The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating the 37 competing songs in Eurovision 2025. Next we review France, who have chosen Louane with “maman”.
Did the song bring a tear to our eyes? Read on to find out!
Louane – “maman” (France Eurovision 2025)
Review: Louane – “maman”
William: “maman” feels like a conversation. It’s an intimate chat between Louane and her late mother — and another between Louane and her own daughter. The music captures the scale and scope of her love: it feels elevated, ethereal and all-encompassing. The refrain of “maman” reminds me of breathing. The staging inside the Stade de France — with 80,000 rugby fans — didn’t allow the intimacy of this entry to shine. In Basel, I expect we’ll be in Louane’s world where emotion and connection will reign.
Score: 8
Deban: Matriarchal in tone and longing in its delivery, “maman” is an open message that honours the strong bond found in mother-daughter relationships. Louane, an established actress in her own right, conveys the sentiment of her song at the right temperature. Her backstory is compelling. She lost her mother at a young age, and with a young daughter to call her own, her message hits hard. Road-tested to large audiences, and performed by an artist that was a star on The Voice, Louane is all set for a high finish. After last year’s Top 5 placement, France is determined to inch even closer to victory.
Score: 7
Scarlett: “maman” is a touching tribute to motherhood, like listening to Louane singing aloud an actual letter to her mother. Even while the song’s lyrics are intensely personal, Louane sings with an authenticity that is universal enough for all audiences to relate to. “maman” doesn’t need any bells and whistles. Whilst it may not end up at the top of the scoreboard, it is a worthy entry.
Score: 5
Pablo: From art to vocal prowess and glitz, France has gone all in on incorporating different aspects over the years. But on “maman”, they have taken aim on emotion, and they’ve done so flawlessly. I believe every single word Louane is singing in this extremely poignant journey everyone can relate with. This song might have the most gorgeous lyrics of all those in the competition, and it’s coupled with music that’s both delicate and grand in equal measures. With a live that makes this beauty justice, we might be looking at a song that results in France raising the crystal mic in triumph. This can be three minutes to remember for years and years.
Score: 9
France Eurovision 2025 ranking
In the Eurovision 2025 Wiwi Jury, we have 17 jurors but only have room for four reviews. The remaining scores are below:
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Andreas: 7 Antranig: 6.5 Bernardo: 8 Burak: 8 Cinan: 5 Jonathan: 5 Jordi: 9.5 |
Lucy: 6.5 Ruxandra: 9.5 Simon: 8.5 Suzanne: 5.5 Tom: 8.5 Tomas: 9 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a high of 9.5 and a low of 5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 7.40/10
What do you think of France’s Eurovision 2025 entry? Share your own score and review for Louane’s “maman” below!
So much love by the jury and yet another heart felt song gets nothing…..Israel.
I really like this one – it’s a solid jurybait song, and it was probably a wise choice not to try to go into the crowded televote-friendly lane.
The easiest path to victory for Louane is a deadlocked contest like 2019 – an act wins the televote, but loses the juries, and vice versa.
She should place high, but I would like to see France try something new in the future. Jurybait ballads won’t work indefinitely, and the nation has a lot of other styles to offer.
There’s always one popular song every year that I just don’t get and this one is it. I just can’t connect with this
FRANCE – There’s been a lot of hype for Louane’s participation, and I can see why. She is an emotive performer who goes beyond just hitting the notes. She also brought us a very intimate song with touching lyrics about motherhood and rememberance. Maman is a very lovely ballad about remembering her own mother, and trying to be bring that same energy when bringing up her own daughter. There’s a nice transfer of tenderness across generations, and feels very personal to the performer. The song follows a classical structure, but brings that extra effort at the very end with the… Read more »
She’s lovely. And the lyrics are beautiful. Yet the whole thing leaves me a bit cold. I don’t kbow, maybe it’s the marching band theme in the background. Never been a particular fan of those.
Same. Nice girl and theme, but it sounds like a communist military band.
France is my number 1. This is entirely because of how I personally connect to the song, and because I have been a fan of Louane for many years. Louane’s performance moves me every time, and I cannot explain why. My emotional reaction to Louane is always there; it’s an undeniable and very strong reaction that goes beyond the music. I realise logically that “Maman” as a song alone is probably only strong enough to be mid-table in the grand final. It is literally a letter to the departed, and it marches along (again literally) in contemplative G minor key.… Read more »
Oh how lovely. I’m sure it will do better than you think. It’s my second place.
i know people were underwhelmed when it first came out… but honestly, i find maman so catchy!! it’s easy to get stuck in my head, and i actually really like the song… hoping for a good result for france
8.5/10
The French delegation got traumatized by Fulenn’s result and now they’re only sending safe radio songs as a result…
Nah we knew Fulenn would be a massive flop. We expected better for La Zarra though ?
I think La Zarra’s problem was that she was trying to do too much at once by being a “slow banger”, or “fast ballad” (not sure what to call it).
The staging was too static for televoters, and there were stronger jury-bait songs that year.
Really overrated; even if it is a good song
Oh a French chanson, so let’s compare it to Barbara Pravi and Slimane ofc even if it doesn’t make sense…As if the French entries competed between themselves in the same year…nobody compares Kaj with Marcus and Martinus and Loreen, nobody compares Erika with Kaarija, but ofc France has right to a special treatment by the wiwi readers as every year. Your feelings say it won’t do well, like your feelings said about Slimane and Barbara and now that they did well they became the reference ofc… It’s just a way to try to put France down as always…dear wiwi readers… Read more »
folks are not feeling this one, but it will peak during the rehearsals
Quality ballad. Think it will be in contention for the win.
30th place: France: I never got into this song. Its style is pretty classically French but with nothing new to offer to the table, in comparison to Barbara Pravi and Slimane. The song as a composition, even if it does have its twists, is ultimately not memorable to me. Many people really appreciate the lyrics, but unfortunately I can’t connect to them either. My feeling tells me, that thie won’t get a Voila or Mon Amour result.
Vive Louane, Vive la France top 5.
I really like this song. I wouldn’t mind if France should win this year…
France – I think that this one really needs to have something special to elevate the song in the final. The song itself is lovely and powerful enough, and Louane’s fantastic. I just don’t listen to this one enough, especially compared to Switzerland which I very much prefer over this. I’m sure this will do great in juries, though. 7/10
I think France is very overrated. Louane is not going to get a Slimane result, not to mention the excellent Barbara Pravi’s excellent result.
In a weaker than last year and without staging (they work with Benke), i think it’s way too early to say that she won’t get a result like Slimane. Last year people said the same about Slimane at some point
21. France – Louane – Maman – 6.5/10 – a very personal theme which will resonate with a lot of people which is well matched by the emotionally charged melody which portrays an aching and melancholic love. It is close to hitting the spot but doesn’t quite have the necessary impact to create deep emotional feels. The production perhaps contributes to this lack of deeper connection – I’m not sure if it was intentionally sparse but it offers little to elevate the emotions evident in the lyrics.
A wonderful song, with meaning and star quality.
It’s a nice song, much in the line of Slimane last year’s song. Still not my cup of tea, but I understand it is a matter of different taste (I didn’t love Mon Amour either).
For a French chanson this year, I definitely prefer Voyage and it surprises me that Switzerland is not much higher in the odds (such a delicate song).
French here : i loooove the song, i am very prouf of Louane. The fact that the intensity just goes higher and higher is beautiful.
But, IMO, the scenography, emotion and voice must be 100% PERFECT to get a top 3. Cause I have no idea about the televoting, and juries can always be surprising, and this year’s got plenty of french songs. So it can do a top 3 as it can also end 14th or something ?
After Barbara Pravi and Slimane, I hope it’ll be the one, but let’s wait and see !
I don’t understand how Malta is higher than this.
While it’s definitely not the big hit many expected or wanted it to be, I think it’s a lovely song with some really good moments. The production could have been grander imo, but the singer is first class. In a weak field like 2025, it still is one of the best.
So the garbage of Malta gets a higher score than France?! How is that even possible?!