EXCEPTIONNELLE!
Barbara Pravi is heading for Eurovision!
France have joined Israel and Albania on the 'Road To Rotterdam' - Barbara won Saturday's "Eurovision France : c'est vous qui décidez!" with her song "Voilà", co-written by Lili Poe and Igit. It was a clear win for the red hot favourite - before I start my praise for this entry, have a watch of her performance, if you haven't already:
To be honest, when I watched the first set of 'audition' live performances, I got that Barbara was a phenomenal vocalist and this song was of the traditional "chanson française" which would appeal to a lot of French viewers, but it wasn't my favourite at that stage. I had LMK and Philippine above her until THAT performance. Barbara's picture above was how we first saw her before she started singing and even that pose was beautifully staged - everything from then on was so tightly shot, so beautifully lit, an incredible sub-three minute show. The little extras that you pick up on second or third viewing made this an almost perfect entry - watch for the overhang with her pixelated eyes that move and then fade away, the silhouette on the floor that changes from her shadow to a flock of birds and then the swaying white dots below her.
Even her look and outfit were spot on - the cynical among the fandom felt that all of the special effects budget and the best stage director were given to her! To be honest, this entry is already set perfectly for Rotterdam 2021, as I cannot see anything that could possibly be improved to it. As you all know, I am part of the SECHUK Jury each year and we rate each entry as it 'hits the list' for Eurovision - I do this as I score all songs now, based on the Jury categories for the Contest. My scores for France?
Vocal Capability 5.0/5
Stage Performance 5.0/5
Composition / Originality 4.0/5
Overall Impression 5.0/5
Score 19.0/20 (9.5)
As this was a style of French entry that we have heard numerous times before at Eurovision, that is arguably the only critique I could make about this entry. For me, this is the best French contribution to the Contest since 2001, when Natasha St-Pier wowed us all with "Je n'ai que mon âme". As I said on the show, it is far too early to say that this could win Eurovision but it is definitely France's best chance since The Parken in Copenhagen - I will state this however:
France will be a top ten finisher overall
and a potential Jury vote winner
Why do I say that? I am basing it on the fact that this entry has everything a professional musician/songwriter/producer/singer would look for in a Eurovision entry...
- Barbara has an incredible voice
- The staging is superb
- Her emotional delivery and acting are wonderful
- The composition of the song itself is not a traditional ballad but builds and builds into a crescendo
- It might not be the most original genre in the world but it is completed to perfection
- You will not see a better overall performance this year
Some pundits think that I am being too generous and that jurors do not always like ballads and that songs like "Heroes" in 2015 have also done well. I would point out that:
Quality always wins the Jury vote
2019 - Tamara Todevska "Proud"
2018 - Cesár Sampson "Nobody But You"
2017 - Salvador Sobral "Amara Pelos Dois"
2016 - Dami Im "Sound Of Silence"
Not all ballads, but all had established songwriters and composers who put together a package that would appeal to other professionals, plus the songs were given to singers who brought passion and a connection with the viewer. One overall winner, a second, a third and a top ten - why would Barbara Pravi's entry NOT be a suitable contender for the Jury top spot? As far as I am concerned, I can definitely say that another entry will have to be absolute perfection for it to finish higher this year in my top 41. Respect due to her and this will be due personal reward for helping France climb the ranks of JESC, via this one in 2019:
And then onto her nation's first Eurovision win of any sort since 1977, in November:
Both co-written by Barbara, so it is well deserved that she gets a go herself at Eurovision. Overall my rankings on the night were as follows - good efforts by LMK and Juliette but no-one was going to stop "Voilà"...
France will have been waiting 44 years for a Contest win - the last nation to wait that long was The Netherlands, who had been waiting...wow! That could be a suitable omen right there...
There was of course much, much more on this week's LET ME BE THE ONE, including the Moldovan broadcaster announcing officially that the delightful Natalia Gordienko was their singer for Rotterdam - have a listen to catch-up or remind yourself :
And here is the playlist...
"Voilà" - Barbara Pravi
"Prison" - Natalia Gordienko
"Universo" - Blas Cantó
"Smile" - Jamala
"UGLY CRY" - VICTORIA
"Think About You" - Paul Rey
"Solitary Star" - Cosmic Bride
"Find A Way" - Kristin Kalnapenk
"Calm Down" - Nika Marula
"Alabama Watchdog" - Alabama Watchdog
"Witch Woods" - EMMY
"Smile" - Big Daddy Karsten
"Vi er Norge" - Ole Hartz
"Own Yourself" - Dinaye
"Feel Again" - Kaja Rode
"You Are The Only One" - Sergey Lazarev
"Anamoni" - Helena Paparizou
"From The Inside" - Angelica Pushnova
"Але (ПРЕМ’ЕРА ПЕСНІ)" - NAVIBAND
"moLOko" - LOBODA
"Je suis blasé" - Jessy Matador
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
As far as Natalia is concerned, it must be the longest gap between artist telling the world they were going to be at Eurovision (July 2020) and the broadcaster officially confirming it (February 2021)! From independent reports, it sounds as though Moldova have a far better entry this year and I am looking forward to hearing it in March (along with almost every other internal selection in 2021). You will have heard me talk about Ukraine's selection process last week and how we would know what the Jury there decided in March - that has accelerated somewhat now in that we now know the entry that Go_A will be singing, but that will wait for show 130. What else will be in that episode?
Will "Horizon" sound as good as Jessica looks?
If you get to hear the song next week, it will mean however that it didn't make it out of its SF...