France: Final Version of "Requiem" Released

France has released the final version of their 2017 Eurovision entry, Alma’s “Requiem”.

France’s 2017 entry was revealed back in February, and it has been hinted ever since that there will be some tweaks to the song to create a final Eurovision edit, including the addition of some English lyrics. The release of this revamp has indeed brought some added English lyrics to “Requiem”, along with a revamped instrumentation. You can watch the official music video of the new version of “Requiem” below:

28-year old Alma is a rising star in France, and was named as one of the most promising artists of 2017 by French media prior to the announcement that she will represent her country in Kyiv. She lives and works in Paris, and works closely with songwriter Nazim Khaled. Khaled wrote most of the songs on Alma’s upcoming debut album, as well as France’s 2016 Eurovision entry, Amir’s “J’ai cherché”. The song finished in 6th place in Stockholm, France’s first top 10 result since Patricia Kaas’ “Et s’il fallait le faire” in 2009, and their best result since Sandrine François finished in 5th place in 2002 with “Il faut du temps”.

As a member of the big 5, France does not need to participate in the semi-finals of this year’s Eurovision and will instead compete in the grand final on 13th May.

France in the Eurovision Song Contest

France was one of seven countries to participate in the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. Since then they have participated in every contest aside from 1974 and 1982. Their withdrawal in 1974 was caused by the death of President Georges Pompidou, while 1982’s withdrawal was a result of TF1 declining to enter the contest. France has won the contest on five occasions, the most recent being in 1977 when Marie Myriam performed “L’oiseau et l’enfant”. France’s best result of the 2000s came in 2001 when Natasha St-Pier finished 4th in Copenhagen, Denmark.