In the spotlight: Slimane

Tomorrow, the big final of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in the Malmö Arena. 26 countries compete for the win. One of them is Slimane , representing France

But who is Slimane ? Let’s give him a spotlight.

Slimane Nebchi was born on 13 October 1989 in Chelles, Seine-et-Marne, France. He is of Algerian descent through his grandparents, who migrated to Paris from Biskra and Ghazaouet. He attended Lycée Jehan de Chelles, and moved later to Les Lilas, a suburb of Paris.

Career

He started uploading covers to YouTube in 2009, and soon took part in several music competitions such as Nouvelle Star in 2009 and X Factor in 2011.

In 2016, at the age of 26, he auditioned for season 5 of The Voice: la plus belle voix. All four judges turned their chairs. On 14 May 2016, he won the title with 33% of the public vote.

After this win, his career took off; with 2 million albums sold, 5 Music Awards, 2 billion worldwide streams, 7 million followers on social media and a Victorie de la Musique to his name.

Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

In November 2023, was announced that he would represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Given his origins, quite a few people were against this. He chooses not to comment on this, and says himself: ‘Every day I “enjoy” at least one person who thinks that someone like me should not represent his country. But nowadays I can laugh about it, I think it’s so sad.’

The song

The song was written in 2022 during a music tour. According to Slimane, the song to him is a “love letter to European hearts”, in line with much of Slimane’s music, which is mainly based on love. Slimane sees “Mon amour” as his first date with the viewer. And from that perspective, his final question to all of us is:

“Do you love me… Or not?”