The feeling of hearing that one of your favourite artists is set to compete at Eurovision is a special one. This year, I was lucky enough to experience that feeling when Louane was announced as being the French representative for Basel 2025.
I knew instantly that following her Eurovision journey wouldn’t just be that of tracking the progress of an artist and a song amidst the chaos surrounding the Song Contest; I would be rooting for something that has been part of me for so long to be shared and celebrated with the world.
Louane’s Path To Artistic Success
The first place to start in telling the story of Louane is that Louane is actually Anne Peichert. She was born to a French father and a Portuguese Brazilian mother and had five siblings growing up (four sisters and one half-brother). She was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of eight—something she associates with her having been an “insomniac, hyperactive and unruly child”. It was around this time that she was introduced to music by her nanny Monique who encouraged Anne’s passion for singing. At 12, Anne participated in the show ‘L’École des stars,’ a French TV show designed to showcase young talented singers.
Discovering Louane
This experience would prepare her perfectly for her appearance on The Voice France five years later. This was when Anne Peichert opted for the stage name Louane, combining her name with her sister’s (Louise). At her blind audition, she was visibly nervous. Still, she delivered the stunning soft vocal that would define her musical style, becoming increasingly emotional with each chair turn until all four judges turned. Louane would eventually be eliminated in the Semi Finals. Unfortunately, this was around the time when an immense tragedy would strike. Louane’s father died before the broadcast of her appearance on The Voice France, and her mother would die 14 months later from cancer.
Her appearance on The Voice France was noted by director Éric Lartigau, who was developing a film called ‘La Famille Bélier’.
A Step With The Silver Screen
The film told the story of a teenage singer who was the child of two deaf parents and, therefore, indispensable in the context of their family farm and livelihood, even though her passion is singing and her dream is to attend music college in Paris. Louane fit the role like a glove, and her performance of Michel Sardou’s ‘Je vole’ is not only a fantastic showcase of her vocal prowess, but her use of French Sign Language (which she learned for the role) makes this one of the most iconic scenes of modern French cinema.
Louane would go on to win both a Lumière and a César for most promising actress and although music would go on to be her focus, the film established her as a household name across France.
When her debut album ‘Chambre 12’ was released, Louane was a bona fide star. Her debut single ‘Jour 1’ charted at Number six, and the album’s lead-in single ‘Avenir’ topped the charts in France and Luxembourg, reaching the Top 10 in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Slovakia. This not only meant her music made breakthroughs outside of the Francophone market, but it also made her the first reality TV show contestant to top the French singles chart in six years.
A Powerful Connection To An Artist
It’s about now that I first discovered Louane and fell instantly in love with her music.
Having lived in Paris for several years beforehand, I was plotting a return to the city I regarded as my true home, travelling regularly throughout my university degree. Her music was everything I reflected in my view of France: sensual, graceful and nostalgic, but also painful, anxious and longing. When I listened to the classic chansons of Edith Piaf or Françoise Hardy, they were unmistakably French. Still, they were polished and perfected in a way that Louane’s music wasn’t because of the grit and honesty that came from her lived experiences.
As a result, as I journeyed through France, connecting to a country and a culture which had become part of my identity, Louane and her music were with me through all of it. When I met my now wife Melanie in Paris for the first time in October 2017, Louane’s music was one of the many things we bonded over, and our mutual fascination with each other’s cultures led to a mutual fascination with each other and at the time of writing, to a marriage of more than two years.
Welcome To Eurovision
So you can imagine the joy and excitement for both of us on that fateful night in January when we learned that Melanie’s country and my adopted one would be represented by an artist we shared mutual admiration for.
Fin Ross Russell at the Pont D’Avignon (photo: self)
Knowing the story of her having lost her mother at a young age, it was particularly emotional that the video announcing Louane as the artist highlighted Louane’s mother’s dream to see her daughter compete at the Eurovision Song Contest. The following days were spent going through her back catalogue, catching up on some of her most recent music, looking for clues as to what her entry was going to be like. You see, when you learn that an artist you’ve followed for years and love is going to represent their country at Eurovision, your first feeling is immense excitement, your second feeling is nervous anticipation – what if your favourite artist does Eurovision and the song is underwhelming?
This was made even worse when it was announced that the song would be premiered at the Stade de France during the half-time of the France vs. Scotland rugby union match on March 16th. Not only did this mean having to wait longer than for any other Eurovision song this 2025 season, but I was guilty of seriously over-analysing their reveal choice. Were they waiting until the end because the delegation thought they went too soon with Slimane (the first song to be released of the 2024 Eurovision season)? Was there not any kind of radio airplay or studio version release before this reveal? Did the half-time reveal indicate that it would be a banger or a ballad? My ability to follow Eurovision this national final season was significantly affected by these thoughts being in my mind the whole time.
Is ‘Maman’ The One?
Once Melanie and I watched the performance, everything instantly made sense. Although the song was not suited to the stadium environment it was presented in, showcasing the entry like this was a signal of intent from the French delegation; they believed this one could be a winner. The song is, perhaps unsurprisingly, a ballad, but its grand orchestral instrumental means it packs more energy than Switzerland’s own French-language ballad. And despite being dangled in the air in front of 80,000 people, Louane sang every lyric down the camera note-perfect.
The song was reminiscent of the 2015 ‘Maman’, but that was intentional since it was designed to follow that original entry with lyrics referencing those of its older sibling. From “Les amants passent de lit en lit” (Lovers pass from bed to bed) to “Y a plus d’amants Y a plus de lits” (There are no more lovers, there are no more beds) and “J’suis pas bien dans ma tête, maman.” (I’m not well in the head, mum) to “Je vais mieux, je sais où je vais” (I’m doing better, I know where I’m going), the lyrics directly represent an evolution over the course of the last ten years whilst also acknowledging the grief she still carries:
Et le vide est grand (And the void is vast)
Les questions aussi (The questions too)
Toi, tu vas comment ? (How are you?)
Est-c’que tu vois tout ici ? (Can you see everything here?)
Why Maman Is Full Circle Storytelling
The only point of confusion for those who aren’t aware of Louane’s personal circumstances is the final line of the chorus when she sings “Maintenant, c’est moi qu’elle appelle “maman”” (Now I’m the one she calls ‘mum’). Louane has been in a relationship with fellow singer Florian Rossi since summer 2018, and in March 2020, she gave birth to her daughter Esmée whose voice appears in the song’s final lyric. This final punch brings the story of Louane and her relationship with her mother full circle, highlighting that in becoming a mother, the grief that Louane has held over the course of her prolific career has never disappeared; but it is transformed and evolved into the love and care she holds for her daughter.
I find it highly emotional when it all comes together to be told within three minutes. If Louane & the French delegation can highlight this story through their promotion campaign and their staging in Basel, there is no doubt that we have our 2025 Eurovision winner.
The trouble is that the ‘if’ does a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence, and whilst those who get ‘maman’ love it, those who don’t are fairly lukewarm to it and online discourse suggests the latter half is the majority. With that in mind, if there’s one delegation worth watching during Eurovision 2025, it’s France, to see if they can do enough to go one better than Barbara Pravi in 2021 and bring the 70th Eurovision Song Contest to France.
Basel
As for me, I will be a bag of nerves for the jury scores announcements on Saturday, May 17th. My objective perspective is that I trust France’s ability to score jury and televotes more than Sweden’s ability to score jury votes or Austria’s ability to score televotes.
That said, for the above reasons, I don’t trust my ability to be objective because I am so biased in my desire to see this win. In the 13 years I’ve been following the contest, I have never been able to call the French entry my favourite and now I get to support it in Basel as it competes for Eurovision glory with a realistic shot at victory.
If I’m in the arena with my French wife watching an artist we both love win Eurovision for France, not only will the celebrations go long into the night (and spill over the border back into France), I think I will have reached the peak of my Eurovision-following lifetime and although great moments and stories will continue to come out of this great contest for decades to come, nothing would ever match up to being there to see Louane join André Claveau, Jacqueline Boyer, Isabelle Aubret, Frida Boccara and Marie Myriam as a French Eurovision winner.