Canadian-born La Zarra will sing a French "chanson" with an electro-disco vibe at the Eurovision final in Liverpool on Saturday. She's in the bookie's top five and, while not tipped to win, will definitely not go unnoticed.
La Zarra does not have a tough act to follow. France’s Eurovision entry last year – the Breton band Alvan & Ahez – finished second last in 24th place.
The previous year, however, France came an admirable second with Barbara Pravi's show-stopping Piaf-inspired “Voilà”.
The majority of French entries over the years have been in French and La Zarra remains true to the tradition, although she's not French. She was born in Quebec and is of Moroccan descent.
Like Pravi, there’s more than a touch of Piaf theatricality about her, and the self-taught singer came to fame in 2021 singing Piaf’s “Tu t’en iras”.
The Eurovision song, called Evidemment (meaning "obviously" or "of course"), builds on the French "chanson" tradition but throws in a modern electro-disco vibe.
It was co-produced by Banx & Ranx, the duo behind big hits for Dua Lipa and David Guetta.
La Zarra says the song is about the "universal approach to love, and the importance of loving yourself”.
She told journalists and Eurofans the song had “come quite easily to me, over three nights".
That was the MAGNIFIQUE La Zarra from France...you'll be seeing her perform in Saturday's Grand Final 🇫🇷 #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/Al0yxuWcr3
— Eurovision Song Contest (@Eurovision) May 9, 2023
“This chanteuse channels the style of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, with a healthy dose of Édith Piaf’s sense of tragedy,” reads the official Eurovision website.
“Also added for good measure is a sprinkling of Lady Gaga’s postmodernism. The result? A timeless Parisian disco queen.
Praise indeed, but can she sing?
Rest assured, she can, though this is by no means a determining factor in walking away with gold.
‘Beautiful future winner’
The French entry is usually chosen through a jury and public vote, but La Zarra was hand-picked by Alexandra Redde-Amiel, head of the French delegation and director of entertainment with French public broadcaster France Televisions.
"La Zarra has many facets – she’s mysterious, iconic, extravagant, discrete, embodies French chic, is charismatic," Redde-Amiel said. "Everything is coming together for a beautiful future winner.”
Redde-Amiel may have fallen under La Zarra’s spell, but the bookies are not convinced she’s a winner, placing her in 4th place behind favourites Sweden, Finland and Ukraine.
So despite the song’s title it is not “evident” it will come out on top, though a bit of self-belief can never do any harm.
The last time France won Eurovision was in 1977 with Marie Myriam’s "L’Oiseau et l’Enfant".
