So the second semifinal of the French selection to Eurovision Song Contest took place yesterday and what do we take from that? First I wonder how the production was thinking when they selected what songs to be presented in the two semifinal heats. The first one was far from as good as the second one. Around 6 songs in the second semifinal might have been among the top 4 if they participated in the first semifinal.
We can also hope that the quality of the songs in the second semifinal stop Bilal Hassani from representing France in Tel Aviv in May 2019.
So what about the entries yesterday? The first entry Gabriella “On church encore” a huge favorite among the expert jury kind of passed me without any emotions at all. It was just a bad song and a lot of bad singing.
“La voix d’Aretha” performed by The Divaz strikes me as a clear winner as soon as I heard it. A feeling based on the first song of the evening and the songs from the semifinal 1. But as you will see later on in this blog post more good songs turned up during the night. But still, nothing bad to say about this entry. A bit repetitious with the “Respect” line over and over, but its not unusual in Eurovision to repeat phrases.
UGO and his “Ce qui me bless” a entry hard to place, I kind of liked it but I´m not sure its a Eurovision winner. Not a bad song, nicely performed and one of the songs I think might have gone to the final if he sang in the first semifinal.
Tracy de sà went French/Spanish/English in what we might call a rap attempt. I think this song will climb the charts after the selection but as a Eurovision song not my cup of tea.
“La Promesse”, Emmanuel Moire, a actual artist who released and charted well in the past in France and you can notice is as a fact. This guy is not an amateur. The song, again, I´m not sure it is a Eurovision winner but for sure a hit song in France. Well worth the points giving to him during the night. An amazing performance (but even if the jacket is fake try to make it look more like a real one for the final) taking the subject serious compering to the joke of the song “Roi” from semifinal 1 with the same kind of message. Will en dup high on my list during the final next week.
Noémie and her “Ma petit famille” a what my friends will say is a typical Björn song. And I really like this song, it made me happy. It is not meant to do much more I suppose, dance, be happy and enjoy. Really really a sad thing she was completely ignored by the international juries and the public.
The ballad of the ballads “Tous les deux” performed by Seemone might be the most French song this year, it is so French that even if she would perform the song in English, Russian or Japanese you know this is French. And its beautiful, I do not want to take the tune away from Seemone but I can’t stop thinking how Isabelle Huppert would have performed it even if Seemone made it perfect and beautiful. This is a song that actually can win Eurovision. Not something I would have guessed if it want for Salvador Sobrals win a few years back. The only little little thing I don’t liked about this song is that at the end the word “Papa” went a bit too repetitive. It took away maybe 5% of the total magic of this ballad, but its for me. Again a song I will put high on my list next week.
Doutson “Sois un bon fils” also very French as French music sound today, and kind of how a lot of hit music sound here in France and I kind of like it. It is not special enough but nothing wrong with it.
“Madame la Paix” by PhilipElise Also sounded French but not in a good way I ended up to stop listen after around 1 minute it did not reach out to my taste in music at all. Will be interesting to listen to it on CD cause I have a feeling it will grab me more with headphones on than live on TV.
So My final list from Semi 2:
- 01 Emmanuel Moire
- 02 Seemone
- 03 Noémie
- 04 Doutson
- 05 The Divaz
- 06 UGO
- 07 Tracy de Sá
- 08 PhilipElise
- 09 Gabriella
#Gabriella #TheDivaz #UGO #Tracydesa #EmmanuelMoire #Noemie #Seemone #Doutson #Philipelise #destinationeurovision