France: Alma to add English lyrics for the Eurovision version of ‘Requiem’

Earlier this month, France 2 revealed that Alma would represent France at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. She will perform her recently released single Requiem at the contest. Now, Alma has revealed some more important details about the new Eurovision version of Requiem.

A bilingual version for Eurovision

In an interview with eurofestivalnews.com, Alma revealed that the new version of her song will “have an English part”. This isn’t unexpected as Amir also included extra English lyrics for the Eurovision version of J’ai cherché last year. Alma also revealed that France’s Eurovision head of delegation Edoardo Grassi first approached her in December with the opportunity. She says she “didn’t think twice” and knew she could count on the advice and support of two of her friends who had also participated at the contest, Amir and Lisa Angell.

Requiem‘s participation not under threat

Recently, footage emerged of Alma performing Requiem back in 2015. In the year prior to the contest, the EBU states that songs must not have been commercially released before September 1st. As Alma states in the interview, she had never actually recorded the song until very recently. Furthermore, the video that emerged was a live recording rather than a studio version. Therefore, there is no issue with the participation of Requiem in Kyiv.
Similar situations have happened in the past. For example, Anja Nissen’s Never Alone, Jamala’s 1944 and Anouk’s Birds had all been performed prior to the allowed date. This was either during live concerts, or even down a telephone line in Anouk’s case. These songs were allowed into the contest as the EBU judged that they hadn’t received an advantage from their early reveals.

Are you looking forward to the release of the Eurovision version of Requiem? Do you think Alma can give France their second consecutive top 10 finish? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and via our social media pages @escXtra!