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© Sebastien Tellier
"I tried in French"
France: Sébastien Tellier to sing only in English at Eurovision
Jean-Pierre Pasqualini, monthly magazine Platine’s editor, said that "France has nothing to lose now that we have achieved the worst results", but he wonders whether an artist usually performing on small stages will be able to give the best of himself in front of a very big audience.
“No problem" Benoît Sabatier, French magazine Technikart’s editor answered, "Sébastien Tellier is able to stimulate people whatever the size of the venue”. Marc-Olivier Fogiel asked Sébastien Tellier how the opportinity came to him. “People of France 3 came to me right after the concert I gave at Beaubourg (Paris) and I said yes. I am considered as a trendry singer, but I am not intellectual at all and I hope this experience will help me get out of the underground world”.
A few questions were asked on his latest album Sexuality, an ode to love and physical pleasure. The man made no secrets about his past experiences (sex, drugs, alcohol and psychiatrics). “But now I am someone sane”, he said with a big smile, a pleasant voice and sunglasses !
For Eurovision fans, the biggest news of the night will be that... the French entry will be performed entirely in English. “I went to studio and tried to put French words on it. But I was not satisfied at all with the result. It will be in English... unfortunately for France 3”, Sébastien said.
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This afternoon I listened to Marquess (Germany 2008 La histeria), then there was Evridiki (Cyprus 2007 Comme ci, comme ça) and Ich Troje (Poland 2006 I Follow my heart). It is not easy to sing in a foreign language. Everybody´s got some accent, some just stumble in the grammar... My point is: I´m really happy to see that some brave artists are taking their chances, being more adventurous and using other languages than English. English is fantastic, but there are other alternatives that break some " long time ago set patterns". So, yes, France can sing in English. I wish Divine good luck.
Next year Carla Bruni with Si j'etais president ;-)
Does anyone understand the lyrics of the French entry. I tried to follow the lyrics but I can only pick up some words
I humhumhumhum friend humhumhumhum. Sebastian Tellytubby has a bad diction.
France douze points! Bravo 
You are a great guy Martin ! I would like to write in German here but esctoday has the English only - policy. This gives non-native speakers of English a strong disadvantage. Jeg håper å lese mer fra deg Martin.
I actually really like this song from France in English. I think English as a language lends itself well to songs in general so if French doesn't work for it but English does why change it.
@Raymond
I didn't know that, but my comment would have been rude, unaccetable and completely out of line even if you were a monolingual. I can only add that I'm deeply ashamed of it and regret it. I offer my sincerest apologies.
Ten languages, that's quite an achievement. Obviously English, Dutch, French and German would be among those ten but which others? I might still ahead with twelve but I must admit that I'm not fluent in all of them, so if you speak those ten languages fluently I'm really impressed! 
@World Song Contest
With all due respect, there are a few errors in your post
[i]"You criticise artists who translate into English a song which was originally written in another language. And now you also criticize those who don't want to change the original language just because this original language is: English... What do you have against English ???????"[i]
I've got nothing at all against English. I think each country should sing in their own language, and I don't wish to see the UK performing in French either.
[i]"If English is a so boring language, please stop writing in English here too. I'm sorry but everyone here write in English to be sure everybody else understand what they mean."[i]
No, quite many of us write in English because we are forced to, Esctoday states that we have to write in English or have our accounts removed. I'd be more than happy to discuss with others here in French, Swedish, Russian, Spanish, German, Italian, Croatian...
[i]"it's better for in a commercial view (did Serbia entered the charts somewhere in Europe outside the Balkans in 2007 ????) "[i]
To the best of my knowledge, no. But did any artist singing in English enter the European charts outside his/her own region?
A great song not getting near top 10 by any means.
Excellent, the best song!
After all, not an ESC-formated entry, but something you can find on the charts.
Sebastien Tellier, you make beautiful music
Watch the video clip of "chiki chiki," subtitled in English and is also in Frenh!!! ENGLISH: url=http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=53GYKNTnilA]http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=53GYKNTnilA/url] FRENCH: url=http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=jX_cQLXHnYk]http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=jX_cQLXHnYk/url] good luck spain!!!
[i]Whether it will do well at Eurovision, however...? [/i]
Most probably not but it hardly matters. What does matter is France attempting to raise the bar on Eurovision which has of late become the poligon for various Pop Idol and/or X Factor rejects or runners-up (who then in turn attract duty freaks such as Kirkorov to scribble yet more rubbish for them).
Instead, France is sending a personality and an accomplished author.
So what exaclty are the English lyrics? 'Divine' is one of the few songs this year (the only song) where there are no lyrics on the Internet.
@Jan 1964
If there is somebody who needs to worry for the extinction of their language then English will be the first in the list
In the US, many are concerned with the fact that Hispanic community promotes Spanish everywhere and English-speaking population reduces.
In France we invent sort of Frenglish... a mixture of basic English marketing words with French touch... and it deforms not only French but the English language as well ... and what we can say about the rest of the world ? Check out the level of English in Africa, South America... I bet some Englishmen need sometimes translators to figure out those version of English talk ... don't go far ... take the candidates of ESC singing in English ... you'll have hard time to understand what the're screaming about ... the best is yet to come... from China I guess ... I don't even dare to imagine the final result of this language's mutation ... may be sort of Chewnglish in the end will emerge.
This song is excellent!
Good luck to France.
Anyway, back to more important things:
He certainly did choose the right language for the song. Try putting Molitva into English. It wouldn't sound right! Yet it won last year.
As long as the song is strong enough it really doesn't matter what language it is sung in.
The days of protectionism have long passed and those still stuck in the 20th Century need to realise there's no going back!
One thing has always concerned me though:
The UK music market is still very heavily protected from outside interference, in the same disturbing manner that wines and cheeses are protected. So there is little or no music from other languages in the top 40 charts. I have always felt that the British are the worst at learning languages, and as a Brit myself, I applaud the French for showing the British the way!
@ jan 1964
French an extinct language:
Pour que tu t'endormes moins bête ce soir en te couchant; just have a look:
url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_French]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_French/url] _is_an_official_language
@ Martin 78:
I am a linguist for an international organisation actually, and I am in the process of learning my tenth language. Oh yes, and as of 5th April, Germany will be the sixth country I go to live in.
But never mind, you didn't know that.
Best song this year
No song in french this year? Yes, that's right...but we don't have song in german (Estonia?), dutch, russian, polish, ungarian, czech, swedish, norvegian, ukrainian, armenian, and some mother tongue too...Thank you EBU for your rules...
M A S T E R P I E C E...
Really DIVINE.
Of course he knows better than me, still I'm convinced that it would have been lovely sung in french. No chance he will change his mind?
I love the song, anyway.
So I don't blame him if he performed in English. He's 100% right mainly if he thinks it doesn't work to add words in French. The song was originally written in English, and it really works in that language. And now you cry because he doesn't want to add some words in French. You criticise artists who translate into English a song which was originally written in another language. And now you also criticize those who don't want to change the original language just because this original language is: English... What do you have against English ???????
If English is a so boring language, please stop writing in English here too. I'm sorry but everyone here write in English to be sure everybody else understand what they mean... and the thing is the same with the Eurovision Song Contest. You have to sing for viewers from all over Europe, who speak different languages. So you have different solutions:
1. you sing in English (to be sure more people will understand what you say than if you sing in your own language) and also because it's better for in a commercial view (did Serbia entered the charts somewhere in Europe outside the Balkans in 2007 ????)
OR: 2. make a show (which could be a really funny one, or a really sad one for a ballad) so you can express feelings or emotions (joy, sadness, love, laugh... whatever) but you have to be good at that to be sure people will feel the same way (I think this is what Serbia did last year... tough it didn't affect me at all as long as I still don't like the song), something which will help Ireland this year (and then you won't like this idea).
OR: 3. keep your language if you have enough neighbours who will understand it (lol I'm joking).
OR: 4. Choose the language you think is the best one for the song.
And I think this is what Sébastien Tellier did: n°4 !!!
The language doesn't matter, this song doesn't lead anywhere. One of the poorest French entries ever.
@martin 78 , u want to see again ireland, and Uk to win every year? 
A clever move by France, sending this song.
Great decision. This kind of song, should be performed in English!
Looking forward to see how they will perform this song on stage. It surely needs something original, fantastic on stage, something that has never been seen before at Eurovision. Otherwise this might pass by unnoticed.
Damn, damn, damn!
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