Today the rehearsals for Eurovision 2023 continue in Liverpool. Countries rehearsing on Day 5 include Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine, Spain and the UK, who are having their first rehearsal on the Liverpool stage. Up next is La Zarra, representing France.
La Zarra’s first rehearsal
The second act to take to the Eurovision 2023 stage at M&S Bank Arena today in Liverpool was France’s La Zarra. La Zarra will be competing in this year’s competition with her entry “Évidemment” following on from her internal selection.
Following La Zarra’s first rehearsal, a clip of what went on was posted on the official Eurovision Song Contest TikTok account. The clip showed La Zarra before and after she took to the Eurovision stage for the first time, as well as giving us some insight into how her first rehearsal went.
What did we learn about France’s staging?
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
In her performance, La Zarra is placed on a platform that is raised five metres into the air. The platform moves throughout the performance, whilst La Zarra stands on top, draped in a fitted gown made up of red and black sequins. Midway through the performance, the platform’s fabric cover drops to reveal a disco-themed column that allows La Zarra to vocally deliver. The French flag appears in the final few seconds of the performance.
What we thought of La Zarra’s first rehearsal
After La Zarra’s first rehearsal, Tim gave his initial thoughts on the snippet that we saw.
Who is La Zarra?
Fatima Zahra Hafdi, otherwise known as La Zarra is a 25 year-old singer originally from Montreal, a French speaking providence in Canada. Up until getting involved in music, Fatima was a hairdresser. La Zarra started releasing music back in 2020 with her first single À l’ammoniaque/Mon dieu. In 2022 La Zarra released her first album “Traîtrise”, from this comes her most successful song in France so far which is Tu t’en iras, which charted at No.75, and has amassed over 22 millions streams on Spotify.
“Évidemment” – La Zarra’s Eurovision entry was written by Ahmed Saghir, Yannick Rastogi and Zacharie Raymond, as well as input from Fatima herself.
France’s Eurovision Journey
France is a powerhouse in Eurovision, debuting in the first Contest in 1956. Their first entries finished in second place, but no scores were ever published. Since then, France has gone on to win the Contest five times. The most recent win came in 1977, with Marie Myriam’s “L’enfant et l’oiseau”, scoring 136 points.
Recently, France had slumped in results but a change in direction in 2016 has seen a boost in results. Amir finished in 6th position for France with “J’ai charchĂ©”, followed by 12th, 13th and 16th places respectively. In 2022, France sent Breton artists Alvan and Ahez with their song “Fulenn”. At the close of voting, France finished in 24th place, earning 17 points.
What do you think of Évidemment? Can La Zarra bring Eurovision back to France for the first time since 1977? Where does France fall in your rankings? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow “That Eurovision Site” on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we cover the rehearsals for Eurovision 2023!
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU
