Bonsoir Paris! After another super Saturday with several national finals across the continent, the attention goes to France. In the heart of the capital France 2 prepared a big show to reveal the act that will represent France in Rotterdam.

Things are moving fast in France. Only one month after announcing that Tom Leeb will fly the blue-white-red flag at the 2020 Eurovision, it is now time to reveal the song! News have been circulating during the entire day. Earlier this morning it was revealed that the title will be The best in me.

“We want to get close to the podium”

In an interview published on Chartsinfrance, the French Head of Delegation Alexandra Redde-Amiel described the selection process for the entry. French broadcaster France Télévisions decided to scrap the national selection Destination Eurovision after only two years and go for an internal selection instead. This allowed the team to focus solely on the quest for the best match between the artist and the song. The goal is to bring France close to the podium. Last year, Bilal Hassani and his Roi ended 16th in the Grand Final.

In order to leave a bigger impact, the reveal of the French entry was organised to impress. At 20:50 CET tonight live from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris Tom Leeb presented his The best in me live on France 2 and several social media channels.

“A modern and universal song”

The best in me was internally selected to be performed by Tom Leeb on stage in Rotterdam at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. According to the French Head of Delegation it is “a modern and universal song”. The way it was presented tonight will be the symbol of France, an exceptional moment.

The team behind the entry has a strong experience in Eurovision: the song was composed by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström (also the composers of the iconic Eurovision winner Euphoria), the lyrics are from John Lundvik (Sweden, 2019), Amir (France, 2016) Léa Ivanne and Tom Leeb himself.

France in Eurovision

France is one of the founding members of the Eurovision Song Contest, having debuted in 1956 in Lugano and having partaken a total of 62 times since. They won 5 times (1958, 1960, 1962, 1969, 1977), being therefore the third most succesful country in the history of Eurovision after Ireland (7 victories) and Sweden (6).

The country has only missed two contests so far, in 1974 and in 1982. Since 1999 France is part of the so-called “Big5”, and have therefore direct access to the Grand Final. In 2019 Bilal Hassani and his Roi landed 16th in Tel Aviv with a total of 105 points.

Can Tom Leeb improve the French record and maybe bring a sixth victory home?