Eurovision 2024: France’s First Rehearsal!

Next up on the stage of Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is France. Slimane with his song “Mon Amour” is ready for his first rehearsal on the stage of Malmö Arena!

Who is Slimane?

Slimane Nebchi (known with his stage name as Slimane) was born and raised in France, while he is of Algerian descent through his grandparents.

Since winning The Voice (France) in 2016, Slimane’s rise in popularity has been meteoric, with 2 million albums sold, 5 NRJ Music Awards, 2 billion worldwide streams, 7 million followers on social media and a Victorie de la Musique to his name.

The singer wrote the lyrics of Mon amour and co-composed the song with his inseparable partners and friends Yaacov and Meir Salah, with whom Slimane has been making music since the age of 15.

Slimane was selected internally by France Télévisions for Eurovision 2024. In fact, “Mon Amour” was the first Eurovision 2024 entry released in November 2023.

The Rehearsal

France’s Slimane is up next, with his sweeping ballad Mon Amour. He’s become an established star in his home country since he won The Voice (France) in 2016, and now has his sights set on Eurovision.

The staging for this performance has the same energy as the official video, with lots of close-ups of Slimane sharing his pain and asking the big questions about love. His vocal range and the simple piano accompaniment create a kind of breathless intensity, and nobody does his kind of chanson d’amour quite like France.

Staging wise, it starts with Slimane lying on the floor in a white suit, and he performs the first half of the song on his knees, interacting with the camera in a way that feels like a POV of a really intense argument. The juxtaposition of this with the questions he asks in the lyrics feels really immersive, like you’re part of the encounter. We might have just held our breath for three minutes.

At the end there’s a section where Slimane steps away from the mic and sings the final chorus entirely acapella, in a cloud of smoke. We’ve seen this element before during pre-party season, but in this big arena it creates a haunting echo.

France First Rehearsal Eurovision 2024 Credits: Corinne Cumming

France’s second rehearsal is scheduled for Saturday, 4/5. A TV snippet of Slimane’s performance will provide a clearer picture of what to expect on the Eurovision stage.

You can watch a small clip from France’s first rehearsal from TikTok: