France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014


France participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The French entry was selected through a national final, organised by the French broadcaster France Télévisions. Twin Twin represented France with the song "Moustache". France placed 26th in the final, scoring 2 points. This was the first time in the history of the contest that France had placed last in a final.

Before Eurovision

National final

On 4 November 2013, France 3 announced that it would organise a national final in order to select the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. This marked a return to a national final selection procedure by the French broadcaster, who last organised a televised multi-artist national final in 2007, opting instead for internal selections in the years between.

Competing entries

In early October 2013, France 3 initiated a casting call for interested artists to submit songs with the criteria that the majority of the lyrics of the submitted song be in French and that instrumental pieces that extensively lacked vocals would not be accepted. The deadline for submissions concluded on 24 November 2013.
France 3, in cooperation with France Bleu, launched a competition open to the public where entrants were required to successfully answer three questions related to the Eurovision Song Contest in order to enter a draw. The winner had the opportunity to be part of the selection committee for the national final. On 26 November 2013, the section committee consisting of music industry professionals: Laurent Bentata, Bruno Berberes, Laura Cès, Mary De Vivo, Valérie Michelin and Franck Saurat; representatives of France Télévisions: Thierry Langlois, Yann Chapellon, Marie Claire Mezerette, Frédéric Valencak and Olivier Daube; a representative of France Bleu: Dominique Bourron; a Eurovision fan: Farouk Vallette; and the winner of the public competition, Morgane Buret, convened to select three candidates for the national final. The fourteen members completed the selection in two rounds of voting: the first round selected the top five songs after a blind audio listening of the submissions and the second round selected the top three. On 27 November 2013, Destan, Joanna and Twin Twin were revealed as the artists that would compete at the national final.

Final

The three candidates presented their entries in a special edition of the French television program Les chansons d'abord on 26 January 2014, which was hosted by 2001 French Eurovision entrant Natasha St-Pier. All of the competing songs were in French with "Sans toi" featuring some lyrics in English. In addition to the performances of the competing songs, the show also featured Eurovision Song Contest 1977 winner Marie Myriam, 2011 French Eurovision entrant Amaury Vassili and 2012 French Eurovision entrant Anggun. Following the presentation, the public had the opportunity to vote for their favourite entry between 26 January 2014 and 23 February 2014. During this time, the entries were given increased exposure and rotation on France 3 and France Bleu. The votes from the public were combined with the votes of a jury panel in order to select the winning artist and song. The result of the national final was announced on Les chansons d'abord on 2 March 2014.
DrawArtistSong 'Music / Lyrics
1Destan"Sans toi" 'Laura Marciano, Cheyenne
2Joanna"Ma Liberté" Gerard James Borg, Philip Vella, Sean Vella, Yves Guillon
3Twin Twin"Moustache"Pierre Beyres, Kim N'Guyen, Lorent Idir, François Ardouvin

At Eurovision

As a member of the "Big Five", France automatically qualified for a place in the final, held on 10 May 2014. In addition to their participation in the final, France was assigned to vote in the first semi-final on 6 May 2014. During the French delegation's press conference on 6 May 2014, France was allocated to compete in the second half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that France would perform 14th, following Sweden and preceding Russia. France placed 26th and last in the final, scoring only 2 points.
On stage, Twin Twin was joined by two backing dancers and a backing vocalist. The LED screens projected colourful moustache motifs.
In France, the first semi-final was broadcast on France Ô with commentary by Audrey Chauveau and Bruno Berberes, while the final was broadcast on France 3 with commentary by Cyril Féraud and Natasha St-Pier. The French spokesperson revealing the result of the French vote in the final was Elodie Suigo.

Points awarded to France

Points awarded by France

Semi-final 1

Points awarded in first semi-final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Final

Points awarded in the final:
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points
3 points
2 points
1 point

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the French jury:
The French votes in the first semi-final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.

Final

The French votes in the grand final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results.