"France copies their most recent Eurovision success with Alma's "Requiem", but misses the soul that made it work.
Country: France
Song Title: "Requiem"
Artist: Alma
Last year's entry: "J'ai Cherche" - Amir (6th Place)
When it comes to France in the Eurovision Song Contest, I'll take a Sebastien Tellier or a Twin Twin over a Patricia Kaas any day. France has some truly weird pop((as well as being the home of ye-ye, which I also dig)), and the ESC is the perfect place to give that singular voice a place to shine. Alas, they usually use their given slot for the balladry that also tends to be a hallmark of their nation. The last few years, we've seen some English creep into their songs, in what seems like a slight indication that they're starting to realize that they can't just send another entirely-in-French song if they want to win, and it's served them well - did they learn anything from their 6th place finish last year with this year's entry?
Well, sort of. This definitely feels like France is trying to capture the same level of success they achieved at last year's competition by copying the various elements of last year's entry (same songwriter, mostly uptempo number, similar instrumentation, English chorus that feels a little bit pasted-in as a concession to English's dominance as a language in the ESC), but I still feel about as meh about this one as I did about last year's. It's nice enough, but I feel like there are about 10 or 15 entries that I'm more excited about in the semis, and if this needed to qualify, I'd put it in the bubble region in either of the semi-finals.