France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015

Background

Prior to the 2015 Contest, France had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-seven times since its first entry in 1956. 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 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 three times, with Natasha St-Pier finishing fourth in 2001, Sandrine François finishing fifth in 2002 and Patricia Kaas finishing eighth in 2009. France have failed to reach the top ten in eleven of the last twelve contests (2003-2014). In 2014, the nation finished last for the first time with Twin Twin performing the song "Moustache".

Since 1999, France Télévisions delegated the responsibility of selecting and organising the French entry and broadcasting the contest in France to the France 3 television channel; however, the broadcaster announced in August 2014 that starting in 2015, these responsibilities would be transferred to France 2. In early September 2014, France 2 confirmed their participation in the 2015 contest and revealed that the French entry would be chosen via an internal selection.

Internal selection

On 23 January 2015, France 2 revealed that "N'oubliez pas" performed by Lisa Angell would represent France at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. The song, written by Robert Goldman under the pseudonym Moïse Albert, was selected after France 2 requested proposals from record companies. Angell debuted the song in November 2014 when she performed during a First World War centenary concert held at La Madeleine, Paris. On 28 February 2015, "N'oubliez pas" was officially presented to the public as the French Eurovision entry with a performance by Lisa Angell on the France 2 programme Chico And The Gypsies, Le Grand Show, hosted by Michel Drucker.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (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. In the 2015 contest, Australia also competed directly in the final as an invited guest nation. As a member of the "Big 5", France automatically qualified to compete in the final on 23 May 2015. In addition to their participation in the final, France was also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals. During the semi-final allocation draw on 26 January 2015, France was assigned to broadcast and vote in the first semi-final on 19 May 2015.

The first semi-final was broadcast in France on France Ô with commentary by Mareva Galanter and Jérémy Parayre. The final was broadcast on France 2 with commentary by Stéphane Bern and Marianne James. The French spokesperson, who announced the French votes during the final, was Virginie Guilhaume. It was also the first time since 2000 that the Eiffel Tower was not the backdrop for the spokesperson when the french votes were announced.

Final

Lisa Angell took part in technical rehearsals on 17 and 20 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries. After technical rehearsals were held on 20 May, the "Big 5" countries, host nation Austria and special guest Australia held a press conference. As part of this press conference, the artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. France was drawn to compete in the first half. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. France was subsequently placed to perform in position 2, following the entry from Slovenia and before the entry from Israel.

The stage show featured Lisa Angell wearing a black dress performing the song at a microphone stand. The story of the performance was told through the background LED screens which portrayed Lisa Angell as a woman returning to a village in ruins with war-torn landscapes and grey skies. About the performance and song, Lisa Angell stated: "It is the song about peace and hope. It was important for us to underline the role of a woman as women often stay in the shadow." As the performance progressed, the LED screens depicted hundreds of drummers, while five male drummers joined Angell on stage: Yann Forleo, Julien Botas, Benoit Crozatier and William Pigache. Lisa Angell also had one off-stage backing vocalist: Delphine Elbé.

At the conclusion of the voting, France finished in twenty-fifth place with 4 points.

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.

Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that France had placed twenty-sixth with the public televote and nineteenth with the jury vote. In the public vote, France scored 4 points and in the jury vote the nation scored 24 points.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to France and awarded by France in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the French jury: