Lisa Angell: I'd Do It All Again

Lisa Angell

Lisa Angell would like to sing for France again

Despite finishing near the bottom of the Eurovision scoreboard, France's Lisa Angell has told The Huffington Post that she would jump at the chance of representing her country again in the competition.

Disappointment

Understandably disappointed that her song N'oubliez pas scored just four points and only ranked 25th out of 27 entries, she initially blamed herself for the lowly placing. A Top 10 finish was in her sights, but having now reviewed her performance, she feels France's result was less about her presentation skills and more about the whole voting process eclipsing the song.

Fortunately, her entry is included on her eponymous fourth album, already released during May in the UK.

A rewarding experience

Undoubtedly, she hopes the commercial ramifications of her involvement will be even more rewarding than the realisation of her childhood dream of participating in Eurovision. After all, performing a good song in front of 200 million television viewers has it advantages. It quickly brings the artist to the attention of a wider public and enables album and concert ticket sales from places previously thought improbable.

Humiliation?

Commercial considerations apart, her enthusiasm for entering the Eurovision fray once again is probably driven by a sense of artistic injustice, along with an acute feeling of disappointment for the French team which assisted her.

Logically, it is factors such as these which force big name artists away from participating in the Contest, much to the chagrin of its fans - especially those in the Big 5 nations who would appear to have more to lose than most.

Music and politics

As Ms. Angell has stated (and other singers have long since recognised)..."je pense que la musique et la politique, ça ne marche pas." [I think that music and politics do not work well together]. So, bravo to her for even considering a future participation in the Contest.

Lisa Angell's album is available for download at both Amazon and iTunes

Image: Nathalie Guyon / France TV

Eurovision 2015: France: Lisa Angell: N'oubliez pas

Lisa Angell is the French Representative

Sometimes, the Eurovision Song Contest can take you by surprise. Case in point, the somewhat covert announcement of the French entry for 2015.

After last year's dire result for France, the new Eurovision broadcaster for the country, France 2, has announced in almost hushed tones, that their choice for Vienna is an emotive ballad called N'oubliez pas, sung by the relatively unknown chanteuse, Lisa Angell.

"Participation is a dream come true," states the singer, whose style and presentation hark back to France's more successful, classic era at the Contest. No surprise then that several voices have already condemned the selection as old-fashioned, cheesy and destined to perform badly on the scoreboard come May 23. Quite probably it is not the winner, but this is the type of song that works best for France, in my opinion. Remember Sandrine François' fifth place in 2002 with the stunning, Il faut du temps?

N'oubliez pas, however, was written last November amidst the commemoration services for the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1. Its lyrics are a message of peace and remembrance. Lisa Angell, a songstress of more than twenty years experience, has the power in her voice to deliver the theme of the composition with conviction and compassion. Unfortunately, it's now a message with heightened resonance since the recent events in Paris.

By May, the fallout from those attacks may have faded somewhat and that will leave N'oubliez pas to stand on its own merits. In an ideal world, it would have no problem doing so. Eurovision is not an ideal world, though. These days, it seems it is more to do with the presentation and the 'look' of the singer than it is the song. It's therefore a brave step by France 2 to pick someone who is in her mid-Forties and equally one who does not conform to today's image of the 'ideal pop star'.

That said, the performance will demand good staging and lighting. It will need to be as equally as powerful as the song in order to deliver its message and keep it fresh in the mind of the voters. Above all, Lisa Angell will have to provide a vocal of equivalently outstanding quality as the studio version of the song.

I hope that she can and, in doing so, help France nearer to the top of the scoreboard where this song belongs.

What do you think?