France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Et si c'était vous? was the national final organised by France 3 to select France's entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, intending to have new talents emerge. A collaboration between three broadcasters in France: France 3, France 2 and overseas territories broadcaster RFO, the competition was hosted by Michel Drucker and Claudy Siar and produced at the La Plaine St-Denis TV Studios in Paris.

The selection of the twenty-one candidates for the competition and ultimately the French entrant took place over two rounds. The first stage of the competition involved France 3, France 2 and RFO conducting varying selections in order to determine the candidates for the second stage of the competition, the televised national final, where the winning artist was selected. France 3 submitted thirteen candidates, France 2 submitted four candidates and RFO also submitted four candidates.[1]

The France 3 selection involved artists attending regional auditions between 16 January 2006 and 3 February 2006 in thirteen cities across France: Île-de-France, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Lorraine Champagne-Ardenne, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Alsace, Bordeaux, Corsica, Marseille, Aquitaine, Poitou-Charentes, Rennes and Normandy. From each audition, ten were selected by a jury panel for a final round, where a public internet vote and a jury panel selected the winning contestant to advance to the national final.[2] The thirteen candidates selected by France 3 for the national final were:

France 2 selected the four candidates through the show Entrée des Artistes, hosted by Pascal Sevran and broadcast on France 2. Over 500 artists attended regional auditions between 2 December 2005 and 13 December 2005 in three cities across France: Lille, Marseille and Paris, and eighteen contestants were selected for the competition. Two heats, a semi-final and a final took place in January and February 2006 and the top four contestants, selected by public televoting, internet voting and a jury panel, advanced to the national final.[2] The four candidates selected by France 2 for the national final were:

RFO selected the four candidates through 9 semaines et 1 jour. Nine of the participants in the show were selected, and an internet vote took place between 30 January and 5 February 2006 for users to vote for their favourite acts. The results of the internet vote (1/3) and the votes of a jury panel (2/3) determined the four contestants that would advance to the national final.[1] The four candidates selected by RFO for the national final were:

Draw	Country	Artist
1	Martinique	Kolo Barst
2	Réunion	Ousa Nousava
3	Mayotte	Mikidache
4	French Polynesia	Barthélémy
5	Guadeloupe	Krys
6	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	D'Ge
7	New Caledonia	Gulaan
8	New Caledonia	Tyssia
9	French Guiana	Chris Combette

The final aired live on 14 March 2006. The winner was selected over three rounds of voting. In the first round, ten of the twenty-one competing artists advanced to the second round. In the second round, the remaining contestants performed for a second time and the top three were selected to advance to the third round, where the winner was selected. Results in the first round of the national final were determined by a four-member jury panel, while results in the second and third round were determined by public televoting (50%) and the jury panel (50%).[3] The jury panel consisted of:

• Charles Aznavour – Singer, songwriter
• Lara Fabian – Singer, songwriter, represented Luxembourg in the 1988 Contest
• Natasha St-Pier – Singer, represented France in the 2001 Contest
• Pierre Gage – Singer

The twenty-one contestants performed cover versions of popular songs in groups and ten acts were selected to advance to the second round: Candice Parise, Aude Henneville, Alexandre Vautrin, Virginie Schaeffer, Pierre Suppa, Leila Barechdy, Julien Lamassonne, Tyssia, Fabien Incardona and Virginie Pouchain.

The top ten acts again performed cover versions of popular songs in groups, from which three were selected to advance to the third round: Virginie Pouchain, Fabien Incardona and Julien Lamassone.[3]

The top three contestants each performed a cover version of a popular song assigned to them. Virginie Pouchain was selected as the winner after interpreting Céline Dion's "Pour que tu m'aimes encore".[4]

On 8 February 2006, Corneille Nyungura was announced as the composer of the French entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006.[5] After Virginie Pouchain won the national final, she complained to Nyungura that that the initial song "Vous, c'est nous" did not suit her style. Therefore, a new song, "Il était temps", was written and officially replaced as the French entry for the 2006 contest.