France FRANCE 2024 - Slimane - Mon amour

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[Edweis]

Would love to see another genre chosen as the next entry, but I feel like this will not happen in the near future. Hopefully they send a fully-fledged song. Would be curious how someone like Hoshi would score in the board

Hoshi would probably land in the second half of the televote ranking. She has a slightly raspy tone that might be not appreciated by the public. No idea about jury.

I'm not surprised at all that Slimane did well in televote. Aside from what has been already said about foreigners' love for French ballads, let's not forget he won The Voice. He's obviously appealing in the eye of the public.

It doesn't change the fact that the lyrics legit make me uncomfortable though, I still can't take the song seriously. Unfortunately, I can't ignore them and they totally kill any sympathy I could have for this entry.

 

[Lumina]

I think it's because most people don't speak French enough to understand more than some words. If the song was in English, people would strongly dislike it, label it as cliché and basic. Kinda what Tom Leeb did. FORTUNATELY they didn't because the lyrics, who are indeed a bit basic, don't do the song justice. It's SO NICE, I love it! It was one of my favourites right from the beginning. I am so happy for him because honestly, I did think he would end up much lower in the public vote. Glad he didn't.

 

[SpiritofKeiino]

Fulenn wasn't a ballad, and it flopped

 

[Sammy]

Just a little notice: I do understand french and I still loved this a lot.
Yes, the lyrics are simple and there are a lot of clichés.
On the other hand, simple lyrics can also be meaningful. And that’s the case here. They are telling a basic story, but in an effective way.
I still prefer this to lyrics that are just there to be sung or to rime. Or lyrics were people squeeze out a deeper meaning that simply isn’t there just to have a story to tell at the press conference.

 

[Celka]

Fulenn wasn't a ballad, and it flopped

People are probably influenced by their expectations when it comes to entries. And Fulenn is definitely not what people expect a French entry to be. Yes it’s not a ballad, but I don’t think it’s the only reason it failed so hard.

- It’s not the most compelling techno-folk song I have ever heard. I can’t exactly define it, but it feels like the song lacks something, cohesion?
- It’s not in French. I am not sure how aware the rest of Europe is that there is a part of France that has a Celtic dialect / folklore. If you’re expecting to hear romantic French (or whatever people feel French sounds like), you might be disappointed?
- It went in the beginning of the grand finale and was not a memorable enough entry (Songs that run early in the evening are statistically likely to underperform.)

But I think what’s more important is the live preformance: poor staging, shabby vocals, weird camera work, and a song that ends being too different from the tapped version

Sadly, it really stands out when you compare performances when sending ballads and it might be a while before France tries to send something different again

PS: This is a deep dive analysis of why a song sent by France that I liked (for once) performed so poorly. I needed to find reasons for it haha

 

[Uto]

People are probably influenced by their expectations when it comes to entries. And Fulenn is definitely not what people expect a French entry to be. Yes it’s not a ballad, but I don’t think it’s the only reason it failed so hard.

- It’s not the most compelling techno-folk song I have ever heard. I can’t exactly define it, but it feels like the song lacks something, cohesion?
- It’s not in French. I am not sure how aware the rest of Europe is that there is a part of France that has a Celtic dialect / folklore. If you’re expecting to hear romantic French (or whatever people feel French sounds like), you might be disappointed?
- It went in the beginning of the grand finale and was not a memorable enough entry (Songs that run early in the evening are statistically likely to underperform.)

But I think what’s more important is the live preformance: poor staging, shabby vocals, weird camera work, and a song that ends being too different from the tapped version

Sadly, it really stands out when you compare performances when sending ballads and it might be a while before France tries to send something different again

PS: This is a deep dive analysis of why a song sent by France that I liked (for once) performed so poorly. I needed to find reasons for it haha

Yeah I don't even get why people lodge the argument, it's so weak it'll crumble when you touch it. I mean sure France scores big with big ballads lately, but it's completely reliant on the performance. Slimane did a very good job, Pravi absolutely nailed it. Fulenn was high school levels of performance with some money behind it. It's not going to cut it at ESC. If Fulenn had staging as impressive as Go-A did it would have been mid-table at least. And it's not like French music has only ever been popular when it was a chanson. Those Vallee de Dana dudes and Alizee etc, they never existed? The ballad argument is just a silly excuse. Just stage the crap out of everything and give us what we deserve.

 

[Celka]

Just a little notice: I do understand french and I still loved this a lot.
Yes, the lyrics are simple and there are a lot of clichés.
On the other hand, simple lyrics can also be meaningful. And that’s the case here. They are telling a basic story, but in an effective way.
I still prefer this to lyrics that are just there to be sung or to rime. Or lyrics were people squeeze out a deeper meaning that simply isn’t there just to have a story to tell at the press conference.

What’s cringe for me is more the theme and the fact it plays on the “City of Love” trope than the simplicity of the lyrics.

I feel frustrated by the pattern of the entries we send. As @DirtyFalcon was saying: ballads delivered by a compelling artist work. I’m afraid that how it will stay going forward: ballads delivered by artists with various level of charismas (don’t think they can find great artists every time).

There’s a prosperous francophone music scene. For example, while not that popular on mainstream media, French rap has an influence on the genre in Europe. We have the largest hip-hop market outside the US.
I live in Sweden and there are popular rappers here that quote French rappers within their influences.

On another note, looking at the audience score in France. It looks like picking a well-known singer that is already appreciated in France was a good choice.

 

[soulm8]

Well, sorry guys I just had to do it! Found all of the so called Australian jury members( can’t call them music critics) and wrote on their not popular accounts how jealous they must of been to put Slimane dead last when I heard their “masterpiece “ of music they created… sorry not sorry! Slaymane !!!

 

[Uto]

Well, sorry guys I just had to do it! Found all of the so called Australian jury members( can’t call them music critics) and wrote on their not popular accounts how jealous they must of been to put Slimane dead last when I heard their “masterpiece “ of music they created… sorry not sorry! Slaymane !!!

This is nonsensical behavior. You should take a minute and think for a bit before doing these sorts of things. I mean you can absolutely make the point that given the criteria normally applied to songs it is unreasonable to put France last and ask them why they did it, but to go at them with accusations of jealousy etc just makes the interaction silly and you're just venting frustrations instead of initiating dialogue. If your obsession with Slimane (I think I can rightfully call it that) leads to you behaving like this you should also consider that this obsession might have reached an unhealthy stage, but you can only be your own judge on that.

 

[soulm8]

N

This is nonsensical behavior. You should take a minute and think for a bit before doing these sorts of things. I mean you can absolutely make the point that given the criteria normally applied to songs it is unreasonable to put France last and ask them why they did it, but to go at them with accusations of jealousy etc just makes the interaction silly and you're just venting frustrations instead of initiating dialogue. If your obsession with Slimane (I think I can rightfully call it that) leads to you behaving like this you should also consider that this obsession might have reached an unhealthy stage, but you can only be your own judge on that.

Never said It was okay, we all get pissed in a day to day life. Nobody ever gonna say why they did it, not mentioning the same people posted in comments, how they are such fans of sad romantic songs. Their opinion for sure, to put this last, for me this is absolute garbage of an expert decision and I was pissed at that. Once again, not a cool thing to do, but we are not acting cool every time. I guess when someone hire you for a job and you messed up big time, people gonna be pissed at you, this is how show business works.

 

[Biste]

Yeah I don't even get why people lodge the argument, it's so weak it'll crumble when you touch it. I mean sure France scores big with big ballads lately, but it's completely reliant on the performance. Slimane did a very good job, Pravi absolutely nailed it. Fulenn was high school levels of performance with some money behind it. It's not going to cut it at ESC. If Fulenn had staging as impressive as Go-A did it would have been mid-table at least. And it's not like French music has only ever been popular when it was a chanson. Those Vallee de Dana dudes and Alizee etc, they never existed? The ballad argument is just a silly excuse. Just stage the crap out of everything and give us what we deserve.

You made me replay Manau lol

 

[Uto]

You made me replay Manau lol

And happiness was spread through the world.

 

[Lumina]

Slimane‘s song was written by two Israelis!

Already the 3rd song in the competition in which Israel is involved. Spread the love!

I knew Slimane is on the right side when he collaborated with Tali!

 

[Ana Raquel]

One of the most popular pages in Brazil (with nearly 10 million followers) posted Slimane's performance on Instagram saying it was the "most beautiful performance that I've watched in all my life".

Instagram

www.instagram.com

Congrats on bursting the bubble

 

[Realest]

 

[ESC94]

I mean it´s ok that this kind of music isn´t everyone´s cup of tea, but ranking this song last like the jury from ?? What did they smoke??

 

[Celka]

Y

I mean it´s ok that this kind of music isn´t everyone´s cup of tea, but ranking this song last like the jury from ?? What did they smoke??

Yeah, and I’m not aware of anything political that would warrant this vote.
We had the submarine crisis but they have posted press releases about the fact they wanted to turn the page and rebuild the relationship a while ago.

 

[Milos-BC]

I am super glad this masterpiece ended so well. I always knew that the juries will put it on the top but I am delighted to see that the televoters appreciated it just as much (televoters from my own country included).

Great job , this is how quality is served.

 

[DirtyFalcon]

Now that time has passed since the Eurovision final, i realize how much i enjoyed this 4th place. Honestly call me delusional if you want but at some point and after watching the semi-final performance, i started to believe we could pull a surprise win. I believed it a lot and without the fail at the jury show, i would certainly be frustrated with this 4th place even if it's still a great result !

I was in Malmö and i will always remember that moment when I learned that Slimane had problems at the grand final jury show. I was in shock, completely disappointed and discouraged. All my expectations created during weeks had suddenly collapsed and my mood, which was very positive and optimistic, had completely reversed to give way to worry. I went to the Eurovision village with some anxiety to discover the results. I was expecting him to drop around 10th to 13th so when the final results were done, i was just over the moon, happy and I enjoyed this 4th place like a little victory. The relief was such that i had absolutely no frustration, especially seeing Croatia and Switzerland final results. We wouldn't have won in the end, even with a perfect jury show performance.

Maybe we would be 3rd place but still not sure. It's not that big of a deal.

 

[Sammy]

Now that time has passed since the Eurovision final, i realize how much i enjoyed this 4th place. Honestly call me delusional if you want but at some point and after watching the semi-final performance, i started to believe we could pull a surprise win. I believed it a lot and without the fail at the jury show, i would certainly be frustrated with this 4th place even if it's still a great result !

I was in Malmö and i will always remember that moment when I learned that Slimane had problems at the grand final jury show. I was in shock, completely disappointed and discouraged. All my expectations created during weeks had suddenly collapsed and my mood, which was very positive and optimistic, had completely reversed to give way to worry. I went to the Eurovision village with some anxiety to discover the results. I was expecting him to drop around 10th to 13th so when the final results were done, i was just over the moon, happy and I enjoyed this 4th place like a little victory. The relief was such that i had absolutely no frustration, especially seeing Croatia and Switzerland final results. We wouldn't have won in the end, even with a perfect jury show performance.

Maybe we would be 3rd place but still not sure. It's not that big of a deal.

and it would have been very well deserved!