Growing Eurovision in France
In an interview with French radio station Sud Radio, the head of the French Eurovision delegation, Alexandra Redde Amiel, talked about what goes on behind the scenes of the song representing France this year.
The French song for Eurovision 2025 was presented during half-time of the France-Scotland match in the Six Nations Tournament. A crazy idea that has been brilliantly realised. The aim is not only to raise the profile of the song and unite the French with the artist to support the bid, but also: ‘At France Télévisions, we have this idea of growing the Eurovision brand, of mobilising more and more of the French’ said the head of delegation.
A successful gamble
According to Alexandra Redde Amiel, it’s a total success: first of all, the song is making a name for itself in the French charts, and what’s more, it’s attracting the attention of the Eurofan community!
‘I was in Basel for the heads of delegation meeting. They opened the conference by saying that they were extremely impressed by the revelation of the French song, which has shed a lot of light on Eurovision’, recounted Alexandra Redde Amiel.
A real priority for France
For some years now, France has been making no secret of its ambitions to win Eurovision, after 48 years of waiting. The time has come, and France Télévisions is determined to make it happen!
First of all, by rehabilitating the ‘Eurovision’ brand, which has fallen into disrepute among the French public. To achieve this, there was a national selection, as well as internal selections with popular and established artists. The broadcaster no longer hesitates to promote its artists on its platforms and to highlight Eurovision in the press, through reports and invitations to take part in popular events (rugby matches, Victoires de la Musique, television news programmes, etc.).
Then there’s the staging, with the recruitment of big names from the Eurovision entertainment world. Indeed, Director Fredrik Rydman (2-time Eurovision winner) has been hired by France to stage Louane’s song. Enough to win?
‘We have a different proposition, a very authentic proposition and a universal proposition. I like to say that in very troubled times, there are two solutions: either you make a revolution, or you cling to your roots. And I think our proposal is to get back to what is strong, what is important and powerful in life, namely the family. People need to understand that this is his story, and that there’s nothing sad about it. Because the hope and transmission in this story is the cycle of life.’
A new national selection?
After the 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 editions, which saw the French song chosen by the public in a national final, the idea has been abandoned. The French public would not be mature enough. It’s true that apart from 2021 (Barbara Pravi – Voilà – 2nd place) the results have been rather mixed.
However, the head of delegation is not ruling out the possibility of going back to a selection by the public. Indeed, she has declared that she has ‘the ambition to return to a national selection, to have a French Sanremo, its own Melodifestivalen’. A little ambitious, given that the Sanremo Festival has existed since 1951 and inspired the creation of the Eurovision Song Contest. Sweden, meanwhile, created Melodifestivalen in 1959.
What do you think guys? Has France the potential to win and should it make a new attempt at creating its national selection? Let us know in the comments!
