After the victory of the young singer Valentina last year, France is hosting the Eurovision Junior competition for the first time, which will be held in Boulogne-Billancourt (near Paris) and will be broadcast on France 2. The challenge is twofold: to do just as well this year, but above all to organize the event. The France Télévisions teams have been working on the ceremony for a year. 300 people will be mobilized on Sunday in the Seine Musicale performance hall. We have to accommodate 19 countries, in the midst of a health crisis.
A big pressure that does not hide the head of the French delegation of Eurovision and director of entertainment of France Televisions, Alexandra Redde Amiel. “We have a real security challenge. We have an exemplary health bubble to create around the arrival of the 19 delegations, so it’s a great pressure,” she admits. “We also have a real show challenge: we have 19 candidate-artists who should not be disappointed. We carry all the artistic: their light, their dressing … We have to be up to what they want. And then we have the pressure of broadcasting in 19 countries, with 32 million viewers. It’s absolutely gigantic and it makes us shiver, dream and stress at the same time. “
Trio of presenters, duo of commentators
It is the Christmas theme that has been chosen this year. France Télévisions even got to change the date of the competition to organize it in December, rather than November. In the comments, viewers will find, as for the adult competition, Stéphane Bern and Laurence Boccolini. The presentation will be provided by a trio: Elodie Gossuin, Olivier Minne and Carla. The latter had participated in 2019 with her title Bim bam you, which has since become a gold record, and soon a platinum record.
The singer intends to use her own experience in the competition to animate the ceremony. “I will be able to share my experience as a candidate, we will complete each other with Elodie and Olivier”, she anticipates at the microphone of Europe 1. “I can not wait to juggle between French and English, to go meet the candidates! What appealed to me as a candidate was the mix of cultures and human experience. I advised Enzo to take advantage of it. “
Possibility to vote for own country
Enzo, of which Carla speaks, is our French representative this year. He competes with his song Tic Tac. The 13-year-old singer, revealed by the show The Voice Kids in 2020, is delighted to participate and succeed Valentina, who won the title last year. “It puts me under little pressure of course, but I work twice a week with my vocal coach,” he says. “We work very hard, because it’s a song that goes very quickly, that jumps, that moves. So we are working on breathing and accuracy despite the movements.”
You can vote for Enzo, because the junior version of Eurovision allows you to vote for your own country, unlike the adult version. Voting opens on Friday at 5 p.m., until the competition which takes place on Sunday, live at 4 p.m. on France 2.