Barbara Pravi, candidate of France for Eurovision 2021 and Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of the French delegation for Eurovision.

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Screenshot France 2 / GUYON Nathalie

  • Alexandra Redde-Amiel is the director of entertainment for France Télés and the head of the French delegation at Eurovision.

  • "Barbara Pravi is overwhelming and, I say it: there is a talent like that every ten years", she confides, to

    20 Minutes

    , about the artist who will represent France in the next competition.

  • “What is important is that she is federating.

    What will happen in the coming months?

    We don't know, ”she says.

She is both the director of entertainment for France Télévisions and the head of the French delegation for Eurovision.

Suffice to say that for Alexandra Redde-Amiel the song contest, which will be held in Rotterdam (Netherlands) in May, is doubly important.

While the French public elected Barbara Pravi on Saturday to defend French chances with the song

Voilà

, Alexandra Redde-Amiel delivers to

20 Minutes

her assessment of the selection and the prospects for the great musical event of the spring.

“Eurovision France, you decide” gathered on France 2 on Saturday 2.37 million viewers, with a peak of 3 million when the result was announced.

Is it a satisfaction?

It is a great satisfaction.

It is a creation.

We put a lot of heart into building it.

I am very proud of this casting, there were some great proposals.

I told each of the talents that we will continue to support them.

And then, to see that at midnight 3 million televiewers followed the coronation of Barbara Pravi, of course that it is also a great pride.

We had a 15% audience share among 15 to 34 year olds, which is very interesting for us at France Télévisions, which means that all audiences were there.

The Eurovision brand, we are pushing it more than ever.

We want to continue to mobilize.

It is an event, a phenomenon and I believe that, in this period when the health crisis is a bit desocial, it is something that unites us and makes us commune around music.

Were there a lot of votes?

Yes, this mobilization is another satisfaction.

We received between 50,000 and 60,000 more votes than on previous selections.

What are your first impressions of Barbara Pravi?

Extraordinary.

Magical.

Heartwarming.

She is a unique artist.

It's a very beautiful story that we started two years ago.

We met with the candidacies for the Eurovision Junior of Carla, then Valentina [Barbara Pravi co-wrote their songs].

She is an assumed candidate, an artist who wants to do Eurovision.

It is overwhelming and, I say it: there is a talent like that every ten years.

Beyond this powerful song, Barbara is an inhabited artist, with an aura: when I find myself in front of her, she is magnetic, she has those sparkling little black eyes that say so much about what 'she wants to show the world.

I find her fantastic.

In comments on YouTube and on social networks, “There” is overwhelmingly well received.

Does that bode well for the competition?

It is rather very positive.

There, we've been looking at all the reactions for three days.

There is a certain unanimity, in France or internationally.

There are those who talk about the song, others about the character of Barbara Pravi, those who evoke the universe, the staging… What is important is that it is bringing together.

What will happen in the coming months?

We do not know.

But I think the path to Eurovision is starting pretty well.

What do you say to those who think that his song, “Voilà”, is too Franco-French for Eurovision?

I tell them, on the contrary, we need magic.

I think we need an incarnation and a song.

What's important at Eurovision is what happens and when you look at Barbara something is happening.

Whether we like French song or not, it is someone who catches us, who tells us to come into her world.

Among forty-one countries in the running, there is only one important thing: it is that we stop, we look and we say “wow”.

Beyond the French song, I believe that there is this magic around Barbara and

Voila

which makes it unique.

And what do you say to those who argue that France does not want to win Eurovision so as not to have to organize the next edition?

We had the possibility of refusing to organize the Eurovision Junior and yet with Delphine Ernotte and Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez [respectively CEO and director of the antennas of France Télévisions], we decided to go.

So I believe that our ambition has been proven.

If we won Eurovision, we would be very proud to welcome it.

To double by winning Eurovision after Eurovision Junior, what is more with two songs co-written by Barbara Pravi, that would not be trivial ...

Of course, when you think about it, you say to yourself: "What if the planets align again?"

".

France has not won Eurovision for forty-four years.

We would be rewarded more than ever.

But, even if you think about it, you mostly want to keep a cool head.

We haven't heard all the songs, there are still a lot of countries that haven't revealed theirs.

We will wait patiently.

We stay hyper-focused.

On May 22, we will be there and we will want to put on the best performance.

The health crisis will complicate the promotion of the song abroad whereas, in previous years, the French candidates participated in concerts in London or Amsterdam and performed on Ukrainian television.

What's next for Barbara Pravi?

It's a little each day is enough its trouble.

We try to work by finding solutions.

We think, if the concerts are canceled, how to communicate with the international anyway, how to show Barbara's performance differently.

This Eurovision will take place, whether it is recorded in France or whether we go to Rotterdam in small groups, we will do everything to ensure that our representative takes the light internationally and in France.

When will we know in what form Eurovision will take place in May?

I think it will be decided in February.

We have meetings with heads of delegations in the coming weeks.

Are you going to keep the scenography that we discovered on France 2 on Saturday for Eurovision?

We ask ourselves lots of questions.

This painting was very popular.

He's very beautiful.

The artistic teams - Marika Prochet, Julian Gutierrez… -, did an extraordinary job.

We're going to chat with Barbara, listen to what she wants, because she's a great creative.

Does she want to change everything?

I do not believe.

In any case, there is a very nice base that has been laid and we will adapt around it to offer a few more surprises to Eurovision.

As head of delegation, I am very proud to arrive with such a beautiful song, in this atmosphere, very Piaf.

Barbara Pravi manages to modernize French song.

It's a real slap in the face.

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