We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: France.
La Zarra
France will be represented by La Zarra. French broadcaster France 2 announced this news on 12 January of this year. About a month later, the song “Évidemment” was presented. The song is written and composed by La Zarra herself in collaboration with Ahmed Saghir, and for the music with Yannick Rastogi and Zacharia Raymond. La Zarra is a Canadian singer. She hit the French charts in 2021 with her song “Tu t’en iras“, which was a part of her succesful debut album “Traîtrisse”.
Canadian singers in Eurovision
La Zarra is not the first Canadian singer participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. Previously, Sherisse Laurence (1986, Luxembourg), Annie Cotton (1993, Switzerland) and Natasha Saint-Pierre (2001, France) reached top scores in Eurovision. Also Rykka (2016, Switzerland) and Katerina Duska (2019, Greece) have Canadian roots. But let’s not forget about the winner of the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest: Céline Dion. This Canadian singer won for Switzerland with her song “Ne partez pas sans moi”. Her career outside the French speaking countries started with her performance in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989 in Lausanne. She presented her new single “Where does my heart beat now”.
Internal Selection
France 2 announced a national final for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The national selection would be called Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez. The song would be chosen in the same way as in 2021 and 2022. However, France 2 internally selected La Zarra. With the announcement of La Zarra as the candidate, it was clear that no national final would be held.
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France won the Eurovision Song Contest on 5 occasions. In 1958 (André Claveau with “Dors mon amour”). The second time was in 1960 (Jacqueline Boyer with “Tom Pillibi”). In 1962 (Isabelle Aubret won with “Un premier amour”). We saw Frida Boccara win in 1969 with “Un jour un enfant” and the lat victory was in 1977 (Marie Myriam with “L’oiseau et l’enfant). In fact, a 6th victory was close on several occasions. In 1991, France won along with Sweden. They even had the same amount of twelves, but as Sweden got more times 10, singer Amina had to deal with a 2nd place. Recently, in 2021, France was among the favourites to win with Barbara Pravi. The song “Voila” did not win but is now a Eurovision classic.
Bookmakers
Currently, France is number 10 at the bookmakers. A 10th place would give them a much better placing than last year, when France became 24th.
The song
And of course the most important thing of all is the song. Here is “Évidemment”.
