"La voix" (French pronunciation: [la vwa]; "The voice") is a song by Swedish singer Malena Ernman, which served as the Swedish entry at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Moscow, Russia. It was composed by Fredrik Kempe, with lyrics by both Kempe and Ernman. It is the first Swedish entry to contain lyrics in French, as well as being the last Swedish entry to have contained lyrics in a language other than English. Despite the fact that France's Patricia Kaas would get a relatively good placing in the final, Ernman drew further attention to Francophone culture in the semi-final, as well in the grand final (by classing 3rd in the OGAE Second Chance round), despite her ultimate placing (21st).
| "La voix" | |
|---|---|
 Single cover | |
| Single by Malena Ernman | |
| from the album La Voix du Nord | |
| Released | 23 February 2009 |
| Recorded | 2008 |
| Genre | |
| Label | Roxy |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Audio sample | |
Excerpt from "La voix" | |
| Eurovision Song Contest 2009 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) | |
| Languages | |
| Composer(s) | |
| Lyricist(s) |
|
| Finals performance | |
| Semi-final result | 4th |
| Semi-final points | 105 |
| Final result | 21st |
| Final points | 33 |
| Entry chronology | |
| ◄ "Hero" (2008) | |
| "This Is My Life" (2010) ► | |
The song was the winner of Melodifestivalen 2009 on 14 March 2009, earning the right to compete for Sweden in the first semi-final of Eurovision 2009 on 12 May 2009.[1][2][3] The song qualified for the final round where it finished 21st place with 33 points, making it Sweden's second lowest placing in the contest since 1992's "I morgon är en annan dag" (22nd), and also the second time the country failed to place within the Top 20.
In 2010, the song was covered by Russian pop singer Philipp Kirkorov and opera singer Anna Netrebko with Kirkorov singing verses and Netrebko singing chorus. They recorded two versions of the song, one with original French and English lyrics and other sang exclusively in Russian.
The song has also been used as the backing track for the musical documentary Spaceplane Sailing. The short film covers the 33-mission career of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and was premiered on YouTube in February 2013.
Track listing
CD: (Sweden)
- "La voix" (radio edit)
- "La voix" (karaoke)
Charts
The song debuted on the Swedish Singles Chart on the week of 13 March 2009 at number 31,[4] before climbing to number 10 the following week and then number four in its third.[5]
On 26 April 2009, "La voix" went straight to number one on the Svensktoppen radio chart.[6]
In May 2009, the single entered at 29 in the Belgium Ultratip, moved up to 27 in its second week and then fell off the chart.[7]
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Finnish Official Download Chart[8] | 19 |
| Swedish Singles Chart[9] | 2 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[10] | 20 |
| UK Singles Chart[11] | 138 |
References
- ^ Schacht, Andreas (2009-03-14). "Sweden: Malena Ernman to Moscow!". EBU. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ^ Klier, Marcus (2009-03-14). "Sweden: Malena Ernman to Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ^ Fisher, Luke (2009-03-14). "Malena Ernman wins Melodifestivalen!". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
- ^ Staff (2009-03-06). "Veckolista Singlar - Vecka 13, 6 mars 2009" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ Staff (2009-03-20). "Veckolista Singlar - Vecka 12, 20 mars 2009" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
- ^ "Svensktoppen - 26 april 2009". Archived from the original on 20 May 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
- ^ "Malena Ernman - La voix". ultratop.be. Retrieved 2012-08-12.
- ^ "Finnish Official Download Chart". Archived from the original on 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2009-05-28.
- ^ swedishcharts.com - Malena Ernman - La voix
- ^ Norwegian Singles Chart
- ^ UK Singles Chart