100 Days. 100 Songs. The Big Eurovision Countdown.
The 7th of February marked exactly 100 hundred days until Eurovision, it seems fitting to celebrate this by counting down 100 days with 100 songs. The last sixty three years has brought us nearly eighteen hundred fantastic, and unique Eurovision entries that some will love, whist others might not like so much. Each day we will bring you a song, and give you details on how it performed at the contest, but also information on the artist, and find out what happened next? Join us on this journey as we countdown from day 100 to 1 where we will have another 43 songs to add to this list.
Day 96 - Jonaton Cerrada - "A Chaque Pas" For France 2004
The year was 2004, and the Eurovision was in it's 49th year. It was a contest that broke the mould, and a contest full of firsts. This year had seen the largest amount of participating countries enter at the competition. 36 were to compete this year. The Eurovision Song Contest had grown up and evolved. It now needed a semi final to ensure all countries had a chance of competing. 2004 saw a debut of four nations, and a bigger European family. Albania, Serbia and Montenegro, Andorra, and Belarus would join the party. It would also be the first time that the show would be hosted in Turkey. This was all thanks to Sertab Erener the previous year. The "Big 4" as it was known back then, all automatically qualified for the final, as they contributed most to the EBU coffers. 22 countries would compete in the semi final, which would see the top ten join the big 4, along with the top 10 from a year before. Thousands were there at the Abdi İpekçi Arena, Istanbul, which saw Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul awkwardly host the show. All previous countries would return, to which Ukraine would win the show in it's second year with Ruslana, and her "Wild Dances". Switzerland would be the only nation to score the "nil point' in the semi finals. During the grand final, Norway would come last with only 3 points.
France would opt to send Jonaton Cerrada with the song, "A Chaque Pas". A feel good ballad, that for some reason featured a woman wearing white towering over Jonaton on stilts. It was a very high standard of diverse songs this year, which made it even harder for France to stand out. Any years previous to this one, would have seen the country secure a top ten finish. Instead Jonaton could manage 15th place scoring 40 points. Only seven countries would award France points. Not surprisingly it received 12 points from Monaco, and 10 from his native Belgium. "A Chaque Pas" was one of many good songs back in 2004. Check it out below:
Who is Jonaton Cerrada?
Born as Jonaton Cerrada Moreno, he is 33 years old, and was born on the 12th September 1985. He comes from Liège, Belgium. He is one of four children, and music has always been an interest. When he was eight he would enter the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, where he would stay until the age of 14. His parents are Spanish, which would explain why it is one four languages he can speak (English, French, Spanish, and basic Indonesian). He now lives in Bali. He first rose to prominence back in 2003. That year saw the young singer take part in Nouvelle Star (French version of Pop Idol). He won the very first season cementing his stamp on the French music scene. He would release his first album, "Siempre 23", which got to number 7 in the French charts. A year later would see him recognised internationally, as he would represent France in the Eurovision Song Contest.
What Happened After Eurovision?
The talented singer would stay with the music industry for a while. He sang the soundtrack for the French version of robots. Shortly after he would release his second album, "La Preuve du contraire" which charted at number 23 in France. He would leave his record label, and try and release music independently. He specifically focused more on the Spanish sector of this, with links to RnB and Latin fused styles of music. In June/July 2007, he took the title role of Arthur Rimbaud in the semi-staged comedy musical Rimbaud. In 2018 his song "Lelaki Lain Di Hati" went viral in Indonesia. His career has seen him release 9 singles, and 2 albums.
Did you like France's entry back then? Have you heard his current new song sung in Indonesian. Please tell us your thoughts in the comments below. Come back tomorrow as Eurovoxx will bring you another song from Eurovision past.
