Bilal Hassani (; ; born 9 September 1999) is a French singer-songwriter and YouTuber. He in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2019 The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country's victory at the with the song "Toy" by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

with the song " Roi", finishing in 16th place.

Early life

Hassani was born in

Orsay Orsay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. A fortifie ...

Paris Region Paris () is the capital and largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the 30th most densely popul ...

to a Moroccan family from

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

. His mother is a French citizen, while his father lives in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. He has an older brother, Taha, who was born in 1995. He obtained his literary baccalaureate in 2017.

Musical career

In 2005, at the age of five, Hassani began singing lessons. In 2015, encouraged by his friend Nemo Schiffman, a finalist of the first season, Hassani participated in the second season of ''

The Voice Kids ''The Voice Kids'' is a version of '' The Voice'' TV series franchise in which children participate. Versions The first such variation was '' The Voice Kids'' from the Netherlands, which was followed by other international variants: : Franchise ...

'' and introduced himself in the blind auditions by singing a cover of "

Rise Like a Phoenix "Rise Like a Phoenix" is a song recorded by Austrian singer Conchita Wurst, written by Joey Patulka, Alexander Zuckowski, Julian Maas, and Charlie Mason. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 held in Copenhagen, resulting in the country's seco ...

" by

Conchita Wurst Thomas Neuwirth (born 6 November 1988) is an Austrian singer, fashion designer, human rights activist and drag queen who is known for his stage persona Conchita Wurst (or simply Conchita). He came to international attention after winning the Euro ...

, a singer whom he admires. He joined the team of judge

Patrick Fiori Patrick Chouchayan (; born 23 September 1969), known by his stage name Patrick Fiori (, ), is a French singer of Armenian descent. Biography Beginnings Fiori was born in Marseille to a French-Armenian father (Jacques Chouchayan) and a Corsica ...

. He was eliminated during the battle rounds by Swany Patrac. In 2018, the LGBT magazine ''

Têtu Têtu (, French for "stubborn") is the main LGBTQIA magazine published in France. It was subtitled in French () until 2007, and reaffirmed itself as a men's magazine since then. As of December, 2012, its certified circulation was of 41,961 co ...

'' designated Hassani as one of the "30 LGBT+ eoplewho move France". The magazine described him as "an icon for French LGBT+ youth".

Eurovision Song Contest

On 6 December 2018, Hassani was announced to be among the 18 candidates participating in '' Destination Eurovision'', the French national selection process for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

which was broadcast on

France 2 France 2 () is a French free-to-air public television channel. The flagship channel of France Télévisions, it broadcasts generalist programming including news, entertainment (such as dramas, films, and game shows), factual programmes, and sp ...

, with this edition choosing the representative of France at the

, which took place in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in May 2019. On 20 December 2018, an excerpt from his song for the competition was released, the song titled " Roi" and written with the duo and 2018 winner of ''Destination Eurovision''

Madame Monsieur Madame Monsieur is a French duo consisting of vocalist Émilie Satt and producer Jean-Karl Lucas. They France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, represented France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal with the song "Mercy ( ...

. The song was described to be about self-acceptance. On 4 January 2019, "Roi" was made available on all music platforms, and by 14 January, it had exceeded 3 million views. The newspaper ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' wrote that Hassani "leaves no one indifferent". The initial front runner to represent France at Eurovision, Hassani began a media tour for Destination Eurovision on media outlets such as

NRJ Nouvelle Radio Jeune, (Acronym: NRJ, , ) is a private France, French radio station created by Jean-Paul Baudecroux and Max Guazzini in June 1981 in France, 1981. Widely popularized by its "godmother", singer Dalida, who prevented it from closi ...

Quotidien ''Quotidien'' () is a French television show, first broadcast 12 September 2016 on the channel TMC. It is presented by Yann Barthès. History On 9 May 2016, Yann Barthès announced that he was leaving Canal+'s '' Le Petit Journal'', a progr ...

, and

France Inter France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...

. On 12 January 2019, he won the semi-final by winning 58 out of 60 points awarded by the international jury, and winning 57 points (the highest score) from the French public. He totaled 115 points and qualified for the final, alongside

Chimène Badi Chimène Badi (; born 30 October 1982), also known by her mononym Chimène, is a French singer of Algerian descent. Early life Badi was born in Melun in the Paris suburbs to a family of Algerian origin. She spent her entire childhood in the s ...

(66 points), Silvàn Areg (59 points) and Aysat (40 points). He won the final on 26 January 2019, with a total of 200 points including 150 of the French public while he was ranked fifth with the International Jury vote, with 50 points. At the

final, in

, Hassani performed the song "Roi", and placed 16th, with 105 points. He made a cameo appearance in the 2020 film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga''. In 2024 he had an acting role in Alexis Langlois's feature film '' Queens of Drama (Les Reines de la drame)''.

Danse avec les stars

In 2021, he participated in Season 11 of

Danse avec les stars ''Danse avec les stars'' (''DALS''; ) is the French version of the British reality TV competition ''Strictly Come Dancing'' and is part of the ''Dancing with the Stars'' franchise. The show was first broadcast on TF1 on 12 February 2011, the parti ...

, the French version of

Dancing with the stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

with the dancer Jordan Mouillerac. They were the first same sex couple in the show. On 26 November 2021, they reached the final, finishing runners-up losing against

Tayc Julien Franck Bouadjie Monono Kamgang (; born 2 May 1996), better known as Tayc ( , ), is a French singer. Prior to the release of his triple album titled ''Nyxia'' (2019), he released two mixtapes and a number of singles. His second album called ...

and his partner

Fauve Hautot Fauve Hautot (born 3 March 1986) is a French dancer and choreographer. Early life Fauve Hautot was born in Dieppe. Her father was an accountant with a passion for dance, and her mother was a dance teacher. She has a younger sister, Calliope, an ...

with 44% of the votes. In 2022, he joined the jury of the twelfth season.

Personal life

On 23 June 2017, Hassani publicly

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

as part of the LGBTQ+ community, the day before he attended the Paris Pride. Hassani is

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

genderfluid Gender fluidity (commonly referred to as genderfluid) is a non-fixed gender identity that shifts over time or depending on the situation. These fluctuations can occur at the level of gender identity or gender expression. A genderfluid person m ...

, and is comfortable with both she and he pronouns.

Controversies

Starting in December 2018, Hassani became the victim of cyber-harassment and has received homophobic and transphobic attacks and death threats. In response, the organizations Urgence Homophobie and Stop Homophobia joined forces to take legal action against anyone who has insulted, discriminated against or threatened Hassani on social networks, including

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. By 27 January 2019, the two organizations already identified 1,500 insulting, discriminating or hateful tweets because of his sexual orientation and/or physical appearance. Hassani later filed a complaint to those who may be potentially identified with these lawsuits, citing "insults, incitement to hatred and violence and homophobic threats". On 1 February 2019, ''

i24NEWS i24NEWS is a International news channels, 24-hour news television channel created by journalists and reporters from Israel. It broadcasts in languages such as French language, French, English language, English, Hebrew language, Hebrew, and Ara ...

'' unveiled former

tweets published on Hassani's account in 2014, accusing Israel of crimes against humanity and taking the defence of Dieudonné, a French comedian known for his antisemitic sketches. A few hours later, the singer claimed on a video not to be the author of these tweets, which would have been written by a relative with access to his account, adding that he was 14 years old at the time. Soon after, a parody video from 2018 resurfaced, about the latest attacks committed in France, which gave rise to a new controversy. The senator of the Alpes Maritimes, Henri Leroy, requested that Bilal be "dismissed urgently from the contest". Hassani is controversial in

traditionalist Catholic Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...

circles. In December 2021, he appeared on the cover of the LGBT magazine ''

'' in a representation reminiscent of an icon of the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. On 5 April 2023, Hassani was forced to cancel a concert planned in a former basilica that became a concert hall in

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

after threats from a group of far-right radical Catholics.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassani, Bilal 1999 births Living people 21st-century French LGBTQ people 21st-century French singers French LGBTQ singers French non-binary people French people of Moroccan descent French male singer-songwriters French singer-songwriters French transgender musicians French YouTubers French queer people Genderfluid songwriters LGBTQ YouTubers Non-binary gay people Non-binary Muslims Non-binary singers Queer singer-songwriters Singers from Paris Eurovision Song Contest entrants