France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
France was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song "Voilà ", written by Barbara Pravi, Lili Poe, and Igit, and performed by Pravi herself. The French participating broadcaster, France Télévisions, organised the national final Eurovision France, c'est vous qui décidez ! in order to select its entry for the contest. Twelve songs competed in the national final where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, eight entries were selected to advance to the second round: seven entries selected a public vote and one entry selected by a ten-member jury panel. In the second round, "Voilà" performed by Barbara Pravi was selected as the winner following the combination of votes from a ten-member jury panel and a public vote.
As a member of the "Big Five", France automatically qualified to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Performing in position 20, France placed second out of the 26 participating countries with 499 points.
Background
Prior to the 2021 contest, France Télévisions and its predecessor national broadcasters have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing France sixty-two times since RTF's debut in. They first won the contest in with "Dors, mon amour" performed by André Claveau. In the 1960s, they won three times, with "Tom Pillibi" performed by Jacqueline Boyer in, "Un premier amour" performed by Isabelle Aubret in, and "Un jour, un enfant" performed by Frida Boccara, who won in in a four-way tie with the,, and the. Their fifth – and so far latest – victory came in with "L'oiseau et l'enfant" performed by Marie Myriam. France has also finished second four times, with Paule Desjardins in, Catherine Ferry in, Joëlle Ursull in, and Amina in . In the 21st century, France has had less success, only making the top ten four times, with Natasha St-Pier finishing fourth in, Sandrine François finishing fifth in, Patricia Kaas finishing eighth in, Amir finishing sixth in. In, they were set to be represented by the song "Mon alliée " performed by Tom Leeb before the event's cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, France Télévisions organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country through France 2. The broadcaster confirmed that it would participate in the 2021 contest on 22 June 2020. The French broadcasters had used both national finals and internal selection to choose its entry in the past. In and, the broadcaster selected its entries via the national final Destination Eurovision. In 2020, France Télévisions opted to internally select its entry, however it announced in June 2020 that the 2021 entry would be selected via a new national final format.
Before Eurovision
Eurovision France, c'est vous qui décidez ! was the national final staged by France 2 to select the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. The competition took place on 30 January 2021 at the France Télévisions studio in Paris, hosted by Stéphane Bern and Laurence Boccolini. The show was broadcast on France 2, TV5Monde and TV5 Québec Canada on a time delay as well as online via the broadcaster's official website france.tv. The national final was watched by 2.37 million viewers in France with a market share of 12.3%.Format
The format of the national final consisted of a live final on 30 January 2021 where the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. Twelve entries competed in the first round, from which seven were selected exclusively by public televoting to advance to the second round, the superfinal. A ten-member Francophone and international jury panel then selected a wildcard entry from the remaining five entries to proceed to the superfinal. In the superfinal, the winner was determined by the combination of public televoting and the ten-member jury panel. The public and the juries each had a total of 420 points to award, with each jury member awarding 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points to their top six entries. Viewers were able to vote via telephone and SMS voting which also accepted international votes, with the public vote awarding 10, 20, 30, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 points to their top eight songs.The jury panel consisted of:
- Amir – singer, songwriter, represented
- Chimène Badi – Singer
- Michèle Bernier – Comedian
- – Spanish singer and comedian
- Jean-Paul Gaultier – Fashion designer
- Élodie Gossuin – Television presenter
- Duncan Laurence – Dutch singer, won Eurovision for the
- André Manoukian – Jazz singer and former judge on Nouvelle Star
- Marie Myriam – Singer, won Eurovision for
- Natasha St-Pier – Canadian singer, represented
Competing entries
Final
The final took place on 30 January 2021. Twelve entries competed and the winner was selected over two rounds of voting. In the first round, the top seven entries as determined exclusively by public televoting advanced to the second round, the superfinal. "Magique" performed by LMK was awarded the wildcard by a Francophone and international ten-member jury panel from the remaining five entries to proceed to the superfinal. Immediately after the artists concluded their performances, a number was shown which denoted the amount of jury members who liked the song, however the results were symbolic and did not affect the voting. In the superfinal, the winner, "Voilà " performed by Barbara Pravi, was determined by the combination of public televoting and the ten-member jury.In addition to performing their contest entry, the eight superfinalists performed the Eurovision winning song for, "Ne partez pas sans moi", originally performed by Celine Dion, together Valentina, who won for France, who also performed her winning song "J'imagine". Jury member Amir performed a medley of his songs from his three French language albums as the interval act of the show.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Songwriter | Likes | Result |
| 1 | Andriamad | "Alléluia" | Andriamad | 8 | Eliminated |
| 2 | Juliette Moraine | "Pourvu qu'on m'aime" | Juliette Moraine, Rémi Portat | 7 | Advanced |
| 3 | Céphaz | "On a mangé le soleil" | Antoine Essertier, Elise Rieslinger | 6 | Advanced |
| 4 | Amui | "Maeva" | Ken Carlter, Serena F. Carlter, Edwiga Taerea | 5 | Advanced |
| 5 | Philippine | "Bah non" | Philippine Zadéo, Caméléon | 5 | Eliminated |
| 6 | Terence James | "Je t'emmènerai danser" | Terence James, Ben Mazué | 6 | Eliminated |
| 7 | Barbara Pravi | "Voilà " | Barbara Pravi, Lili Poe, Igit | 9 | Advanced |
| 8 | Pony X | "Amour fou" | Spoolman, SquirL, Clarence | 7 | Advanced |
| 9 | Casanova | "Tutti" | Yoann Casanova, Théo Grasset, Jérôme Brulant | 7 | Advanced |
| 10 | LMK | "Magique" | Eve-Line Lamarca, High P | 6 | Wildcard |
| 11 | Ali | "Paris me dit " | Hyphen Hyphen | 6 | Eliminated |
| 12 | 21 juin, le Duo | "Peux-tu me dire ?" | Julien Guillemin, Manon Pècheur, Jan Orsi | 6 | Advanced |
| Draw | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total | Place |
| 1 | Juliette Moraine | "Pourvu qu'on m'aime" | 76 | 60 | 136 | 2 |
| 2 | Céphaz | "On a mangé le soleil" | 52 | 30 | 82 | 5 |
| 3 | Amui | "Maeva" | 8 | 70 | 78 | 6 |
| 4 | Barbara Pravi | "Voilà " | 104 | 100 | 204 | 1 |
| 5 | Pony X | "Amour fou" | 74 | 50 | 124 | 3 |
| 6 | Casanova | "Tutti" | 22 | 80 | 102 | 4 |
| 7 | LMK | "Magique" | 66 | 10 | 76 | 7 |
| 8 | 21 juin, le Duo | "Peux-tu me dire ?" | 18 | 20 | 38 | 8 |
| Draw | Song | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | scope="col" | Total |
| 1 | "Pourvu qu'on m'aime" | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 76 |
| 2 | "On a mangé le soleil" | 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 52 | |
| 3 | "Maeva" | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | |||||||
| 4 | "Voilà" | 2 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 104 |
| 5 | "Amour fou" | 12 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 74 |
| 6 | "Tutti" | 4 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 2 | 22 | |||||
| 7 | "Magique" | 10 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 66 | |
| 8 | "Peux-tu me dire?" | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 18 |