France will do better than they did last year at the Eurovision Song Contest, but is that saying much?
Country: France
Song Title: "N'oubliez Pas"
Artist: Lisa Angell
Last year's entry: "Moustache" - Twin Twin (26th Place)
France is one of the easiest countries to pick out of a lineup of randomly selected Eurovision songs((and not just because it'll be the entry that's in French when all the rest are in English)). Every once in a while, the French will pick something a bet more out there (like last year's "Moustache", which I enjoyed but which fell completely flat with the Eurovision audience), but they tend to stick to their comfort zone of ballads and torch songs. Given the poor reception Twin Twin got, it doesn't surprise me they've gone running back to that well with this year's entry, Lisa Angell's "N'oubliez Pas":
This is a pleasant song, and it's nicely sung, but it does nothing for me, especially in a field with plenty of slower songs this year. While I think it's likely France won't be dead last with this song again, I an't say I see them cracking the top 10 either. Lisa's voice is nice, and she gives the lyrics the right amount of emotional heft, but the melody doesn't get stuck in my head like other entries this year have.
Just based on the song, I can't imagine the staging will be much more imaginative than Lisa standing on stage and letting the cameras do the motion work. That's fine, since you shouldn't need to put on a full song and dance if the material doesn't require it, but I can't help but feel this song's going to be ignored by most of the telemeters no matter where it ends up in the lineup of the finals. France will do better than last year this year, but I'm not sure that's anything to really be proud of.