Eurovision 2018 Preselection Blog Week 2

Another week passed and while there were a few televised audition rounds (namely in Belarus and Romania) and song revelations, the only country that had anything notable this week was a semifinal in France. France is turning out to have a preselection other countries would be jealous of. Of course it has a big music scene, but there are other big music markets that don't tap into the depth of their talent (U Know who). Maybe it's tapping into cool young performers and writers who don't have a stigma for Eurovision, or maybe it's its recent good results that attract quality.

"J'ai cru" by Ehla was very cool and French, and "L'un près de l'autre" by Noée was very pretty, magical, and French, and neither made the final but they would have been very attractive and instantly recognizable as French to viewers. "Jamais sans toi" by Phéno-Men was the kind of motown-inspired funk that has done pretty well in the contest in recent years, although it seemed a little too vocally restrained.