Joyeux Noël! Just like in 2018, France will continue their search for a Eurovision contender through the beloved Destination Eurovision. Today broadcaster France 2 gave us their Christmas present by revealing the format and dates for the show. Three of our bloggers have literally just booked their trips to Paris!

After getting great feedback — not only from French TV viewers, but also from international fans — France 2 decided to continue with Destination Eurovision. Through their official Twitter account the French broadcaster revealed the dates.

? #DestinationEurovision revient à partir du samedi 12/01 à 21h en direct sur France 2 !

? 1ère et 2ème demi-finale : 9 chansons, votes des téléspectateurs (50%) et du jury international (50%).

? Finale : 8 chansons finalistes., une seule l'emportera ! pic.twitter.com/jLH4ksZ7Oh — Eurovision France ?? (@EurovisionF2) December 24, 2018

The first semi final of the national selection will take place on 12 January when the first nine acts will compete for four spots in the final. The same procedure will take place for the second semifinal. Even if the broadcaster didn’t reveal any further dates, fans and media are expecting to see the show on consecutive Saturdays. That means we will have the French winner on 26 January, when 8 acts will fight to become the next French star at Eurovision.

Although there will be 18 acts overall again, you should prepare yourself for some drastic changes. A three-member jury will be back at Destination Eurovision, but they will only judge and not vote at all. Televoters and an international jury have the full power this time.

But that’s not all: All three shows will be live. No cutting, no editing, we’ll see the event in its full pureness. That’s a change from the 2018 edition where the semi-finals — which were decided by jury vote alone — were pre-recorded. Meaning that audience members learned who the four qualifiers were from each semi before the shows were broadcast. While audience members were asked to keep quiet, the news did get out and it was not difficult to learn who the qualifiers were.

Making the semi-finals live means the results will be a surprise to all and it also opens the potential for involving a televote and an international jury vote.

After all of France fell in love with Madame Monsieur in 2018, they quickly emerged as fan favourites. The jury at Eurovision respected their entry Mercy but the televoters didn’t feel it as much as fans hoped for. To improve their success and see what Europe thinks BEFORE Eurovision, France 2 decided to add an international jury vote this time.

Snippets of the participating songs have already been released. Within only a few hours singer Bilal received a lot of views on YouTube and has emerged as one of the big favourites next to Naestro – who has already worked with superstar Maître GIMS and young starlet Florina. You can still vote for your favourite in our current poll here.

Who is your favourite and who do you want to see at Eurovision 2019 representing the French colours? What do you think about the French national selection format? Let us know in the comments below.