France: Results of the first semi-final of Destination Eurovision 2018

The first semi-final of the French national selection for the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest, Destination Eurovision, was held tonight: we now have our first four finalists!

Tonight at the Plaine Saint Denis Studios in Paris, 9 candidates battled for a spot in the Destination Eurovision final on Saturday 27 January, who will join the 4 other qualifiers from semi-final 2 which will be held next week on the 20 January.

Here are the participants in tonight’s semi-final:

1. Masoe – Paradis
2. Noée – L’un près de l’autre
3. Lisandro Cuxi – Eva
4. Malo’ – Ciao
5. Emmy Liyana – OK ou KO
6. Enéa – I’ll be there
7. Pheno Men – Jamais sans toi
8. Louka – Mamma mia
9. Ehla – J’ai cru

Notably, the fifth performer of the evening – Emmy Liyana – received a huge round of applause and supportive chants from the audience, becoming perhaps one of the early favourites in the selection.

After the last song of the night was performed, Eurovision 2016 representative and Destination Eurovision juror Amir performed his latest hit single on his new album, entitled Etats d’amour.

How were tonight’s qualifiers decided?

Two jury panels consisting of both French and international members will decide both of the semi-final qualifiers, and then it will be a 50/50 televote-jury vote in the final.

In the semi-final show tonight, the members consisted of both a French jury and an international jury.

International jury

• Christer Björkman – Head of Delegation for Sweden at Eurovision, supervisor of Melodifestivalen
• Nicola Caligiore – Head of Delegation for Italy at Eurovision
• Olga Salamakha – Head of Delegation for Belarus at Eurovision

French jury

• Amir – Singer, songwriter, represented France in the 2016 Contest
• Isabelle Boulay – Singer
• Christophe Willem – Singer

The finalists

Here are the 4 finalists from tonight that the 6 member jury chose

1. Lisandro Cuxi – Eva – 66 points
2. Emmy Liyana – OK ou KO – 50 points
3. Malo’ – Ciao – 46 points
4. Louka – Mamma mia – 30 points
5. Ehla – J’ai cru – 28 points
6. Noée – L’un près de l’autre – 26 points
7. Masoe – Paradis – 6 points
8. Enéa – I’ll be there – 0 points
9. Pheno Men – Jamais sans toi – 0 points

Result breakdown

The results were presented by a voting by all the jurors, international and national. Here is a breakdown of the results:

International jury

Sweden gave their points to:

• 12 Emmy Liyana
• 10 Lisandro Cuxi
• 8 Malo’
• 6 Louka
• 4 Ehla
• 2 Noée

Belarus gave their points to:

• 12 Lisandro Cuxi
• 10 Emmy Liyana
• 8 Noée
• 6 Malo’
• 4 Louka
• 2 Ehla

Italy gave their points to:

• 12 Lisandro Cuxi
• 10 Noée
• 8 Emmy Liyana
• 6 Malo’
• 4 Louka
• 2 Ehla

National jury

Amir gave his points to:

• 12 Lisandro Cuxi
• 10 Louka
• 8 Emmy Liyana
• 6 Noée
• 4 Ehla
• 2 Malo’

Christophe Willem gave his points to:

• 12 Malo’
• 10 Lisandro Cuxi
• 8 Ehla
• 6 Emmy Liyana
• 4 Louka
• 2 Masoe

Isabelle Boulay gave her votes to:

• 12 Malo’
• 10 LIsandro Cuxi
• 8 Ehla
• 6 Emmy Liyana
• 4 Masoe
• 2 Louka

How did you vote?

Since the semi-final draw announcement, we’ve been asking you here at ESCToday to let us know your favourites of tonight’s show. Here’s how you voted!

1. Lisandro Cuxi – Eva (25.49%)
2. Emmy Liyana – OK ou KO (21.99%)
3. Louka – Mamma mia (18.13%)
4. Malo’ – Ciao (8.44%)
5. Masoe – Paradis (7.27%)
6. Ehla – J’ai cru (6.46%)
7. Noée – L’un près de l’autre (5.92%)
8. Enéa – I’ll be there (4.58%)
9. Pheno Men – Jamais sans toi (1.71%)

According to our poll, you agree with the jury results from tonight’s show! Your top 4 artists of evening have qualified to the final of Destination Eurovision 2018, whilst your least favourites also ended in the bottom 2 of the semi-final 1 results.

Destination France 2018 continues next weekend with the second semi-final of the French national selection, in which the remaining 9 participants will compete for a place in the final of the competition on the 27 January.

As with tonight’s show, the semi-final 2 qualifiers will be determined via a 50/50 national and international jury vote, consisting of the same members as this evening’s semi-final.

What do you think of the first 4 qualifiers of Destination Eurovision 2018? Are there any non-qualifying artists you will miss from tonight’s show?