After Bilal Hassani, Amir, Alma or more recently La Zarra, France has found its new representative in the Eurovision song contest, in the person of… Slimane ! To everyone’s surprise, the singer formalized this Wednesday, November 8, 2023, his participation in the competition in May 2024, with the title My love, which he proposed at 8 p.m. by Anne-Sophie Lapix. A surprise for fans of the singer who has been filming the next edition of The Voice Kidsalongside Lara Fabian, Claudio Capéo and Patrick Fiori, who was popularized by his participation in the competition thirty years ago now.
Asked by Tele-Leisure, Stéphane Bern applauded the change in strategy of France 2 and Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of the French delegation. Until now, the public service chose emerging, little-known artists from the French scene; but with Slimane, the strategy seems to have changed, as the Eurovision commentator notes: “It’s a very good choice. Alexandra Redde-Amiel used the Swedish method: we take a successful artist and we give him a chance to represent his country at Eurovision instead of choosing a singer that no one knows which must be presented in France, then abroad. There, we take someone that the French already like. In addition, he has a voice, a career and a media surface. It will carry us” explains the specialist of crowned heads.
“We haven’t had too much luck in recent years…”
For Stéphane Bern, Slimane’s chances of winning are stronger than those of his predecessors, and even compares his title to that of Barbara Pravi, which allowed the singer to rise to second place in 2021: “With My love, there is a Barbara Pravi side but the chorus is also very powerful. And then his voice gives all the depth. I think in recent years we have liked the voices. There will also perhaps be a production with choirs and dancers. It can give us a chance to succeed. I would like us to win but it’s true that in recent years we haven’t had too much luck.” he concludes. Indeed, last year, The Zarra had greatly disappointedranking 16th, far behind the big winner Loreen and its planetary tube Tattoo.