France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song "" written by Bilal Hassani, Madame Monsieur and Medeline, and performed by Bilal Hassani. The French broadcaster in collaboration with the television channel France 2 organised the national final Destination Eurovision 2019 in order to select the French entry for the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, Israel. Eighteen songs competed in the national final which consisted of two semi-finals and a final. Nine entries competed in each semi-final and the top four from each semi-final were selected to advance to the final following the combination of votes from a five-member international jury panel and a public vote. In the final on 26 January 2019, "" performed by Bilal Hassani was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a ten-member international jury panel and a public vote.
As a member of the "Big Five", France automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 21, France placed sixteenth out of the 26 participating countries with 105 points.
Background
Prior to the 2019 contest, France had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-one times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in 1956. France first won the contest in 1958 with "" performed by André Claveau. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, "" performed by Isabelle Aubret in 1962 and "" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in 1969 in a four-way tie with the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. France's fifth victory came in 1977, when Marie Myriam won with the song "". France have also finished second four times, with Paule Desjardins in 1957, Catherine Ferry in 1976, Joëlle Ursull in 1990 and Amina in 1991, who lost out to Sweden's Carola in a tie-break. In the 21st century, France has had less success, only making the top ten four times, with Natasha St-Pier finishing fourth in 2001, Sandrine François finishing fifth in 2002, Patricia Kaas finishing eighth in 2009 and Amir finishing sixth in 2016. In 2018, the nation finished in thirteenth place with the song "" performed by Madame Monsieur.
The French national broadcaster, , broadcasts the event within France and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the television channel France 2. France 2 confirmed that France would participate in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest on 21 June 2018. The French broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose the French entry in the past. From 2015 to 2017, the broadcaster opted to internally select the French entry. The 2018 French entry was selected via the national final Destination Eurovision, a procedure that was continued in order to select the 2019 entry.
Before Eurovision Destination Eurovision 2019 Destination Eurovision 2019 was the national final organised by France 2 to select France's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The competition consisted of two semi-finals on 12 and 19 January 2019 and a final on 26 January 2019, all taking place at the Studio Visual – Bât 210 in Saint-Denis and hosted by French-Canadian singer Garou. The shows were broadcast on France 2, TV5Monde and TV5 Québec Canada on a time delay.
Format The format of the competition consisted of three live shows: two semi-finals on 12 and 19 January 2019 and a final on 26 January 2019. Nine entries competed in each semi-final, from which four were selected to advance to the final from each show. Results during the semi-finals were determined by the combination of public televoting (50%) and a five-member international jury panel (50%), while results in the final were determined by the combination of public televoting (50%) and a ten-member international jury panel (50%). The jury panel in all shows varied in composition, therefore twenty juries were involved in the voting. The public and the juries each had a total of 210 points in the semi-finals and 420 points in the final to award, with each jury member awarding 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points to their top six entries. The public vote was based on the percentage of votes each song achieved through telephone and SMS voting. For example, if a song gained 10% of the viewer vote in the final, then that entry would be awarded 10% of 420 points rounded to the nearest integer: 42 points.
Like in 2018, the competition featured a three-member Francophone jury panel, however they no longer have a say in the results of the contest and only provided feedback to the artists during each of the three shows. The Francophone jury panel consisted of: Christophe Willem – Singer, commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals in 2018 André Manoukian – Jazz singer and former judge on Nouvelle Star, commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals in 2018 Vitaa – Singer, French female artist with the most radio airplay in 2018, Destination Eurovision 2018 participant as a songwriter
Competing entries France 2 opened a submission period on 21 June 2018 in order for interested artists and songwriters to submit their proposals through an online submission form up until the deadline on 30 November 2018. Songs were required to contain at least 70% French language lyrics with a free language allowance for the remaining lyrics. In addition to the open submissions, France 2 also requested proposals from record companies. At the closing of the deadline, the French broadcaster received over 1,500 submissions. A selection committee reviewed the received submissions and selected eighteen entries to compete in the national final. The competing artists and songs were announced on 6 December 2018 during a press conference at the headquarters of France Télévisions.
Artist Song Songwriter(s) Aysat "" Aysat, Mohamed Zayana Battista Acquaviva "" Florent Bidoyen, Théodore Eristoff, Battista Acquaviva Bilal Hassani "" Bilal Hassani, Madame Monsieur, Medeline Chimène Badi "" Yseult, Yacine Azeggagh, Corson, Boban Apostolov The Divaz "" Yacine Azeggagh, Marielle Hervé Doutson "" Mamadou Niakate, Jean-Pascal Anziani, Ryad Bouchami, Caz B Emmanuel Moire "" Emmanuel Moire Florina "In the Shadow" Manon Romiti, Silvio Lisonne, Pierre-Laurent Faure, Adrien Levron Gabriella " (Never Get Enough)" Gabriella Laberge, Christian Sbrocca, Richard Turcotte, Zander Howard Scott Lautner "" John Mamann, Johnny Goldstein, Koby Hass, Sophie Tapie Mazy "Oulala" Julie Mazi Naestro "" Mark Hekic, Alexandra Maquet, Thierry Leteurtre Noémie "" Cehashi, Noémie, Youssoupha PhilipElise "" Elise Philip, Guillaume Soulan Seemone "" Fabrice Mantegna, Alexandre Mazarguil, Léa Simoncini Silvàn Areg "" Caz B, Mamadou Niakate, Erick Ness Tracy De Sá "" Tiery-F, Tracy De Sá Ugo "" Ugo Benterfa, Vicken Sayrin
Shows Semi-finals Two semi-finals took place on 12 and 19 January 2019. In each semi-final eight entries competed and four qualified to the final. In addition to performing their contest entry, each artist performed a cover version of a popular song.
+ Semi-final 112 January 2019 Artist Song Cover (Original artist) Jury Televote Total Place 1 Naestro "" "Perfect" (Ed Sheeran) 12 8 20 9 2 Florina "In the Shadow" "" (Édith Piaf) 0 21 21 8 3 Chimène Badi "" "" (Édith Piaf) 22 44 66 2 4 Battista Acquaviva "" "" (Gianni Morandi) 2 29 31 7 5 Silvàn Areg "" "" (Claudio Capéo) 38 21 59 3 6 Bilal Hassani "" "Carmen" (Stromae) 58 57 115 1 7 Aysat "" "Dancing Queen" (ABBA) 34 6 40 4 8 Lautner "" "" (Amir) 26 9 35 5 9 Mazy "Oulala" "" (Calogero) 18 15 33 6
+ Song Total 1 "" 2 2 2 6 12 2 "In the Shadow" 0 3 "" 2 6 6 8 22 4 "" 2 2 5 "" 10 12 10 6 38 6 "" 12 10 12 12 12 58 7 "" 8 8 8 10 34 8 "" 4 4 8 10 26 9 "Oulala" 6 4 4 4 18
+ Semi-final 219 January 2019 Artist Song Cover (Original artist) Jury Televote Total Place 1 Gabriella " (Never Get Enough)" "" (Francis Cabrel) 14 18 32 6 2 The Divaz "" "Respect" (Aretha Franklin) 26 28 54 3 3 Ugo "" "" (France Gall) 30 8 38 5 4 Tracy de Sá "" "Lose Yourself" (Eminem) 2 13 15 8 5 Emmanuel Moire "" "Take On Me" (a-ha) 28 56 84 2 6 Noémie "" "Wonderwall" (Oasis) 8 6 14 9 7 Seemone "" "Magnolias for Ever" (Claude François) 60 53 113 1 8 Doutson "" "" (Cookie Dingler) 24 15 39 4 9 PhilipElise "" "" (Au P'tit Bonheur) 18 13 31 7
+ Song Total 1 " (Never Get Enough)" 10 4 14 2 "" 2 8 6 6 4 26 3 "" 8 4 8 10 30 4 "" 2 2 5 "" 10 6 4 8 28 6 "" 8 8 7 "" 12 12 12 12 12 60 8 "" 6 10 2 6 24 9 "" 4 2 2 10 18
Final The final took place on 26 January 2019. The four entries that qualified from the preceding two semi-finals competed and "" performed by Bilal Hassani was selected as the winner. In addition to performing their contest entry, each artist performed a cover version of a former Eurovision entry and together performed the Austrian Eurovision Song Contest 2014 winning song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Garou performed with André Manoukian as the interval act of the show. + Final26 January 2019 Artist Song Cover (Original artist) Jury Televote Total Place 1 Chimène Badi "" "" (Céline Dion) 56 63 119 3 2 Silvàn Areg "" "" (Amina) 76 26 102 5 3 The Divaz "" "Waterloo" (ABBA) 44 48 92 6 4 Emmanuel Moire "" "Euphoria" (Loreen) 64 51 115 4 5 Doutson "" "" (Amir) 10 8 18 8 6 Seemone "" "" (Marie Myriam) 94 62 156 2 7 Bilal Hassani "" "" (Eleni Foureira) 50 150 200 1 8 Aysat "" "Fairytale" (Alexander Rybak) 26 12 38 7
+ Song Total 1 "" 6 10 4 10 2 4 12 2 6 56 2 "" 4 2 8 8 12 10 2 6 12 12 76 3 "" 6 2 2 12 6 10 4 2 44 4 "" 8 8 10 4 8 10 8 8 64 5 "" 2 4 4 10 6 "" 12 12 12 12 10 8 12 6 10 94 7 "" 10 4 6 6 6 2 2 10 4 50 8 "" 6 8 4 8 26
Ratings Show Date Viewing figures Night Rank Nominal Share Semi-final 1 12 January 2019 2,136,000 11.8% #3 Semi-final 2 19 January 2019 1,487,000 7.8% #4 Final 26 January 2019 2,140,000 11.7% #3
Promotion Bilal Hassani made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "" as the French Eurovision entry. On 23 February, Bilal Hassani performed "" during the final of the Ukrainian Eurovision national final. On 8 March, Hassani performed during the Melfest WKND Pre-Party event which was held at the Estelle venue in Stockholm, Sweden. On 6 April, Hassani performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the AFAS Live venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Hera Björk. On 13 April, Hassani performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell.
At Eurovision According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As a member of the "Big Five", France automatically qualified to compete in the final on 18 May 2019. In addition to their participation in the final, France is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 28 January 2019, France was assigned to broadcast and vote in the first semi-final on 14 May 2019.
In France, the two semi-finals was broadcast on France 4 with commentary by André Manoukian and Sandy Herebert, while the final was broadcast on France 2 with commentary by Stéphane Bern and André Manoukian. The French spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the French jury during the final, was Julia Molkhou.
Final