Country France Selection date(s) 9 February 2017 Selected song "Requiem" | Selection process Internal Selection Selected entrant Alma Selected songwriter(s) Nazim Khaled | |
France will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The French broadcaster France Télévisions, in collaboration with their television channel France 2, internally selected the song "Requiem" performed by Alma and written by Nazim Khaled to be the French entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine.
Contents
Background
Prior to the 2017 Contest, France had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-nine times since its debut as one of seven countries to take part in the inaugural contest. 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. Since 2000, France has managed to place within 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.
The French national broadcaster, France Télévisions, broadcasts the event within France and delegates the selection of the nation's entry to the television channel France 2. The French broadcaster had used both national finals and internal selection to choose the French entry in the past. The 2014 French entry was selected via a national final that featured three competing acts. Since 2015, the broadcaster has opted to internally select the French entry, a procedure that was continued in order to select the 2017 entry.
Internal selection
France 2 opened an online submission form on 13 September 2016 that called for submissions from artists and songwriters for the internal selection of the French Eurovision Song Contest 2017 entry. The submission period will remain open until 30 November 2016. Francophone performers between 16 and 50 years of age and of any nationality were eligible for consideration, while songs were required to contain at least 80% French language lyrics with a free language allowance for the remaining lyrics. Songwriters and artists could either apply individually or together; artists that applied individually might have been matched with a song or a song that had been submitted without an attached artist. Between 30 November 2016 and 10 March 2017, the artistic committee of France Télévisions reviewed the received submissions and selected an artist and song to represent France in Kiev. At the end of the submission period, it was revealed that around 300 songs had been received.
On 9 February, France 2 announced that the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 would be "Requiem" performed by Alma.
Promotion
Alma will make appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Requiem" as the French Eurovision entry. On 25 February 2017, Alma performed "Requiem" at the Ukrainian national final. She is also confirmed to participate at the London Eurovision Party at the Café de Paris in London, United Kingdom; the Eurovision in Concert at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands; and the Eurovision-Spain Pre-Party at the La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.
At Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 will take place at the International Exhibition Centre in Kiev, Ukraine and will consist of two semi-finals on 9 and 11 May and the final on 13 May 2017. 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. As a member of the "Big 5", France automatically qualifies to compete in the final. In addition to their participation in the final, France is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals.