France 2021- Barbara Pravi with “Voila”
Barbara Pravi has won the French ticket to Rotterdam and will show ‘Voila’ off to Europe in May.
Out of all the countries in this event, France may well be the least disappointed to have seen the 2020 contest cancelled with Tom Leeb a likely last place in the final. ‘Voila’ is an undoubted improvement on that uninspired song and incredibly lazy effort from a country that had been at least trying to achieve something in recent years.
Fans have been quick to make comparisons with Edith Piaf and Patricia Kaas and whilst ‘Voila’ is of the same genre, that’s a little flattering. Whilst a good performer, Barbara was perhaps flattered by the amateurish national final field which will not be the case at Eurovision. May I remind those backing this in the outright market that ‘Voila’ would somehow need to score about 2.5x the points that Patricia Kaas managed to have any realistic chance. More emphatically, a score about 17-18x that of ‘N’oubliez Pas should do it, if no competition shows up. The math doesn’t really add up does it? and Voila will likely fall between the two.
It’s not uncommon for this type of entry to be well liked by the fandom, it harkens back to past contests and offers some nice cultural variety. I believe this use of genre and national branding slightly hides a fairly average song and this is something to be concerned about when it comes to France.
France’s results have vastly underperformed expectations in recent years and I can see the same happening here. Amir, Madame Monsieur and Bilal were all talked about -at least in some quarters- as potential winners at times, with the latter two falling well short. What appeals to the fandom about recent French entries does not appeal to the voters at home.
Leaving aside those concerns, my main issue with ‘Voila’ is the last 30 seconds, which are in my opinion, a bit of a mess. Personally, I was down with ‘Voila’ up to there as a nice enough listen and then it goes of the rails slightly. I know it’s supposed to represent her turmoil etc etc but I can’t help feel that many still with Barbara up to here will be lost also. From a compositional standpoint, it’s less artistic and more ‘I didn’t know how to end this’.
Juries should be respectful, although this is not a top-tier jury song, and there’ll be a smattering of televote support from France’s neighbours and a few countries here and there but not enough to see them achieve anything more than mid table.
I feel like this isn't really a big call, but the market has this favourite somehow. I propose that, at current odds, one could barely invest more poorly.
Personal Rating: 4/10 Competitive Rating: 6/10 Early Prediction: 15th-20th