France: Eurovision 2021 representative to be determined through a national selection;Submission window opens on June 29

France will be swtiching to a national selection format in order to select its ESC 2021 representative according to Alexandra Redde-Amiel, entertainment director of France Télévisions and head of the French delegation to Eurovision.

Talking to “20 Minutes” Alexandra Redde-Amiel comfirmed that the public will have a say in choosing the artist who will represent France at Eurovision 2021, in Rotterdam (Netherlands). The head of the French delegation and director of entertainment for France Televisions, announced the establishment of a national selection ahead of the next edition.

The French HoD said :

“It will be a creation, produced in-house by France Télévisions Studios. We are working on the final concept. We already know that it will be an event evening, in a large concert hall, in the region.”

During this program broadcast on France 2 , the competing candidates will be decided by the votes of viewers. It will also count on the contribution of a jury. “We do not yet know how we will build it, how many people it will be made up, or if it will be solely French or international,” slips Alexandra Redde-Amiel, indicating that discussions are underway.

Dates and conditions

The submission window for candidates will open on June 29. The required conditions have not yet been unveiled, but some of them will be in accordance with the Eurovision regulations. Such rule is that that accepts song as eligible to compete, if they are not longer than three minutes and cannot be or have been released before September 1, 2020.

Redde-Amiel goes on saying:

“We want everyone to feel like a potential candidate,” says the head of delegation, who aims to “revive the Eurovision brand [on the air]”. “It’s a powerful brand. It is the symbol of gathering, union, sharing and we need it during this period. ”

France in Eurovision

France is one of the seven countries that had its first participation back in 1956. Since then the country has won the contest 5 times. Last time was in 1977, with Marie Myriam and her song L’oiseau et l’enfant. The last two years, however, seems to be an increasing interest for the contest .

Destination Eurovision was used for the first time as the country’s national selection format in 2018, including two recorded semi final shows and a live grand final. 2018 was the first time France held a nationa final since 2014. National final 2018 winners were the duo Madame Monsieur who represented France in Lisbon with their entry “Mercy” which finished 13th.

In 2019 Bilal Hassani won the second edition of Destination Eurovision 2019 and defended the French colours in Tel Aviv with his entry Roi which came 16th in the Grand final.

After that France Televisions went internal selecting Tom Leeb to represent the country in Rotterdam last May. Unfortunately his ESC 2020 journey never took place as the covid-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of this year’s edition.