With whom will France try to get high on the final scoreboard in Tel Aviv? For the second consecutive year, the country’s recently-introduced national selection format Destination Eurovision is going to return and determine the successor of Madame Monsieur! 

18 entries in total; which one to reach the destination?

Through a press conference in Paris, the broadcster France Télévisions has revealed which will be the 18 acts that are being thrown into the hard battle for the French representation. As with last year, the event will be concluded in three shows, two semi-finals with 9 participating acts each and the grand final, where a total of 8 entries will fight for the victory.

The final’s outcome will be decided by both the public’s vote and a 10-member international jury, each having a 50% stake, while in the semi-finals this jury will be made up by 5 people (instead of 3 last year).

Without further wait, the 18 announced acts are:

• Florina – In the shadow
• Aysat – Comme une grande 
• Ugo – Ce qui me blesse 
• Chimène Badi – La haut
• Silvàn Areg – Le petit Nicolas
• Gabriella – On cherche encore
• Doutson – Sois un bon fils
• Seemone – Tous les deux 
• The Divaz – La voix d’Aretha 
• Emmanuel Moire – La Promesse
• Tracy de Sà – Por Aqui
• Battista Acquaviva – Passio
• Lautner – J’ai pas le temps
• Philipelise – Madame La Paix
• Bilal Hassani – Roi
• Mazy – Oulala
• Noémie – Ma petite famille
• Naestro – Le brasier

As announced a few days back, hosting duties will be taken over by the French-Canadian singer and actor Garou. Apart from that, the three music experts that will be consisting the show’s jury panel will be once again the acclaimed singer Christophe Willem, joined by one of France’s best-selling artists Vitaa and the jazz musician and songwriter André Manoukian, who are replacing the 2016 hopeful Amir and Isabelle Boulay. However, the artistic evaluation of the judges will not directly affect the competition’s result.

The broadcaster is expected to disclose information on the entries’ allocation in the semi-finals and the event’s dates in due course.

France at Eurovision 2018

Via their newly-introduced national selection event Destination Eurovision, France would decide upon their representative at the 63rd Eurovision Song Contest, hosted in Lisbon, Portugal. The format consisted of 3 shows, two semi-finals and a grand final. The French duo Madame Monsieur were victorious in the final, thus earning the right to defend the French colours in the contest, with the song Mercy.

Madame Monsieur got really high in the bookers’ preferences and were one of the hot favourites even for the trophy, 41 years after France’s latest victory. Despite that, they came 13rd in the grand final with 173 points.

Here’s their appearance on Altice Arena’s stage: