France to choose Eurovision 2021 representative on 30 January

The national French broadcaster has announced details for Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez, the French final for Eurovision Song Contest 2021.

The national final is set for 30 January 2021 with 12 entries competing for the golden ticket to Rotterdam. Still optimistic, France Télévisions wants the final to be held in front of a live audience.

Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez

After an internal selection, the broadcaster has decided to hold a national final for the next entry to be chosen in order to allow the French public to choose between 12 artists from all over France.

This program is called "Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez" and will be presented by Stéphane Bern and Laurence Boccolini on France 2. The audience and a jury will choose their favourite song, gibing power of a 50 / 50 basis.

700 applications were submitted but only 20 performers made it to the final audition round at the Apollo Theatre. In the end 12 were chosen for the public national final, Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez.

The final will eventually take place in Paris in a television studio, in a specially designed stage for this purpose.

How will the winner be determined?

The 12 artists will compete in three different rounds.

– Qualifiers: The 7 songs that win the public vote will be selected for the “The Ultimate Vote”

– The Euro Ticket: A wild card will be awarded only by the jury for “The Ultimate Vote”

– The Ultimate Vote: Votes will be zeroed. The audience and the jury of 50% will selected the winning song

C’est vous qui décidez - Jury

• Amir (Eurovision 2016 French Entrant and chairman of the jury panel)
• Marie Myriam (Last Eurovision winner for France in 1977)
• Jean-Paul Gaultier (World famous fashion designer)
• Natasha St Pier (Eurovision 2001 French Entrant)
• Duncan Laurence (Latest Eurovision winner for Eurovision, 2019 for Netherlands)
• Chimène Badi (Singer who ended up 3rd in “Destination Eurovison 2019”)
• André Manoukian (A musician, a member of the jury in “Destination Eurovision 2019” and former French commentator)
• Elodie Gossuin (TV personality, former Miss France and Miss Europe and a former French spokesperson)
• Augustin Galiana (Spanish comedian, singer and dancer and winner of “Danse Avec Les Stars” (Dancing with the stars))
• Michèle Bernier (French comedian)

Alexandra Redde-Amiel, the French head of delegation, said that French television was inspired by Sweden’s Melodifestivalen, while claiming that it reflected among the candidates the country’s contemporary music scene.

France in Eurovision Song Contest

France is a grand old country in Eurovision. They have participated 62 times since the start of Eurovision in 1956.

The best results are five victories in 1977, 1969, 1962, 1960, 1958. The latest victory was in 1977 – 43 years ago! The worst result was in 2014, where France ended last in the Grand Final, and in the last 16 years, they only managed twice to be in top-10.

France is a member of "Big 5", so they don't have to go through the semi-final-qualifications, but are automatically qualified for the Grand Finals.