This year, France have internally selected Amir and the song J’ai Cherché to represent them at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. In his preparations for the contest in Stockholm, Sweden, he found time to talk to us about his excitement, the song and also how the clues from French TV match to him.
Amir is an Israeli-French singer who was born in 1984 in Paris, France. He moved to Israel when he saw 8 years old. He returned to France for the talent show The Voice in 2014 where he reached the final and finished third. His next album is scheduled to be released in April, and will include his 2016 Eurovision entry
In the interview below you can get to know more about him and his 2016 entry.
When were you asked to represent France, and what was your first thoughts about it ?
I took one night to think about it, because I did not know if I was capable to carry this responsibility… And I finally understood that if others believe in me and my song, I have to do the same thing and go for it! It is an amazing chance to do it and I will do more than the maximum to do it.
Which reactions did you receive when the news finally broke ?
It was for me a huge relief because it is not simple to keep a secret for so long and especially from people who are very close to me… The second step was to handle the huge social media craze, but the reactions was so positive that at the end I got a great pleasure of it.
Tell us more about the song – what is it about and what does it mean to you ?
This song talks about our ability to surpass ourselves and find a way, a person, an element which allowed us to overcome our fears in life. To me it was the music, but the strength of this theme is its universality and its adaptation to everyone’s life, which is so unique and different.
You have before taken part in big TV shows in both Israel and France, do you feel a just as strong connection to Israel as to France ?
I really have the cultural wealth of two lives in one, one in France and the other in Israel. I feel lucky, enriched as a result of a lot of meetings and experiences. I madly love my two countries.
France Television released several clues before you were announced. First a picture with lots of make up, then an image of a guitar and a text about that being inseparable and finally the text which said ” First there was a group ….. ” How does all these clues match on you ?
Honestly, I was not involved for the choice of the clues, but the make up set looks like to be the one we had during the photo shoot with Stéphane Bern and Marianne James, the guitar is supposed to remember my guitar ( the similarity between the two is not a striking resemblance, but after all it was important to scramble the tracks 🙂 ) and the group is maybe an allusion to my first single Oasis like the English group.
We would like to thank Amir for taking the time to talk to us and we wish him the best of luck for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on the 14th of May. Below you can watch the official video clip of J’ai Cherché.
