France FRANCE 2019 - Bilal Hassani - Roi

[toinou03]

The new version of the song surprised me. It works much better for Bilal, and I like seeing him moving around the stage and really going for it all with confidence. He's enjoyable to watch and I wasn't getting that at all from the NF performance. Having said that though... the performance is just TOO much for me. Holy mother of Mary. I get it. I'm sure we all do. Do we really need to see a constant spluttering of they judged me, told me I couldn't do this and that and well look at me here now twirling on the Eurovision stage with Bilal Hassini messages? Urhhhh. Conchita didn't need to spell it out to us. I can't stomach this staging. Not because I don't appreciate the plus size dancer and the deaf one (go them!). It's just how it's all packaged together in the most ferociously in your face way possible. You don't need to tell me what you're doing. Just do it. Proof's in the mother funking pudding for goodness sake. Stop whining which in turn is making me whine. Just do your thing and slay it.

I Guess they thought : Oh Italy Beat us because they put messages on TV while we were just conveying by shaking hands so we will explaaaaaaaain very loudly everything.

 

[popavapeur]

I Guess they thought : Oh Italy Beat us because they put messages on TV while we were just conveying by shaking hands so we will explaaaaaaaain very loudly everything.

I think it could be the reason. Maybe I'm defending France cause it's my country but the thing is that the song is partially in english and french and the message is quite heavy. They did extra in making sure the point is getting across. Right now it is and maybe a little too much for some. They just did what they have to do and I don't think there's a "cool middle ground" for that kind of songs if they want to succeed. So yeah it looks heavy and too much but I can't imagine what people would have said if that wasn't the case like "we don't get the message of roi smth". which is obviously worse.

 

[tuorem]

The new version of the song surprised me. It works much better for Bilal, and I like seeing him moving around the stage and really going for it all with confidence. He's enjoyable to watch and I wasn't getting that at all from the NF performance. Having said that though... the performance is just TOO much for me. Holy mother of Mary. I get it. I'm sure we all do. Do we really need to see a constant spluttering of they judged me, told me I couldn't do this and that and well look at me here now twirling on the Eurovision stage with Bilal Hassini messages? Urhhhh. Conchita didn't need to spell it out to us. I can't stomach this staging. Not because I don't appreciate the plus size dancer and the deaf one (go them!). It's just how it's all packaged together in the most ferociously in your face way possible. You don't need to tell me what you're doing. Just do it. Proof's in the mother funking pudding for goodness sake. Stop whining which in turn is making me whine. Just do your thing and slay it.

Thank you Kai for expressing my thoughts so elaborately once again.

I'm super conflicted about our visuals this year because on one hand I find our staging very expensive-looking (for once) and I'm thrilled that they had an overall vision, something going on on stage from start to finish (thank you to our HoD Steven Clerima!). On the other hand, some of the ideas put together make the whole thing look too much and ultimately a bit tasteless. A substantial part of the lyrics are already in English, I think we could have done without those giant words for instance.

Someone said earlier that because some elements are so unsubtle and in-your-face, it kind of wants to force you (as a viewer) to feel and understand the message a certain way, which - I agree - is irritating and even off-putting.

With that being said, I do think the colour scheme and the camera work are rather nice. The face-mapping is scary af though.

 

[MalagaToledo]

Omg, my king Bilal took a pic with that creature called zelmerlow. Why on earth would he do that. Does he not know about his social views? I'm in state of shock.

 

[tuorem]

Is it just me or the running order isn't that good for us? Lots of upbeat visual stuff will perform beforehand and Italy - who will stand out musically - will follow. I'm curious to know how it'll turn out.

 

[popavapeur]

it is very hard to predict :/

1. Azerbaijan didn't do so well and apparently Italy's staging is underwhelming when France did surprise = we're in a good spot

2. Azerbaijan did great and they still believe in a good ranking from Italy = we're the thin lettuce in a fat sandwich


I guess we won't know until saturday. I do think that Azerbaijan wasn't that great but at the same time I would still believe in Italy (a mix of both options). Actually that could be worse : be around Australia or Iceland. If the running order is that important regardless of what are the acts surrounding you, we recently had a win in the 21st et 22nd place. (Netta and Jamala if i'm not wrong).

Sometimes two acts can help each other I guess ? Could it be the case this year ?

 

[blue00eyes]

Omg, my king Bilal took a pic with that creature called zelmerlow. Why on earth would he do that. Does he not know about his social views? I'm in state of shock.

Like Bilal is saint.

 

[ory26]

First time France will perform 21st, seem a good position for me.
And he is between Azerbaidjan, who didn't convince me and a disapointing Italy, matter of taste of course.

A top 10 is reachable i think.

 

[MalagaToledo]

First time France will perform 21st, seem a good position for me.
And he is between Azerbaidjan, who didn't convince me and a disapointing Italy, matter of taste of course.

A top 10 is reachable i think.

Top 10? U seem to have little faith in him.

 

[wtf]

Omg, my king Bilal took a pic with that creature called zelmerlow. Why on earth would he do that. Does he not know about his social views? I'm in state of shock.

Pretty sure Mans has explained and apologised. He's been doing so much things Eurovision-related for these past years. People can get smarter with years. But I guess some people are against other people developing/progressing and changing their views over years and want to cancel everyone for dumb stuff said years ago. :?

 

[MalagaToledo]

Pretty sure Mans has explained and apologised. He's been doing so much things Eurovision-related for these past years. People can get smarter with years. But I guess some people are against other people developing/progressing and changing their views over years and want to cancel everyone for dumb stuff said years ago. :?

Both zelmerow and his wife block me because they can't handle truth and facts. He apologied because he had to because he knew he was going to eurovision and without pr apology, he could have faced potential booing. Yes, every year they have to invite him. Its getting annoying. There are other winners as well, real winners who won both jurry and televote. But I guess he can have his 4 mins of fame thanks to "expert" jurry. I know he has many haters and him coming every year is just gonna get contra effect.

 

[hijirio]

Mans' homophobic statements date from 2014, and he competed in 2015. That's way too soon to change one's opinion. I think he apologized just to appease the fans before ESC.
Maybe he changed his opinion now that we're in 2019, but I think it's quite likely that he still had some anti-gay sentiments within himself while performing in 2015. But again we can never know what people think inside, we can only guess.

 

[MalagaToledo]

Mans' homophobic statements date from 2014, and he competed in 2015. That's way too soon to change one's opinion. I think he apologized just to appease the fans before ESC.
Maybe he changed his opinion now that we're in 2019, but I think it's quite likely that he still had some anti-gay sentiments within himself while performing in 2015. But again we can never know what people think inside, we can only guess.

I remember when his fans sent custom made t shirts with sign heteros, homos, heroes. Then when interviewer said would he ever date a guy, he said yeah why not if I had those feelings towards men, I would date a guy. I mean he would try anything to do, even to sell his principles just to win esc. I think he should be last person to preach abt morality since he cheated on his ex girlfriend and sent naked pic to a girl.

On topic, bilal has good position and is placed between wtf staging of aze and clap guy. I still think he has chances to win even though ned odds are the highest ever. I don't get that hype since I saw his performance yesterday and there were good and bad parts.

 

[wtf]

Mans' homophobic statements date from 2014, and he competed in 2015. That's way too soon to change one's opinion. I think he apologized just to appease the fans before ESC.
Maybe he changed his opinion now that we're in 2019, but I think it's quite likely that he still had some anti-gay sentiments within himself while performing in 2015. But again we can never know what people think inside, we can only guess.

Well, his homophobic comments sounded more like ignorance than just an opinion. I'm sure going to Eurovision and being among so many queer people simply widened his mindset.
It may be too soon to change an opinion, but one year is definitely enough to be shaken out of your comfortable "white straight main" world and shown the diversity of people.

And I don't get being against people changing their opinion for the positive, even if it's fake? We don't know what any celebrity thinks behind closed doors tbh.

 

[crashworld]

it is very hard to predict :/

1. Azerbaijan didn't do so well and apparently Italy's staging is underwhelming when France did surprise = we're in a good spot

2. Azerbaijan did great and they still believe in a good ranking from Italy = we're the thin lettuce in a fat sandwich

I guess we won't know until saturday. I do think that Azerbaijan wasn't that great but at the same time I would still believe in Italy (a mix of both options).

I was so pissed when I see my 3 favourites are performing back to back (Azerbaijan - France - Italy). And best of all, they put all the high impact and elaborated stagings back to back starting from Iceland to Italy. They are going to kill each other as the viewers will feel exhausted and visually overwhelmed.

I got a feeling Azerbaijan did better than expected because it seems Chingiz are doing quite well in the iTunes/Apple/Spotify charts after the semi. And looking at the youtube views, his semi-final performance is the 5th most watched performance of the semi and even higher than Italy's performance. His odds are shortening too.

But then Bilal is a more well-known youtuber and also had a great staging that elevates his song. So the only conclusion to me is that that Bjorkman guy is trying to sabotage Azerbaijan/France/Italy winning chances by having them performing back to back.

 

[MalagaToledo]

Let's go I think a lot of people will resonate with the message of the song. It has effective staging, great voice, catchy song and it will be high not just with temevite but with jurry as well. I know I will call few times for bilal. If anyone is interested he is performing among last contestants between robotic hands and clap guy.

 

[John1]

He got what he deserved. Now his fans are mad at the EBU and I'm enjoying the tea actually.

 

[toinou03]

It's a decent result. I couldn't expect more.

 

[blue00eyes]

I was afraid he's gonna win and I would give up esf for life

 

[Realest]

Surprised Juries liked him more