Slimane, the voice of France at Eurovision

Slimane will wear the colors of France in the 2024 Eurovision contest, the final of which is scheduled for May 11 and broadcast live on France 2. Here are the highlights of his career.

It is in Malmö, Sweden, that European singers will perform in front of around millions of viewers on May 11. Among them, Slimane, who will take up the challenge of representing France with his ballad My amour.

The singer has been in the spotlight for more than eight years. Slimane has become an essential singer on the French music scene. Since his victory during the fifth season of telecrochet The voice within Florent Pagny’s team, he managed to carve out a special place in the hearts of the French. He continues to move audiences with his unique voice.

A passion for music from an early age

Slimane Nebchi, his full name, was born in Chelles, in the Paris region, into a family of Algerian origin. Very early on, the singer quickly developed a taste for music, singing and words. As a teenager, he had to fight against the looks of others his age who made fun of his obesity. He would later reveal in the media that the love of his family and the song saved him.Slimane is not satisfied with his donations. Very early on, he joined a gospel choir. After the baccalaureate, he enrolled in music schools, performed in bars in Pigalle and appeared in various telecrochets including there New star And X-Factor.

The voice and the beginning of the ascent

It was in 2016 that everything changed for the singer. By winning the most prestigious telehook of them all, The Voice, with Florent Pagny’s team, he won his first star. He seduced the coaches and the public with a cover of the famous Vitaa song On the flower of you.

From his first single Panama (2016) to It comes and goes (with Vitaa in 2019) via Come we love each other (2018) or Recipe (2022), the singer has a string of gold and platinum records. Musically, Slimane composes ecumenical pop, inspired by R&B, but also by Brel and Aznavour, which he adores. In his texts, he uses simple words that focus on emotion. His odes to difference (Come we love each other), to his granddaughter Esmeralda (Thousands of I love you) or to girls of joy (The Roses of the Bois de Boulogne) are models of delicacy.

The singer returned to his beautiful relationship with Florent Pagny in the media. An interview with the singer took place on the show 50 minutes Inside which was presented at that time by Nikos Aliagas. The presenter showed the singer a video of their duet performance on the title Bearing walls during the fifth season finale of The Voice. Slimane stated that the song is “heavy with meaning” and it takes on a whole new meaning because his coach is clearly part of the “bearing walls” of his life.

Slimane will continue to talk with emotion about his relationship with Florent Pagny: “And I understood a little bit that perhaps I was also one of the stones in a wall supporting his life… It’s such a beautiful story! Florent, it’s very hard for me to qualify him. He’s just someone important.”

A committed singer

Beyond his love for singing, Slimane has shown his commitment throughout his career. The singer is godfather of the association Just humanwhose mission is to work for the well-being of young people in hospitals.

^{But his commitments don’t stop there. THE July 2, 2023, he reacts, via a post on his Instagram story, to the death of Nahel Merzouk and to the fundraiser launched by far-right politician and polemicist Jean Messiha for the family of the police officer accused of homicide. He will declare that to be “horrified by the images of Nahel’s murder is not to be against the police, it is to be horrified by the symbol of a republic which kills our brothers. Our children mean having a beating heart, it means deeply wanting justice.“.}

In February 2018on the set of Hello Earthlings! ppresented by Thierry Ardisson, he returned to the homophobic and racist insults of which he is the victim on social networks.

The road to Eurovision

It was in the fall of 2023 that Slimane was officially designated to be France’s candidate for the Eurovision Contest, scheduled for May 2024 in Sweden. To defend France’s chances, the singer quickly reveals the title imagined to convince the jury and the public: My love. Slimane explains having written this ballad “for his parents, for his daughter, for France“, the song is intended to be an ode to love. My love is one of the only ballads in this year’s competition. With this song, Slimane and the French Eurovision delegation are banking on emotion and its interpretation. In terms of scenography, the desire is to play the card of sobriety, a bit like Barbara Pravi three years ago. Asked about the visual of his performance by the magazine Têtu in March, the singer joked by replying that on stage there would be “ neither the Eiffel Tower nor the Arc de Triomphe “.