Through our Best of the Bunch series, we gave a recap on the Eurovision entries from 2006 to 2015 and gave you the opportunity to choose your Best of the Bunch. As you may remember, the current Best of the Bunch winners were put into our ‘Ultimate Eurovision’ but it’s time to see which of the latest three entries have remained as your favourites! In our Best of the Bunch: The Trials series, we are going to recap the entries from a certain nation starting with 2016 and continuing through to the latest Eurovision season of 2018. Your job is to simply enjoy the music, and vote for your Best of the Bunch winner!
France has had a long history at Eurovision with plenty of success in the early years, but in more recent years the nation has been quite hit or miss. Struggling through the mid-2000’s and beyond, the nation suffered some of their worst results, but in the last three years it seems things are starting to turn around. Today’s focus will be on the most recent three entries, starting in 2016 and continuing through to 2018. Once we recap the entries, it will be up to you to decide which of the entries is your Best of the Bunch.
France 2016
Coming off the back of a string of lousy results, it was time for France to refresh their strategy for Eurovision. An internal selection revealed that newcomer Amir would be representing France at the contest with the mixed language song J’ai Cherché. The response to the song was overwhelmingly positive, and for the first time in a long time, France was being talked about as a favourite. The upbeat song sung by a very lovable character was a formula for success, and it was difficult not to enjoy the song. The chorus was catchy and easy to sing along to, and overall it was looking good for France. At Eurovision, the performance lost some of that pre-contest hype but for the first time since 2009, the nation managed to crack into the Top 10, finishing a very respectable 6th place with 257 points.
France 2017
The following year, the pressure was on France to prove that their previous result wasn’t just a one off. They once again chose to internally select their act, and the result of that selection was Alma with the song Requiem. The song was again mixed language of French and English, but the song as a whole was very French sounding. At Eurovision they decided to amp up the French-ness of the song by having Alma perform with a nightscape of Paris and the Eiffel tower projected on the LED screens behind her. No guesses for which nation she was representing, but overall the fans were backing France once again. Although it didn’t quite reach the heights of Amir, France still finished in a respectable 12th place with 135 points.
France 2018
With two strong results, France was on a roll but instead of continuing with the successful internal selections, the nation decided to try out a refreshed national selection called Destination Eurovision. Upon hearing the songs, it was clear that France was taking Eurovision very seriously, and the competition was truly one of the best of the 2018 Eurovision season. From that national final, it was decided that Madame Monsieur would represent the nation with the song Mercy. Although in French, it was a touching song that although simple managed to capture the hearts of many Eurovision fans. In fact, at one point it was picked to win, but as we know the competition was quite open in 2018. At Eurovision the performance didn’t quite achieve the expected result, but the nation still managed to finish in 13th place with 173 points.
So now you’ve seen all three performances, it’s time to vote for your Best of the Bunch!
If you want more Best of the Bunch from France, check out our original series:
If you want to check out who made our Ultimate Eurovision, check it out here: