Tom Leeb at the Sarlat Film Festival (Dordogne), in November 2018. – Jacques BENAROCH / SIPA
information had been stale on Friday through The Parisian. It was confirmed on Tuesday by
France 2 : Tom Leeb will defend French chances in the final of the
Eurovision May 16, in Rotterdam (Netherlands). However, the question mark remains around the song he will be performing.
Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of the tricolor delegation to Eurovision – also director of entertainment for France Televisions – spoke on Tuesday evening to a dozen media, including 20 minutes. She said it was the song that was chosen first, after an invitation to tender launched to French and, for the first time, international authors and composers.
“Universality and emotion”
“We received over a hundred songs written for France. We did a lot of listening committees and then we fell in love with one of them, she said. She gathered what we wanted. In this case, the specifications focused on three points: the universality, the emotion and the ability of the piece to make the audience “live an experience”.
Xavier Bonnetain, music director at FranceTV Distribution, the commercial subsidiary of the public audiovisual group, said: “When we make a listening committee, we review about thirty titles. It quickly becomes indigestible. And in fact, that song emerged on its own. We are sure of its strength because, when we listened to it, in the middle of all the others, we had forgotten all the ones before and the five songs after. It’s a sign. We thought that on the day of the Eurovision final, this song could mark, train people and make people forget the songs around. “
The piece in question has been kept away from the ears of journalists, who will have to wait a little longer before making their own opinion. “We are moving from a model to a song produced,” said Xavier Bonnetain. Besides, Tom Leeb would be in the studio these days to work on the final version. In a short video message to the media, the 30-year-old singer said he was “very honored” and “very excited to participate in this great show”.
“Tom Leeb, he’s a unique grain of voice”
So it was after the song was chosen that the young artist was selected to perform it. “It was pretty quick. In our unit, we follow talents. Among them, there was one that suited what we needed to give the song its full breadth, “said Alexandra Redde-Amiel. She therefore spoke of Tom Leeb, whose “grain of voice” she praised before listing his qualities: “He is modern, universal, charismatic, authentic, attractive. He has a very interesting pop folk universe which made it possible, when you discover the song, to bring him even more things. “
The head of the French delegation affirms, “The meeting between the song and the artist was magical. The planets have aligned. We are rather very confident on this adventure in Rotterdam. We arrive with a project, an artist, a modern and universal song, and more determined than ever to get closer to the podium. “
Such determination stirs the curiosity around this still confidential song. France Television teams promise “a nice surprise for the reveal (her disclosure) “. “We want to create an event on the air,” slips Alexandra Redde-Amiel. It suggests an “innovative” device, “something exceptional”. And to conclude: “When we are going to speak, we want it to be heard and it should be seen. “
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