Bilal wins Destination Eurovision and will represent France in Tel Aviv

19-year-old Bilal Hassani has been crowned champion of France by winning their national selection show Destination Eurovision.

In a dramatic voting sequence, Bilal only finished 5th in the international jury votes and was trailing jury winner Seemone by 44 points. However the French public voted for him in waves, giving him a whopping 150 points to win by a clear 44 points himself.

His song 'Roi' (translated as King) was composed with Madame Monsieur who represented France at the 2018 contest with 'Mercy'.

Hassani is a YouTube star with almost 1 million subscribers. He was a hot favourite going into the contest thanks to the popularity of his song which already has over 5 million views on YouTube.

He has also had to overcome a 'wave' of homophobic abuse online because of his sexuality. Two French LGBTIQ+ groups are currently taking action against the abuse.

Bilal will compete in the Grand Final of Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel on 18 May.

#france