Eurovision Fan of the Week - Corentin from France

I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing one of the most iconique Eurofans on twitter - Co (@AlleCosTankar). He shares with us his local insight on the upcoming French National Final and show's us a little bit of Scandi love.

Thank you for being our Aussievision fan of the week! Tell us a little about yourself...

My name is Corentin (or Co, that's probably easier for anyone who isn't French), I'm 25, work full time as a software engineer and live not too too far from Paris.

How did you get into Eurovision? What was the first year you watched?

I don't remember exactly when I started watching Eurovision but the earliest memory I have of it is the Fatal Picards' performance in 2007. Fast forward to 2014, I end up catching the last hour or so of the Final and witnessing Conchita's victory. I head online to see the reactions and find myself utterly disgusted by the comments read on the Facebook page of the contest. I was disappointed with the result at the time but I thought "this is going waaaaay too far". I left a like on the Facebook page, started getting info about national selections on my feed and slowly descended into the NF season madness. By the beginning of the 2016 season I had become very involved on Twitter, and 5 years later I'm still here!

~ It was horrible the undeserving backlash Conchita received...the legacy of 'Rise Like A Phoenix' will always outshine the hate! Very similar for me - after 2014 I started slowly going into the endless void of National Finals... (Liv)

What is your favourite Eurovision performance?

I love absolutely everything about 'Fairytale' (Norway 2009). It's not my favourite song ever (although it's up there and is getting some of my points in the yearly ESC250) but Alexander is such a charismatic performer, it never fails to put a smile on my face and I love violins!

Which French artist would you love to see on the Eurovision stage?

I don't follow the French music scene as much as I should but one act I keep thinking of is Hyphen Hyphen. I would KILL to have them do it with a banger like 'Just Need Your Love'.

Are you excited about your up-and-coming National Final Eurovision France, c'est vous qui décidez? We here at Aussievision ALWAYS look forward to it!

I always look forward to NF season and I'm always excited to hear and see new artists, songs and stagings, so of course our own selection is no exception! I'm also a little scared - will it be a good show, will we pick the right song, will it push the Eurovision brand in the right direction... France Télévisions (the national public service broadcaster) is trying to make Eurovision a big entertainment brand but there's still a long way to go to change what people think of it (and sadly I don't think this will be the year to do that). But I'm going off topic - yes, I'm excited! I quite like the selection of songs regardless of how they'd do in Rotterdam, I think there's little room for me to be *super* disappointed with the result.

Who do you think will do well?

I really have no clear idea. One would expect the juries to go for 'Voilà' but we know juries can be random and all over the place. I don't know if the viewers will like 'Voilà' enough to massively vote for it but I do think there's an audience for this sort of song so I wouldn't expect it to tank completely.

Philippine has gathered dozens of millions of streams across multiple platforms with her previous releases so I would expect her to have a fan base, but I have no idea how strong it will be, and I don't see the juries necessarily going for her song. And I don't have any more clue about the rest.

We Frenchies are an unpredictable bunch, this should make for a very exciting voting sequence! But if I had to put money on someone right now, I'd put it on Barbara and 'Voilà', with the juries making up for a possible televoting screw you- sorry, I meant if she doesn't quite make it to the top of the public vote 🤞 (I think 'Voilà' is our best option anyway)

~ On a similar wave length to you - think 'Voilà' has the legs to win the jury but as we've seen time and time again how much influence that televote has! I'm thinking she'll probably miss out due to the televote if I had to go with a gut-instinct but would be delighted if she won! (Liv)

Which national final do you look forward to the most?

Melodifestivalen. I love the slick production, the hosts are very often doing a great job and delivering a very nice script, it's all very clean and sharp and doesn't overrun (if I can have both a good NF and a decent sleep schedule I'll take it), and the music there is my cup of tea. Generally speaking the Scandinavian NFs share some of these characteristics so I'm also very much into Melodi Grand Prix and Dansk Melodi Grand Prix.

What is your opinion on returning artists? Is there one you would like to see again?

I don't mind it as long as broadcasters don't forget to give others their chance too! I would have loved to have everyone from 2020 back, but this very specific case aside I'm absolutely in for a 3rd Sergey Lazarev try.

~ Sergey is 100% my pick to return as well!! *swoon* (Liv)

If you could pick only three performances to encourage new people to watch Eurovision what would they be:

That's tough, 3 entries can't showcase the whole contest! In that case I would probably pick 'Euphoria', 'Heroes' and 'Fairytale' - a bunch of safe and accessible songs so they don't freak out straight away.

Which Eurovision song:

Is the best winner?

'Fairytale'

Has the best live vocal?

We've had quite a few great vocalists but the one that immediately comes to mind is none other than Dami Im, her voice is out of this world!

~ Someone's got good taste! (Liv)

Is your French National Final Favourite for 2021?

Barbara or bust 😍😍😍

Was the best French entry?

There's a handful of French entries I hold dear and I've changed my mind several times over the years but in the end I think nothing beats 'L'Oiseau et l'Enfant' (1977) (honourable mention: 'L'Enfer et Moi' (2013)).

Was robbed?

I'll never get over 'Hear Them Calling' (Iceland 2016) not making the final.

Is your guilty pleasure?

'Woki mit deim popo' (Austria 2012).

Is your favourite National Final song (that didn't make it to Eurovision)?

'Jutro' (Serbia & Montenegro 2005). The fact that Europe missed out on another Željko masterpiece is ridiculous. Honourable mentions: 'Surprise' (Germany 2019) and 'Stay The Night' (Sweden 2009).

And finally which Australian entry is your favourite…

Jess! Say what you will that performance was incredible and she was done so dirty.

Be kind to each other folks. Take it easy and accept that you can't possibly know everything about someone and their life. Weigh out your words and actions, it doesn't take much to make someone's day easier! 💙

You're a gem Co! Thank you thoroughly for your time and some interesting insight and answers on our beloved contest.