France

Day 6: The Big Five

And then we have the Big Five; we hadn’t heard or seen anything about it until now. So today that has changed. FRANCE: Lots of green on stage with Alvan and Ahez’s French entry. The group members are dressed in black and gold. Eurovision.tv reports very solid bass. Lots of flashes of light and, to the beat of the song, Pyrotechnics can be seen coming from two pots on either side of the stage. ITALY: We see Mahmood, but instead of Blanco there is a stand-in. The grand piano plays a part in the act. Mahmood is dressed in a long black coat. He wears white sunglasses. Mahmood and hist stand-in (Blanco in the next rehearsal) are standing face to face. UNITED KINGDOM: Sam Ryder performs in a huge scaffold that appears to be made of steel. Lots of flashing light on Sam, who is wearing a black jumpsuit. Eurovision.tv praises the strong vocals of the sympathetic singer. SPAIN: Chanel wears a matador outfit, but entirely in silver. The song requires a lot of dancing and there is. Three men and two women, dressed in black, complete the dance act. GERMANY: Malik Harris is featured separately with just his guitar. He wears black pants and a white shirt. Only when the rap part can be heard, everything looks slightly different: according to eurovision.tv there is a big contrast with the rest of the act.

Blast from the past: Luxembourg 1956

We know a lot about Eurovision. That’s why we bring you a blast from the past every now and then. Today: “Les amants de minuit”, de Luxembourgian entry of 1956, sung by Michèle Arnaud. First contestSeven countries decided to join the first ever Eurovision Song Contest: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Because of the small number of countries, every country provided two entries. More countries showed interest, but for several reasons they didn’t participate. Luxembourg was the smallest of the participating countries, represented by broadcaster CLT (Compagnie de la Télévision Luxembourgois). SelectionNothing is known about the national selection in Luxembourg in 1956. However, it is not likely that there was one. Luxembourg only had a national selection on a few occasions in the 70s and the 80s. CLT chose French singer Michèle Arnaud to represent them. Luxembourg was, with Switzerland, one of the two countries that was represented by one artist for both the songs. For the occasion, Simone Laurencin composed one of the songs, with Pierre Lambry writing the lyrics. The other song, composed by Christian Guittreau, was called “Ne crois pas“. Michèle ArnaudMichèle Arnaud was born in Toulon at march 18, 1919. She went to Paris, where she started a singing career in 1952. She started performing in the theatre Milord l’Arsouille. The first successful song she sang was “L’Île Saint-Louis“. After the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, she became the permanent star in Milord l’Arsouille. She was accompanied by Jacques Lassry, who was also her conductor in Eurovision, and… Serge Gainsbourg! In the sixties, Arnaud made her own version of big international hits, like Beatles’ “Yesterday”: “Je croyais Yesterday“.Michèle Arnaud released 11 albums. In the seventies her career ended, her last single being “Cherbourg”. She passed away at march 30, 1998 in the small commune of Maisons-Laffitte. Les amants de minuitThe song was called “Les amants de minuit”, which means “Midnight lovers”. “Midnight lovers by chance meet eachother. And about what will follow, happiness or unfortunate, only the night knows.”, Arnaud sings. The full lyrics can be found here. The results are not known; only the winner, Switzerland, was announced. ChildrenTwo of Michele Arnauds children became artists as well. Daughter Florence Gruère became a photographer. Son Dominique Walter became a singer. He represented France in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Chez nous“.

Olympic Gold for a “Mercy” lady

Today, French judoka Clarissa Agbégnénou won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Agbégnénou, French but of Togolese descent, has won the gold medal at the World Championships judo already for five times. One other time, she was a member of the winning team. However, this was her first time at the Olympic Games. But wait…. isn’t there a Eurovision connection? Yes, there is! You can find out at the Madame Monsieur facebook page. In november 2017, she was a part of the very first videoclip of their song “Mercy”. The song represented France in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. “She came as she is, with simplicity, kindness and conviction. Today you are Olympic champion Clarisse and how proud of you! Thank you for all these beautiful emotions!”, Madame Monsieur adds. You can see her at the video at 0.10.

UEFA Eighth finals: DAY 3

It is already the 3rd day of the UEFA eighth finals. The first match of today is between Croatia and Spain. Both countries decided to celebrate with a song. Croatian Daria sang her song “Celebrate” in 2011, while Spanish Rosa sang “Europe’s living a celebration” in 2002. France meets Switzerland. These countries are united in one man: Jean Philippe. The French singer participated for both countries: in 1959 he defended the French colours with the song “Oui, oui, oui, oui”. In 1962 he came out for Switzerland with the song “Le retour”.

UEFA 2020: DAY 13

It’s gonna be the last day of the first round today. Four matches will be played again. We can put the first two countries, Poland and Sweden, in only one song. In 2018, Poland was represented by Polish DJ Gromee and Swedish singer Lukas Meijer. They sang “Light me up” in a Polish/Swedish co-production. The second match will be between Slovakia and Spain. For both countries, we chose a ballad, sung by a duo. For Slovakia we chose for the 2009 contestants Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková and their duet “Leť tmou”. The Spanish song is a love duet from 2018: Amaia and Alfred sang “Tu canción”. Portugal will meet France tonight. Both countries most often sing in their native languages. So we decided to pick the exceptions. In 2008, Sebastien Tellier sang “Divine”. Only a few lines were in French, the biggest part in English. This year, the Portuguese band The Black Mamba sang it’s song “Love is on my side” in English. And we have the match between Hungary and Germany today. The city of Munich is not allowed to make a statement and colour the stadium in rainbow colours. That’s what UEFA decided. However, we don’t need UEFA’s permission. So we add Kati Wolf’s “What about my dream”; the 2011 Hungarian entry. It was the fan favorite, and we all know that a big part of the Eurovision fan base is at least very gay friendly! Even more clear was the German singer Lou in 2003 in her song “Let’s get happy”. Why? Well, just listen!

A Month After Rotterdam

It’s been exactly one month after the Grand Final of The Eurovision Song Contest 2021! A lot of rumors, new information has been going around since then, but what are the 2021 artists doing? Måneskin The rock band from Italy, which won this years contest, are touring all over Europe at this moment! They have quite a few things on their schedule. Three days ago they were in Amsterdam, yesterday in Gothenburg and right now they are in Copenhagen! And this is only for interviews or to perform a few songs, not even for their music tour. Barbara Pravi Barbara is having a blast with her career right now! She’s slaying on Time Square, performing at Roland Garros and selling out her European tour. In two days she will release her new song “Le Jour Se Lève”. Gjon’s Tears The third placer Gjon is enjoying his success of Tout l’Univers. At the begin of June he performed his song on Albanian television. Besides this, he won the ESC Radio Awards 2021 for best male artist and best song yesterday! TIX While placing 18th at the song contest, TIX is doing well in Norway. Two weeks ago he performed at his first gig since covid and he is planning even more gigs now! Go_A Shum was everything they needed for their career to spark this bright! The Ukrainian song is still 4th in the USA Viral charts and they are having some gigs in Ukraine (of course). They have also announced that they will be playing in Amsterdam at Het Grote Songfestivalfeest in December. Tusse Since the Eurovision Song Contest Tusse from Sweden has been doing a lot of things. He had his 2021 prom party, he graduated from high school and he has also got his tonsils taken out. Right now he has to rest because of that, maybe reading this article will help him to get rid of his boredom. Daði Freyr He just missed out on top 3 but that’s not holding him back from releasing music! Daði has released his LP “Welcome” the night before the Grand Final but he is still profiting from it! He even made a music video for his new song “Somebody Else Now”. What have you been doing since The Eurovision Song Contest 2021? We have for sure been listening to the songs of the artists. photo credits: EBU

UEFA2020: Day 9

And the European soccer Championship continues with day 9. We start with Hungary and France. Hungary, the country where the authorities consider LGBT+ as a crime. Well, Hungary, remember who and what you sent in 2009? Watch Zoli Ádok and his “Dance with me”. And we have France. We have Bilal Hassani’s “Roi” here. No explanation needed. The second match is between Portugal and Germany. In 1988, the Portuguese singer Dora sang “Voltarei”, which means “I’ll come back”. In 2000, the German singer Stefan Raab opened his entry “Wadde hadde dudde da” with “He’s been to America and said: if I make it there I’m never gonna make it to Germany again. And tonight, here he is, back again”. Spain will meet Poland today. And although Spain won twice, there are a lot of successful second places for the country. We chose for Anabel Conde’s “Vuelve conmigo” from 1995. One year before that, Poland debuted, also with a second place. Poland has never done better so far, so watch and listen Edyta Gorniak’s “To nie ja!”.

Barbara Pravi

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameBarbara Pravi Born10 april 1993 Nationality French National SelectionC’est vous qui décidez 2021 In Eurovision2021 Rotterdam SongVoilá Biography Barbara Pravi, is a French singer-songwriter, born in Paris. Her stage name is Barbara Pravi. She is French, but with Serbian ancesters.It was in 2015 that Barbara Pravi was discovered by Capitol Records where she signed her very first contract. Her lyrics are very anchored in reality, largely autobiographical. In January 2016, she performed “On m’appelle Heidi”, the French version of the film Heidi, a 2015 adaptation, released in France in 2016. She played the role of Solange Duhamel in the musical show “Un été 44” in November 2016. She sang lyrics written by Jean-Jacques Goldman, Charles Aznavour and Maxime Le Forestier. She released her first single Pas grandir in 2015; it was included in her first EP, eponymous, released in 2017.At the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018, she opened for Florent Pagny in his tour, culminating in a concert at the Accor Hotels Arena, in Paris, on March 5 in front of 19,000 people. At the end of 2018, she quit with her initial team and began working with her new manager Élodie Papillon Filleul. In February 2020, she released a new 5-track EP “Reviens pour hiver” 9 of which she is the author, composer and co-director. Along with writing and composing her own songs, she writes for many other artists such as Yannick Noah, Julie Zenatti, Chimène Badi, Jaden Smith, Angelina, etc. Barbara Pravi and Igit have together more than 135 million views on YouTube with their compositions for kids. In 2019 and 2020, she co-wrote the songs “Bim Bam Toi” and “J’imagine”, representing France at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. “J’Imagine”, performed by Valentina, won the 2020 competition. In 2021, she represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam and became 2nd. In march 2021, International Women’s Day, she released a new EP composed of six titles, “Les Prières”. In September 2021, she released a second prayer EP called Prayers – roots. In December 2021, she was the only French artist selected by Apple Music in the “Reprises de Noël 2021” playlist by arranging and singing Charles Aznavour’s “Ave Maria”. Entries Voilà Country🇫🇷 France Year2021 LanguageFrench LyricsBarbara PraviLilli PoeIgit MusicBarbara PraviLilli Poe Backings– Results Semi Points: –Position: –Running order: – Results Finals Points: 499Position: 2Running order: 20 https://youtu.be/Unj9WbeLzRU

Tom Leeb

Quick Facts NameTom Leeb Born21 march 1989 Nationality French National SelectionInternal selection In Eurovision2020 Rotterdam (canceled) SongMon alliée (The best in me) Biography Tom Leeb is the son of humorist Michel Leeb and journalist Béatrice Malicet. The French singer, actor and comedian was born in Paris. He took lessons in theater, film, song and dance in New York for five years. In 2013, he got the role of Tom in the tv-series Sous le soleil de Saint-Tropez, then played the role of Adrien in Section de recherches. The same year, he played in a movie called Paroles. In 2014, Tom played in theater together with his father in Madame Doubtfire. He appeared in the film Avis de mistral. The same year, he formed a comic duet with actor Kevin Levy. Together they created their first show Kevin et Tom. The two comedians were the first part of Gad Elmaleh at the Paris Olympia. In parallel with their show, they were launching in a new format, mini-video sequences of around 3 minutes entitled: “How …”. In March 2018, Tom Leeb became a singer and musician. He released his first single “Are we too late”. In 2020, he was chosen to represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Mon alliée (the best in me)”. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen because of the cancellation of the contest. In 2021, Tom Leeb appeared in two movies: “Pourris gâtés” and “8, rue de l’humanité”. A year later, he played one of the main roles in the mini-series “L’Amour (presque) parfait”. Entries Mon alliée (the best in me) Country🇫🇷 France Year2020 LanguageEnglishFrench LyricsThomas G:sonPeter BoströmJohn LundvikAmir HaddadTom LeebLéa Ivanne MusicThomas G:sonPeter BoströmJohn Lundvik Backings– Results Semi Points: –Position: –Running order: – Results Finals Points: –Position: –Running order: – https://youtu.be/J5SOdhXjYko