The French have clearly decided to “go big or go home” by getting one of their major stars to represent them in Malmö.
They sneaked out their announcement on a Wednesday morning in November when no one was listening. Lo and behold, the evening news on France 2 was Eurovisioned for about seven minutes as they interviewed Silmane. The usual tropes were trotted out – that he likes the contest and he thinks he can win and it’s his chance in front of 200 million viewers … and all that usual nonsense.
Talent show background
Silmane won the 2016 series of The Voice on TF1 and has released four studio albums, all of them topping the French charts, He’s been in musicals, he was on the jury for Miss France and has been on Fort Boyard – which is a bit like saying he’s been on ‘I’m a Celebrity’ for those unfamiliar with trashy French reality TV
He is also the first French singer of Algerian descent to enter the contest but, as we know, there have been many singers of African descent before him.
Here is the chanson then and, yes, he is wearing a glitter ball for a waistcoat, why do you ask?