself is quite unoriginal and does nothing for me. There’s something missing and I just can’t understand why people already crown him as the winner.
Another thing to point out is Silván’s great stage presence. “Le Petit Nicolas” is a gem – it only needs a little bit of polishing and if France chooses wisely, I believe this song could really do well at Eurovision. I love pop music as much as the next person, but the show always benefits from a greater mix of genres.
YES, his stage presence was the best compared to others and THAT made me like the song more.
They must have borrowed the mics from Armenia during last year’s depi evratesil, lol.
Televoting results were TERRIBLE. Bilal and Chimène have a huge fan base in France so that was the main reason why they did that well. But Aysat last?? Seriously??? Both Florina and Battista had the worst performances of the night and they were 3rd and 4th. That’s just ridiculous.
Yep. That’s why they have an international jury. 🙂
The juries hyped Lautner too much, the televote was fair to Chimène and put her in the right place. But the televote also was extra kind to Battista and Florina and too harsh on Aysat.
International jury to find your national representative is a travesty. It should be a French jury. Countries like Italy and Hungary would NEVER let foreigners choose who goes, it’s supposed to be the country’s choice!
Sorry but practically ALL performances sounded off (including Bilal’s).
I still think Battista and Florina should have qualified.