Rabat – France has selected Moroccan-born Bilal Hassani to participate in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest May 14-18 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The 19-year-old artist’s new song, “Roi” (King) released on January 4 has already become a hit, scoring over 1 million views on YouTube.
Roi’s music video features clips from Hassani’s childhood until now, depicting his blossoming love for music and telling how society alienated him as a gay person.
Hassani is outspoken in his songs about his personal experiences, mainly about his experience as a member of the LGBTQ community. Hassani’s life reached a turning point when his parents found out his sexual orientation when he was in middle school.
Hassani recounted how his school expelled him in a YouTube video titled “Expelled from my middle school because I’m gay,” in French.
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Despite all, the young singer who said “I’ve always been who I am” in his new song, came out as gay to his followers at age 17.
The singer was already known for his participation in the second season of the Voice Kids, the French music talent show for children aged 6 to 15.
Eurovision, a contest held since 1956, asks each participating country to submit “an original song” which will determine whether the candidates will make it to the contest which aims to support youth’s musical careers.
This year, 42 countries are participating in the contest.
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