France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023
| Eurovision Song Contest 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |  France | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Selection date(s) | Artist: 12 January 2023 Song: 19 February 2023 | |||
| Selected artist(s) | La Zarra | |||
| Selected song | "Évidemment" | |||
| Selected songwriter(s) | ||||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 16th, 104 points | |||
| France in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
France participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool, United Kingdom, with the song "Évidemment", written by Fatima Zahra Hafdi, Ahmed Saghir, Yannick Rastogi and Zacharie Raymond. The song was performed by La Zarra. The French broadcaster France Télévisions internally selected the French entry for the contest, delegated by the television channel France 2. La Zarra was officially announced by France 2 as the French entrant on 12 January 2023, and the song was presented to the public as the French entry on 19 February 2023, during the France 2 programme 20h30 le dimanche.
As a member of the "Big Five", France automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Background
[edit]Prior to the 2023 contest, France participated in the Eurovision Song Contest sixty-four times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest.[1] France first won the contest in 1958 with "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in 1960, "Un premier amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in 1962, and "Un jour, un enfant" 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 "L'oiseau et l'enfant". France has also finished second five times, with Paule Desjardins in 1957, Catherine Ferry in 1976, Joëlle Ursull in 1990, Amina in 1991 (who lost out to Sweden's Carola in a tie-break), and Barbara Pravi in 2021. In the 21st century, France has had less success, only making the top ten five times, with Natasha St-Pier finishing fourth in 2001, Sandrine François finishing fifth in 2002, Patricia Kaas finishing eighth in 2009, Amir finishing sixth in 2016, and Pravi finishing second in 2021 with 499 points. In 2022, the nation finished in twenty-fourth place with the song "Fulenn" performed by Alvan and Ahez.
The French national broadcaster, France Télévisions, broadcasts the event within the country and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the television channel France 2. The French broadcaster has used both national finals and internal selections to choose the country's entry in the past. In 2021 and 2022, the French entries were selected via the national final Eurovision France, c'est vous qui décidez !.[2]
Before Eurovision
[edit]Internal selection
[edit]Initially, France 2 announced in July 2022 that the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 would be selected via the national final Eurovision France, c'est vous qui décidez![3][4][5] However, on 12 January 2023, it was reported that the national final had been cancelled,[6] and soon later the broadcaster announced that it had internally selected La Zarra, a Canadian singer and songwriter of Moroccan descent based in France, as the French entrant for the contest.[7] Her competing song, "Évidemment", written by Ahmed Saghir, Yannick Rastogi, Zacharie Raymond, and La Zarra herself, was presented to the public on 19 February 2023 during a pre-recorded showcase performance, broadcast on France 2 during the programme 20h30 le dimanche and hosted by Laurent Delahousse.[8] The French Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest, Alexandra Redde-Amiel, commented on the selection:
"From our first meeting, La Zarra won us over! What an honour to welcome this great artist in the Eurovision family! Mysterious, inspiring, charismatic, La Zarra is a woman and a modern artist with a chic French signature! A voice that transports us through time by making us travel to different eras. From Barbara through Brel or Dalida to Marylin Monroe, La Zarra is an iconic artist who will carry the colors of France in Liverpool in May 2023 during the largest song contest in the world."
— Alexandra Redde-Amiel[7]
At Eurovision
[edit]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 in 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 13 May 2023. In addition to its participation in the final, France was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. This was decided via a draw held during the semi-final allocation draw on 31 January 2023, when it was announced that France would be voting in the first semi-final.[9]
France Télévisions broadcast all three shows live on its channels; the two semi-finals were shown on Culturebox with commentary provided by André Manoukian and France's 2012 participant Anggun, while the final was aired on France 2 with commentary by Laurence Boccolini and Stéphane Bern.[10][11][12] The broadcast of the final reached a total of 3.48 million people in France, a 10% increase on viewing figures for the 2022 contest and representing a 25.6% market share of television viewers over the age of 4.[13][14]
Voting
[edit]Points awarded to France
[edit]| Score | Televote | Jury |
|---|---|---|
| 12 points | ||
| 10 points |  Armenia
|
 Sweden
|
| 8 points |  Norway
|
|
| 7 points | ||
| 6 points | ||
| 5 points | ||
| 4 points |  Iceland
|
 Serbia
|
| 3 points |  Netherlands
| |
| 2 points | ||
| 1 point |  Belgium
|
Points awarded by France
[edit]
|
|
Detailed voting results
[edit]The following members comprised the french jury:
- Alexandre Pipieri
- Julien Comblat
- Catherine Sadok
- Elsa Najar
- Zaïa Haddouche
| Draw | Country | Televote | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Points | ||
| 01 | Norway |
10 | 1 |
| 02 |  Malta |
12 | |
| 03 | Serbia |
9 | 2 |
| 04 |  Latvia |
8 | 3 |
| 05 |  Portugal |
1 | 12 |
| 06 |  Ireland |
13 | |
| 07 |  Croatia |
11 | |
| 08 |  Switzerland |
5 | 6 |
| 09 |  Israel |
3 | 8 |
| 10 |  Moldova |
2 | 10 |
| 11 | Sweden |
6 | 5 |
| 12 |  Azerbaijan |
15 | |
| 13 |  Czech Republic |
7 | 4 |
| 14 | Netherlands |
14 | |
| 15 |  Finland |
4 | 7 |
| Draw | Country | Jury | Televote | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juror 1 | Juror 2 | Juror 3 | Juror 4 | Juror 5 | Rank | Points | Rank | Points | ||
| 01 |  Austria |
6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 25 | |
| 02 | Portugal |
3 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 |
| 03 | Switzerland |
4 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 16 | |
| 04 |  Poland |
18 | 20 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 20 | 13 | ||
| 05 | Serbia |
19 | 19 | 24 | 17 | 19 | 23 | 21 | ||
| 06 | France |
|||||||||
| 07 |  Cyprus |
8 | 21 | 25 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 20 | ||
| 08 |  Spain |
10 | 6 | 22 | 8 | 18 | 11 | 12 | ||
| 09 | Sweden |
1 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| 10 |  Albania |
20 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 17 | 24 | 11 | ||
| 11 |  Italy |
7 | 14 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 12 |  Estonia |
12 | 7 | 20 | 21 | 10 | 14 | 22 | ||
| 13 | Finland |
9 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 6 |
| 14 | Czech Republic |
11 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 15 | |
| 15 |  Australia |
17 | 23 | 19 | 18 | 5 | 15 | 23 | ||
| 16 | Belgium |
21 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 2 | |
| 17 | Armenia |
5 | 2 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 12 |
| 18 | Moldova |
13 | 24 | 13 | 23 | 20 | 21 | 3 | 8 | |
| 19 |  Ukraine |
14 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 4 |
| 20 | Norway |
22 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 1 | |
| 21 |  Germany |
25 | 25 | 17 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 14 | ||
| 22 |  Lithuania |
15 | 9 | 12 | 20 | 24 | 17 | 19 | ||
| 23 | Israel |
2 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 10 |
| 24 |  Slovenia |
16 | 16 | 23 | 7 | 23 | 16 | 17 | ||
| 25 | Croatia |
23 | 17 | 14 | 24 | 22 | 22 | 18 | ||
| 26 |  United Kingdom |
24 | 10 | 15 | 13 | 25 | 19 | 24 | ||
References
[edit]- ^ "France Country Profile". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ^ "Eurovision France 2022 : rendez-vous le 5 mars !". L'Eurovison au Quotidien (in French). 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2022-02-15.
- ^ Washak, James (2022-07-07). "🇫🇷 France: Eurovision France: C'est vous qui décidez to Select Eurovision 2023 Act". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
- ^ Lahav, Doron (2022-07-08). "France: "C'est vous qui décidez 2023" Was Confirmed as Selection Process For Eurovision 2023". ESCBEAT. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
- ^ "France 2 confirm C'est vous qui décidez will return to select their act for 2023". ESCXTRA.com. 2022-07-15. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
- ^ "Eurovision France 2023 : c'est vous qui décidez ! | En Route Pour l'Eurovision 2023" (in French). 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
- ^ a b "La Zarra will represent France at Eurovision 2023". eurovision.tv. 2023-01-12. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
- ^ "France: La Zarra premieres 'Évidemment'". eurovision.tv. 2023-02-19. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
- ^ Groot, Evert (2023-01-31). "Eurovision 2023: Allocation Draw results". Retrieved 2022-01-31.
- ^ "Eurovision". France Télévisions. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
- ^ "Concours Eurovision de la chanson 2023 - Les demi-finales" [Eurovision Song Contest - The semi-finals]. francetvpro.fr (in French). France Télévisions. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
- ^ Granger, Anthony (19 April 2023). "France: Eurovision 2023 Commentators Announced Including Anggun". Eurovoix.
- ^ "Audiences : Quel score pour l'Eurovision sur France 2 face à "The Voice" sur TF1 ?" (in French). Puremédias. 14 May 2023. Archived from the original on 14 May 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ "Eurovision 2023 reaches 162 million viewers with record breaking online engagement and musical impact". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. 25 May 2023. Archived from the original on 25 May 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ a b c "Results of the Grand Final of Liverpool 2023". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
- ^ a b "Results of the First Semi-Final of Liverpool 2023". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 21 November 2023.