news from France! Zoé Clauzure will represent France at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023, France Télévisions has confirmed on social media. The song “Cœur” will be the French delegation’s entry for the 21st edition of the contest, which will be held in Nice on Sunday 26 November.
The young woman selected lives in Montrouge. She is passionate about music and has been taking singing and piano lessons since the age of 6. She became known to the general public after her participation in Season 7 of La Voz Kids in 2020 in the Soprano team. She made it to the quarter finals of the competition.
In addition to singing, she also models for major brands in her spare time. She has already sung with Amir (French participant of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016) and French singer-songwriter Yseult.
The teenage pianist from Montrouge is a fan of Zaho de Sagazan, Lady Gaga and Billie Eillish, and will represent France with her song Cœur. The track is a fun and energetic pop song, showcasing Zoe’s full vocal range. An accomplished songwriter, she writes lyrics and chords in a notebook, composes with Logic Pro software, records her versions played on the piano to post on social media, but what she loves most is getting up on stage.
The composition, which literally means “Heart”, is signed by Noée Francheteau, Julien Comblat and Jérémy Chapron and is released under the label “Les éditions du Balcon, Lucid Kid SAS Label Parlophone, on the Warner Music France label.
i love performing live. Singing solo like I did at La Cigale, opening for Lou, was complicated, but I rehearsed a lot, worked hard and managed to speak to the audience without being impressed. The experience taught me a lot. In fact, stage fright motivates me, the adrenaline drives me.’
Zoé Clauzure
FRANCE AT THE JUNIOR EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
Despite being absent for thirteen consecutive editions, the French delegation has made six appearances and two victories since its debut in 2004. Moreover, given the eminent quality of their entries and the meticulousness of their staging, they have never finished lower than sixth place.
The beginnings of the French delegation at Junior Eurovision date back to 2004. Following the success of the contest on a European scale in its first year, France, along with Switzerland, joined the 16 founding members of the first edition in order to promote child talent.
At the age of 14, the young Thomas Pontier made his debut in Lillehammer with Si On Voulait Bien, an entry entirely in French, which finished a decent sixth with a total of 78 points, far from the top five.
However, in 2005, the French delegation withdrew, imminently and without a return date, from Junior Eurovision. Although it seemed to be due to a restructuring of the broadcaster, Bruno Berberes, head of the French delegation, said that they were “not very motivated” to continue participating, and would focus all their interest on the adult edition. “Too much Eurovision kills Eurovision,” he said.
In 2018, after two years of rumours about its return, France Télévisions, led by Edoardo Grassi as head of delegation, announced France’s return to Junior Eurovision and put an end to thirteen years of absence. Little Angélina, winner of The Voice Kids France, was internally selected to represent France in Minsk with the song Jamais Sans Toi, with which she achieved a second place and 203 points, just behind Poland, the winner of the edition.
Carla Lazzari would be the next to try, in 2019, with Bim Bam Toi. Her entry received a total of 169 points and finished in fifth place. A decent result, although insufficient to beat the previous year’s mark.
Victory, however, was not long in coming. With 200 points and unanimity among the jury and the online vote, Valentina became the first French entry to win Junior Eurovision with J’Imagine.
In 2021, Enzo, finalist of The Voice Kids in 2020, was chosen as host with Tic Tac. The entry, similar in style to Valentina’s, came close to revalidating a second victory for France on home soil, following in the footsteps of Poland with Viki Gabor in 2019. However, despite being the jury’s favourite, the public’s votes saw Enzo decline to third place with a total of 187 points.
From Paris to Yerevan, victory returned to France. Lissandro, finalist of The Voice Kids France in 2020, became the winner of Junior Eurovision 2022 with the song Oh Maman! A total of 203 points gave the victory to France in extremis, and against all odds, it was their second triumph in less than three years.
JUNIOR EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2023
On Sunday 26 November, Junior Eurovision 2023 will be held, the 21st edition of the children’s contest in which European artists between the ages of 9 and 14 will compete for the mini crystal microphone. The Palais Nikaïa in Nice will be the main stage for this year’s edition.
Public broadcaster France Télévisions will organise the festival again two years later, as it did in 2021, following Lissandro’s brilliant victory in Yerevan with “Oh Maman!
Under the slogan Heroes, the French broadcaster wants to create a unique experience for the 21st edition of Junior Eurovision and convey an explosion of happiness in a world where children are the heroes under a corporate identity of paint, chalk, gunpowder and fireworks.
A total of 16 countries will participate in Junior Eurovision 2023, the same number as last year, including the return of Germany after a year’s creative break. It will therefore be the first edition of the contest to feature the full Big Five.
Contrary to the withdrawals of Kazakhstan and Serbia, 2023 will be Estonia’ s first edition of the contest, as ERR was the only Baltic broadcaster not to have participated in the children’s competition so far.