France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

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France was represented by Jonatan Cerrada and the song "A chaque pas". France 3 decided that they would select their entry internally and as a result, Jonatan Cerrada will represented the country. Jonatan Cerrada won the first edition of the TV contest A la recherche de la nouvelel star, the French version of Pop Idol. His first CD album was released by BMG-France under the title Siempre 23. Jonatan was born in Liège, Belgium (Wallonia), with Spanish origins. At first, the broadcasted chose a different song entitled 'Laissez-moi le temps', but decided to use the alternative 'A chaque pas' instead of the original decision.

At Istanbul, Jonatan delivered a strong performance, however the consensus was that the stage act was very distracting from the song. During the song, a stilt walker joined Jonatan on stage and moved around the stage in an artistic expression of the song. Also, the backing singers were given a choreography and moving around at certain parts of the song. Altogether, the focus was lost, which eventually led to a disappointing French score of 40 points and 15th place.

Individual Entries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Albania - Andorra - Austria - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Croatia - Cyprus - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Iceland - Ireland - Israel - Latvia - Lithuania - Republic of Macedonia - Malta - Monaco - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia - Serbia and Montenegro - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - Ukraine - United Kingdom Note: Countries in italics are semi-finalists who did not advance to the final.